'Pain' is a word that has such a negative connotation to it. When we hear the word 'pain' we often think of struggle, hardship, discomfort, and agony. While sometimes this is the case with pain, we can switch the narrative to viewing pain in a more positive light.
Pain and discomfort can be a great thing. Physical pain actually plays an important role in our lives. It serves to protect us from harm and alert us when something is going on with our bodies. Emotional pain actually helps us bond and build stronger relationships in the long run.
While pain and discomfort can be unpleasant, much of the time it results in a silver lining or something positive. Join us this month as we dive deeper into 'pain' and how you can get comfortable with being uncomfortable!
Workout of the Month:
DT
5 Rounds For Time:
12 Deadlifts (155/105 lb)
9 Hang Power Cleans (155/105 lb)
6 Push Jerks (155/105 lb)
Auxiliary Focus:
Shoulders
Besides just aesthetics, shoulder strength is essential for everyday tasks of lifting and carrying as well as posture improvement. The shoulder has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body.
Mobility Focus:
Wrists
Our wrists are something many of us take for granted. Our wrists help with most of our day to day activities as well as influence grip strength and elbow and shoulder function.
Here's what you're getting this month!
Truly successful people don’t merely tolerate discomfort—they embrace it and seek it out again and again. Business founders and university students, top athletes and couch potatoes, meditation gurus and military leaders all have very different ways of coping with discomfort, but the most successful among them believe that withstanding discomfort is a skill that has helped them in hugely positive ways.
Some degree of discomfort is inherently good for you. Learning to tolerate, and then embrace discomfort is the foundation for change. Becoming comfortable with discomfort won’t just make us more resilient and more successful, however we define success. It will also make us happier.
For how demanding the workload is on our wrists, we often take them for granted. From lifting, gripping, twisting, etc. our wrists take such a heavy load in our day to day activities. On top of this, our wrists influence grip strength and elbow and shoulder function. Neglecting wrist mobility can lead to pain and injuries.
The wrist is one of the most complex joints in the body and it has a broad range of movement because of its elaborate structure. However, our wrists often have nagging pain and stiffnes. Limited range of motion and lack of blood flow to the joint can contribute to this. Lack of mobility in this joint can lead to more severe conditions such as a wrist sprain or strain, carpal tunnel syndrome, or arthritis.
Because of our wrist's involvement in so many daily activities, this can affect serious athletes and desk workers alike. That's why it's so important to focus on wrist mobility! Follow these exercises/stretches below this month to improve your wrist mobility!
5 Rounds For Time:
12 Deadlifts (155/105 lb)
9 Hang Power Cleans (155/105 lb)
6 Push Jerks (155/105 lb)
Staff Sgt. Timothy P. Davis was a decorated and well respected special operations command airman who died when his vehicle was hit with an IED during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on February 20, 2009. Sergeant Davis, or as many knew him “DT”, originally enlisted in the services in 1999. His military decorations include the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal.
Read more below on how you can manage pain and get comfortable with being uncomfortable!
MIND on Pain: The Psychology of Pain
[Source: Scientific American] Most people think of pain as resulting from physical injury or disease, but psychological factors play a huge role in pain perception. Pain is intimately tied to brain functions that govern behavior and decision making, including expectation, attention, and learning.
Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
[Source: Behavioral Scientist] Discomfort often serves as a signal to stop whatever you’re doing. When you experience physical pain, you stop exercising. When you feel emotional pain, you withdraw from the experience. Because we have this intuitive response, discomfort is often a bad sign for self-growth. However, discomfort is expected when taking on new challenges.
Why Feeling Uncomfortable Is The Key To Success
[Source: Forbes] Putting yourself in new and unfamiliar situations triggers a unique part of the brain that releases dopamine, nature’s make-you-happy chemical. Here’s the mind-blower; that unique region of the brain is only activated when you see or experience completely new things.
Is Chronic Pain Linked to Our Emotions?
[Source: NSPC] A new study reveals that our emotional stress can cause a noticeable decline in our physical health which, in turn, may lead to us experiencing physical pain. While the mind and body connection is not a new concept, it takes a lot for some individuals to decide to find out where their pain is coming from, or why it’s there.
Besides just for aesthetic purposes, training your shoulders has many benefits.
The shoulder joint is one of the most delicate joints and allows for a greater range of movement. When the muscles surrounding the shoulder joint are weak, this movement can become altered, creating instability and often leading to injury. Training our shoulders strengthens the muscles surrounding the shoulder joint, creating more stability and an overall sturdier body structure. It also enhances our posture. Virtually every upper body movement involves the shoulder to some exent, so strengthening our shoulders will help our other lifts improve as well.
In addition to aesthetics and injury prevention, strong shoulders can make everyday life easier as well, whether you're throwing a ball, passing food across the table, or lifting a heavy suitcase.
Perform these exercises below this month to strengthen your shoulders!
5 Rounds For Time:
800 meter Run
30 Kettlebell Swings (2/1.5 pood)
30 Pull-Ups
In 2012, Mark retired from the Navy after 26 years of service. Shortly after, he started a desk job and over the course of 6 years became overweight, pre-diabetic, and was put on blood pressure and cholesterol medication. He found CrossFit TTA (Trust Athletics) and hasn't looked back since!
After 8 weeks of doing CrossFit, he got his bloodwork checked by his doctor and she was amazed at the change! She took him off all his medication and told him he had the health of a 25 year-old even though he was 51. He earned his Level 1 in 2020 and has his Level 2 on his schedule!
What Mark has to say about pain/discomfort...
Do you think pain/discomfort is essential for building mental toughness?
"Absolutely. I believe that with anything in life, a person must be willing to put themselves into an uncomfortable situation to grow physically and mentally. I find that I grow more with failure than success, and I despise failure! When I started CrossFit in February of 2018, I was intimidated by the time domain, reps, weights, and functional movements associated with CrossFit. But over time, less and less tended to concern me. Did I fail, oh yes, and I still do. Was it uncomfortable, yes, and it still is. With daily discomfort we are also building mental fortitude and as our fitness improves, so does our mental fitness and personal capability to handle the stresses that life throws at us daily."
CrossFit is a largely physical sport, but how do you manage your “physical” discomfort from a mental aspect?
"I try to go into a blank space and focus on the task, not how my body feels. The discomfort from my muscles aching or my lungs burning tends to not impact my headspace as much when I am focused on the movement or combination of movements. Can I move more efficient and faster? Can I pace the workout correctly to be as fast or faster in the last round than I was in the first? I also get caught up in coaching or judging myself during a workout. I occasionally no-rep myself, which provides a bit of levity and keeps me from worrying about the perceived discomfort. When done correctly, I don’t watch the clock and tend to be surprised when I am finished or the coach calls time. As a Coach, I am very focused on providing a positive example to my fellow coaches and the other athletes in the class and that drives me as well."
Do you have any mental “tricks” for extra tough/uncomfortable workouts?
"For me, these tend to be the longer Hero Workouts like Murph because there is so much work to accomplish and time for the discomfort demons to try and creep into my head. Before these types of workouts, I will go read the history of the namesake to refresh my memory on what that person had to endure."
Hope got into fitness in 2020 as a mental escape. She had just gotten out of an abusive relationship and needed something positive to focus on and put her energy towards.
Instead of sitting on the couch or at a desk all day and ordering fast food, she realized how much better she felt physically and mentally by doing at home cardio workouts and cooking her own meals. Through developing these healthy habits, she lost over 40 pounds over the course of 2020. She works out at CrossFit Mecklenburg in Charlotte, NC!
What Hope has to say about pain/discomfort...
Do you think pain/discomfort is essential for building mental toughness?
"Yes, absolutely. When my friends first suggested CrossFit to me, I was immediately uncomfortable. In my mind, CrossFit was only for really strong, fit people who primarily consisted of men. I had never even touched a barbell and only knew a few basic movements, so I worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with everyone else in the class. Deciding to overcome that fear was the first step of many in becoming who I am today. I quickly realized how wrong I had been about CrossFit gyms and the community as I felt instantly welcomed and included at my current gym.
Once I became more comfortable with the movements, my coach encouraged me to sign up for a team competition. My first team “for fun” competition turned into my first judged team competition, which turned into my first judged individual competition, where I came in 3rd place in the women’s intermediate division. I want to instill in others the drive and the passion that I have by showing my support and reminding them that they belong there just as much as any seasoned CrossFit veteran."
CrossFit is a largely physical sport, but how do you manage your “physical” discomfort from a mental aspect?
"Before I started CrossFit, I didn’t consider myself athletic, as I didn’t compete in any collegiate sports and seemed to fail miserably at any team sport prior to. Due to the drastic lifestyle change when I started going to CrossFit Mecklenburg 3-4 days a week, I endured a lot of growing pains, primarily in my shoulders. Dealing with the muscle soreness and the fatigue during and after workouts was initially frustrating, but ultimately made me realize that I needed to take my recovery more seriously. I looked around at the people who’d been coming to the gym for years of all ages, shapes, and sizes, and knew that if they could find a way to recover and come back day after day, there was a solution for me as well."
Do you have any mental “tricks” for extra tough/uncomfortable workouts?
"The mentality that I keep for extra tough/uncomfortable workouts is the reminder that I have made it through tougher situations in my life, and if I can survive those, I can make it through this too. The main thought that I went back to constantly when starting CrossFit was the reminder that I was finally strong and courageous enough to leave my past relationship, which to this day is still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Then I realize what a miracle it is to be free and on my own, to have prioritized my health, and to be able to do all of the physical challenges I’m doing today."
Mattie Rogers is an American Olympic weightlifter. She is a three-time silver medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships. She holds the United States Record in the snatch, clean & jerk, and total.
Her journey to the Tokyo Olympics was long and difficult. Changing coaches, putting on weight, and battling injuries didn't stop her. She pushed through any pain and forced herself to be uncomfortable to get to where she is today.
Mattie talks about why she took up the sport and how she's helping inspire a new generation of female lifters in the United States: "It's strange in a way that we don't have footsteps to follow in. We're kind of creating the path ourselves. It’s cool to be in the first group of people to break out for American weightlifting."
"I mean, for starters, I like the confidence that being strong brings. It's taught me a lot about myself and my work ethic and my mental fortitude. It's taught me a lot about basically sucking at something or failing at something and working even harder to overcome that and to get past that."
Monthly Goals
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