Each week, I send out an email to all of the members at CrossFit Winnebago. Usually, there is a catch up on whatever is happening in the moment, a run down of the week ahead in programming, a brief topic to share some thoughts on, and an updated list of events. This week, that short topic was on the subject of mental health and how CrossFit can play influence to people’s mental health.
Mental Health
There is a lot to talk about on the topic of mental health in the world today. There is no doubt that our culture is guarding mental health in a way that few cultures have done before it. Rightly so. There are countless distractions, influences, and problems when it comes to the way people think about and view themselves.
For the purpose of this blog post, I will use the World Health Organization‘s definition of mental health, “Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community. It has intrinsic and instrumental value and is a basic human right.”
More specifically, I am going to talk about how CrossFit helps people cope with daily stress and realize their fullest abilities.
Training, in general, is hard. Training stands out from exercise because it means that someone is working towards a goal, an end state. Because of that, training is the act of consistently putting yourself into discomfort so that you become a better version of yourself.
My Story
In 2017, I was in college playing minimal games for my D3 hockey team, and had gone through one of the most shaping experiences of my life in losing my brother, and lost. Lost in the sense of what my role and purpose in the world was. Lost in the way I thought of myself as an athlete and a person.
I was incredibly fortunate to get a job coaching hockey camps at the local hockey rink in the summer. Even more lucky was I that the local CrossFit gym partnered with the camps to train the older kids in the camp. Once more, I was lucky enough to be one of the instructors that had to go supervise the kids at the gym while they were there. And even more, the owner of that gym allowed us coaches to train two days/week before the kids got to the gym.
A string of four very fortunate events led me to training CrossFit at one of the lower moments in my life. The impact ended up being beyond measure.
What those regular training sessions did was expose me to a completely different style of training than I had ever experienced in my life (15 years of training for high level athletics).
The workouts were hard, challenging, uncomfortable, humbling, but FUN. The people were encouraging, challenging, and FUN to be around.
Through these consistent exposures, my mental health began to change. I started to believe in myself again. I started to believe that I could do hard things. I started to believe that a little discomfort was worth the journey to see what was on the other side of it.
CrossFit was able to help me get off of anxiety medications through these consistent moments of discomfort. Why? Because I was building the mental muscle to be able to handle stress, challenges, and discomfort.
THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT CROSSFIT WILL OR SHOULD HELP YOU GET OFF ANY MEDICATIONS, IT IS ONLY MY STORY.
Why It Works
While this seems like a great anecdotal example. There are more like it. In the last month, I have heard the stories of three different members at CFW that have been able to reduce or get off their anxiety medications in conjunction with their training at the gym.
What you do at the gym, or wherever you train, or whenever you start training matters. Not always the fitness, not always the friends there, and not always the outcomes that you are looking for.
Rather, what you do each day is something that is usually difficult, uncomfortable, or downright scary to you or a different version of you.
What matters about that is that each time you do the uncomfortable or difficult thing you get a little bit stronger mentally and emotionally.
The effort that you put in makes you more equipped and ready to face the uncomfortable or scary moments in your every day life. Does it solve them or make them any easier? No. But it does make you more capable.
So, in spite of the fact that there are undoubtedly days that are not your favorite, showing up has more impact than just working a physical weakness, it also makes you stronger mentally and emotionally.
What to Do About It
As a favorite college professor of mine said: Big Deal. So What. Why is This Important?
Do you need to do CrossFit? No.
Do you need to do any strength training? I think yes, but even that is probably a no as well.
Do you need to do things that are hard, uncomfortable, or scary? Yes, without a doubt.
We fail at the bounds of our experience, and if we never (or infrequently) experience hard, uncomfortable, or scary moments, then we will certainly be more likely to fail when those moments come up in our life as a result of lack of preparation.
