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A couple of Tuesdays ago we hit some 400m repeats. I saw Cam and Andrew battle it out and it was inspiring. On their very last lap Andrew almost caught Cam at the bottom of the block but Cam managed to hold him off and edge out Andrew by a couple of meters at the finish line. Speaking to the guys afterwards both Andrew and Cam were at max capacity. Cam could hear Andrew charging up behind him and but his legs just couldn’t go any faster. Andrew put it all on the line to catch Cam but he couldn’t go any faster either! These guys were giving it their all and each man spurred on the other to achieve what was probably their best interval of the morning – It was the competition!
Everyone had finished their intervals, all except Nay who was out on her last lap. I was out the front door waiting for her to appear at the bottom of the hill when Andrew raced out. “Where’s Nay?” he asked. “On her last lap” I croaked (I seriously lost my voice last week – big time) Andrew took off towards the end of the street to greet Nay as she rounded the corner. He ran back with her, encouraging her to keep going and keep on pushing. He was yelling at her and it seemed to be working as Nay’s regular shuffle was replaced with an all out gallop for the finish line. It was inspirational to watch: To see someone who had already finished rush back to encourage someone who was yet to finish. It’s what our guys do!
Now Andrew didn’t have to do this. I mean he was already pretty shagged from his own stellar effort but he had enough juice in the tank(reserve tank even?) to run down the road to encourage and support Nay on her last run. I don’t know if it’s an Aussie or CrossFit thing to go and help/encourage a mate in need and I’m not saying Nay needed the support but because Andrew was right there, by her side, screaming at her, she ran faster than I’ve ever seen her run since she started training with us.
It’s the community stupid. It’s the camraderie. It’s the “Yeah, I’m standing right there by your side, battling it out with you mate’ mentality that makes what we do so special. and you better believe that what we do/have is special. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been lucky enough to witness a number of occasions where our guys and girls stepped up to embrace this ethos. It’s things like this that make it all worthwhile for Sean and I – this is the reason we do what we do!
On the very same morning I dished out some burpee penalties because Ash had knowingly cut the corner for his first 400m. 50 burpees in fact. Most of the guys have run the 400m track before and know full well what’s expected but when there’s a bit of friendly competition spurring you on, I guess you’re going to do whatever you’re going to do. The cool thing was though that while Ash had been given the burpees. Tim piped up that he had also cut the corner and was happy to do the burpees too. The Andrew chimed in “Count me in” and then Cam too. These guys didn’t have to but were happy to share in the suck with Ash and I salute you guys for doing it. Standing tall and standing beside a mate when he’s down is one of the most admirable things any guy/girl can do. “If he get’s it – we all get it…” and it’s this kind of crazy empathy that builds character, not just in tough workouts but in life.
It’s not a once off either. Rosey and I did it (a couple of weekends ago) when Sean was finishing off one of his training sessions on the prowler. If you’ve done death by 10 meters then you’ll probabaly have a fair idea of what ‘death by prowler’ looks like. It starts out slow but by about round 6 your legs are burning so terribly from the lactic acid that just putting one foot in front of the other becomes a monumental task. Of course there’s the competition aspect where Rosey and I wanted to see if we could beat Sean’s effort but seriously, beyond that who wants to purposely go and put there body through significant pain when you don’t have to? I mean just for the fun of it?! Are we crazy? Maybe?!
With the prowler experience fresh in my mind I thought it would be a good idea to expose Tash (who was doing an intro class) to some lactate threshold training as well (at the end of here session). Kath and Louisa who were still hanging around from the 7:15pm session (for a bit of a chin wag) saw what Tash was about to do when Kath jumped up and offered to hit the prowler with her. You need to understand that these guys had already worked out but for some crazy reason Kath thought it would be a good idea to join in – Messed up? Yeah. Awesome? Hells yeah! I don’t know what it is but people seem to push themselves harder whern they’re doing it with someone else. Not only did Kath go until she couldn’t walk but Louisa waited until both Tash and Kath were finished before stepping up for a a crack herself (and like Rosey and I, I’m sure it was to see if she could beat their scores…) – Still awesome? Definitely!
I’ve just given you a small snapshot of some of last weeks inspirational examples of mateship but I guess what I’m really trying to say is this: these things happen at Adapt all the time; on a daily basis! You see your buddy there, battling it out and there you are, right there next to them, sharing in the experience. Sure it may suck at the time but it’s during this time that true character and solid friendships are built. You can share stories and shoot the shit afterwards. You’ll try and share your experiences with friends that don’t do CrossFit and they’re like “Huh? Why would you want to go and do that?…” But don’t worry, the rest of your Adapt peeps know exactly what you’re on about 
What we do goes way beyond just getting stronger and healthier; the friendships we build here can last a lifetime!
I’ve you seen some inspirational displays of mateship recently we’d love to hear about it. What have you learnt since you started training with Adapt? Has your perspective on life changed at all. Is your circle growing? Holla back and let us know I’m pretty excited about the future of Adapt and you should be too!
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Ben
Awesome article