In psychology, motivation is defined as what it takes to determining the behavior of an individual or even a community. The motivation of an individual is absolutely subjective as more people may want to take a certain action, driven by different motivations and this is the reason why it makes no sense trying to create goals for people by convincing them that such goals are what they want while in reality they are what we would like them to want.
The ideal is to try to understand the real motivations of the person you are dealing with and to reassure her that what she is about to start is the right path to pursue her goals. A well motivated person can achieve results that were probably unthinkable for that same person before finding the motivation to act. The CrossFit is no exception and the fact of being able to quickly obtain significantly improved results compared to the moment in which it started, is inextricably linked to the motivation. Of course, as we have said on other occasions, motivation alone is not enough if it is not channeled in the right way and this is where the trainer’s ability to make the difference between a normal fitness activity and something to get excited about comes into play .
The term change is used in this context as a synonym for achieving a result since this fact implies a change from the initial state regardless of which it is. Motivation therefore becomes the first step towards change or, in our case, the improvement that must not necessarily be athletic but also, for example, behavioral. For some people, for example, winning certain “demons” at the level of behavior can be worth as much as others being able to do Fran in two minutes.
Getting to the end of a WOD while maintaining a high level of concentration and intensity is very difficult for many and in this specific case the simple numerical result on the whiteboard is the only reason not to give up. Clearly it is just an example to make the idea of the fact that motivation and result orientation are absolutely objective factors even in a context in which more people find themselves living the same experience.
At the base of the motivation there is obviously the desire to produce a change or to reach a certain result. Therefore it is not enough to choose a goal, but it is also necessary to identify a strategy to be able to achieve it. In essence it is not enough to be proactive and to think positively, but also the awareness that “believing we can do it” may not be enough. Moreover it is quite clear that if one wants to run for example 5km in 20 minutes and has never raced before, he will need a serious training program to reach his goal.
Usually those who approach the CrossFit, as well as any other type of physical activity, live an initial purely cognitive phase in which, despite those who already practice that sport, warns the subject that the road to take will be long and requires particular commitment also to acquire the basics, it does not exactly take into account the scope of these notices and consequently believes that it can do its own way by subjectively interpreting the inputs received.
What follows is usually a phase of inadequacy in which the person begins to become aware of his own limits and the need to change, we say better than to improve, so that he can be up to his training partners.
If it is indeed true that on the one hand true competition is against oneself, it is also true that without models to be compared, it is difficult to realize one’s own situation.
In this phase, probably the most delicate, the motivational drive will be decisive since if the person will not be able to self-motivate, if he is not sensitive to competition with others, he could remain in this phase for a very long time.
At this stage people decide whether or not to continue their journey with CrossFit and it is vital that their experience up to that point has been positive and encouraging. This is the reason why the notorious “on-ramp” are made, which are nothing more than a sort of routing of the person towards what awaits them in the classes, conducted in such a way as to develop the awareness of being able to do it, thus strengthening the motivation.
Once you understand the need to change, a new phase comes, which is when you begin to plan for change, usually consulting with your coach in search of useful information or simple “comfort”. Some prefer to use external sources such as books, videos, material on the Internet and so on. We then move on to action, that is to the phase in which we begin to act concretely to improve our condition and change it.
This phase is one in which maximum strategic planning is necessary to be able to maximize one’s own efforts since accepting a change and above all modifying certain habits, can require not only sacrifices but also a big effort to get rid of the past and its consolidated habits. Here, once again, motivation becomes a fundamental point, although once passed into action, the process becomes almost self-motivating as results are achieved, even small but significant.
Once it has achieved its purpose, under normal conditions, there would be a maintenance phase which, however, in the specific case never comes because the action phase, driven by the need to improve in order not to feel inadequate, leads to the search for new and different results . Although this phase can lead to obsession, it is also true that in the specific case of CrossFit, there are so many things to learn that any search for perfection is almost infinite.
All this talk to say that usually the practice of CrossFit alone provides strong motivations even to those individuals who do not have very clear what goals to pursue at the beginning of their path and that soon, these “alleged objectives” become only means to unleash the initial motivation which is generally fed by itself.
So the fact of thinking of not being able to perform certain actions should not be a reason for frustration but more usefully the lever that opens the door to improvement, transforming the fact of not feeling up to a point of strength to be used as a lever to get over it as a result. Leverage that those who deal with the first contact with potential customers can profitably use to create that awareness that leads them to continue on their path.
