CrossFit Brea








Self-image controls performance. We (usually) live up to who we think we are. And we sabotage ourselves if we ever exceed the boundaries we have drawn. Self-image and self-limitation are different issues but firmly linked.
The self-limiter is easy to see in every gym. He lies down on the flat bench, prepares to press, and tells his spotter that he'll probably get three reps at this weight. He never ever presses out four. He does however treat his struggle for the 4th rep as performance art, vocal, and squirming, and a lot of "look at me." The self-limiter runs local 10km races and marathons too. He plans to run a certain pace because the resulting time places him in the category where he believes he belongs. If he finds himself in the lead, ahead of the race favorite he'll slow through the feed zone, or develop a cramp, or even stop to tie his shoelaces in order to put himself back in the cage of his self-image.
An individual with a low self-opinion uses self-limitation as a tool to build that cage, which prevents him from fulfilling his potential. His mind keeps his muscles running at 50% of capacity. He keeps himself from expressing himself. Runner Herb Elliot wrote that his coach, Percy Cerutty, "helped me to world records not so much by improving my technique, but by releasing in my mind and soul a power that I only vaguely knew existed." Lacking such recognition he'd never have run world-class times but once his self-image included beating the best milers in the world it became possible to win gold in Rome in 1960. And he did.
In the context of climbing self-limitation is easily apparent. When I set out to climb a 2000 foot-high route I am tired at the top, after climbing those 2000 vertical feet but when I climb a 4000-foot route I am not tired after climbing the first 2000 feet. Ultra-cyclist Julian Sanz writes, "When you do a 200-kilometre race for the first time and you end it, if in that moment someone tells you to do another 200 you would say it is something impossible. You would say: "I can't, I can't. I've already done 200." However, if you leave home thinking you are going to ride 400, you do the 400. And if in that moment someone tells you to do another 400 you would say 'no', that it is impossible. You would say "I can't". But if you leave home saying you would do 800 ... you probably will.
Success breeds not only ambition but evolution of self-image. At the start of the season I treated myself as a 50th percentile finisher. As it progressed I began to see myself as a top 30% racer. One podium finish changed everything. Now I know I can finish in the top tier. I know I won't always do so but my intent is fixed on that particular outcome so it is what I will demand of myself. Now I won't provide myself with any outs, or excuses. I can't lay blame on equipment because I have chosen the right stuff and worked hard to learn how it performs. I can't lay blame on inadequate training or preparation because I will do the work and besides, training failures don't correspond to my new self-image.
I contented myself with third the other day because I reminded myself that I can't sprint (it's a physiological defect), and that I had worked harder than anyone else leading up to the line. I didn't have the self-image of a winner. I did not believe I could win and I lived up to who I thought I was. I know it, and I won't be the guy who says, "I could have won if only ..." Yeah, you could have won "if only" you believed it.
Sports involving a high degree of uncertainty and risk may not allow self-limitation to rule behavior. Caught by storm on a difficult and dangerous climb in the high mountains if the question be one of fulfilling one's self-image or overcoming oneself in order to survive most climbers will make what ever superhuman effort it takes to live. And by doing so live into a new self-image which is tied to that performance.








