This is one of those posts that can go a few different ways.

I’ll be the first to admit that taking the approach of not caring about the little things in life will get you in a lot of trouble in general terms. Often times it’s the little things that make the biggest differences. Whether it’s a few minutes earlier and a few minutes later to and from work to get ahead in the office, or cutting out bad snacks to zero in a diet, or making a small gesture like sending a thank you note to solidify a relationship, it’s usually small efforts over a consistent period of time that really get us places we want to be.

Let’s take it in house here and talk about the small things in getting better at exercising. Let’s stop sweating the small stuff, but also focus on the small things that can make us better. How about that one for confusing on a Monday night?!

Take snatching for example. One of the biggest critiques I hear from athletes in a general class when talking about themselves during a snatch session is they land with their feet too wide. Just recently I watched as someone here at Lando hit a PR by 10# or 30% on their snatch, stood up, looked at me and shook their head and said “my feet were way too wide”.

Part of me wanted to hug them for sweating such a small thing. Yes, if we truly are out for world domination of improvement, then small things even like how wide our feet are in the landing of a PR snatch should be evaluated.

However the part of me that took over wanted to scream YOU JUST PR’D YOUR SNATCH, WHO GIVES A FLYING $%%&^#(@**%&# HOW WIDE YOUR FEET ARE?!

Yes we are in a results driven sport. At the end of the day the number on the board or in WODify usually is all that matters. You know what? For most of you out there that 100% should be how it is. We have things like children, jobs, money, life in general to stress about on a day to day basis, CrossFit shouldn’t be one of those things. It should be a release, a time and place to just unplug, crush some WODs, have fun with the people around you, and NOT WORRY. Too wide in your landing on the snatch? Who gives a s$$t you PRd it. End of story.

There are a select % of people who need to sweat things like that and they are the people who have chosen to dedicate a part or most of their life to pursuing their best in this sport. Trust me, even they have days where sweating the small stuff just isn’t worth it.

When should you worry about the small stuff? When it’s hindering your development and happiness. Feet too wide in your snatch landing might hinder your ability to sink into the squat, therefore making hitting a lifetime PR snatch more difficult.

You know what I say? Work on your flexibility and worry about your feet another time. Or never.

Donny don’t care how wide his feet are when snatching 160kg

Trust me I know this is a slippery slope as a coach because it opens the doors to allow people to ignore the little things that will make them better. There is a piece to this that involves the time and place for your level of caring. Fellow coaches can argue with me all they want about demanding perfection all the time, but I think I have a decent system going as of now. Beyond anything mechanical the most important part of an athlete’s game is confidence, and more times than not just getting a result that provides that confidence is worth it’s weight in gold. At times like this the small stuff can take a back seat.

At the end of the day what keeps you up at night most likely won’t be the width of your feet, and what will help you snooze like an infant is that you can rest your head knowing you can now snatch close to your bodyweight. On the contrary remember it’s a fine line between trying to stay positive during an overall negative training session, and just simply making excuses that are going to hinder your development. ONE OR TWO small things done well doesn’t make up for 5 or 6 done poorly. Failure is sure to follow if this is your modus operandi. How to combat this from happening? Don’t make excuses, or keep your focus on the key parts of what you are doing that day and worry only about those.

Time, place, and value are all in play when evaluating our emphasis on the small stuff. If you are thoroughly confused right now on the basics of why and when you should care, just think of the specific thing you are concerned about and its perceived effect on the future. Feet too wide in the snatch? Pish posh. Letting go of the rings at the top of a muscle up? Ask Jack how that goes. But in seriousness it all comes down to what you are looking to get out of this whole experience, and that can even be broken down to a day by day existence.

Heck there are days I wake up and am convinced I’m never eating pizza again and am devoting my life to making the CrossFit Games. On these days every little detail in my training matters. If I were to truly think I could make the Games and wanted it that badly then hopefully most days I would focus on even the smallest of details. Yet even the athlete looking to make it to the top has days where things just aren’t working out. These are the days where the small stuff just doesn’t matter.

Think of it this way, it’s either the small stuff or your sanity.

If the Games aren’t really your thing and your goal is surviving each workout, then please don’t sweat the small stuff. Be honest with your evaluation of your performances in your efforts to improve yourself each day by focusing on the things that will directly lead to your improvement, but leave the small stuff behind. It’s all too short for that to matter. CrossFit is this amazing thing we all found one way or another and has changed our lives. This is awesome. It’s amazing.

But where I want this to go is this: when it gets so crazy, when you start walking out of the gym with more negative days than positive, when your life starts getting dark because of your performance in the gym, that’s when it’s time to step back and remember…we are just working out.

At the end of the line Mr. Conductor only asks for your ticket, he doesn’t care if you bought it with cash, Visa, or food stamps.

TUESDAY

Strength: Push Press
5 sets of 5 reps

WOD: 10m AMRAP
40 Double Unders
Unbroken Pull-Ups

*CTB

-Score is total Pull-ups. Scale options for Double Unders are 30, 20, or 10 reps, or 10 attempts. Singles ARE NOT  allowed.

Speaking of sweating the small stuff, this WOD has potential for a lot of disappointed people (darn double unders). Prepare yourself mentally before you come in and be ready to find the positive even if you and double unders get along like Dexter and being awake.