“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Chris Bradford
Failure, the only way to succeed
On the 21st of November 2021 I achieved my very first Bar Muscle Up. If my memory serves me correctly, which I’m fairly confident it does, there was confetti canons, bassoons playing, a light to moderate pyrotechnic display and a mid 2000s dealette from Channel 7s Deal Or No Deal offering me a large rectangular check, remember those ones? (see video) The good old days before O’keefes public drunkenness.
So what actually happened? I was in a non-air conditioned, partially built garage in Coach Ty’s back yard. I was already swimming in my own fluids from the Workout of the Day we did which would have been something dumb, accompanied by Zach Barrie and a mini Australian Bulldog named Alfie. We were all in the same state, sweating, drooling and sniffing each other.
I just failed my 8th or 9th attempted at a Bar Muscle Up.
Often I would practice after a WOD. I like to place some focused attention on areas of the sport which needed work. They are usually ones that I don’t really get to work on during the workout. It was my mission to get one before the year was out.
I’m already fatigued from the work we had just done. I swing, my arms bend too early and it quickly becomes another no rep or to give myself some credit, a very enthusiastic chest to bar! Coach Ty comes over and gives me some final pointers “just be better, don’t be so terrible” you know, all the deep insightful, movement-specific feedback one needs at that point.
I try again. My hips rise, I’m weightless, my left elbow makes it over the bar but the rest of my torso doesn’t. Someone tell Kennedys cause this guy has the best chicken wings in town! I’m close, I can feel it. This is the closest I’ve ever got, and I can feel my body knowing what to do.
I go again, I swing, my hips meet the bar, I pull, I’m over, I push then I press. I’M UP! I’m up before I realised what happened.
Holy Crap! I’ve made it!
There were squeals, jeers, sweaty man hugs, fist bumps and tails wagging. I finally had joined the club after three years of CrossFit.
For some people three years might be a long time. For others it might take three years, even more to succeed in their first pull up. The time is irrelevant. What isn’t irrelevant is the number of failed reps, no reps, scaled reps that bank up over time for you to reach the moment of success. From this example I challenge you to think about the way you view all the no reps, lifts, movements, workouts and beyond which you deem as failures.
Are they actually failures? Perhaps, if you choose to believe they are. Or are they a necessary steppingstone for you to get to where you want to be? Looking at life this way could mean you might start to enjoy failure, identifying it as absolutely necessary.
Good luck and keep failing,
– Coach Nick.
