Learning to Lift, Lifting to Learn?

I do Crossfit. Three times a week, I walk into the "box" (a crossfitter's playground) and look at the whiteboard in utter despair: "He wants me to do what?!" 

It was only the other day, that I thought of my box as the classroom in which I am the student and not the teacher.

I walk in; look at the whiteboard and my body sags as I read the WOD for that day. Negativity sweeps into my mind and uncertainty makes me question my ability to a) not look like a physically incompetent idiot and b) actually complete the task!

Or at least, this used to be the case because after a few sessions it became clear that my body was more capable then I realized, that trying and failing to RX an entire WOD was more powerful and fulfilling then not, that the community would cheer you on and praise your efforts regardless, that my progress was my own and that, shouting out in pain was sometimes OK. So, three times a week I walk into the box, look at the whiteboard and think “Today, I am going to be awesome, this WOD will test me and I will BEAST it.” It is not easy and it is something I must remind myself of throughout the workout.

After a session this week in which I was KIA (unable to complete a workout within the time cap), I was left feeling sore and disappointed. My coach told me “Be mad, get even, revenge is in order!” It was with these words ringing through my head that I fell back into teacher-mode and began to consider: how can I replicate this sense of challenge and achievement in my classroom, this determination in my students to BEAST a lesson?

I want my students to understand that learning is difficult, it hurts and at the end of a session you may just want to fall on the floor with exhaustion (as I often do after a killer WOD). BUT…that trying hard in my lesson is more powerful and fulfilling (for my students) then not, that the classroom and their peers provide a safe and supportive environment in which to fail and succeed, that progress isn’t just a word and concept that teachers own, but something the students take charge of and that yes, shouting out in pain is sometimes OK.

Simply put, I want my lessons to provide challenge and I want them to offer opportunities to succeed. But mostly, I want to present opportunities to fail because it is only through such opportunities that we learn. I want my students to walk away from my lessons surprised at what they are capable of when they do well, keen to get revenge (to “own the topic” – not to genuinely harbour bad feeling) if they don’t and ready to BEAST the next one…