Doug LarsonLindy Barber has been a competitive athlete her entire life.
She has played a little bit of everything, but her primary sport was always soccer. She started playing at the age of 3, and continued on successfully all the way through to college.
That’s a pretty impressive run, but as active as Lindy was all through school, she admittedly never devoted much time or effort to barbells. It just didn’t seem as important as play and sport itself. Outside of some squats to make the running easier, why should a soccer player even care about how much they lift?
Her attitude changed completely as school came to a close. Like many athletes, Lindy quickly grew to love Crossfit because It wasn’t just about training, she had done all that before. What she really found was a chance to compete and refine herself. But her basic attitude – an appreciation for sport and play – that has allowed Lindy to push past some big personal barriers in recent years. It’s what has enabled her to be successful in competitive fitness.
…Or maybe her secret is that sweet puka shell necklace?
Strength as armour
Lindy has done very well so far in her Crossfit career, despite a big time back injury.
She made it all the way to the Games in 2013, and you’ll be able to see her compete again this year at the 2015 Central Regionals. That’s pretty awesome, but it’s a mistake to think that Lindy has accomplished this all on talent alone.
Like anyone who’s new to the box, she struggled to master her pull-ups and some basic movements at first. She had to scale with bands for an entire year before moving on to the strict and kipping varieties, but that was fine. It might have even been the key to her success.
As Lindy points out on the show with CTP, taking the time up front to build a base of strength in the squat, deadlift, press, pull-up, etc, is critical. This will allow you to progress much further in the years ahead, and will certainly help you recover much faster if you ever do get injured.
Patience and hard work took Lindy from banded pull-ups to Carson for the Crossfit Games. Who know’s what it might do for you. Take her advice – Do what it takes to grow stronger. If you need to make adjustments because of circumstance or injury, do it. Strength is all the back-up you need, it’s your armour.
Make yourself stronger and you can overcome anything.
If you’re overthinking training…. #riseandgrind
A photo posted by CTP (@ctpcam) on
Make it play
Lindy made some common mistakes early in her Crossfit career, like most people. But these are mistakes that you can easily avoid. She ate too little, even though she was training hard. Like athletes often do, she did rush her development at times, moving on to Rx loads and tough WODs too quickly.
Again, the more time you take building that base, the better. There is no rush to the finish line in fitness. The only thing you increase is the risk of peeking too quickly and burning out.
Here’s one vital lesson from Lindy’s experience that you can take away and apply to your training right now. No matter what happens to you, no matter what barriers and challenges you face, you have to keep a positive mental attitude. You have to know the “why?” behind everything you do.
An injury doesn’t define you. Barriers and failures are not capable of stopping your progress if you keep fighting and pushing ahead. Believe it fully, and you can do whatever you want. Just keep your long-term vision and goals in mind, and keep working towards them. Do what you can do, and nothing more. This will help remove all of the pressure that could be holding you down.
Lindy was right early on. Training should be fun. It should always feel like play because that’s when you perform at your very best. That’s when you are at your strongest.
Reign supreme!
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