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Virtue. What is it? To be virtuous means to demonstrate morally excellent behavior. You maybe strive to be a virtuous person everyday. Maybe you're the person who turns in the $50 you found in the parking lot, helps an old lady cross the street, and pushes the kids on the swing at the park. You might be the kind of person who visits your mawmaw 'n' 'em at the nursing home every Sunday, takes your kid brother to a movie every week, and is the DD after every night out at the bar. You're good, right? You're virtuous. I've come to realize that being truly virtuous means to uphold morally excellent behavior...at all cost and despite the consequence.
We all know that crossfit sucks. It's painful. It hurts to push yourself to and beyond your physical limits. And we are all too familiar with that voice that says, "stop" or, "just do 14 instead of 20". Sometimes that voice says, "cheat a little so you can beat so and so". But your own personal virtuosity is what pushes you through. It stops you from cheating yourself. It stops you from writing "rx" on the board if you didn't. It stops you from diminishing the work of others who did. Virtuosity keeps us honest with ourselves and our bodies. By understanding what our bodies could do today and holding tight to that knowledge, we can challenge it to do more tomorrow. For virtuosity is remaining true to the journey and not focusing on rushing to the destination. Maybe sticking to your moral excellence meant you slowed on your squats so you could hit full depth every time. Maybe it meant using a band to ensure that your chin made it over the bar during your pull ups. Maybe it meant scaling the weight to complete the workout correctly. But it also meant that you kept your movement honest. You kept you honest with yourself. Keep being honest. Be virtuous. Enjoy your journey.
