Cult(ure). Count. Celebration. Challenges & CEO. TWA 12.08.25

COUNT ON YOU  This month we’re doing 2 “official” CrossFit benchmark workouts, “Annie” and “Filthy 50”. They are standardized workouts created by CrossFit many years ago and act as a “fitness report card” for athletes by testing different physical capacities with the same test and are repeated periodically. They provide immediate feedback on our fitness progress by way of our time, or rep count. If you repeat “Annie” or “Filthy 50” six months or a year from now and your results improve – only 1 thing happened: you improved your overall fitness. 

For a benchmark workout to provide you the most accurate feedback on your fitness, two things must happen: (1) your range of motion should meet CrossFit standards and (2) your repetition count must be accurate. Admittedly, those 2 things can be very challenging especially in a very intense workout. Many of us have had the experience of accidentally skipping a round or a movement or, mixing up the repetition count or, forgetting where we are in the workout. And that’s ok – we can simply mark our result as “scaled” and take solace in the fact that we still had a great workout.

However, sometimes, in the midst of an intense workout, there’s a quiet moment when the brain whispers a tiny bargain: “That rep was close enough… right?” It’s the crossroads between doing what’s hard and doing what’s almost hard. In CrossFit, that razor-thin line is where progress is either born or quietly stolen. Holding yourself to movement standards – real depth, full lockout, honest reps – seems like a small thing in the chaos of a workout. But those tiny decisions are the currency of improvement. They’re also the only way to know whether next month you’re actually fitter or just better at creative math.

Accurate scoring works the same way. It isn’t about earning bragging rights on the whiteboard or protecting your “Filthy 50” legacy. It’s about building data you can trust. If you count missed reps or shortened range-of-motion, you rob future-you of the chance to see what’s truly changed. The scoreboard doesn’t need to be heroic; it needs to be real. Because when you hit a genuine PR – one earned rep by rep – it lands with a satisfaction that shortcuts can’t fake.

What’s deceptively powerful is how these gym habits bleed into the rest of life. People who get good at keeping themselves honest in workouts tend to hold themselves accountable elsewhere: finances, relationships, health habits, work. When you train the discipline of doing things the right way – especially when nobody’s watching – you build a kind of internal quality control. It’s the same muscle that says, “No, really, let’s finish this project correctly,” instead of “Eh, good enough.”

And maybe that’s the secret value of CrossFit beyond fitness: it’s practice for becoming the kind of person who chooses accuracy over appearance, integrity over convenience, and long-term growth over short-term ego. The barbell doesn’t care about your excuses, and the clock doesn’t care about your creative rep schemes. They give you honest feedback every time. The trick is choosing to meet them with the same honesty in return.

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