In a CrossFit gym you’ll find all kinds of people of different athletic abilities. There are the people who are just starting out, the people who’ve been at this a while and are just happy to get a good workout, and the people who are really serious about CrossFit.
…. But then you have those who are really serious about CrossFit. That handful of people who you see ferociously attacking the workout in the corner with that determined face that leaves everyone saying, “Wow, now that’s a CrossFitter.” They snatch what you and I can deadlift and do it with clean precision. They seem to draw from an endless well of energy and speed. Their focus is like a laser beam.
And that’s the kind of person Hayle Hudson is.
If you happen to see her attacking a Metcon or a weight lifting session, then you’d know what I’m talking about. Watch Hayle Hudson for a few minutes and you’ll see an incredible display of strength, determination, focus, and, of course, highly developed skill and precision in everything she does.
The rest of us look at someone like her and think, “She’s incredible. She’s beautiful. She’s insanely fit and strong… I could never be like that no matter how hard I tried.” We figure that some people are just born competitors and champions, that some people just had it in the cards to be amazing, that someone who performs and competes at her level must have just waltzed in the gym with more natural talent and strength then we could ever hope to possess.
But Hayle proves that it’s not about that.
I asked Hayle about her first CrossFit workout and what it was like and her answer might surprise you…
She said, “My first workout was at Premier’s previous location on September 12, 2012. I went to try CrossFit for the first time in the gym in the back and I was nervous walking in for the first time.
The WOD was one of those that’s done using a card deck…. the kind where you turn over a card and depending on the number and suit, you do the movement that has been assigned to that suit that many number of times. One of the assignments we had to do was jump squats and I thought I was going to die because I couldn’t even squat. It was terrible. I felt so out of shape.
See after I got married in 2006, I gained 45 lbs. I’m not a tall girl, so I had a lot to lose. I didn’t like myself and I didn’t have any self confidence and that was affecting a lot of things… I shied away from social gatherings because I didn’t want people to see how much weight I had gained. I even struggled with wanting to get close to people and develop friendships because I just felt so bad about my weight. I would only buy dresses to wear just because I wanted to hide and cover myself and I didn’t want anyone to see the weight I had gained.
It held me back in so many ways.
When I did my first CrossFit workout in September, I had been running several miles a week but that still wasn’t changing much. I knew I need something more. So I started going to CrossFit just on Saturdays for a while and then finally decided to sign up for two days a week. I was making slow changes, but I still had a long way to go and I wasn’t fully all in with CrossFit yet.
A turning point for me was around Christmas time, when I was getting ready to go to a Christmas party. I went into my closet and tried on outfit after outfit and nothing fit. I just laid in the middle of my bathroom floor and it was in that moment that knew I had to do something about this and make a change.
I began doing CrossFit more and also cleaned up my diet quite a bit by learning about Paleo. I began to lose weight and get stronger and my mindset began to change. And quickly it stopped being about losing inches or pounds and became about how much stronger I could become and how I could increase my performance. That began to be my motivation.
I had lacked so much confidence and I struggled with a lot of self doubt and that’s really what has changed the most.
I realized that the only limitations we have are the ones that we put on ourselves. That’s really the only thing that holds us back. We have so many things that we allow to become limitations… age, weight, height, etc. We let those things hold us inside this little self-created box that we can’t break out of, when really none of that matters.
And that’s the biggest thing I had to learn to overcome.
I know what it’s like to be the girl who’s struggling with weight, who doesn’t want to go places or do things because of insecurity, I know what it’s like to go to the store and just look for the biggest yoga pants they sell to try and hide. But I have learned to overcome (and still sometimes have to overcome) those voices in my head that tell me that I’m not enough and I don’t have what it takes.
I am now a CrossFit competitor and I am training to go to regionals in 2016. When I walk into the gym I tell myself, “Hayle you’ve got this.” Because the way that you think and talk to yourself has such a drastic result on what you can do and how well you can perform.
It’s important to get rid of all that negative thinking. And it shows up in so many ways. It’s everything from thinking, ‘I’m just a mom, I’ll never be as strong as she is.’ or ‘I’ve had a stressful day, I won’t be able to perform well. I’m just happy to be here.’ or ‘You’ll never be like them… you’re slow and weak.’
It even shows up in small ways like shaking your head when you get to that tough spot 3/4 the way through your workout… Even that body language is speaking defeat. The mind is powerful and if you can learn to say, ‘You will finish this. You’ve got this.‘, you’ll see incredible improvement in your attitude and performance.
So many people look at certain movements and aspects of CrossFit and think, “I’ll never be able to do that.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. People do not realize their potential because they already dismiss the fact that it could happen. People think, “I’ll never be able to get a pull-up so why try?”
I am here to tell you that you can do anything that you decide you want to do. If you will devote yourself and put in the necessary work to get there, you’re going to make it happen. Once you find that motivation, you’ll do anything you need to do to get there.
There’s nothing special about me. I’ve dealt with many of the same challenges, insecurities, and doubts that every other person does. But I’m here to tell you that if you can silence those voices of doubt, if you can push past your comfort zones and your insecurities, if you can devote yourself and put in the work each day, you can accomplish anything.”
And this is why Hayle is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. To know that she’s overcome obstacles and insecurities, to know that she’s battled the same things that every one of us has, it gives me the courage to dream big and believe that I can do so much more than I ever thought.
And this is why Hayle is the perfect example of what can happen when you conquer fear and doubt.