What the Hell was I thinking...

Yesterday marked the first day of the annual "Hell Week" at my gym.
So you may be asking what is this week, and from the sounds of it, why would anyone do it??
Trust me, there was a time (or maybe two) when I've asked myself the same thing. It is different than any normal week at the gym in that.....
1.) sometimes the Coach is nice enough to post the WOD ahead of time. I find this beneficial b/c sometimes I need to mentally prep myself for what lies ahead, or often I like to check out videos of different skills so I know how to do them or at least picture them in my mind.
Well during Hell week there is none of that. You are sworn to secrecy, and if
You do tell of the workout there is punishment. To the entire class as well as the recipient of the info. Tough right?
2). There is no time for slacking, you walk in the door class begins on the dot, and you don't stop for the entire 60 minutes.
3) it is brutal, constantly for the entire duration.
4) it's more about your whole team than just yourself. The week operates under the notion of "leave no man behind". Who cares if you are the fastest? Guess what yesterday we were privileged with having an active duty Army Ranger join us, and he, just as expected Whipped everyone on every run. But he, and many others ran back out to help usher anyone left behind back in.
5). I've found a lesson to take away from each class. While the lesson may be different for each person, there is a lesson to be found.

So why would anyone subject themselves to this level of crazy? For me, there is so much positive that I gain from the sheer torture, that spills into my life as a whole.
When was the last time you were at your weakest moment, and someone came up and said I'm here to help, they just swooped in and mentally picked you up and you were able to keep going?
When was the last time you thought I am not strong enough, I can't do this, but you did? Because you are strong.
Or the time that something sucked or hurt so bad you just wanted to give up, but you kept pushing through because you knew there had to be a purpose on the other side?
I found all of those things in just 60 mere minutes yesterday....man I wonder what the rest of the week will bring?

"I really regret doing that workout," said no one ever.

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT)

PS. In case you are curious, Monday consisted of loving a 40# sandbag (60# for the men). For 60 minutes we picked it up and put it down in various ways, threw it on our shoulder and laid down, and then got back up and did it again, and in the midst of that we humped them for 2.4 miles. It was truly a "FUn" time ;)