Check it out. Novelist Amelia E. “Wodzilla” Barr, who died in 1919, was an awesome CrossFit coach. Prepare to absorb a serious knowledge bomb when she drops the following nine tips on you (although she mistakenly thought she was talking about literature as opposed to CrossFit).

“Do you even lift bro?” – Amelia E. Barr

Men and women succeed because they take pains to succeed. Industry and patience are almost genius; and successful people are often more distinguished for resolution and perseverance than for unusual gifts. They make determination and unity of purpose supply the place of ability.

Translation: Amelia says “Effort trumps ability, sucka.“ Success is the reward of those who “spurn delights and live laborious days.” We learn to do things by doing them. One of the great secrets of success is “pegging away.” No disappointment must discourage, and a run back must often be allowed, in order to take a longer leap forward.

Translation: Amelia says “To break a bad habit you’re gonna have to suck at some WODs while you learn a new pattern. Check your ego fool.” No opposition must be taken to heart. Our enemies often help us more than our friends. Besides, a head-wind is better than no wind. Who ever got anywhere in a dead calm?

Translation: Amelia says “How’s it feel when that little punk smokes you on a workout? Anger is an energy.” A fatal mistake is to imagine that success is some stroke of luck. This world is run with far too tight a rein for luck to interfere. Fortune sells her wares; she never gives them. In some form or other, we pay for her favors; or we go empty away.

Translation: Amelia says “You don’t PR your snatch because you’re lucky. You gotta work for that.” We have been told, for centuries, to watch for opportunities, and to strike while the iron is hot. Very good; but I think better of Oliver Cromwell’s amendment — “make the iron hot by striking it.”

Translation: Amelia says “Make the iron hot by striking it. You got a hearing problem?” Everything good needs time. Don’t do work in a hurry. Go into details; it pays in every way. Time means power for your work. Mediocrity is always in a rush; but whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing with consideration. For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.

Translation: Amelia says “Form trumps strength every time. Hey Speal, can I get a witness?” Be orderly. Slatternly work is never good work. It is either affectation, or there is some radical defect in the intellect. I would distrust even the spiritual life of one whose methods and work were dirty, untidy, and without clearness and order.

Translation: Amelia says “You need a game plan son.” Never be above your profession. I have had many letters from people who wanted all the emoluments and honors of literature, and who yet said, “Literature is the accident of my life; I am a lawyer, or a doctor, or a lady, or a gentleman.” Literature is no accident. She is a mistress who demands the whole heart, the whole intellect, and the whole time of a devotee.

Translation: Amelia says “You think CrossFit is hard? Try being a female author in 1891.” Don’t fail through defects of temper and over-sensitiveness at moments of trial. One of the great helps to success is to be cheerful; to go to work with a full sense of life; to be determined to put hindrances out of the way; to prevail over them and to get the mastery. Above all things else, be cheerful; there is no beatitude for the despairing.

Translation: Amelia says “You better be crazy psyched everyday you wake up and get to workout. Period.”

Bonus: “Many a time my head failed me, my hands failed me, my feet failed me, but, thank God, my heart never failed me.”

Aw yeah. You go grrrrl.

Thanks to explore-blog for the original link on Amelia The WOD Killer. You can impress your friends at your next mobility session with more Amelia E. Barr facts by going here.

