This is something I believe in 100%.
I learnt to suffer in the Army, we were made to suffer on purpose because it builds you. Once you are pushed so far out of a necessity to survive, then you realise what you are capable of and all other things in life become easier.
The other thing about suffering is that once you know how to suffer, you start to push the boundaries of suffering, and you keep pushing them further and further.
Too many times during training people DO NOT PUSH HARD ENOUGH, and they wonder why they aren’t getting better. Watch someone at the top level train, they will push themselves HARD, and like Khan said, that suffering is the key to making it to the highest level.
There is no magic pill, you need to do the work, and you need to be responsible for your suffering. Being good at CrossFit involves a multitude of things to line up and being able to suffer is one of them.
You will see a common trend across successful athletes, and if you aren’t mimicking what they do then you are not learning the valuable lessons to become your own champion.
When it comes to CrossFit is about the ability to hold onto the bar down for the extra reps, the ability to pick up the weight before anyone else does no matter how much you hurt, the ability to grind out heavy reps no matter how scared you are of being crushed under the load, it is the relentless pursuit of faster WOD times, the burning in the chest and lungs, the burning in the muscles, you have to go deep into the pain cave and learn to stay there.