346- Uncomfortable

Pushing myself outside my comfort zone has always proven to give me my best lessons, results, experiences etc.  Its also one of the hardest things to continue doing over and over.  When there is no other choice, and I have to man up and do something that kinda scares me, afterwards the rewards are always great.  The problem is those times when I'm the one in charge and I can choose to keep things comfortable, or do something hard/scary/different, I almost always choose comfortable.  
 
One of the many things I like about Crossfit is that it forces me out of my comfort zone often.  I got over my potential uncomfortableness of looking like an ass in front of people real quick.  I got over my potential uncomfortableness with Olympic bars, heavy weights, inversions, breathing heavy, and Lululemon.  They are all things I do without even thinking about now.  In fact when I remember the slight anxiousness I used to feel, I laugh because it was so silly.  Enter giant rubber bands.
 
Specifically the kind one uses to assist them in doing a pull-up.  For whatever reason, they are kinda frightening to me.  Yes, I have used them a few times without incident.  However, in the back of my head, everytime I'm forcing my foot into one, I can't help but think of all the things that could possibly go wrong with a thick rubber band, my weight, and myself suspended in mid-air.  I know all I have to do is get used to them, and how do I get used to them?  USE THEM. 
 
Sure, each day before the warm-up I've been half-assed in doing a few strict band-assisted pull-ups.  That isn't really the push out of my comfort zone I need.  Performing jumping pull-ups in workouts is not really the push out of my comfort zone I need.  Luckily, crossfit seems to always give me what I need when I need it, and yesterday we had 2 rounds of 2min AMRAP pull-ups to push me.  A proverbial toss into the lake, if you will.  
 
I was a little shaky getting my foot into the band, and super tense as I grabbed hold of the bar and let myself "fall" into the band.  I crossed my right leg over my left, and pulled up.  My chin cleared the bar no problem.  I let myself stretch the band down again in hopes of getting a little bounce to aid me back up.  I knocked out 10 pull-ups before I had to take a break and put my foot on the box.  I didn't want to rest too long because the clock was ticking away.  I grabbed onto the bar and this time relaxed a bit, and the band thing wasn't so scary afterall.  I cranked out a few more pull-ups, and eventually in the 2 minutes, got 20 band-assisted pull-ups.  Round two came along, and I was even more relaxed/confident, and pushed myself to get 21 band assisted pull-ups in the 2 minute time allotment.  
 
Today, I'm sore as hell.  My lats, my triceps, my shoulders, all feeling it.  I believe I finally started engaging the muscles I need to engage to get me to do an unassited pull-up.  With more practice, and practicing a kip in the band, the bands will get skinnier.  My muscles will remember, and eventually, the band will disappear.  Here's to no more scaling pull-ups with jumping pull-ups, I'm officially a giant rubber band girl!