I'll tell you who you're cheating: You're cheating me. I'll circle back to that in a bit.
First, a quick ethics lesson from Nassim Taleb, as you can read on his page here.
"If you see fraud and don't shout fraud, you are a fraud" - Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Harsh, huh? How many of us do this? I know I don't. And I know why. And it all pisses me off, some at myself and some at the fraudulent person.
All of this is in response to a recent CrossFit workout in which I was not participating. A little strained muscle made me focus on some slow squats instead, and I was free to count reps while people worked out.
What I found shocked me. It dropped my faith in humanity just a bit. It was obvious, blatant, and persistent through the workout. When what should be sets of 10 reps become sets of 6-9 for every single set, it's not an accident. When someone does sets of 10 until someone else finishes before they do, and then those sets all become less than 10 reps, it's not an accident. This was just cheating the rep scheme, pure and simple.
So, I'll start addressing those people as "you" for the remainder of this rant. Either identify with my position, or be the one I'm speaking to from here on out, it's up to you...and you know which it should be.
So who gives a crap? Well, I do, for multiple reasons. I care because to exclaim "Time!" when you've done at best 70-75% of the workout is a fraud. It's an obvious fraud. And to the extent I agree with Taleb, then my not shouting fraud makes me a fraud as well.
Well, guess what. I don't want to be your nanny. I don't want to take an environment in which we should encourage each other and be the pissy jerk who screams FRAUD when you're being a fraud. I just don't want to be that. So I have a choice. I can either feel that I am a fraud to some extent because I didn't say anything, or I can say something, not be a fraud myself, but also not enjoy my time at the gym.
And why am I faced with a choice between two things, neither of which I like? Because you're f***ing cheating, that's why!!
So, your fraud puts me in a position I don't like. And for what? So you can CLAIM you performed 100 reps in X minutes when you really did about 73? Again, for what? Does it determine if you stay on the team, get your Christmas bonus, or land the big account? No, it's just a smudge of dry erase marker on a white board. And for that smudge you'll compromise your own integrity and impact mine as well? Well, that kinda pisses me off.
But, there's another reason you're cheating me. I do all my reps, and I proudly put that smudge on the white board, and then I see where I stack up. See, I use that to motivate me. I use my rankings on the board to get more performance out of myself. When I'm tired, out of breath, with my heart thumping like two rabbits mating in my chest I'm trying to do JUST A LITTLE more because I WANT TO BEAT YOU!
I enjoy being competitive. It brings out my best levels of performance. I'll say it again:
I WANT TO BEAT YOU!!!
That time on the board is my indication of where I am relative to you, and dozens of other people who ostensibly did the same thing I did. And there's the key: It only works to compare IF WE DO THE SAME THING. If you do 73 reps instead of 100, or if you don't actually do a full range movement, and I do, then what does that number mean? Nothing.
And THAT is how you cheat me. You rob me of one of my key motivational drivers. You take away my ability to genuinely see how I stack up. What should be motivating for both of us turns into a false accomplishment for you and demotivating disgust within me. So why are you doing it?
I suggest that if you want your time on the board, earn it. If you don't want to earn it, don't lie and put it up there. Don't say you did it RX when you didn't. Don't say you did the reps when you didn't.
I can overlook a lot and still like someone as a person. That holds for this as well. It's not that I don't like you, it's not that you're a bad person. You're simply sabotaging one of the motivators I use to make myself better and I wish you would stop. And you're not getting anything positive out of it either!
At some level, how is your performance held back because you know you're cheating? Do you really believe that your mind and body will deliver their best to you when you know that you're cheating? I don't think so. On some level, you know you don't deserve accolades, so you will (perhaps subconsciously) sabotage yourself elsewhere. The part of your brain that understand ethics yet doesn't act ethically still knows right and wrong, and you haven't fooled it into thinking you deserve the best. Maybe there's much greater things for you physically as well as mentally on the right side of being honest.
Finally, to the fire-breathers with integrity, thanks for real, honest motivation. Oh, and I'm still going to try to beat you at every single workout. While that may not motivate you because I'm not even nipping at your heels, you can have faith that I'll never short my reps just to try to fool someone into thinking it's closer than it really is.