From Rock Bottom to Community – and why true performance comes from letting go

20 years of coaching, one realization

Jörn Perlwitz has been a coach for over 20 years, twelve of them as the owner of CrossFit-Schmiede in Kassel. He has worked at an elite level in six disciplines, internationally, in high-performance sports. Today, he coaches the Kassel Huskies in athletics.

His message? "Impact, grow, and connect."

But the path to get there was anything but straight.

"I dislocated my shoulder twice, had two surgeries, and was constantly in pain that I really didn't want," Jörn recounts. "Then I changed everything, learned that there are an incredible number of forms of movement that I had completely neglected."

The result? He went back to CrossFit – and performed better than ever. Without extremism. With balance.

The Problem: No Pain, No Gain for Amateurs

We live in a performance-driven society. Faster, higher, further – not just at work, but also in our free time.

"For me, the most striking realization," Jörn says, "is that someone who works 8 hours, maybe even 4 hours, has a family, and does this as a hobby, actually needs more Yin than Yang in their life."

What Amateurs Should Not Adopt from Professionals

Jörn knows the scenario all too well:

Someone comes in with knee problems. Three weeks of training, finally pain-free movement. Weights are slowly increased.

And then: "Hey, I've signed up for my first competition!" Jörn's reaction? Almost a facepalm.

"We just spent three weeks teaching you how to move pain-free. Why are you now signing up for a competition that forces you to do something you're clearly not ready for?"

The Difference: Pro vs. Amateur

Can you succeed without extremism?

Jörn's answer is clear: "Absolutely not."
If you want to perform at the highest level, you have to be single-minded:

• Your partner must be 100% supportive
• Your family must be 100% supportive
• You must get at least 8–12 hours of sleep
• Your nutrition must be completely tailored
• No excessive partying

Everything focused on one goal: Who can do that? Who wants that?

Most people don't want it – they just think they do.

"In a performance-driven society where everything is about faster, higher, further, it quickly becomes about that in your free time too. And that's the problem."

Extreme Balance: The Underestimated State

"Can balance be extreme?", Jörn asks rhetorically. "That's the state we should achieve. That's also what I learned about my own training."

Homeostasis. Balance. Not extremes.

"I'm not a professional athlete; I'm far from delivering any top performances. Yet, I might still be better than people who think they have to do this as a competitive sport."

The catch? If he gets better precisely by not being extreme – then we've arrived at the point: We need balance.

Nutrition: Real Food Instead of Dogmas

Jörn is not a nutrition expert, but he has clear principles:

"Anything extreme fundamentally cannot be good."

His basic rules:

1. No extreme processing: Processed foods can't really do us any good.

2. Not too much meat "I tried too much meat consumption – it didn't work. I'm far from eating vegan, but everything has its pros and cons."

3. Focus on real food "Don't dogmatically say: 'You have to completely give up sugar now.' That works for most people for one, two weeks. Then it's over, and they fall back into old habits."

4. Reduce inflammation promotion "Especially everything that promotes inflammation – try to cut back on that a bit."

5. Read labels "Generally, look at a package: How many ingredients are in there? What can you pronounce? Eat more real food."

The emotional aspect

"You can't just use willpower to say: 'I'm stopping eating sugar now.' You can't just dissolve that emotional dependence on sugar – otherwise, it shifts: You start smoking or whatever."

The solution? Awareness instead of compulsion. Real food instead of prohibitions. Rock Bottom: When Letting Go Becomes Healing

There was a point in Jörn's life when he wasn't doing well.
A good friend told him: "You're not yet at rock bottom, because you still have the feeling that you're falling. As soon as you want to get up, you're at rock bottom."

"From that point on, things started looking up," Jörn recounts. "Because I could let things go. I said goodbye to things – things that concerned me, things that perhaps concerned others, things I would have liked to influence but couldn't."

From that point, almost everything turned positive. The Power of Letting Go

"Let go more," Jörn advises.

"In a society where only Yang prevails, where it's always just fight and flight." His example: an aspiring boxer. "You get more length in your punch by letting go – not by tensing up more." In sports. In life. In everything.

The CrossFit Schmiede Kassel Community: 12 People at 6 AM

Jörn gets up at 5 AM. He coaches at 6 AM.
"The moment you get up is always: too early. It's simply too early."

But then:

"Then there are 12 people who are really keen. At exactly 6 AM, it's completely over. Then it's hype. Then it's fun."

The stories that matter

The man with a herniated disc whom Jörn has coached for 10 years – who today can throw his 12-year-old child around. Not lift. Throw.

The person who has never exercised in their life, completely overwhelmed in the trial training: "Fuck, I can never sign up here." Jörn's answer: "I bet you'll still be here in three years." Three years later? Still there.

"Because maybe they get along a bit better with themselves. Get fitter. Can walk up stairs better. These are the basics."

The healthy comparison

"We need a healthy comparison," Jörn says. "We want to keep fitness measurable. For that, we need to determine our performance."

But the question is:

Should I compare my performance with my own from a few years ago? From last week? Or where I might want to go – for myself?

Or do I have to compare myself with you?
"Do you think that's the crux of why it's so difficult for us to be in balance long-term?" Jörn's answer: "Because we have trouble looking in the mirror."

"The moment that gets better – if I stay a bit more with myself, perhaps pay more attention to becoming a bit purer from within, letting go of a few things – then it also becomes a bit easier for me."

Impact, Grow, Connect Why these three values?

Impact: "We both always had the aspiration to make people's lives better with what we do. That's at the top."

Grow: "Growth is directly connected to that – because it's not just about growing yourself, but about letting your environment grow with you."

Connect: "Then you're with community, with connectedness. Because it's impossible without it."