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Why To (Maybe) Stop Using A Scale

The picture on the left was me somewhere in the winter of 2015/2016 and I weighed 225 pounds. The picture on the right is me in August of 2020 and I have no idea what I weigh. Here is a little about my personal weight gain and weight loss story, and my decision to stop using a scale.

I started CrossFit when I was 23 and weighed right at 170 lbs. At the start, I would weigh myself religiously. I had a little muscle mass, mostly from high-school sports, and working physical labor jobs. I could crush body weight movements, as well as anything cardio. But when any substantial weight was added to a workout I struggled. This was difficult for me to handle, I had always been physically capable and never really struggled with exercise. But, CrossFit has a special way of humbling anyone who participates.

I was obsessed with the scale

My eating habits didn’t help things. I have discussed this previously which you can find here. Intermittent fasting, along with a strict paleo diet, left me wiped out after my workouts and unable to gain any real strength. During this time, I had only gained about 5 lbs of muscle. So after about 6 months of CrossFit, my goal became to gain weight and lift heavy. So I started eating, A LOT!  

I have never measured my caloric intake but here is an idea of how many calories I would take in. At the time I was working on Sundays. Before I went to work I would usually eat a lunch or two. I would also pack some food to snack on at work. Typically, it was grilled chicken, rice, eggs, a couple apples, 2 green smoothies, and a 2 lb bag of clementines. While at work I would also get a burrito from Chipotle, and then go to Smashburger where I would have a burger, fries/haystack onions, and a milkshake. When I got home I would have a couple of bowls of cereal, and usually some ice cream or donuts before going to bed.

Well I did gain weight and the weights I was moving went up. I quickly hit 190 lbs. Then 200 lbs. I got to 215 pretty easily, but my goal was to weigh 225 lbs. It was a struggle to make it to 225. I ate until I felt like throwing up, then I would sit down and let my stomach settle for about 30 minutes. Every day, usually multiple times a day, I would weight myself. I was obsessed with my weight. And I simply could not stop using a scale.

As you can tell, the 225 pounds was not a healthy life for me. While my weightlifting had increased, my cardio was abysmal. My life in general was a struggle. Walking up stairs or a hill at work had me winded. Bending over to tie my shoes had me holding my breath and trying to move my gut out of the way. My clothes started to get very tight. But I still weighed myself. Hitting 225 was nice. I reached my goal! But my body and certain aspects of my life were different. It left me looking for change.  

I decided 225 was the turnaround point for me, and that I needed to lose weight. I wanted to get back to looking good and being able to perform all movements well. In a few months, I dropped from 225 to 185. And still I checked the scale every day. 185 left me feeling weak in my lifts, and with little muscle endurance.  

Why I decided to stop using a scale

Over the years I have fluctuated between 185 and 200, but where I feel best at is 190 to 195. I can move enough weight for an athlete of my caliber, but my cardio and body weight movements still feel strong and fluid. About a year ago I decided to stop using a scale. I have an idea of what I weigh only because I have weighed myself so many times in the past. 

Now I am not concentrating on the number the scale gives me. I am concentrating on being happy and enjoying all aspects of my life. Obviously, health and fitness is a major part of my life. Feeling good and operating well in my workouts makes me happy and at peace. Another big part of my life though is food, and enjoying it with my family and friends. Being able to do so without worrying if the scale will change by even a pound makes me happy.

Can a scale be helpful in our health and fitness journeys? Of course it can, but it shouldn’t be the end all be all. The scale is like a photograph. It captures a split second of your life. Sometimes that second is good, other times it’s not so good. But that second doesn’t determine anything else. 

You might find it helpful to stop using a scale and stop worrying about the numbers. Worry instead about how many people you make a positive impact on in a day. Your life will be much happier that way.   

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How To Make Fitness Work For You

There are so many fitness trends out there. These greatly affect how we think we should approach fitness. From skinny detox tea to the keto diet, health and fitness trends are endless. But at the end of the day, what is fitness for? The CrossFit philosophy is that your fitness should work for you. Your fitness should help you move furniture around your house, or play with your kids in the yard. It’s about using your fitness to be functional.

Fitness isn’t about trends

When I started CrossFit, paleo was the popular diet trend. So, I jumped on that bandwagon. For those who don’t know paleo is, it’s a diet where you attempt to eat like humans did in paleolithic times. This means only foods you would come across in a hunter/gatherer society. If you are follow it, you will spend a large amount of time, money and effort to abide by it.  

I was very skinny before starting CrossFit, and when I first joined I put on a little muscle. At the same time I was eating paleo, I was also intermittent fasting. This means having a large block of the day where you don’t eat. The premise is that you keep your calories limited by only having so much time to consume food in your day.

I didn’t know this at first but the intermittent fasting and paleo were actually hurting my performance. I would fatigue quickly during my workouts. My recovery afterwards would take hours, and I was not gaining any strength. But I would weigh myself everyday and I was happy with the number on the scale.

I did about 7 months of intermittent fasting and paleo. By the end, I was burned out. I hadn’t been out to eat, I didn’t eat the same food as the rest of my family, I hadn’t had much “enjoyment” food, such as desserts, or sweets. So, the pendulum shifted. It shifted way farther than it should have.  

Feeling weak and fatigued had been terrible. The first few workouts with a significant source of carbs in my diet was amazing. I felt good, I lifted heavier, I recovered faster. Going to restaurants was fun again, and I could enjoy meals with my family. But as that pendulum kept going I started gaining weight. Some of it was good. I put on significant muscle mass, I was moving heavy weight in all of my lifts. Some of it was not so good.

The fun lasted for a bit, but then I started having trouble doing anything like pull ups, push ups, box jumps, or running because I had gained a lot of fat as well. I had a goal to see how heavy weights I could lift. So, my cardio stopped. I lost definition and the ability to do some of my gymnastics movements. 

Make fitness work for you

Around this time I switched boxes. The shape I was in disappointed my new coach. He pointed out that while lifting heavy was beneficial, I should be more focused on fitness for life. If I was unable to move quickly for a few minutes without having to stop and try to breathe, were my workouts really doing what I wanted/needed them to do?

That became my new mantra, I wanted to be able to do any physical task life called upon me to do. Whether it be a week of hiking, helping push a stalled car, laying sod, riding my bike with Zeke on my back, the list is endless.

The point is, your fitness should suit your life. You should not only enjoy what you do to get/stay in shape, but it should also work for your needs. That’s why CrossFit is so beneficial: it’s functional. 

The functional movements prepare you for the variety that is life. This way, no matter what life demands of you – a ski trip with friends, carrying your kid around a theme park, helping your brother move – you can do it. Make fitness work for you and for your benefit.

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Growth: How To Embrace Discomfort

Starting anything new is exciting. Stepping out of our comfort zone, the sense of adventure, not knowing what lies ahead. However it is also difficult to do. Yes, our routine is a safe and familiar place to be. It provides such solace that oftentimes people won’t give it up, even if deep down they hate it. As they say, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. But, maybe there’s something to be said about learning to embrace discomfort.

Making the decision to be healthier is fun and it’s exciting. It can be a little intimidating, and there is a good chance you will feel very uncomfortable at first. We all know excessive poor eating habits and too little physical exercise isn’t good for us. Everyone knows drinking 5 pops a day and eating foods loaded with salt, bad fats, or sugars is unhealthy. But that’s our comfort area, we have conditioned ourselves. If you can attach to something, you can detach. Growth requires some sacrifice, and this may mean we need to embrace the discomfort that comes along with this.

Making sacrifices for the sake of change

For generations our comfort zone served humans well. It protected us, it still does. Our comfort zone is our safe zone. But growth is more than safety. To change and grow you have to sacrifice. Sacrifice: that’s the cost of admission. And everyone who starts down the path of growth has to pay admission. 

The most challenging sacrifice is giving up who we are for who we can become. What will friends/family think of me? What if I fail, or look stupid? How will I survive without my (insert your own security blanket here)? How much of an inconvenience will this be to my daily life? 

These and more are all questions that probably run through our minds when debating that initial step into discomfort. From personal experience I can tell you when I started Buffalo Nickel CrossFit I asked myself these questions. When I left my full time job I asked myself these questions again. And probably a million times in between the two experiences. I’m sure I will ask myself these questions a million times more before I leave this life.

Learn to celebrate and embrace discomfort

My advice: stop stepping into discomfort and start leaping into it. Embrace discomfort with open arms. Yes, it’s scary. You might get hurt, embarrassed, you might fail, you might lose “friends”. A lot can happen. But more than likely you will survive and prosper. Also, I promise you two things:

  1. You will have to pay the sacrifice admission.
  2. You will learn that comfort zone you loved so much was actually holding you back from being happy with your life.

So whether or not you have taken that leap or you are still trying to jump over that imaginary comfort zone line just know you can make it. 

You will be uncomfortable for awhile, everyone is. We have all been that new person stepping into the box for the first time. We have all felt like idiots trying to learn the snatch. We have all fallen during a box jump. But everyone in that box has also stayed with it. They have made the choice to grind it out, they have made the choice to grow.  

Like Albert Einstein said, I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.

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Coming Back To Working Out After An Injury

Participate in anything physical long enough and injuries will happen at some point. CrossFit might get a bad rap for injuring people, but the truth is that it happens just as much (if not more) in sports other than CrossFit. Plus sometimes life happens, you have some sort of procedure or surgery. The important thing is not the injury, but how you come back to working out after an injury.

You might have had doctor’s orders to take it easy and not do anything strenuous for a couple weeks or maybe even a few months. So, you served your time and now you are anxiously waiting to be able to work out again. But doing so incorrectly can set you back instead of push you forward. So how do you come back to working out after an injury?

When working out after an injury, start slow

Your body has been resting. While the mind and body might be ready and willing to get going, it is better to take it easy when you first come back. Pushing too hard can put strain on an injury that is healing. 

By starting slow you will also have the opportunity to focus on form or “easier” modifications. I say easier because if you are used to doing T2B go try some K2E. It’s the same thing with HSPU and wall walks. The “easier” one usually ends up being more difficult.   

Take note of your soreness

More than likely you will feel really great that first day back to working out after an injury. You get to see your friends and you’re back in the box actually moving and lifting again. We know it’s fun and exciting. 

But, be prepared for the soreness to hit harder than expected. I think I speak for us all when I say that coming back after that week-long vacation was much harder than expected. Who knew a week of drinking on a beach and eating all you can eat buffets for every meal would lead to this much pain?!

Rest and recovery are extra important when working out after an injury

You told yourself you would take it easy when you came back. But you didn’t know you would be coming back during a 1RM back squat day with a metcon of Fran. So you might have overdone it a little bit, but today just felt good and you PR’d both! 

As the saying goes, you can’t unring a bell, so now what? Now you need to focus on the rest and recovery. Good nutrition, sleep and water intake will be game changers here. 

Other things like starting with only a few WODs that first week or two while focusing on mobility the other days will also greatly benefit your ability to get back to normal when working out after an injury.

Enjoy the process of getting back in the gym

Is there anything better in the world than a good WOD? No of course not, but don’t sit around and mope.

While you are getting back on your feet you don’t have to do absolutely nothing. Use this free time to focus on another form of self improvement. Read a book, go for a walk with the family, learn a new skill, spend time with your pets, try a new recipe. The list is endless – so enjoy the extra time in your day but don’t waste it.

Injuries suck. Time away from the gym sucks. But, letting it get you off track is the worst thing you can do. So once you do get the green light from someone who gets paid more than me, start back. Don’t worry if it’s not where you used to be, and that might get you down. 

Remember success builds motivation. So even just getting into the box and moving should be seen as a success and help you be motivated for the next day!

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The Forgotten Link Between Sleep And Fitness

Many people spend tons of money on supplements, protein this, mass gainer that, energy booster, whatever. But what if I told you there was a super beneficial supplement that you probably weren’t getting enough of, and now what if I told you it was free?! No, this isn’t a bad infomercial. Seriously, there is a free supplement you are probably not getting enough of. You can probably guess what it is. That’s right, it’s sleep. Sleep and fitness are deeply linked, but it’s so easily forgotten.

Working out, and good eating habits will only do so much if you don’t get enough sleep. Without the proper amount of sleep, you will be stalled in your health and fitness journey. Why is that? I am glad you asked.

Sleep and fitness

So what exactly is the link between sleep and fitness?

Our bodies naturally produce human growth hormone, also called HGH. It does exactly what it sounds like – it helps humans grow. It is responsible for regulating body composition, muscle and bone growth, sugar and fat metabolism, and more. Basically HGH really helps us with our fitness.

Sleep is one of the key ways to boost HGH. As we sleep, the HGH works it way through our bodies, helping to repair and restore the damage we did during the day. This is key for workout recovery.

The higher quality rest we get, the more HGH we get. In turn, the more energy we have, the better we feel and perform, and the healthier we become. 

Of course, we all know we need 7-8 hours of sleep a night as adults. If you are getting that, great. If not, here are some signs you are in a sleep deficit.

Signs of sleep deficit

  • Poor digestion, or gut health/increased inflammation. 
  • Hormonal imbalances, especially the hunger hormone and increased food cravings.
  • Insulin resistance – your body will not tolerate carbs well.
  • The “caffeine cycle” – using caffeine to feel awake during the day but then unable to fall asleep at night.

How to boost our sleep and fitness

So, now we know what to look for with lack of sleep. How do we make sure we get as much quality sleep as possible to cash in on this free supplement?

  • Stay off electronics at least 1 hour before bed.
  • Don’t consume caffeine or other stimulants after 2 pm.
  • Watch alcohol intake. It might help you pass out but it doesn’t allow you to actually rest.
  • Be consistent with the times you go to bed and wake up. This consistency will help your body and mind be ready for sleep and ready to wake up.
  • Keep your room dark, quiet, and at a comfortable temperature.
  • Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night.

Struggling to figure out nutrition, sleep, eating habits, and more? We offer coaching in all of the above and more. Set up your free No Sweat Intro today to learn more. 

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Tips For Front Squats: Destroyer of Weakness

The front squat is one of the ultimate movements to expose an athletes weaknesses. It is also one of the best exercises to destroy those weaknesses and improve strength, balance, and mobility. You may find some tips for front squats useful as you continue to train.

If you know me, you know I am a fan of Zercher squats, which you can read about here. I also love front squats. Okay, I don’t really enjoy them that much but they are some of the best squats a person can do. Here are some reasons why, and some tips for front squats.

Why this movement is important

Weaknesses

A person’s back squat can be “cheated”. The weight being placed on the back of the shoulders helps balance a person. It also helps align the bar more directly over the mid-foot allowing the athlete to move more weight. 

There is less emphasis on core stability which means a beginner athlete should be able to load a back squat heavier. The front squat will illuminate weakness in the core, shoulders, back, and obviously the legs. It also will also paint a more detailed picture of an athlete’s mobility or lack thereof.

Safety

As the name implies, during the front squat the bar is in the front rack position and will fall to the ground. This means it will rest on the clavicle, the shoulders, and in the palms. 

If done correctly an excessive amount of forward lean and the bar will not be able to maintain its position. This acts the same way as a rev limiter on an engine. 

Someone who has incorrect front squat posture will be unable to squat heavy weight in the front squat. Therefore, the front squat is arguably safer than the back squat

Posture

While we are talking about posture, the front squat can help us desk-bound humans with our sloppy posture.

As an athlete becomes more advanced at the front squat their posture should improve more. Since the front squat requires more core strength, and a more upright torso, then these muscles are made stronger. This means your posture in daily life should improve as well.

Shoulder health

Nice smooth, supple shoulders will help you feel more confident in the front squat position. 

Mobility is a use it or lose it skill set. We are born with amazing mobility. Watch a small child move and you will see what I mean. Over our life most of us will lose mobility and range of motion. The good news is we are usually able to gain it back! 

One way to help that mobility is the front squat.  Ideally, we want the elbows to be pointed forward when we are in the front squat position, triceps should be parallel to the ground. 

If this isn’t the case for you, don’t be too down on yourself. Simply by attempting the front squat you are doing more mobility work than the large majority of people in the world. Here are some good ways to get started on mobility work, to kick you off in the right direction.

Simple tips for front squats:

  • Focus on range of motion instead of increasing weight quickly.
  • Make sure your heels stay on the ground.  The weight will try to pull you forward, by focusing on your heels you should be able to keep the chest more upright.
  • Find what width of grip feels comfortable on the bar.
  • Using pauses and tempos will help build a strong front squat without the need to increase weight.
  • If you have trouble getting the hips down and keeping the torso up, focus on ankle and hip mobility drills.
  • Balanced athletes should have a front squat that is roughly 85% of their back squat. If yours is less than that you should focus on increasing quad strength.
  • Use your elbows to lead you out of the bottom of the front squat.  Pushing your elbows up will help your torso open and your chest rise before the hips.

Want more tips for front squats? Set up your free No Sweat Intro with us today and start improving.

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10 Quotes Better Than Pre-Workout

I’ll be honest, I have never taken pre-workout. I just kinda take my workouts as they come. I just do my best if I’m tired. If I feel great with lots of energy, then it’s a great day. Either way I am thankful for the ability and opportunity to workout. Pre-workout or lack of it aside, I can’t be the only one who thinks a good motivational quote is inspiring. So here are 10 quotes better than pre-workout (or at least as good) to get you fired up for your next WOD.

Try picking a favorite and putting it somewhere you’ll see it. Put it on a sticky note in your home, or even make it your phone lock screen. Think back to it when you’re about to go into the gym, or any time you feel like you need a good dose of motivation.

Quotes To Pump You Up Better Than Pre-Workout

  1. Nobody cares what you did yesterday. What have you done today to better yourself? – David Goggins
  2. Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen. You won’t be. Don’t count on motivation. Count on discipline. – Jocko Willink
  3. If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. – Marcus Aurelius
  4. It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.– Confucius
  5. If you’re not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback. – Brené Brown
  6. Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears. – Laird Hamilton
  7. Success isn’t owned. It is leased, and rent is due everyday. – J.J Watt
  8. If you aren’t willing to work for it. Don’t complain about not having it. – Toby McKeekan
  9. But did you die? – Mr. Chow
  10. When I step up in the place a-yo I step correct. – Theodore Roosevelt

If these quotes aren’t enough for you, give these ones a go. There are thousands of great motivating quotes for you to use to your advantage.

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My Dad, A Mustang, and Perfection

Oftentimes starting is the most difficult part. We tell ourselves we will start eating healthy on January 1. Or we say next Monday, I will start going to the gym. We tell ourselves things like, now isn’t a good time, but in a few days it will be the perfect time to begin. In reality this is an excuse. Perfection isn’t attainable. This is just a way for us to justify not doing something we know we should. It reminds me of a saying, and a story.  

The saying is “Blablabla. Go workout”. Basically it is saying, yeah yeah yeah, whatever your excuse is, it sucks. Now go workout. You can make excuses but the situation will never be/remain perfect. And at the end of the day did you do something to improve your health or not? The story it reminds of will take a little time to explain but if you are tired of making those excuses it’s a great read. It goes like this.

The story of my dad, a mustang, and perfection

When I was in 7th grade, I was mowing yards for money. One yard was out of my neighborhood, so my dad would drive me there so I could mow it. One day we pulled into the neighborhood and we passed by a black 1968 Mustang coupe. It was gorgeous, and it took me about 1 whole second to fall for it. I HAD to have a ’68 Mustang.

Fast forward a year, I had been saving up my money, and had found a local 1968 Mustang coupe for sale. I paid $3,000 for it. It wasn’t black – it was white. And it needed A LOT of work.  

But it was mine.  

Back in high school I had a few things done, mostly mechanical, so I could drive it a little bit. My dad was excited about this restoration project and even enrolled in some night paint and body classes at a local technical college just so he could work on it himself.  

While I was in college we continued to work on it, but in reality, he did the majority of work. My dad was hung up on perfection. In his mind, you did not go to step 2 until step 1 was perfect.

His goal was for this to be a perfect restoration. He saw it as his gift to me that he make the body work and paint perfect. The years ticked by. I graduated college, and began my working life. Meanwhile, my dad kept trying to bring the car to perfection.

In 2016, about 12 years after buying the car, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. An aggressive and unsurvivable cancer. That June we finished the paint and body work, and in July of 2018 it was finally as done, at least as done as any project car can be. And guess what, it wasn’t perfect. A few months after the car was finished my dad passed away. He never said it, but I know the few flaws the car has drove him crazy.  

The moral of the story

There are still plenty of flaws, even in the paint and body. The car isn’t restored to perfection, and I hope it never is. If it was, I wouldn’t want to drive it or enjoy it for fear of making it imperfect. If it was perfect I wouldn’t see the flaws and hear my dad’s voice in my head explaining to me how he planned on fixing that. Anytime it got the slightest bit dirty I would want to detail it. 

But I drive it, I enjoy it, I use it. And best of all, it is a place for me to remember him.

The moral of the story is, there will never be a perfect time to start living a healthier life. It is better to just start, because planning on perfect is unrealistic. 

My dad’s mindset was step 1 has to be perfect to move on to step 2.  I encourage you to adopt the mindset of I can’t take step 2 if I stay on step 1

Love you and miss you dad.


If you are ready to take the first step on your fitness journey, click on FREE INTRO on our home page (here).

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Fitness is Evolving: The Future Of Fitness

Who knows how 2020 will be written in the history books? There are still a few months left and, as we have seen, a lot can happen in that time. As you know, my world revolves around fitness. Aside from all the global craziness that has happened, I see a change happening that hopefully continues into the future of fitness.

How has the future of fitness changed in 2020?

Here is an overview of what has happened this year. People have been stuck at home, with little to no workout equipment. This caused people to get creative. 

People usually spend a ton of money on vacations, summer camps, and entertainment outside of the home. This year that money went towards something different.

It went towards bikes, personal workout equipment, and home improvement materials.

No, you aren’t reading the wrong article. This isn’t an economics blog, fitness is right around the corner.

What most call fitness

To the average person, fitness is understood to be visual. A certain ratio of shoulder width to bicep circumference, a tiny waist line, or thighs that don’t touch. 

Many people imagine fitness happening in a building with air conditioning, an Olympic pool, tons of machines, in the most affluent part of town. 

Fitness “gurus” will try to sell the average person on this certain supplement (or tea…you all know who you are), or a specific training plan will give you the ‘ultimate 6 pack in 30 days’. This won’t work, and isn’t what fitness is about.

What fitness actually is

Well, what is fitness about then?

Fitness provides freedom.

This freedom is what allows you to ride your bike with family and friends and not be bringing up the rear. 

It also allows you to be able to load that sheet of plywood from the cart to your truck bed. Then you can carry that plywood from the truck bed to the garage and duck down as you walk through the door with it. 

Fitness/freedom is why you can look good in a swimsuit but still enjoy foods you like.  

And most important of all, fitness equals freedom through functionality.  

The fitness equation

The fitness equation means a person’s level of freedom is directly related to how functionally fit they are.

Of course I don’t mean constitutionally free. I am sure North Korea has plenty of fit people. 

Refer back to the example we gave earlier of people who believe fitness is a skinny girl drinking detox teas. Or those who think fitness means a bicep is supposed to be the size of a newborn child. 

Those people might look fit, but how functional are they? Can the skinny girl even load the sheet of plywood by herself? Can the guy with sleeve splitting biceps go hiking and not feel like his lungs will explode? Are they actually fit? Are they free? 

The future of fitness

My point is fitness is finally evolving. People had disposable income and they didn’t go buy a leg press machine, they bought a barbell and weight set. They didn’t put in an in-ground pool, they bought a road bike to ride with their friends and family. 

Restaurants were closed. So, they didn’t spend money on going out to eat. Instead they started cooking real, healthy food. And they couldn’t go on vacations so they decided to use their own manual labor to finish all those house projects.

These things feel good to do. These things are changing how people think of fitness, and changing the future of fitness trends.

When will the globo-gym model be extinct? Will girls with a waist the size of a pencil and zero muscle tone stop selling BS products? Will guys, who spend years getting perfectly sculpted abdominals and shoulders, tell you that they know the secret to giving you the same in 30 days? One day, will functional fitness be the ultimate king like it was when humans were still trying to learn how to survive on Earth? That’s all highly doubtful.  

But a movement changing the future of fitness has started. People are connecting fitness and functionality. My hope is that people will embrace functional fitness. I hope this trend will continue and that people will continue down the road of functionality – towards freedom.

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What Makes A Good Athlete?

There are several features that make a good athlete. And they’re certainly not all about physical fitness. Since we are a CrossFit box, we will mostly be talking about those who are members of a box/follow the CrossFit methodology. But personally I believe this applies to all fitness avenues.

First, being a member of a box automatically classifies you as an athlete in my book. Doesn’t matter if you have never been to a competition, and you may not ever want to. That’s fine. You are an athlete because you compete against others daily. When you come to the box and see the WOD, you are already deciding how you are going to attack it to give you the best results. Then you complete that WOD with others trying to beat you and you trying to beat them. That is competition – plain and simple.

However, you can be more than just an athlete. You can be a good athlete.

Coaches like good athletes

I don’t mean those with the fastest times, or heaviest weights. I mean those athletes who put effort in. 

They show up, they pay attention. They put effort in both in and out of the gym, they respect their limits, and they work towards their goals. 

Long before CrossFit was my job, it was my hobby. But before that, health and fitness was a hobby of mine. I enjoy spending time, effort, and money on CrossFit. 

Over the years of this being my hobby, I have learned that athletes like coaches have a responsibility. Athletes must take ownership of their training, not because they owe it to the coach or the box but they owe it to themselves. So what responsibilities do athletes have?

Making time in their schedule to workout

I get it, life sometimes happens and makes it hard to workout. 

But if you want to improve your health, or maintain your fitness you might have to make certain sacrifices. 

Waking up early, or telling your friend dinner will just need to be at 7 instead of 6 so that you can workout is not the end of the world. It’s important to prioritize working out.

Deciding what food to eat or not eat makes a good athlete

If I told you there was a magic pill that could make you healthier, fitter, feel better during and after your workouts, improve your sleep, help make you happier, get rid of a large amount of medications, and give you the body you have always dreamed of, you would without a doubt pop that pill. 

Guess what, that pill exists. It is food.

Making the proper choices, along with sleep and exercise, will give you that dream body.

Knowing which weights to use and when to scale back the intensity

Everyone wants to Rx a metcon, lift heavy weights, or get the most reps. But learning and knowing when that is good and when it is bad is important. 

Now, of course as a new athlete, you won’t know or have an idea. This is when it is your coaches responsibility. But after a while it becomes your responsibility.

If you know your 3 rep max thruster weight is 115 lbs, attempting Kalsu Rx isn’t smart and in fact it can be dangerous. I think I speak for all coaches when I say they would much rather you scale back and not get hurt than go Rx and hurt yourself or lose the stimulus of the WOD.

Providing proper and accurate feedback to the coach makes a good athlete

I try to make sure and ask all of my athletes how they feel before or during the warm-up. I also try to ask them how their lifts are feeling and then I even check after the metcon to see how it was for them.

I am sure they hate it, but it allows me to determine if something should be modified that day or in the future. My responsibility as a coach is to coach, the only way I can do that effectively is to have feedback.

Good athletes listen to their bodies

Some days are tough. You’re sore, you ate a whole large pizza by yourself the night before. You didn’t sleep well. Work is stressing you out. You have an injury that is not healed yet.

No one knows your body as well as you.

Pain is how your body communicates with you. There is strength in being able to push past the uncomfortable WODs but there is a different strength in being able to know when your body has had enough. Listen to your body.