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CrossFit Myth: Being Fit Enough For CrossFit

legs of women who are all fit enough for crossfit being all different shapes and sizes standing in a line

One of the biggest misconceptions about CrossFit I often hear is, “I’m not fit enough for CrossFit.”

This belief stems from what most people’s idea of CrossFit is, which is The CrossFit Games. The Games is a series of events and competitions where people compete to see who is the fittest person in the world. CrossFit started hosting these back in 2007. Normal everyday people could not only be selected, but could even win. Panda Express used to sponsor The CrossFit Games. You even drank beer after working out – no joke.  

However, this has quickly evolved to, if you don’t have great genetics, a bombproof training and eating regimen, a long and extensive background in health and fitness…then good luck even making it to the middle stage of selection. Most Games athletes now are/were high level college athletes, and some were/are Olympians or junior Olympians.

Are you fit enough for CrossFit at the Games level? 

No, you are not. There are only a few people in the world who are fit enough for that. 

But, are you fit enough for CrossFit in general?

Yes! You certainly are! Yes!

Everyone has to start somewhere

Humans love to compare themselves to others, even when we have no experience in a subject. For example, when people walk into a box for the first time and they see someone pouring sweat, doing muscle ups, flipping tires, and jumping on top of a box the height of a kitchen table they think “there is no way I can do that”. And they are right.

But, what they don’t think about is that person has been training in CrossFit for years. They had to lose 30 lbs to have those abs and be able to even do a pull up. They started exactly where everyone else did. By simply walking in the door.

When you start a good coach will know that you shouldn’t be pushed like more seasoned athletes. So, instead of doing muscle ups, you will do pull ups. Instead of flipping tires, you will do kettle-bell swings. And maybe you won’t jump on a box but will step up on one. Guess what, that is still CrossFit! CrossFit movements can be scaled and modified. This makes CrossFit a great choice for everyone.

Everyone likes to talk about how CrossFit uses the kipping and butterfly pull ups and how they are not real pull ups. They are just a different version of pull ups that serve a different purpose, just like jumping, banded, and strict pull ups all serve their own purposes.  

Everyone’s fit enough for CrossFit

So the point is, anyone and everyone is able to do CrossFit. No matter what your skill level or your experience is, CrossFit movements can be scaled to meet your level of fitness. And this is important because it allows new athletes to have a workout made a little easier for them. Or it allows more advanced athletes to modify a workout to be harder than it once was.

Are you “not in good enough shape” to start CrossFit and have two minutes to spare? Message us – we only need two minutes to ask your opinion on something.

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How To Get Back In The Gym After A Break

woman getting back in the gym

For one reason or another, you took time off working out. You might be looking to get back in the gym after lockdown, getting busy with work, recovering from an injury, or any other reason.

First of all, congratulations! It’s great that you’re ready to get your fitness back on track. However, don’t be overzealous. It can be tempting to go really hard to make up for lost time, but this can lead to burnout and injury.

In this post, we have some key pointers for getting your mind and body back into the workout grind safely and sustainably. If you use these tips, you’ll be able to start working out again in a way that’s positive for your long-term plan.

When you get back in the gym, expect a change in ability

No matter if you used to be a weightlifter, a CrossFitter, a cardio lover or whatever else, you should remember that your physical ability will have suffered. Don’t feel bad about this – it’s normal! 

But, it is important to keep in mind when making a new plan. If you jump straight back into the same workouts you used to do, you may overexert yourself and get injured. Or, you might not be able to perform like you used to and get frustrated. Make sure to start working out again in a sustainable way, so you don’t burn out.

Be patient and take it slow

Take some time to think about your old workout plan, and how you can scale it back. It’s important to set yourself up for success. This means thinking about keeping it sustainable.

Think about your previous high intensity workouts. A good rule of thumb is to start working out again at 20 percent of the intensity of your hardest workouts.

If you had to take time off from exercise because of an injury or illness, check in with your doctor before getting started.

Plan your workout with exercises you enjoy

You’ll be far more motivated to get back in the gym if you’ve got a killer workout plan. When you’re getting back into the swing of things, try to keep it simple. Get back to the basics, and focus on your functional movements. There are many great resources online to inspire you.

Create a workout plan with two to four heavy compound lifts at the start. From there, you can be flexible. Work in some isolation lifts, cardio, bodyweight exercises, or anything you want.

Many people like to ease themselves back into exercising with group fitness classes, such as CrossFit. You could also opt for a game of soccer, tennis, basketball or any sport of your choosing with friends. 

Expect to be sore when you get back in the gym

Every fitness junkie has had a bad case of DOMS at some point. DOMS stands for delayed onset muscle soreness. When you do any kind of resistance training, it causes tiny tears in your muscle fibers. This is why you feel sore after a workout, particularly after your first session in a while.

After you get back in the gym, you should expect some muscle soreness. However, you can minimize it by warming up, drinking enough water and applying ice to the affected muscles after the workout.

Don’t let your sore muscles put you off too much. And luckily, the more often you go, the less noticeable your DOMS will be.

Set (healthy) goals

Getting back in the gym can seem a bit daunting. Setting yourself some goals can help you measure your progress and boost your motivation as you smash through them.

When you set goals for yourself, remember the SMART acronym. A goal should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-based. When you reach a goal, reward yourself with some new workout gear, or anything else you like!

At the end of the day, getting back in the gym should be fun. If you take it slow and manage your expectations, this will help you ease back into the lifestyle. Before you know it, you’ll be back where you left things – or better than ever!

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Competition Motivation Theory

two volleyball athletes using competition motivation theory passing a ball over a net

Competition motivation theory is the idea that we perform better when we compete with others. Put simply, competition drives results.

Working out alone has pros and cons

Over the last 4-ish years, I’ve done the majority of my daily fitness by myself. I sometimes enjoy this because it is just me, and I can use it to plan my day, consider a topic at hand. It lets me think through a problem I have in life, or go into zen mode.

For most people, working out alone is tough. You have to be very self motivated and highly dedicated. There is no one there to peer pressure you into getting up, or pushing yourself in the workout. 

Being alone makes it easy to back off of the intensity. No one is expecting to see you thrive. And while you may get the time to yourself no one is cheering for you or your accomplishments. It can become very lonesome.

One of the biggest issues training alone is that there is no competition. It is just you, you don’t have anyone to help push you and no one to gauge your pace. 

CrossFit thrives off competition motivation theory

I don’t know if this is true but it makes for a good story. I remember hearing someone talk about something Greg Glassman (founder of CrossFit) said. Supposedly it was something along the lines of, ‘put two people in a room with a clock and a task to complete and they will kill themselves to beat each other.’

I can’t seem to find if he actually said that or not but it brings up a good point. If you want to get better, you need competition. It is one of the reasons CrossFit allows affiliates to open right across the street from each other. The best ones win. 

Healthy competition is good. It helps produce the best results. Many people struggle to stay motivated, and competition really helps.Without competition, results become stagnant and fall to the lowest point allowed.

Competition also drives innovation and new ideas. Why did the butterfly pull up become a thing? It was the innovation of athletes trying to fit in more work in less time, because they wanted to beat their competition.

Use your competitive nature

I love seeing a competitive nature in people, particularly in the gym. I can watch people work out and tell who has it and who doesn’t.  

Some people just move at their pace. It doesn’t matter if they could beat the person next to them or not, they are steadfast in their own pace. I honestly admire these types, I think they are mentally and emotionally strong in a certain sense. They don’t allow others to persuade them easily. It is a trait I find attractive.

Equally as attractive is that push and fight that others show. I am definitely this type. You might be a new athlete scaling every movement and weight while I am doing Rx, I don’t care, I still want to finish before you. 

Watching these types brings me joy. You see the glances at their competition, and then to the clock. You see them pick the pace up. Their faces usually have a pained expression, and they are gasping for breath but they continue to push. Usually, at this point, their competitor is onto them, and they start pushing harder. It soon becomes an all out sprint to the death. This is competition motivation theory in practice.

Luckily, I have yet to see anyone actually die from this. What actually happens is both athletes win. They used each other to push and finish a WOD they may otherwise have backed off of and just gone through the motions to complete. 

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When To Take Workout Supplements

when to take workout supplements arranged in a question mark on a gray background

I need to preface: I am not a dietitian or a doctor. Therefore none of the following is meant to cure or treat any illness, ailment or disease. In this post I’ll tell you what I know about workout supplements. When to take workout supplements, which to take, and if you need them.

Supplements

Lots of people ask a lot of questions about supplements. This isn’t a guide to what each and every supplement does or if they actually follow through on their claims. This is just a list of questions I get asked the most about supplements.

  • Do I need workout supplements?
  • What should my first supplement be?
  • When to take workout supplements?
  • Should I check with my doctor?
  • Is there anything else to be aware of with supplements?

Do I need workout supplements?

It depends, and everyone is different. 

Here is my mindset: I want to experience the most undiluted, unfiltered, unassisted version of myself as possible. Personally, I do very well when I can “feel”, meaning if I am tired or low on energy, I want to feel that. To me, it is about checks and balances.

If I didn’t get enough sleep, made poor food choices, and am stressed I want my workout to be my purge valve. I want a bad workout to be my wake up call and say you should really be going to sleep earlier, eating better, or need to take some time off. That’s for me, but what do I recommend for you?

If you are new to CrossFit/fitness (less than 3-4 months) I would say that you don’t NEED to focus on supplements. You should focus on building healthy habits and involving them in your schedule. This builds consistency, and that is a better investment than supplements. You should also focus on the basics. Not only the basic CrossFit movements, but things like getting enough water, proper nutrition, good rest, and mobility. 

What should my first supplement be?

So after a few months in CrossFit you have been consistent and are making healthier life choices, now what? 

Now might be a good time to add in a supplement, but what is the right answer? A quick Google search leads to a list of 1000s of different ones, it is overwhelming! Many people choose to start with vitamins or protein.

Vitamins

There are different schools of thoughts over daily vitamins. Some say they do nothing, and most of the nutrients are filtered out in your body, and that you pay for expensive urine. The extreme of this is your kidneys have to work more and can lead to kidney issues later in life.

Yeah, maybe that’s true, but I would say a poor diet and life choices (which most people make) are much harder on one’s organs than some multivitamins. I also think it’s better to have too many nutrients rather than not enough.

Protein

Protein is going to help your muscles, which I know are sore, tired, and probably starting to feel exhausted during hard WODs. 

You are getting better, stronger, and faster. Your muscles are now struggling to keep up compared to when you first started. So, you need extra protein to help repair your muscles and help you get stronger. Of course you can get more protein by eating more, but that takes more time and also increases your overall caloric intake. 

So, a protein shake is a perfect solution. This will keep calories lower, but give you a high concentration of protein in fluid form, therefore you can intake it faster than eating, it also makes it easier for your body to digest.

When to take workout supplements?

Another one of those ‘it depends’ answers. For protein, there are many factors to consider, type of protein, amount, if you worked out or not. Basically there can be lots of answers, but we want simple, so let’s keep it simple.

For protein, I would suggest right after your workout. Your muscles are hungry, they are looking for help. Don’t leave them hanging, give them some protein and make them happy muscles!

For the multivitamin (and personally all my other supplements), I take mine before bed. Here is why; when I go to bed it is my body’s time to rest, slow down and recover. So by taking my supplements then, I believe my body is able to use and absorb  the supplements and nutrients without being distracted by anything else. It sounds silly, and I don’t know if there is any actual science to it. But that’s what I do!

Should I check with my doctor?

Yes, of course. It is smart to always check with a doctor before adding supplements or vitamins. With that being said, do I check with my doctor? What doctor?

BUT… I also have read, and researched lots and lots of information over years and years. So I have complete (over)confidence in my decisions.

Is there anything else to be aware of with supplements?

The biggest thing to be aware of is the supplement and vitamin industry is not regulated. Meaning anything can be put in them. Now this is talked about in the mainstream media every once in a while because we LOVE regulation. We want everyone to be held accountable.

However, is there any real need to be concerned that something bad might be in your vitamin or supplement? Highly doubtful. More than likely it will be something like this: you pay good money believing you are getting high quality supplements or vitamins and it’s low quality stuff, or highly diluted with binders and/or rice flour. Do your research before buying.

But good reputable brands that have been around for a while are that way for a reason. They carry good quality products that are not diluted and they actually work. Stick to reputable brands and supplements can be an awesome part of your fitness lifestyle.

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Learning to be Human Part II

women doing human fitness throughout evolution wearing activewear and standing in yoga poses in gym

So in part 1 (click here to read) we talked human fitness throughout evolution. We discussed the idea that maybe, in our modern, artificial, and domesticated lives, there is something missing. 

Some of these missing pieces are things that, throughout evolution, we have given up in the name of progress. Some things haven’t been taught, due to them being seen as old, outdated, savage, or improper. 

We also reviewed some ways to be more human and reconnect with that deep part of our brain. These things were:

  • Change your routine
  • Start back at step one
  • Remember what playing is
  • Immerse yourself in nature
  • Reconnect with your tribe
  • Leave the shoes at the door
  • Learn about your food
  • Observe without distractions
  • Gain old skills

Revert back

The quickest way to go back to our roots as humans and allowing your daily life to be what keeps you fit, healthy and strong is to give up everything. 

I’m talking about your house, job, transportation, plumbing, shoes, clothing, medicines, any processed foods. You are no longer allowed to go to the store…you get the idea. Now, as freeing and unchained as this may sound, not many people want to do this extreme of a change. This includes myself. 

Like we discussed a few weeks ago, humans and other animals have an old, deep part of the brain that is responsible for basic tasks mainly built around survival. This is a very deeply rooted system. Its sole purpose is to make the best decision possible for you to continue living. It is truly a fascinating system.  

What this means is basically your mind knows that by giving up all of our comforts, our chance for survival would dramatically decrease. This fires up the lizard inside of us and says “no way, don’t do that”.

But, we can implement a few minor things that will help us be healthier and hopefully be more fulfilled as a human, while still allowing our lizard self to not fear for our safety.

How to reconnect with human fitness throughout evolution

Change your routine

Switch up your routine in the gym, your morning routine, the way you get home or get to the store. Change forces you to think. It forces us to learn new ways to do things. Are you right hand dominant? Brush your teeth with your left hand for a few days.  

We build habits and our ancient ancestors had habits too, like using a favorite hunting spot, or a stream that always had water. But on the way to the stream, they may have had to deal with a giant tree that fell across their usual path. Or maybe they had to take a different way because an animal was in the spot they usually went to. The point is, human fitness throughout evolution has been affected by humans having little control over their routine. They had to be able to adjust and adapt to their environment much more so than we do now. 

Start back at step one

If you have been a member with us at Buffalo Nickel CrossFit you have undoubtedly done crawls/walks. Bear crawls, crab walks, farmers carries, etc. These are some of my favorite pieces of torture movement. They always look so simple and easy because they are so basic. I mean, a child can crawl! 

But it never takes long for the muscles to start burning and these simple movements to become excruciating and difficult. Snatches, DU, muscle ups, lifting heavy weight, and handstands are all cool and fun. Today we want to do things that look cool on Instagram, but I promise you our that old world humans did not have to do snatches or muscle ups to live.

I can also promise you, with the same confidence, that they did have to crawl, walk and carry to survive. Human fitness throughout evolution has been shaped by these simple, basic movements. We shouldn’t forget just how beneficial and tough these movements can be.  

Remember what playing is

One of the certifications I have attended was called Movnat. I absolutely loved it and learned a ton. Movnat does things very different than most other athletic programs. One of these things is instead of using the words ‘train’ or ‘practice’ they use the word ‘play’. This is to serve as a reminder that humans have only recently begun to ‘train’ athletic movements.  

As a child you don’t realize that by falling to the ground and getting back up that you are doing a burpee. To you, you are just playing. You aren’t doing pull ups – you are climbing trees, or doing monkey bars. Playing invokes creativity, and fun. Sure, a CrossFit WOD can mimic this and is fun for a lot of people including myself, but play is different. 

For example, a few weeks ago we went to float the Illinois River. The river bed and banks are rock/gravel. We pulled over on a gravel bar to relax and in no time there was a competition to see who could throw a rock to the other side, or who could hit the tree branch in the water with a rock. No one was “working out”, we were all just playing.

Being in nature is a key part of human fitness through evolution

I think most of us agree that after spending time outdoors in nature we feel happier, more optimistic and simply better. Nature has the magical ability to, for lack of a better term, heal us. Listening to the sounds, seeing wide open spaces or tall mountains, crossing a cool stream, feeling the shade of a tree, or counting stars…nature is magical.

There are tons of studies which show nature benefits humans. People who live in or near nature and outdoors are generally healthier, the risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, premature death, blood pressure, and stress levels are all reduced. They are also generally more active which only helps with the above conditions, as well as many other benefits.

You may not have a national park or ocean in your backyard but you don’t need to. Just being able to walk in the grass, see trees, hear birds, or smell flowers can be enough to feel mental and physical health benefits.

Reconnect with your tribe 

Humans formed tribes for survival. Tribes meant protection, safety, sharing of resources, and a bigger gene pool. In the ancient times, you didn’t get to choose your tribe. Today we are lucky enough to not only choose who our tribe is but we have many tribes!

We have our home tribe, our work tribe, our gym tribe, we have lots of tribes. But how often do we truly connect with them? Do we just ask basic questions and move on or do we put down our phones, talk, listen, and engage each other?

A great way to connect with your tribe is over a meal. Humans have shared food with each other for eons. Share a meal and conversation with your loved ones. Learn about your tribe, get to know them. Put your phone down, turn off the TV and just talk. Enjoy your tribe and reconnect with them.

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Changing How You Think About Fitness Progress

women walking to show how they make fitness progress walking together on a path which looks over the beach seen from behind

CrossFitters, and athletes in general are type A personalities. Go-getters. We are competitive and usually have a very strong inner drive to make fitness progress.  I believe this is a good trait to have in life and it also helps us to push ourselves during our training and or competitions. 

CrossFit is the sport of fitness. The revolutionary thing CrossFit did was combined all these different exercises and then tracked the data to see how fit people were getting. This has been great and it has helped thousands if not millions of people be introduced to health and fitness as well as improve their life in the same way.  

However, with hyper-competitiveness and intense training comes some issues. These may include strains, injuries, burn-out, technique failures, loss of proper technique, and many more. So how are we measuring fitness progress and how can we improve the process?

The standard way

Most people measure fitness progress in ways that are as old as time. These ways might include:

  • 1 rep max
  • Volume/rep maxes (such as 3, 5, 10, 20 rep max)
  • Size
  • Weight
  • Body fat

Of course all of these can be important and are great ways to measure fitness progress. That’s a reason they have always been used. They work, plain and simple. 

But to stay healthy and fit for life you also have to focus on recovery, movement quality, and overall well-being and nutrition.

Other ways to measure fitness progress

  • Number of days you maintain heavy work loads or high intensity workouts
  • Ability to stay injury free
  • Improved technique
  • Mobilization improvements
  • Recovery time after an intense WOD
  • Aptness to move in a pain free way
  • Potential to complete life tasks and care for one’s own well being

CrossFit, health, fitness, and life are about much more than how heavy you lift. It’s not about if you have abs or not, or if you can’t sit in a standard airplane seat easily because your legs are so big. I think your health and fitness should be utilitarian. In essence, fitness progress is about how your body serves you in day to day life.

Keep the big (life) picture in sight

You might move heavy weight, you might be 5% body fat, or maybe you have the biggest arms around. But if your joints constantly hurt, you have zero energy and are cranky, or you can’t reach behind you or across your body then what’s the point?!  

Your body is a machine, and it has to be taken care of. Like all well-built machines it can take a lot of abuse and mishandling before an important piece fails. And I promise that if you push too hard, eventually pieces will fail and break.

But a machine that is run at the appropriate RPMs, paid attention to, handled properly, and gets regular maintenance will serve its owner for a long, long time.  

Start caring about your body, it is the only one you get.

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Getting Stronger: Energy, Fat And Protein

woman in white tank top getting stronger flexing her arm and standing on path

There are a few topics that people bring up to me and have questions about quite often. These are fat or weight levels, energy during WODs, and overall health or getting stronger. Today I thought we could hopefully offer some guidance about these issues and how to keep your fitness goals on track.

I’m lacking energy in my workouts

Or, a similar issue: it takes me a long time to recover from a WOD.

A lack of energy could be for a number of reasons. Sleep, hydration, nutrition, stress, getting over being sick, not being active for a while, age, the list goes on. 

If you’re a generally healthy athlete that is used to CrossFit-style workouts, gets adequate sleep, water, and so forth, then the answer could be calorie levels.  

Your body needs fuel. Even if you were to lay on the couch and not move a muscle your body is still working. Your lungs, heart, brain, kidneys, liver, digestive system. All of these organs take energy to keep working properly.

Now take into consideration all the hard work and exertion your body does during a typical WOD. If you want to get stronger, you have to make sure you’re refuelling your energy levels.

What do you mean “refuel energy levels”? 

First, food is energy. 

Our bodies are able to convert food into an energy source our body uses to function. We call this energy source ‘calories’. For your body to function, complete WODs, and recover in a timely manner, then you must have calories to burn. 

Think of a car. When the fuel level on a car is low or empty, then that car can’t go, or at least it can’t go very far. Same thing with your body. 

So how do humans refuel? We eat!  

I like getting stronger, but I don’t want to get fat

To make this easier, let’s just say “gain weight” instead of “get fat”. That means we could be gaining fat, or getting stronger and gaining muscle, but the point is that our weight is increasing.

First, gaining weight for an active healthy human who eats healthy is hard. Like really hard. For an inactive human eating poorly it is not hard. Yes, age, gender, genetics can all play roles, but for most people it is difficult. 

Think about losing weight. It is a process. You can’t eat one or two healthy meals and expect to drop those extra 20 pounds. Same goes for eating one or two unhealthy meals. They won’t make you fat.

Second, if you are active in some form of exercise that requires moving weight you will most likely see increased energy levels, firmness of muscles, and strength gains before seeing much actual weight change. You’ll also notice your clothing fitting better, improved rest, and more definition of your muscles. Most, if not all, of these changes will happen before you gain weight or get fat.

But I am a female and I don’t want to get “bulky”

I wish I got paid every time I heard this. Most times it is a female worrying lifting weights will make her bulky, and the simple answer is, “don’t worry you won’t”. 

Here’s the rub. Most females don’t naturally produce enough testosterone to get bulky. Males do produce more testosterone, but even then you probably won’t look like the people on the cover of fitness magazines without some help. And in this case, help means performance enhancing drugs, estrogen blockers, testosterone boosters, etc.

You will put on muscle, but this will be good solid toned muscle that will make you wonder why you didn’t start working out sooner. Also, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn and the easier it is to shed fat. 

Lastly, by eating plenty of protein and getting stronger you will be able to lift/move more weight. This will show you how awesome you are because you will be doing things you didn’t know you could do. You will feel very accomplished and confident in your fitness abilities.

Getting stronger in review

  • If you are lacking energy, or it takes a while to recover after an intense WOD, try eating more. Focus especially on good fats, carbs, and proteins.
  • Your body and muscles use these proteins, fats, and carbs as building blocks and fuel. Proteins help the muscles get strong, carbs and fats help the muscles actually move and function.
  • Gaining weight is much harder than you think. If you are active, healthy, and eat nutritious foods then it will take a lot of time, effort and energy.
  • Females don’t produce enough testosterone to get bulky. And muscle helps burn calories and shed fat. You will look/feel better, and be able to lift more weight. All of these will help boost confidence and you’ll feel great about your accomplishments.

Hopefully this will help you relax about the rumors that come with stepping into the health and fitness arena. 

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Consistency Vs Intensity When Working Out

man wondering about consistency vs intensity running on a road and wearing headphones and shorts and a tshirt

It’s a difficult balance, consistency vs intensity. Intensity is a cornerstone of CrossFit methodology. And yes, it is important that certain workouts are high intensity. But another key to actually seeing results from a fitness or diet plan is consistency. 

For some people consistency is easy. They like routine and structure in their day to day lives. For others, it can be more difficult to maintain and follow a plan. And while the stimulus of an individual WOD might be intensity, the goal for health and fitness is to be consistent with your effort.

Is consistency better than intensity?

When it comes to your fitness and you’re wondering about consistency vs intensity, the answer is to go with consistency. Here is why.

Choosing a health/fitness/diet plan shouldn’t be difficult but it is. With literally hundreds of different options out there, who knows what to pick?! Do you go with intermittent fasting, keto, macros, CrossFit, cycling, weightlifting, movnat, yoga…? And the list goes on and on.  

A large majority of us are attracted to the latest and greatest. When anything new comes out or some sort of exercise gains popularity, people flock to it. 

Most of these ‘fireworks’ are very fickle. I say fireworks because these are the people who start something and have tons of enthusiasm and are overly excited. But, for most of these people, that excitement and enthusiasm is hot and fast burning. They quickly lose interest. With a bang, pop or fizzle they are gone. Onto the next thing.

I think it is important to try and experience every opportunity one gets. However if you want to see results it is important to stay consistent and with a program long enough to see those results. 

This philosophy means that when starting a program it should be easy, practical, and enjoyable. This helps most people to become consistent. These principles allow the large majority to see regular and steady progress over a long period of time. As much as people like new and shiny things, they are addicted to results. Fitness helps you feel and look amazing.

Intensity can be dangerous

I think every member at Buffalo Nickel CrossFit has had a period of absences at some point. Vacation, work, surgeries, and life in general can keep people busy. Sometimes a week or two from the gym just happens. This is probably the case with anyone reading this as well.  

We all know how it feels that first day or two back after being gone for a week or so. It is rough, we feel slow, or like we have lost everything we worked so hard for. Our joints feel tight, and we probably breathe a little harder than we did when we were consistent.  

When you are consistent, and exercise 3-5 times a week, you might be sore and tired, but after a warm up you probably feel okay and ready to work out. That is the consistency doing its job. 

Remember how you felt after 2 weeks off, and now imagine that you are going to try a 1 rep max deadlift. After your attempt you will take 2 weeks off, and try it again. You will continue to do this for 8 weeks total. I think anyone would agree this can be dangerous. You could get seriously injured not doing anything for 2 weeks, walking in and trying to move heavy weight.

Intensity probably won’t get you the results you want

Let’s flip the coin now. You have just started a new training program from Buff-flex-stud-muffin that promises you will be strong, have a 6 pack, and only have to work out 30 minutes a day for 4 weeks. 

So you complete your 4 weeks. It was really hard but you made it and now you are wiped out and just need a couple days to rest. But a couple days turns into a week, which turns into a month, and then 3 months.  

You fireworked! You came in hot and fast, but it was too hot, you couldn’t maintain that heat for very long. And now you are so burned out that it’s hard to start again. Your results are gone, and you are left feeling demotivated instead of inspired to keep going.

Consistency vs intensity: what to take away

Be consistent. Some days you may not feel like exercising or you look at the WOD before leaving the house and decide that looks hard and you don’t want to do it. But go do it anyway. You will feel better and you will have checked off one more consistency box. Plus, the great thing about CrossFit is that it promotes variation across workouts. We recommend getting in cardio, strength training, bodyweight fitness, team sports…anything you want, just to stay active.

When and if you choose a new program, make sure it is easy, practical, and enjoyable starting out. When I say easy I mean easy to follow. If your program looks like an IKEA instruction manual you might have to try even harder to be consistent with it. Try to find a balance of consistency vs intensity, and you’ll be an unstoppable force.

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How To Avoid Heat Stroke

man holding basketball drinking out of bottle which is how to avoid heat stroke in the summer

Summer is here! The heat is on, and it’s only getting hotter. Staying healthy isn’t just about lifting weights and doing metcons. It also means trying to take care of ourselves as a whole. During this season, knowing how to avoid heat stroke and heat exhaustion is crucial for looking after ourselves.

Staying hydrated is something to be taken very seriously. CrossFit is fun. You may think we try to kill you with some WODs, but we actually want you to be healthy and feel good. Here are some tips for staying hydrated, cool and healthy during the summer months.

Stay hydrated and cool

Water, water, water. Seriously – get tons and tons of water. In Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, it is not only hot but humid too. And we sweat buckets! 

You have to get lots of water. With that being said, your water also needs to replenish you. Electrolytes, and certain minerals need to be fed back into your body when you are sweating as much as we do in the summer. Minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium are all found in your sweat. Make sure you allow your body to get extra of these so you stay healthy.

Also, get in the shade and in front of a fan. The sun can be physically and mentally draining when you are in it for hours on end. Plus, your skin can only take so much heat and sun before it becomes damaged. Do your body a favor: hydrate, shade, and fan.

Heat exhaustion vs heat stroke

Heat related injuries can be very dangerous. If the proper precautions are not taken, they can result in major problems and even death. First and foremost, it’s important to know how to avoid heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

However, if either of these heat injuries do occur, quick actions and proper medical attention are crucial in treating them. But how do you know exactly which heat related injury you’re dealing with?

Symptoms of heat exhaustion:

Heat exhaustion is one of the three heat-related injuries. Heat cramps is the mildest and heat stroke is the most severe. Without treatment, heat exhaustion can develop into heat stroke quickly, which is very dangerous.

  • Heavy sweating.
  • Weakness.
  • Cool, pale, clammy skin.
  • Fast or weak pulse.
  • Possible muscle cramps.
  • Dizziness.
  • Nausea or vomiting.
  • Fainting.

How to treat heat exhaustion:

  • Move person to a cooler environment.
  • Lay person down and loosen clothing.
  • Apply cool, wet cloths to as much of the body as possible.
  • Fan or move victim to air conditioned room.
  • Offer sips of water.

Symptoms of heat stroke:

Heat stroke is more serious than heat exhaustion. It requires immediate medical attention. Symptoms include:

  • Altered mental state. The patient may be confused.
  • One or more of the following: throbbing headache, confusion, nausea, dizziness, shallow breathing.
  • Body temperature above 103°F.
  • No longer sweating but has become dry.
  • Rapid and strong pulse.
  • Fainting/losing consciousness.

How to treat heat stroke:

  • Heat stroke is a severe medical emergency. Call 911 or get the victim to a hospital immediately. Delay can be fatal.
  • Move the victim to a cooler, preferably air-conditioned, environment.
  • Reduce body temperature with cool clothes or a bath.
  • Use a fan if heat index temperatures are below the high 90’s. A fan can make you hotter at higher temperatures.
  • Do NOT give fluids.

Final tips for how to beat the heat

Paying attention to how your body feels and performs is the key to staying healthy and safe. No WOD is worth possibly dying. Instead, remember how to avoid heat stroke and heat exhaustion. And know how to treat them if you do suffer a heat injury.

Stay hydrated and healthy, and have an awesome summer.

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Your Fitness Journey And The Road to 10,000

woman on a fitness journey running up a hill in the distance

I have coached CrossFit for the last 5-6 years. During this time I have had the great privilege of coaching hundreds of people on their fitness journey and watching thousands of reps. 

I watch people do things like cleans, or snatches. Sometimes they will make a mistake. Before I can even say anything they will look at me and say something along the lines of “I’m not very good at these”.  

My favorite example is when we are practicing handstands or handstand walks. Someone who has never done a handstand, or maybe they have but 20, 30, or 40 years ago, tries one. It is not the same as an Olympic gold medalist handstand performed at the peak of their career. They will look at me and most times say “I suck”.

How many times have you tried?

First, you don’t suck, and maybe you aren’t the best at something. But how many times have you tried? Like really mentally and physically engaged and tried? 

Sure, some people have a natural talent or ability to do certain things. Some are naturally good at running, some understand math, some have an eye for photography. Some of us have a mind that just ‘gets’ music (this was not me, I failed the recorder in 5th grade).  

But, the majority of people that are good or great at something are not the most talented at something. They are simply the ones who put the time in. Have you put the time in doing handstands, cleans, or working on mobility yet?

Don’t compare your fitness journey to others

Yeah, you are not perfect at something you have never done. So don’t think you will be after 1 try. 

Social media is cool (I guess) but it gives us a false idea of work. We see someone do something absolutely incredible. For instance, they throw a ball off a waterfall into a basketball goal. They paint a painting upside down while blindfolded and in a building that is set on fire. Of course in the video they show you the result is perfect. What you don’t see is the 10,000 tries that were way less perfect before that.

Stop expecting to be 21 years old if you haven’t lived for 21 years. Stop comparing yourself to others. You have to put in the time, effort and work. If you want to get better at handstands, you can’t just focus on them for 20 minutes a couple times a month. Of course you will get better at handstands than someone not practicing at all. 

But, if you are tired of feeling like you are taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back, start on your fitness journey to 10,000 and put in the time.

Learn deep, not wide

Want to get better at/master something? Dive into that subject. Stop adjusting focus to every shiny thing that enters your field of view. 

I think of it as having a teacher mindset. If you need to teach a subject, you try to know everything you can about that subject. If you just have a student mindset, you try to know the bare minimum about a subject.

Start focusing and start working, otherwise you can’t seriously expect to get better. We can help get you from 1 step to 10,000 on your fitness journey. Contact us today to get started.

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