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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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Digging Deep For Mental Fortitude

woman working on mental fortitude through exercise in park

Mental fortitude: this is the mental and emotional strength when we’re facing a difficult or adverse situation. It’s a strength of mind that allows a person to encounter danger or bear pain with courage.

Gaining and maintaining mental fortitude is just as important as physical fortitude. For the majority of people, life will require more non-voluntary mental fortitude than it will physical. Most of us are not placed in a dangerous situation that demands us to physically rise to a courageous level.

But I think you could argue just the opposite for mental/emotional situations. In life all of us will deal with experiences where mental fortitude is needed. The death of a loved one, a person teases us and makes us upset, our commute to and from work. These are just some examples. 

Just like we gain physical fortitude with exericse, we can develop our mental fortitude the same way.

Mental fortitude and working out

There are certain workouts (not your typical bro-sesh) that push you to a different realm. This realm isn’t so much a physical place as it is a mental one. It’s known a few different ways: the pain cave, happy place, or sometimes referenced with the comment embrace the suck.  

If you have ever been on an athletic team or had to go through military or first responder training then there is a good chance you have entered this world.  

This happy place is a requirement for these types of people. They are expected to do more than the average human. So, they must be pushed into the pain cave to find out just how strong they are. This is one reason why some people from these careers and lifestyles are so inspirational. It’s as though nothing rattles their cage. That’s a trait we all want. 

But did you know that going through an intense workout does the exact same thing for all of us normal people too? Going to that pain cave and forcing yourself to push past those limits you are uncomfortable with helps to build your mental fortitude.

How does it help me – the average person?

For that question let’s use one of my favorite benchmark WODs: Karen. For those who don’t know, Karen is 150 wall balls for time. 

This means that 150 times, you take a medicine ball that weighs between 14 and 20 pounds, hold it in front of you, squat down and up. As you come up, you throw it to a 9 or 10 foot target. The goal is to catch it on the way back down. This feeds you into your next rep.

If you have never done it, just looking at it on paper is enough to make you sweat. But after you do it you realize, sure, it was awful – but you survived. The more you do it, the faster your times get and the easier it becomes. So let’s break that down.

You gain a successful view of yourself

You go from thinking wow, that’s a lot of reps, I don’t know if I can finish to wow that’s a lot of reps, I can’t believe I finished that.  Eventually, you get to ok 150, here is my game plan for doing that. You start to see that you are successful at completing it and that starts to build a positive self image.

You start setting goals

Maybe you do it on purpose, or maybe you don’t even notice. The first time I did Karen my goal was just be able to finish. After that it was to get a faster time than I did last time. My next goal was to take as few breaks as possible. I was shooting for a break after 50 unbroken reps. Then it was to try to get 75 unbroken reps. Now I try to get 100 unbroken reps. I’m still trying to get there.  

Maybe your goals are less formal. They might be more on the spot while you are mid rep. You might decide to do 5 more before taking a break or to go for another 30 seconds. But, you are mentally setting goals for you to achieve which is great.

Visualization

When you do a wall ball, you have to visually picture where you want that ball to go before releasing it. You are visualizing the perfect rep before you even do it. This technique is used by everyone from life coaches, military, CEOs, Olympic athletes and more. They visualize the outcome they want, over and over.

This makes them believe what they want is possible, and then it allows them to reinforce themselves that they can do it. It sounds cheesy but being able to see your target, even if it doesn’t exist yet, allows you to know what direction you need to take your shot. This massively increases your chances of success.

Practice and simulations

Visualizing what you want is awesome because you can do it any time and any place. But eventually you have to put the rubber to the road. 

If you want to get better at a sport you don’t just go scrimmage, you practice specific drills. You use a simulated drill to act out a situation that may come up during the real life thing to help you practice what the proper reaction is.

A good coach won’t allow Karen to be the first wall ball WOD you do. They will give you smaller rep counts and allow you to practice and build up to 150 reps as fast as you can. Maybe your first time you are scaled to 75 reps instead of 150, but a good coach knows this will be enough and it simulates the real deal. It helps prepare you for when you do 100, or 150. And it does so in a way without crushing you, it builds you up, it doesn’t break you down.

We want to know what your pain cave workout is! And tell us how you mentally decide you are going to push through a tough workout.

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Building A Circle of Support

building a circle of support eating a meal around a table

So you have decided it is time to change your lifestyle and become healthier. Maybe you have already begun to exercise, and eat healthy.  Or, maybe you have been considering it and have finally made the decision that it is time to start. A key part of a fitness journey is building a circle of support, so you’re excited and go to share your goals with your family and friends.

Hopefully, all of them will be happy for you and will have positive things to say. But what happens when they don’t? Or even worse, when they react negatively instead of positively like you had hoped?

This can be disheartening and make you second guess your decision. Understand your health is your responsibility. Your motivations are a deeply personal thing. While there are many things in this world that someone else can do for you, taking care of your health is not one of those things.

Still, you want their support. What can you do when those who are close to you are not in the same boat when it comes to health?

Building a circle of support is about communication

Yes, it is easy to get upset with them and argue about who is right or who is wrong. At the end of the day, will this help do anything but solidify each of your mindsets? 

Understand that this person might think they are showing you they care about you. People like to take care and spend time with those they love and care about. 

When you tell someone that you are not eating the foods you did in the past, or will be spending an hour at the gym a night, there is a good chance they hear something different. 

To them you could be saying you no longer want to eat with them (eating together is one of the most social and vulnerable things you can do). Maybe they hear that you no longer want to spend time with them due to being at the gym for an hour.

For many people, food is love

We all probably know someone who considers food to be a reflection of love. That person in my life was my dad. Food was a direct expression of his love for you. He would spend hours preparing and cooking food. He wanted to make sure you not only had plenty to eat, but that you had leftovers too.  

So, when he would offer you something he knew or thought you liked, it was his way of saying he cared about you. When I would say no thank you, to him I was denying his love. This might seem a bit extreme but think of it this way.  

Our caveman/animal brain has evolved, but not past the point of realizing that food is a life source. We only share it with those we care about. By doing so, that part of our caveman brain is saying, “I care about you enough that I will sacrifice something that could possibly keep me alive”.  That is pretty wild to think about!

So listen to them. Calmly assure them that while you are wanting to be healthier, it doesn’t mean you love them less. Yes, there might be some changes but they need to understand that this is important to you and you want to better yourself.

Next, invite them to join you

Building a circle of support doesn’t have to involve new people. You can incorporate your family and friends and pull them into this journey with you.

Ask them to try cooking a new healthy recipe with you. Or, invite them to go to the gym with you and workout together. They may not want to, but they will see you are wanting to include them. 

Sometimes friends and family see you changing and feel afraid you will leave them behind. They have known you for years and they have liked/loved who you were. When they see change happening it scares them.

Inviting a friend or family member to get healthy and active with you can be beneficial for both of you. It can help keep you motivated, and it can help them start becoming healthier. Plus, if there is something you both enjoy doing it together will be so much more fun compared to doing it alone. 

Ideas for building a circle of support with people you love

  • Join a recreational sports team together. This could be soccer, volleyball, ultimate frisbee…
  • Order a meal service and cook a healthy meal together
  • Go to the new local healthy restaurant that just opened
  • Train to run a 5k together
  • Take a weekly hike/walk
  • Join CrossFit together (duh…)

Whatever you decide, inviting them to join you in whatever you are doing will always be better than not inviting them.

Lastly, realize that it is your life and your decision

Maybe this person who says they care about you actively opposes you being healthier. They pick a fight when you are about to leave for the gym. Or they try to convince you to eat unhealthy foods. The worst are those who are trying to get clean and overcome a drug addiction and their “friends” keep trying to get them to use again.

Hopefully, by now you know you need to take your health seriously and do what is best for you. Allowing someone who is supposed to care and love you convince you that being unhealthy is the best decision is selfish and manipulative. Do not give people this power over you. Build your base of health so strong that it can not be broken by anyone.  

You have total say in how healthy you want to be. Maybe you just want to tone up a little, or maybe you want to make fitness your profession.  Whatever it is, when you make that choice don’t let anyone stop you until you reach your goal.

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8 Magic Fat Loss Pills (Part 2)

boxes of healthy magic fat loss pills food in container

Part 2, here we go. If you read part 1 then you will know you were supposed to drink some more water before bed, and then get to bed on time. Hopefully you did one or both of those things and started today on the right foot! If you did not do those things, don’t worry.  Today is a new day, and we are starting fresh. I want you to pick 1 or 2 of these magic fat loss pills off this list and do them today! 

Magic fat loss pills at Buffalo Nickel CrossFit

The whole Buffalo Nickel CrossFit team is here to help you. So, if you have questions please let us know. We would love to help you have the body and/or life of your dreams!

Calorie deficit

Food gives our bodies energy. A way of measuring how much energy we take in and how much we burn is through calories. Consuming less calories than you actually use in the day will result in weight loss. 

Please understand this does not mean starving yourself of nutrients and food completely. Your body still needs energy to function properly.

This can be tricky and there’s an overwhelming amount of information on this topic. So, take my advice and do research. Or, get a nutrition coach to help figure out the right foods and quantities. 

High quality sleep

You have heard it before and you will hear it again. The average adult needs 7-9 hours a night. Sleep allows your body to rest, shut down, and reset. 

This does not mean getting in bed at 10 but staying up for two hours watching TV, or playing on your phone. Your body/mind are easily trained. This is why you feel sleepy but then when you get in bed your mind knows there is a couple hours of stimulation coming, so it perks up. 

Try to make your room a good sleeping habitat (cool, dark, comfortable, quiet), then get in bed and focus on your breathing. It will help you get to sleep and stay asleep. In my opinion, good sleep is the most underutilized tool for health.

Hydration

Drink water! 

Water is the only truly healthy drink that also offers 0 calories. Juices, pops, teas, energy drinks, coffee, and more might provide some energy, or are a good treat once in a while.

But water flushes toxins, boosts metabolism, improves skin/hair, helps blood pressure, makes a healthy brain, regulates body temp and more. Want to drink more water but don’t know how?  Here is our article on 5 ways to get more water.

Sufficient protein

The body needs protein. Plain and simple, humans must have protein.  And good quality protein in the right amounts is important for maintaining strength and muscle tone. 

For the most part your protein should be lean and minimally processed (white meat poultry, eggs, certain seafoods, some red meats). If you are vegan or vegetarian I would suggest looking for a yellow pea protein powder as opposed to soy products. 

Most if not all the world’s soy is genetically modified. Concerns about this are (luckily) becoming more important to people. However, there are alternatives available.

Nutrition dense foods

Have you ever eaten a large quantity of food only to feel hungry again a short time later? Chances are this was because that food was not rich in nutrients. 

Here is the kicker too, most times “foods” that don’t offer many nutrients are cheap to buy. However, you are not fulfilled when you eat them, so it leads to eating more. Eating more means you have to buy more, therefore spend more, so are they really cheaper? 

Not to mention they don’t give your body nutrients, and years of little to no nutrients can result in some pretty major health problems that cost 100 times what some good healthy food would have cost.

Stick to healthy, nutrient rich choices to fuel your body.

Strength train regularly

Lift heavy objects a few times a week. Heavy is relative. For some people and some movements heavy will be 10lbs. For others it will be hundreds of pounds. 

We have covered some of the benefits of adding weights in your workout here. Usually when people hear the phrase “lifting weights”, they picture some massive bodybuilder who has such big muscles they can’t touch their shoulder. 

But weight training does not need to be super heavy to be effective! Adding it in even a few times a week can be super beneficial.

Increased heart rate

Do things that get your heart rate high. Not just kinda sorta high, but red lined. 

Sprints, jumps, full body movements are great at getting and keeping that heart rate up. Make yourself sweat and breathe hard. 

Once again, like strength training, cardio done a few times a week will help metabolism, keep muscle tone, keep bone density up, increase balance, coordination, brain health and general athleticism.  

The key magic fat loss pill: consistency/patience

You will not and should not lose tons of weight in a short period of time. Be patient. 

You spent 20 years getting out of shape, expecting to get in shape in 30 days is delusional. I will tell you right now, if you are expecting to see a change before a couple months you will be disappointed. Especially if you are not consistent. 

You have to do all these things daily or almost daily to see any real change. Now, you will probably feel change after a few days, but this process works from the inside out. So you will feel it, then see it. Not the other way around. 

To help keep on track, celebrate small successes. Maybe it was your first day in 10 years where you did not drink pop, be proud of that. Use that as encouragement to help motivate and inspire yourself to continue down the healthy path.

These magic fat loss pills can help you

Stick with it! You can do this. Remember that it is our goal to make you happier and healthier. One of the things we offer is nutrition mentoring. We can give you awesome one on one coaching to help you understand nutrition. You can improve your lifestyle to work FOR you and not against you.

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8 Magic Fat Loss Pills

woman standing with hula hoop for weight loss

Everyone wants to lose weight. They want to believe in magic fat loss pills, teas, workouts, body wraps, surgerys, anything. Let’s be honest. We all wish it was that way. If you could do one workout, or drink one beverage and have the body of your dreams, who wouldn’t do that?!

The truth is that doesn’t exist as of now. I hate to burst your bubble. So, get it out of your mind that there is one magic pill for fat loss. There are actually 8 magic fat loss pills…

Yep, 8 magic pills and I promise you will shed some fat. I will go over these 8 pills in more detail tomorrow (part 2) but here is the list.

  • Calorie deficit
  • High quality sleep
  • Hydration
  • Sufficient protein
  • Nutrition dense foods
  • Strength train regularly
  • Increased heart rate
  • Consistency

There it is. The secret to getting those stubborn pounds off. Trainers will tell you losing weight can be complicated, it’s not. It is simple. It may not be easy, but it is definitely simple.  

Want to shed fat? Let’s start today. First, drink 2-3 bottles of water in the time between you reading this and when you go to bed. Second, go to bed on time. Turn your phone on silent and don’t use it in bed.  With those two little things, you’re already off to a good start.

We will go over these tomorrow. Until then, drink water and get sleep!

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5 Ways To Drink More Water

ways to drink more water in the desert with a bike

Summer is here! If you’re like me, this is your favorite time of the whole year: hot weather, long days, and lots of sweat. What isn’t there to love? But with all that sweating comes something very important, staying hydrated. It’s important to consider ways to drink more water.

Obviously, you should stay hydrated all the time, but in summer it is especially important. Most of us are outside more than we are in the winter. We are generally more active. It is warmer, therefore we sweat more. Now, I know drinking lots of water can be difficult, but there are some things you can do to make it easier.

Here are 5 ways to drink more water

And not feel like it’s a chore…

1. Add flavor

Drinking a gallon of water day in and day out can definitely get (and taste) monotonous. But, adding a light flavor can give the water some taste, and variety. The flavoring of your choice should come from natural whole foods, not a brightly colored bottle you bought at the convenience store.  

Some popular choices are strawberry, cucumber, lime, lemon, mint. It’s super easy to add flavoring this way. Chop up whatever you want to use as flavoring, add it to a large pitcher/container of water, and place in the fridge overnight. When you wake up you will have cool, refreshing and great tasting water.

2. Drink 32 oz of water when you wake up

Drinking 32oz of water (about 4 cups) as soon as you wake up does a couple of good things. 

It gets a big portion of your daily water done before you even leave the house. Also, by doing this you wake the body and mind up. You have just gone 8 (hopefully restful) hours without any water, so you need to rehydrate.

I find it easiest to just drink this 32oz as fast as possible instead of sipping it and having it take forever. And sidenote: starting your day with small successes such as this will help motivate you throughout the day to meet your other goals!

3. Divide the day up

Telling yourself you have the whole day to drink a gallon of water is almost a sure way to put the majority of it off until it’s too late in the day to accomplish. 

So, give yourself smaller timelines. A favorite of mine is in the next hour I will have at least 30oz of water.  Then every 15 minutes I take a few big gulps. By the time the hour is up, I have met my goal. 

Another popular way is to mark on your water bottle increments of time. You can set a reminder on your phone, and when the alarm sounds, drink to the corresponding time on their bottle. Pretty ingenious!

4. Be ready to use the restroom

If you are used to having a bathroom nearby and are not used to drinking large quantities of water, then you’ll be using the restroom more often than usual.

So, the day to start drinking more water is probably not the same day you and the family go on that summer vacation that requires 12 hours of driving. 

But I promise you, the more water you drink, the more your body gets used to it and the longer you can hold it. Plus, if you are sweating a lot you won’t need to use the restroom as much. This is yet another reason to get out and enjoy some summertime physical activity!

5. Go sustainable 

You don’t even want to know the markup on a bottle of water. But I will tell you anyway, 4000% (no, not a typo) is the MINIMUM! It can be as high as 280,000%! This means bottled water has a higher markup than any other product.

Stop drinking bottled water! Besides the obvious financial savings, you also will contribute less to plastic pollution. This is not only hard on the environment when it is being produced, but the millions of plastic bottles in the world will take (450) years to fully break down.

So do yourself and the world a favor, get a Nalgene, Yeti, Rtic, or any other reusable container. An at home water filter is also a great way to not buy plastic bottles.

Do you have a tip/trick to drink more water? Let us know – we love talking about water!

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World Class Fitness in 100 Words (Part 2)

fitness in 100 words group of healthy women

So as a follow up to part 1 of this post, I wanted to break down each aspect of fitness in 100 words. The great thing about the mindset is the simplistic takeaways. The lack of specialized words or terms makes it very easy to read, and actually comprehend.  So trying to stick with that same theme, let’s dive in to take a look at these parts.

Eat meat & vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.

Choose healthy foods that provide your body with lots of nutrients. A bag of chips doesn’t have many nutrients in it. Lower amounts of starch means you don’t need them with every meal.

I know what you’re thinking, and yes, fruit does have sugar. The “no sugar” that this is referring to are things like candy, or sweets with high levels of sugar and no other vitamins or benefits.

Keep intake to levels that will support exercise, but not body fat.

Measure your foods for optimal fitness.  If that doesn’t work for you, just try not to overdo it. Eat healthy foods, when hungry.

Practise and train the major lifts:

Deadlift, Clean, Squat, Presses, Clean and Jerk and Snatch.

These are multi-joint movements that train large (and more than one) muscle groups at a time. Compound lifts are shown to be the most effective at developing muscle and gaining strength. Vary the weights and reps you use when training these lifts.

Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics:

Pullups, Dips, Rope Climb, Push Ups, Presses to Handstand, Pirouettes, Flips, Splits and Holds.

If the major lifts build your large muscle groups, then these train the smaller ones. These exercises are great for helping you stabilize and balance, rather than move large amounts of weight.

Bike, Run, Swim, Row, etc… hard and fast.

It’s crucial to do enough cardio. Aim for easily repetitive movements that can be done intensely without major risk of injury. Focus on sprint intervals with these, not distance.

Work out 5 or 6 days per week. Mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy.

The majority of the week you should be combining these lifts, movements and exercises in endless ways. There should be an underlying structure to how they are combined. But, try to stay out of a strict routine. Don’t get in a rut of doing the same things over and over. Get creative with how you incorporate workouts into your life.

Keep workouts short and intense.

Intensity is king. Common knowledge would say longer is better. However, this is not true. There is a reason sprinters look like power houses and marathon runners look like twigs.

Regularly learn and play new sports.

Learn new movements and create lots of neural pathways. Teach your body and your mind how to do lots of things!

Fitness in 100 words: a simple philosophy

There you have it. That is fitness in 100 words (plus a little extra).  Ready to get fit? Book your free intro today.

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World Class Fitness in 100 Words

world class fitness healthy lifestyle

What do we all want?

Recently, I have been meeting with the Buffalo Nickel CrossFit members one on one and have had some great discussions. We have been talking about goals. Not only goals for their health and fitness, but life in general. Almost everyone has mentioned that they want to lose weight and/or maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle. That is, they want a world class fitness regime.

This is music to my ears for a couple of reasons.  Not only do people want to get healthier (lose weight), but they also want to STAY healthy!

What would happen if you asked a group of people “Do you want to get and stay healthy?” The majority would say “Yes, of course!” But there is a problem!

Where to begin…

There is so much existing information about health and fitness.  A quick google search of “how to get in shape” will hit with a tidal wave of results. Some of this information is good, and some is just absolute garbage. It can be really overwhelming.

Even for someone like me who has invested a large amount of their life into being healthy, it is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.

That’s why I think about fitness in 100 words. It is a general description without any crazy or confusing details. Even someone who is brand new to fitness should be able to understand the concept of fitness from these 100 words.

This was posted in the CrossFit Journal all the way back in 2002.  But guess what, fitness in 100 words still applies, because it is actually fitness. It is not some crazy “as seen on TV” product or a $3000 stationary bike that will eventually be worth less than a computer mouse.  The original article has 11 pages of information that you can go read here if you want.

World class fitness in 100 words

I will break each of these parts down with a little more explanation in the future, but this is the gist.

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and NO sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.

Practice and train major lifts: deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstands, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.

Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. ROUTINE IS THE ENEMY. Keep workouts short and intense.

Regularly learn and play new sports.”

That is the simplest way it can be said. If you follow this mentality, you will have world class fitness. Like I said, in a future post we will go over these parts in more detail. 

If you have any questions about how to be healthier, please reach out to us. We can help you to reach your goals.

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