This is NOT a touchy feely post. hopefully it is a wake up call for some of you. Hopefully for some of you it makes you look in the mirror and analyze what you are saying and what you are doing. How are YOU supporting what YOU want out of your fitness program?
We hear you. We hear you say to us you want it. We hear you say you have huge goals and you want to get after it. We hear it more than once, in fact, we hear you speaking to other people about it. And then we watch, we hear what you are doing, we look at your actions and we wonder how bad you want it.
You EARN every bit of your fitness. Your goals, be whatever they are, if not supported by living the lifestyle to achieve them can seem a distant thought. You MUST support your goals IN The gym with the life you lead OUTSIDE the gym.
What does this mean, coming from a coaching perspective... It means we see and understand a lot more than you think we do. We as coaches are saavy in many areas of fitness, from nutrition to training principles. We understand what it takes to reach your goals. We know it is sacrifice and challenge. We know it is difficult, but we are here to also check you when you are not achieving the goals you set out to do when you come in to the gym.
The reality of the situation is this. we are with you maybe one hour a day, probably 4 days a week. If there are 168 hours in the week, then there are 164 hours to fuck up what you do IN the gym. this means there is a huge responsibility on you to check what you are doing outside the gym and be honest with yourself if you are doing everything in your power to achieve your goals. So here is a list of some things that we KNOW you struggle with each and every day and some words of.. maybe not encouragement, but reality to look at.
You say to us.. "Coach, I want to get strong, I want to compete, I want to lose weight, I want to look better, I want to push myself every day"
Then follow these steps to ensure you are getting after your goals:
1) Follow the program that has been designed. Stop Cherry picking workouts. the workouts at FTF are designed in such a way that you can choose the parts that are specific to your goal, however choosing a workout that always has your strengths in it is not helping to enhance your goals. If you train your strengths, your weaknesses will get weaker. It means if you hate muscle-ups, then you should probably practice them every day. It means if you feel you are weak in let's say upper body strength, you should choose the WODS and strength programming that SUPPORTS your goal of increasing that, not avoid it.
2) Sleep well- Recovery and sleep are hugely important in the growth of an athlete and in your fitness goals. Improper sleep can increase cortisol levels and also be a detriemnt to goals such as improving strength and fat loss. Sleep is one of the most fundamental things we must achieve in order to get the results we are after. Yes, we are all busy, but you MUST support the training with a proper sleep "program" if you will
3) Rest days are important- Contrary to popular belief in which more is better, it is important to have a day of rest to allow your body to perofrm better and let the muscles rest and prepare for another cycle of high intensity workouts. Rest days allow the nervous system and the muscle physiology to catch up to the recovery process so you can come in better than the day before.
4) Eat to support your goals- This is HUGE!! Within the community, we see this alot. People who say they are eating a certain way, but then go and do something detrimental to their nutritional programming. The timing of what you eat, how you eat and the choices you make largely determine how you feel in your workouts AND in your rest and recovery process. Eating the "wrong" fuel can detriment what you are after. You must feed the engine good fuel to ensure it has the best fuel to run on. Eating once or twice a day doesn't cut it. Eating processed foods for our style of workouts can be detrimental to the best feeling during a workout
5) Limit alcohol intake. this one really is a big one. Alcohol is processed in your body similar to a fat. The down side is that it inhibits the body's ability to process fats efficiently, so may cause a larger storage of fat in the liver as well as increase fat deposition in areas we don't want it. I'm not saying don't have an adult beverage from time to time, but if you are trying to "lean out" it is going against everything you are trying to achieve to have a "ripper" on the weekend and go out and destroy the liver and then work hard all week long to try and catch up for what you did on the weekend.
6) Work hard when you ARE in teh gym- don't allow being tired or a long day at work prohibit you from getting after it in the gym. The daily stressors of life can take their toll on you, but you need to still come in ready to work and mentally prepared for what you are about to achieve. You must be able to turn it off when you are at the gym and get after it.
7) Try to reduce stressors in your life- Stress releases large amounts of cortisol, a substance in the human body which if released in large amounts can have a catabolic effect ( breakdown effect) and again be counter-productive to your goals. It can hinder the recovery and sleep process. Try to eliminate the un-necessary stressor and limit it to the things that you HAVE to stress over. Worrying never did anyone any good anyway.
8) Complete the workout in full range of motion to your capability and complete with integrity-
Integrity within the workout is important. When you feel someone else chooses to not have integrity within their workout, don't sweat it. It's their loss, not yours. Be aware that as a member of a "box" we want to create a positive environment for change. Anything that threatens that can detriment ALL of the members of that box!
Not only that, but completing a half of a rep cuts out HALF of the results, so the fact that you are moving a squat to a 3/4 position is not necessarily good enough IF you are capable of that range of motion. Completing a wall ball to the 9' mark instead of the 10' mark can completely change the intensity of the workout. Make sure you complete what you are doing to the best of your body's capability.
9) Don't compare yourself to others when it comes to YOUR goals- Your goals are just that, your goals. If you are achieving your potential, then you are headed the right direction. If you start to see yourself slipping and going the wrong direction from your goals, then you MUST step back and re-evaluate all of the above to see if you are on track. Don't allow yourself to get frustrated because something took you longer that day. Maybe you had a bad day and need to just take... a recovery or rest day.
10) allow the ebbs and flows of fitness to be just that- It is a natural human process to have good moments and bad moments. we have good days and bad days in the gym based on all of the above factors and need to realize we are human and that it is ok if we don't PR on a 1 RM week, or that we go backwards because of a highly emotionally stressful event. it is important to recognize that most times we will progress but sometimes the natural flow of our lives creates a less than ideal environment for change. The effects of life are difficult to accept, but a reality.
11) Perform recovery such as ice baths, SMR, Stretching programs. We are terrible at this as CrossFitters, because we think we don't need to do Yoga, or Pilates, or roll out with a roller and relieve the tightness within our bodies. The best athletes have figured out that the recovery process after a WOD is just as important as the WOD itself. A good ice bath after a long workout might help to ease the soreness. Stretching can increase flexibility which in turn enhances performance.
12) Drink tons of water- get rid of the soda, the large amounts of coffee, the constant influx of "Energy" drinks. Each one of these has their affect on the body and can again detriment our program and results. Our bodies are almost 3/4-90% water based, so if we don't replace what we lose in a day, it can slow down the recovery and repair processes necessary to enhance performance
13) Be on time for coaching sessions- I can't stress enough how hard it is for your coaches to adjust their workout program in a class or interrupt what they are doing to ensure you are getting proper warm-up time or appropriate instruction time. It is important to learn HOW to do the movements to their full effectiveness. This isn't just for CrossFit but for every area of fitness. Every goal has a direction that needs to be adhered to and when your coach puts in time into your workout program or your class, it becomes har dto work with those that are late.
14) Cheer others on when you are at the gym. remember that each and every person in that gy has a goal and is trying to go after something. For that, you should cheer them on. Let them know they are doing well. ask them THEIR goals and support them in their quest for the ultimate fitness, whether they are there just to move their body or to compete in local and regional competitions. Get interested in what others are doing. It might lead you down a path you never thought of and maybe even push you in a direction you thought you would like to try some day.
15) be RELENTLESS in the pursuit of your goals. let nothing become an excuse. Excuses are like... well.. you know the saying. Don't let an excuse fuck up your day. In fact, just don't make them. Come to the gym when you are supposed to, a minimum of 3 days per week for a fitness maintenance program and get your shit done. It's not rocket science. it requires consistency and sometimes internal motivation. when you figure out the fitness goals are more important to you than the excuses you create to not make it to the gym, that will be a huge step.
Does this apply to every person that walks into the gym? maybe not every step, but I can guarantee that at least one or two of these "Steps" do to each and every one of us at some aspect of our life. We are human and humans are lazy by nature. The only difference between you and someone who is achieving their goals is the desire and the willingness to sacrifice something in their life to achieve it.
We WANT you to succeed, which is why this post was written tonight. If it feels like a lecture to you, then it probably is a big wake up call. If it feels like Coach K is just babbling, then you are probably already taking the appropriate steps necessary to ensure you are achieving your goals.
16) Don't let fear of something be what stops you from trying to achieve it. Fear is probably the biggest dream killer. It stops us from being bold and going after what we want. It prevents us from going a little higher intensity or from getting one more rep. It might hurt.. well.. FUCK YEAH it will... because you are getting out of your comfort zone. This is not an ok area to stay in when you want to make changes in your life in any area.
Stop allowing yourself to go backwards in your goals and give your body the support it needs to get there! where you are lacking, allow yourself to make positive progress each day. Start journaling, keeping track of moods and energy levels. See what things are working for you and what things aren't. But stop lying to yourself and your coaches when you are after a goal and not achieving it if you are not doing what YOU need to do in order to achieve it. We LOVE you and want you to have success in our gym. We want to create a positive environment for change because we are passionate about what we do. We want you to look at all of your areas of life and improve after you walk out.
SUPPORT your goals and achieve them. Let NOTHING stand in your way. YOU have it within you to achieve what you want to achieve, but you MUST stop allowing the distractions to take you away from what you want.......... Are you ready??
