2023 CrossFit Open Recap

So, the 2023 CrossFit Open is over, and the excitement of throwing down against the world has passed, until next year.  I am so proud of everyone that competed in the Open, especially all of you that jumped in for the first time!

I hope you all had fun and learned about yourselves a bit.  Which workouts did you perform best at?  Look into the key movements or format of those WODs and find your strengths.

Which did you struggle with more than your peers?  You probably already know these movements or the weights involved are a weakness of yours.  Create a new goal to improve, and attack that weakness without mercy!

Although it can be a bit of a time-suck when you should be being productive (my weakness!), the CrossFit Games Leaderboard (https://games.crossfit.com/leaderboard) is of course the place to find out where you and your friends rank among the world, in the country, or in your state (enter “Maryland” in the Search by Hashtag filter).  In reviewing where everyone landed from CFKI, our coaches and I made some awesome discoveries that I just had to share:

– John Galdieri, Andrew Little, Hazen Arnold, and Joe Hill-Kittle all placed in the top 100 in Maryland for the 45-49 age group!!

– Denee Wolf placed 13th in Maryland for the 40-44 age group!!

– Clelia Stevens placed 36th in Maryland for the 50-54 age group!!

– Alicia Higginbotham, Ken Nyczaj, and Jimmy Lubonski all placed in the top 75 overall in Maryland!!

– Alyssa Stookey placed 1st in Maryland in the 35-39 age group, 22nd in the USA, and 39th in the WORLD!!  That’s out of 17,223 competitors, which is top 0.2% in the world.  Incredible!

Once again we have proven that we are among the fittest of our peers!!  Great work, everyone!!  Now let’s keep working!

Ryan

Warrior in a Garden

“It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war.”
— Musashi Miyamoto

It is better to be prepared than unprepared.

It is better to know what you can and can’t do, than to go into a situation blind.

I’ve thought about the above quote many times, written by a samurai warrior and author of The Book of Five Rings.  I’ve written it in my journal as an affirmation of what I am doing in my life.  Why do I train?  I’m not competing in the CrossFit Games.  I don’t have aspirations of being an elite athlete.  I don’t expect to go to war anytime soon, or look to get into a fight when I step outside for the day.  So why?

I’m training every day to win the battle in my mind against laziness, against comfort, against mediocrity.

I’m training every day to set an example for my kids that this is the way that humans should live – as physically competent, mentally tough “warriors”, who are ready for whatever challenges come their way.

I’m training for that next unknown challenge that will pop up and will not be steered clear of.  Will it be a purely physical feat that I need to take on?  Maybe, but probably not.  What if it’s a mental and emotional challenge like the death of a loved one, the loss of my job and livelihood, the next pandemic, will I be prepared?  Being of sound body and sound mind makes it much more likely.

I don’t pretend to be a warrior by trade, and I appreciate and honor those that have taken on that calling.  But I can train to be a warrior in my own peaceful garden, just outside the edge of the war that is raging all the time in this volatile world.

It is good to be peaceful, and to not look for a fight.  It is good to work to rid the world of war.  But it is foolish to expect that war to end without testing us with battles that we must face, and cannot shirk away from.

It is good to be a gardener, and if you have a green thumb then I applaud you, because I don’t!  But it’s also good to keep an eye on your training.  To win the next workout.  To win the next fight for your life or someone else’s.  To be a warrior in a garden, because you don’t know when that garden might not be anymore.

Ryan

5 Nutrients to Add to Your Post-Workout Routine

Good morning!  This week I’d like to ruthlessly steal an article from Thorne, a preferred partner of CrossFit that makes an outstanding line of supplements for supporting fitness and overall health.  They provide us with a great discount that we are then able to pass on to our members!  When you shop for Thorne supplements, please be sure to use our custom dispensary link and sign in with your email address so that you can access a 20% discount and not pay full retail price!  Our link is:  https://www.thorne.com/u/PR709542

Please read on for some great advice on post-workout recovery:

Don’t waste your workout. Your post-workout fuel is arguably the most important nutrition opportunity for everyone who exercises – from the professional athlete to the athletic professional. During this critical period, the objective is to shift your metabolism from breakdown mode to rebuild mode, so you can recover quickly and return stronger.

So, which nutrients should you focus on? We have put together this list of options to consider, depending on your workout, health goals, and nutritional regimen.

1. Protein: The Obvious Macronutrient

No matter the exercise goal – strengthening muscle, building endurance, becoming more flexible and agile, improving bone density, or simply maintaining health – protein is the key macronutrient to facilitate structural changes in muscles, tendons, and bones.

For anyone who exercises (in any sport or setting), consuming dietary protein above the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) helps maximize the metabolic adaptations you are seeking. Although the FDA’s Recommended Daily Allowance says 0.36 grams per pound of body weight is needed for general everyday function, individuals who engage in strength training might need three times that much – closer to one gram per pound of body weight daily, and in special cases, perhaps even more. To maximize muscle building, protein intake should be spread throughout the day.1 Providing a moderate amount of protein steadily over the course of a day will allow for the constant availability of amino acids in the bloodstream. Aim to get about 20 grams of protein immediately post-exercise – whether you drink a protein shake while walking out of the locker room or sit down to a meal. Add another 20 grams within two hours of finishing the exercise. Timing your final protein intake before sleep can also provide additional benefits for the athlete.

One scoop of Thorne’s Whey Protein (chocolate or vanilla) provides 21 grams of high-quality and bioavailable whey isolate. For those who work out at night, consider Thorne’s Recovery Pro which has 13 grams of protein per scoop, as well as a blend of ingredients that supports exercise recovery and sleep.*

2. Glutamine: An Amino Acid Used Up During Physical Stress

Glutamine, a conditionally essential amino acid, can be a necessary supplement when you undergo stressful situations, including exercise stress, stress from an injury or burn, or mental and emotional stress.* Glutamine helps maintain tight cellular junctions in the GI tract, providing first line immune support.* Glutamine also acts as an indirect antioxidant because it stimulates the production of glutathione, as well as supporting a balanced inflammatory response in muscles, the GI tract, and throughout the body.*

Having glutamine available in the blood during exercising can delay fatigue by supporting energy production and metabolism.* As one of the most abundant glucogenic amino acids (meaning it can be converted to glucose), it is used as an alternate energy source2 and can also help curb sugar cravings.* It supports switching from muscle breakdown to muscle rebuild when consumed post-exercise, thus helping to maintain muscle mass.* Glutamine is one of several supplements that can also be consumed pre-workout, but because it is depleted during exercise, taking glutamine post-exercise is ideal. It helps prepare for the next activity – whether it’s refueling for a second workout later in the day, recovering from a full day of work after a morning workout, or repairing while you sleep following exhaustive or prolonged exercise.*

As a rule of thumb, most individuals benefit from about 5-10 grams of glutamine post-workout. Serious athletes might want to consider more precise dosing. The research shows about 0.1 gram per kilogram of body weight will maintain glutamine levels in the blood.3 Thus, a 73-kg (160 pound) person would aim for 7.3 grams, while a 118-kg (260 pound) football player would want closer to 12 grams. Thorne’s L-Glutamine Powder is tasteless, provides five grams per scoop, and can be mixed with water or into a whey protein shake.

3. Carbohydrates: It Depends on Intensity and Duration

Carbohydrates provide important fuel for the body during high intensity or longer duration moderate-intensity exercise and are important to ingest before and during exercise. However, carbohydrates can be just as important post-exercise so the body can replete stored glucose. Consumption after exercise increases insulin to get glucose into the cells. Although carbohydrates consumed alone support exercise recovery, they are most effective when consumed with protein post-exercise.

Most low-intensity exercises or workouts that last less than 30 minutes don’t require additional carbohydrates; whereas, workouts of moderate length and intensity might require a 1:1 carbohydrate-to-protein ratio – 20 grams of carbohydrates with 20 grams of protein, for example. But as intensity increases, the ratio of carbs to protein should also increase. With greater intensity and longer duration, consider a 2:1 or even a 3:1 ratio (2-3 times as much carb as protein) immediately post-workout and then follow up with a meal within two hours.

The type of carbohydrate consumed is also important – ideally a high-quality, fast-digesting source. However, this does not mean you should reach for the typical high-fructose corn syrup or a glucose-heavy sports beverage. Fructose (fruit sugars) can cause GI distress in some individuals, so stick to lower fructose options like bananas, berries, carrots, or grains like oatmeal or granola.4 

4. Curcumin Phytosome: When You Think “I’ll Be Feeling This Tomorrow”

Repetitive exercise movements such as jumping, running, swimming, throwing a ball, or work around the house like shoveling snow or landscaping can cause microdamage to muscles, tendons, or joints, resulting in soreness and achiness – referred to as delayed onset muscle soreness.

A clinical study supports Curcumin Phytosome (Meriva®) to help maintain normal inflammatory processes in the muscles and joints to alleviate delayed onset muscle soreness – reducing stiffness, promoting flexibility, and relieving minor aches and pains.*5

5. Creatine: The “Before, During, or After” Nutrient

Taking creatine monohydrate increases total intramuscular creatine, which supports skeletal muscle mass, lean body mass, and muscle fiber size.*

A question often asked – when is the best time to take creatine? The best answer is whenever it’s most convenient. However, there are some advantages to taking creatine post-workout. One study showed that taking five grams of creatine after resistance training with weightlifting increased fat-free mass and strength better than taking it before exercise.*6

Although some athletes follow creatine loading protocols, the general everyday maintenance dose set by the International Olympic Committee is 3-5 grams daily and has the best physiological benefits when consumed regularly. One scoop of Thorne’s Creatine provides five grams of creatine monohydrate and is tasteless, so it easily mixes with L-glutamine and protein.

The Takeaway

Although many nutrients (including some of these) are important to have in your system to fuel exercise, it is just as important to recover from a workout. Most of these nutrients can be made into a convenient post-workout beverage that helps hydrate while restoring cellular energy and maintaining normal inflammatory processes.*

Check out Thorne’s original article here:  https://www.thorne.com/take-5-daily/article/five-nutrients-to-add-to-your-post-workout-routine

 

Integrity Violation

I have to admit it.  I really don’t like double-unders.  If you’re not “in the know,” a double-under is a jump rope technique where you spin the rope under your feet twice in one jump.  For some people it comes relatively naturally; other people need to work at it.  When I first started CrossFit I was squarely in that second camp.  I would tell everyone around me at Club One to “watch out, I’m about to do something crazy,” and then perform one wild karate kick jump, one double-under complete!  I was the man, I could do a double-under – and then two in a row, and then five in a row, and then fifty.  I checked that box in my list of CrossFit skills to add to my repertoire, and moved on – I had bigger, barbell-shaped fish to fry.

But I still wasn’t very efficient at double-unders, and I shudder every time a workout comes up on my plan that includes them.  “Not again, we just did these two weeks ago!”  A real whiny, victim-mentality attitude takes over and I resign myself to completing the workout but then once again swearing them off forever as “dumb, pointless”.

The thing is, this is a perfect opportunity for development, and I see it in others that I train all the time.  If you have a real negative attitude about a certain movement in your training plan, it’s probably because it’s one of those things that you are not very good at, and that is leaning up against your ego.  So you really have two choices – flag this movement as something that you can’t do because of a physical limit (maybe an injury prevents that range of motion), or work hard to get better at it!  I’ve been choosing option three: an integrity violation.

An integrity violation in the military is a big deal.  You have trained with a team and earned their trust, and then you do something that is in direct contrast to what the team expects of you, and will damage their trust in you and set the whole team back.  I witnessed an integrity violation during my SEALFIT training, as one of my teammates started shaving reps on the Murph workout, in front of several Navy SEAL instructors.  That didn’t go well for him.  One minute he was a SEAL candidate himself, the next minute he was not.  In academics or the business world, an integrity violation is straight-up cheating.  In my example, it is me telling someone else that they absolutely should do something, and then in the same circumstance, I fail to take that positive step myself.

What I am committing to now is 15 minutes of double-under practice every day, until I am satisfied that they are now a strength, no longer a weakness.  It’s what I should have been doing all along, and it also will be a reminder for me when I don’t really want to do them anymore that avoiding or bashing something because you don’t like it is not an acceptable response toward something you’re not yet good at.  Work hard, be patient, and the results will come.  I’ve told you all that before, now I have to believe it myself.

Ryan

Lessons from Paris

Denee and the boys and I just returned a couple days ago from a 3-day Paris adventure (really almost 6 days counting travel and a full day in Dublin, Ireland!)  It was an amazing trip and as I started sharing pics on Instagram I also was reliving the experience and thinking about all the great lessons I learned about travelling internationally.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a blog post if I didn’t make one of these lessons about DOING HARD THINGS, but I hope you’ll find that the theme here is not about traveling for mental toughness, but traveling for the sake of opening up your view on the world and all its amazing places and people.

Here are my Top 4 Lessons from the Wolf Family Trip to Paris, 2023.

Immerse yourself in the culture
With much respect given to my Whole Life Challenge teammates that began a pretty strict nutrition plan on Saturday… I did not.  I feel like if you’re in Paris and you’re holding yourself to a diet that feels restrictive and you’re longing to eat all the good stuff that is available but you know that you can’t… you should have stayed home and dug into your nutrition fighting position there.  If you like croissants and crepes and red wine and chocolate mousse, then by all means enjoy yourself for this limited time.  Have a great trip that you’ll remember forever, partly because you immersed yourself in the local dining experience as well as everything else that the culture has to offer.  I drew the line at chain smoking cigarettes, but I feel good about that decision.

Try to do things you know you’ll fail at
Whenever it was feasible, I spoke French while we were in Paris.  Some of you may know that I lived in Geneva, Switzerland for six years, basically all of elementary school, and so by the time we moved back to the States in 6th grade, I was fluent in French.  But then I stopped speaking it and instead started taking Spanish, and now my French is hard to come by and usually comes out in a slurry of multiple languages, some of which is probably neither French nor Spanish.  Or English for that matter.  But I spent some time studying before our trip – as did Denee and the boys – and I committed myself to practicing with native French speakers again.  I had some good moments where I initiated a conversation, usually based on asking for something, and the person would respond in French and I understood and responded appropriately and we both went about our day but not before I gave myself a little mental high-five.  Usually those moments had been so scripted in my head from practicing that exact conversation for five minutes beforehand, trying to anticipate what the other person might say and how I would respond.  Google Translate helped a lot with answering my question, “ok, now how the hell do I say that?”  But having those successful conversations helped me gain the confidence to speak more and teach the boys what I was saying.  They tried ordering their food in French a couple times too!

And then there were the times when, even after my mental rehearsal was complete, the other person’s response left me standing there with my mouth open, searching my database for the words that I frustratingly knew that at one point in my life were there.  Thankfully, this was usually met within a few seconds with an English translation and I would surrender and start speaking English as well, telling myself I was now helping them learn “the global language”.  Afterwards I would debrief the conversation and rehearse how I would respond in French next time this EXACT scenario came up, which was probably never but this also helped build my situational confidence.
So, try to do things that are hard, to the point where you’ll probably fail at least some of the time.  It’s good for your soul to try and fail, try and fail, then (hopefully) try and succeed sometimes.

Make sure you know what “fun” will look like for everyone
Our trip to Paris was a family trip – Denee and I took our two boys, just short of 11 and 13 years old now.  Denee has been dreaming about going to Paris for years, and our boys were super jealous about our couples trip to Italy last spring.  So, we had to make it happen.  Our trip to Paris would have looked very different if it was just Denee and I – probably even more walking and museums and random café stops in quaint neighborhoods – but we still did do all that stuff.  We just made sure that we also did the stuff that the kids wanted to do!  After visiting an old church and spending too much time admiring the architecture and religious art, we would ask them what they wanted to do next.  Hot chocolate and a crepe!  Alright, well let’s do that.  Each morning we had a general plan of the day, but we would be ok if it changed a bit so that their final thought of the day wouldn’t be “Paris sucks.”  We spent 20 minutes one day laughing at way too many dogs wrestling each other at a dog park.  We went off menu at a famous brasserie and asked if they could bring the kids some fries so they wouldn’t just be sitting their staring at their food while we scarfed ours down.  In the end, I think our boys got a healthy dose of French culture and history without beating them over the head with it, and they had a lot of fun being kids in a big city.

Paris is just like New York:
The taxi drivers are insane.
The city is very walkable, but there is also a dependable subway system (Metro).
There are very distinct neighborhoods within the city itself, each with a lot of history.  If you go, try to visit Montmartre and Le Marais.
There are obviously very touristy things to do, and we checked off a lot of those boxes in Paris, but it’s also fun and freeing to just wander around and tuck into little cafes for a snack and a drink and just watch city life happen around you.  Side note: the kids did not enjoy this part nearly as much as Denee and I.
Most of the people are very friendly and hospitable.  There were a few that we encountered that you could tell would prefer not to have their city ransacked by tourists 24/7, as there are in every global city.  We just remained friendly and smiled and focused on interacting more with those that enjoyed helping us.

My point here is that Paris is like New York is like London is like Tokyo is like Washington, DC.  Every major city in the world has so much culture and so many life experiences to offer.  I think it’s important for us to explore – to leave our little island, whether that is a literal island like where I live or our figurative “islands” of our closed-minded opinions of the world.  We live in a globally connected world thanks to technology, but most of us have not really seen it – met the people, learned about how they live and maybe why they hold the opinions that they do.
I hope that someday you’ll get to visit Paris, or maybe another great city that is a little more accessible for a weekend trip.  Dive into the experience, do things that are a little bit uncomfortable (speak the language, or try new foods!), and make sure everyone gets to check a few boxes of things that will make it a fun experience.  Then send some pics and tell us where to go next!

Ryan

Setting a “Being” Goal

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
 — Tony Robbins

As we are in the beginning of a new year, and thank the Lord in heaven for that, now is a good time to leave 2022 in the dust and forge ahead to 2023 with some purpose and drive.  A goal setting exercise is a great way to get your mind around what your priorities are right now.  I admit that I have skipped out on setting yearly goals at least a couple times in previous years, but I can look back and remember feeling lost, unorganized and unproductive until I sat down and thought about it — what do I actually want to accomplish this year?  The beginning of the year is a good consistent time to think about this, but it doesn’t have to be confined to a certain time of year — any time you feel like you’ve accomplished your main goal and need to select a new target, or anytime you feel like you’re wandering through your job, your training in the gym, or your life without a compass to guide you — sitting down for some self-reflection and an eye for the future is a good idea that can create some positive momentum again.

One wrinkle of goal setting that recently helped me gain some clarity on what I want to DO this year was thinking about what I want to BE.  Goals can be defined as “being” goals if they define who we want to become, or certain qualities that we want to take on.  Think about a visualization of a “Future Me.”
“Doing” goals can help further drill-down into those higher level “being” goals.  For example, a goal that might get me fired up about my physical training is to “be a better runner.”  That’s something that I can put up on my office whiteboard and get me motivated to train when I don’t really want to.  But it’s relatively ambiguous, so I might define some specific “doing” goals to flesh it out.  “I want to finish a marathon in under 3 hours by the end of this year” fits the specificity bill, and gives me a visual to work toward in my mental training as well.  Even within that marathon completion goal, I might create “doing” goals that define how I will keep myself on track, like “I will complete one long run and one sprint workout each week.”

In addition to creating a “being” goal first and then zeroing in with “doing” goals, I would encourage you to not select too many targets to go after at one time!  We’ve all been there and it’s a recipe for burnout.  Think about what you really want to accomplish this year — who you really want to BE — and try to distill it down to just a few things.

Happy New Year again to everyone, and to all your friends and family.  Feel free to share this with anyone that gets fired up about goal-setting as a different way to frame the exercise this time.  Let’s make this a great, focused, purpose-driven year.

Ryan

New Year’s Resolutions start with WHY

Last year, my New Year’s Resolution was to drink only black coffee in the morning.  Why?  I guess because I thought I was consuming too much fat and sugar in the previous holiday season, as I drowned my coffee in egg nog (if you know, you know).  It lasted for a couple weeks, because black coffee is gross.  As I reflected back on why I couldn’t stick with it, something hit me:  I really didn’t care whether I succeeded or not in that resolution.  Why was I doing it?  Because I wanted to cut calories?  There are other ways to do that, as I explored and rationalized my way out of this plan.  And why was cutting calories important to me?  As I reflected on this question, I realized… it wasn’t.  Not eating/drinking as many calories could be helpful in losing weight, but that wasn’t one of my goals.  If anything, I wanted to add weight and get stronger.  So, why was I taking on this challenge?  I don’t really know…

To create deeply-rooted, long-lasting resolutions, you must begin with WHY.  Why am I doing this?  Why is this important to me – so important that I am committing to changing a big part of my life around it?  If your answer to this question is, “it’s actually not important,” or “my wife thinks I should do it,” then it’s not going to stick.  The moment you don’t want to do it anymore and your old habits become more appealing, the platform of motivation will crumble under its weak reason.

My WHY for most big endeavors I take on revolves around my desire to stay relevant and believable in my coaching practice.  “Do hard things,” he says.  But does he?
It also comes back, during hard training sessions or when I start to second guess what I’m about to do (because it seems hard or the water is cold), to my desire to create a positive example for my two sons.  I want them to know, not just through my words but through my actions, that I believe they can do great things that are beyond most people’s expectations of what is possible.

So, as you are writing down those resolutions, committing to a nutrition plan or a streak of workout days, ask yourself WHY you are doing it.  Does it relate back to something you are passionate about, and so you want to inject more of that into your life?  Does it relate to your overarching purpose in life, and you need to make sure you align yourself closer with that?  Or is it just something that sounds cool, that everyone else is doing on Instagram?

People say that New Year’s Resolutions are worthless because they never stick.  Why?

Ryan

“Future Me” Mindset

“I can’t do that.  I’m not a ________.”
– Current Me

Have you ever caught yourself just completely shutting down a great idea or an amazing opportunity in your life with the phrase above?
 – I can’t sign up for that marathon.  I’m not a runner.
– I can’t submit this article.  I’m not a writer.
– I can’t start this business.  I’m not an entrepreneur.

This type of negative self talk is very common in all of us, and it may stem from another experience you’ve had, or your parents or other authority figure overtly telling you or maybe even just implying that message.  You might not even remember what exactly happened to create this belief, but it’s there in your subconscious, creating a hard check on you stepping out of your comfort zone and taking on a new challenge.
This ingrained thought pattern is a limiting belief – it is limiting many worthwhile things we may otherwise have taken on in our lives, out of the fear of failure, or embarrassment (because of that failure).  In a strange way it could even be a fear of success – as in, what if I do this and my life suddenly changes?  What will I have to give up?  Which of my friends who are reinforcing this limiting belief will I have to leave behind?

So if we know that thought pattern is there, what do we do about it?

I’m all for “living in the moment” and “being present”.  Those are great philosophies to help us feel connection with the people around us, and not to stress about what’s already happened in the past, or the unknowable future.  However, if part of our current state is this entrenched limiting belief, we do need to use our ability to visualize the future, in a positive way.
We need to create a “Future Me” mindset.  Here are three simple steps to get you on your way.  Repeat these every morning until you’ve replaced that negative thought loop with this positive reinforcement:

  1. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for 5 minutes to calm down your mind.  If you know the Box Breathing technique, use this.
  2. Say to yourself 5 times, “I am a __________.”  Whatever it is – a runner, an athlete, a CEO, a good friend.  Repeat it 5 times to cement the thought pattern in your mind.
  3. Visualize yourself as that person.  Create the “Future Me” image in your head.  Over time this image will get more and more specific and complex – maybe you’re even imagining yourself accomplishing your big challenge, or being rewarded for a job well done.  Imagine yourself smiling and standing tall, with the attitude that you can take on anything that you want to.  You can do it!

If this seems simple, it is!  The key is that you have to be consistent and do the work, because there is a big wall of negativity built up that you’ll have to crack.  Be patient with yourself, and this Future Me mindset will help you stop telling yourself that you aren’t this or you can’t do that.

“I can do anything.  I can be anything!”
— Future Me

Ryan

Friends

“I wish I would have done that workout alone.”
— No one

We would never willingly drag a friend into our personal hardship.  But a hard CrossFit workout?  Hell yeah!  Having friends by our side during a difficult test can give us incredible strength.  We wouldn’t say, “I’m glad you’re suffering too,” but maybe “I’m glad that you’re here with me!”

Friends are people to lean on, and people to be strong for.  When servicemen and women talk about the extraordinary camaraderie of serving and the tight-knit teams they served with, they know that such closeness, while punctuated by times of great fun and hilarity, was forged in the fire of shared struggle.  They got stronger by knowing that they were together when their lives were on the line.  In the world of CrossFit, our lives are not in danger – although it might feel like it sometimes! – but that shared struggle is real, and it also bonds us together as close friends.

My most challenging moment of the SEALFIT Kokoro training event – a 50-hour endurance test – came pretty quickly out of the gate, a couple hours in and we were all already physically smoked from bear crawls and several timed mile runs.  I must have really looked like it, because as I was stumbling up a hill sprint, one of my new quickly-made friends shot me a quick, “We’ve got this, Wolf, stay in the fight.”  That moment stuck with me as a turning point as I realized we were all in this together, we were all struggling, and I needed to be strong for myself and my own personal goal of finishing the event, but I also needed to be strong for my teammates.  Two nights later, on a 25-mile ruck up and down a mountain, I returned the favor by physically pushing my buddy up the hill when he became too exhausted and delirious from lack of sleep to even walk.  We all have those moments in a super-challenging experience where we can be the one to reach out with a helping hand or a pick-me-up pep talk, and it might make the difference in someone else’s success or failure.

Friends, our CrossFit Kent Island community, are what makes our training experience different from any other program out there, and why we enjoy so much success in our training.  Let’s all try to pass on that special experience – the joy and the struggle and everything that comes with it – to other people in our lives.

Through the month of December, we would like everyone to feel free to Bring a Friend to Class.  You know that once they experience the magic one time they’ll be hooked.  They just don’t know it yet!  Just give your coach a heads-up text so they know to expect a new face.

If you are not a member yet and you are reading this, hi my name is Ryan and I would like you to come try a CrossFit class, for free!  It’s always better with a friend, so grab your buddy along the way!  Tell him you’re going to a happy hour or something, he’ll believe it.  And you’re not really lying, we have drinks in the fridge.

Can’t wait to meet a bunch of new friends!

Ryan

Get Uncomfortable

I am not a runner.  I’m not very good at running, even though my lanky frame might suggest otherwise.  And I’m ok with that, now after 42 years on this earth.  I don’t enjoy it.  Every time I run away from the gym on the trail I think of all the barbells and pull-up bars that must be getting lonely.

I don’t think Jason Shand would identify as a runner.  He grew up in a hockey family, played football and baseball, and looks like he can squat, press and deadlift a ridiculous amount of weight, which he can.  Last weekend Jason ran the JFK 50-Miler, a 50 MILE point-to-point trail and road race in western Maryland, in 12 hours.  This was not a fluke, he had a smart training plan that he had been following for months.  Why?  Without putting words in his mouth, because it was hard.  Because he knew it would push him WAY out of his comfort zone and help him to grow.  To grow in his physical capacity for running and endurance events in general.  But even more importantly to grow as a person.

Doing hard stuff sucks.  Many people stop at that thought, and decide not to do the hard stuff.  Not to sign up for a challenging event that seems out of their comfort zone.  Not to push for one more round, not to hang out in the pain cave for a little bit longer to get that new PR.  And it makes sense on the surface — why would anyone voluntarily bring suffering upon themselves?  Nick Palmisciano, a US Army veteran and CEO of Ranger Up, says that “Everyone has a breaking point.  For most people, that point is very low, which is why many people never push themselves past their comfort zone… The dirty little secret is that everyone has a coward inside them, and if you really want to be tough, and I mean that both physically and mentally, you have to push that coward to the breaking point and then push past it every day.  You have to embrace suffering.”

So leaning into suffering makes us tougher.  I would also suggest that leaning into suffering, experiencing the extreme lows of hard training leading up to harder challenges, helps us appreciate the “highs” of our lives that much more!  Think about the reward that’s waiting for you on the other side of the tough experience.  Think about the feeling of really enjoying the comforts of home and hanging out with friends and family, after the sacrifice of hours of training.

And finally, training outside of your comfort zone promotes personal growth.  Training in a way that challenges you physically, but also mentally and emotionally, creates personal breakthroughs about the person that you really are, and the strength that you have inside to confidently fulfill your purpose in life.  Get ready to experience “If I can do ______, I can do anything,” kind of thinking.

If you find yourself generally hanging out in that comfort zone, find a challenge that will blast you out of there.  You’ll experience some discomfort, some pain and frustration.  Some really hard days of training.  But it will all be worth it when you experience that joy of accomplishment, and the resulting growth and momentum that comes from it.

Congrats to Jason once again for his huge accomplishment!

Ryan