Coach’s Blog

“From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event.”
– Epictetus

Happy New Year, CFKI!  Here we are in 2019.  This year instead of making resolutions to get rid of a bad habit or eat more vegetables, I’m going to make a stand.  And I encourage you to join me.
My stand is the list of core values or principles that I will not back down from.  These will guide my decision-making, giving me guidance when tough choices come up.  There are lots of different ways that you could identify what you stand for; here are a couple that have worked well for me:
1. Review a list of common core values, and pick out the ones that resonate most with you.  List them out on paper, and if you have a list of more than five, try to whittle it down so that you’re left with a powerful list of 3-5 values.  You can check out a list online here, and a Google search will come up with several other similar sites.
2. Identify a few people that you respect and admire.  What is it specifically about them that you look up to?  Is it their love of their family, their joyful attitude, their toughness, their decisiveness?  For each person that you identified, make a list of 3-5 values that represent them.  Now look through that list – which of these would you like to be attributed to you?
Once you have identified the values that you are going to stand for, it’s time to look inside and make an honest assessment of where you are with each of them.  If “honesty” is one of your core values, do you always stand for the truth?  If you have been dishonest in the recent past, why?  What can you learn from that mistake so that you can make the best decision that aligns with your stand next time?
Finally, write down your stand in a journal, or the Notes app on your phone – some place where you can review it each day as part of your morning practice.  Remind yourself of your stand, and visualize yourself acting with integrity toward those values as you interact with your family, friends and coworkers, and as you make key decisions that will project you forward toward being a better version of yourself!
In case you’re wondering, my stand is for Self Improvement, Integrity, and a Never Quit attitude.  Thinking about these values gets me fired up to take on all the challenges that the new year will bring!  Feel free to share your stand with us – it might help us become better coaches for you!
Ryan

Seriously, does CrossFit really have to be this hard?  I’ve been asked this question a few times, most recently yesterday, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought it myself after getting my butt kicked by a gnarly workout like the Filthy Fifty!
As with many rhetorical questions, the answer is “Yes… and No.”  Do you want the short answer or the long answer type of thing.
So, Yes, CrossFit does have to be this hard.
In order to elicit the hormonal response needed to get stronger, as adults we need to lift heavy weights.  If you don’t lift weights and seriously challenge yourself, which can of course be uncomfortable and hard, you’re not going to get stronger.
In order to improve your anaerobic conditioning, that is to say your “horsepower” or your ability to move yourself and maybe some external load quickly for a short period of time, you have to practice working in that oxygen-depleted state where your muscles are burning and you’re sucking wind and you just want to stop.  Ouch, that hurts, that’s hard.  But you’re getting more fit because of it, getting your body more accustomed to working in that environment and thus creating additional capacity when you need to turn up the volume and sprint, or move a heavy object, be that a barbell or your neighbor from his burning house.  Or fight.
How about if we just want to improve our aerobic conditioning, or our “endurance” – the ability to keep going at a slow pace for a long time.  Here is where the answer “No” creeps in a bit.  If you ONLY want to get better at running marathons, then a long-slow-distance running plan is a viable option, and you don’t need to put yourself through the hard stuff.  Just the boring stuff.  And, if long distance running is your only game, guess what you can’t do?  Sprint.  Jump high.  Do a pull-up.  Lift some heavy-ass weights.  So here’s where we get back to “Yes”!  The other option to improving your aerobic capacity is interval training, which we have been doing quite a bit of lately with our CrossFit Linchpin program.  Doing hard high-intensity intervals with appropriate rest periods (enough to catch your breath) will increase your aerobic capacity by challenging your body to take up oxygen and deliver it to your muscles more efficiently.  Your body does what it does best and adapts to the stresses placed on it, and becomes more efficient at oxygen delivery, and thus your aerobic capacity, your ability to run for a longer time, is increased!
In the end, getting back to the short answer approach, the answer seems to be “yes” – if you want to become more fit, you have to work out hard.
Finally, another sometimes overlooked benefit of following our training plan and living the CrossFit lifestyle is increased mental toughness, or grit.  I probably don’t have to tell you that if you want to be more mentally tough, you have to practice doing things that require mental toughness.  In completing these hard workouts and not quitting, not giving into that inner voice that’s telling you “maybe this isn’t a good idea anymore, maybe you should stop”, you are hardening your resolve to not quit in the future when an obstacle pops up in the gym or in your life that other, mentally weaker people would shy away from.
But, “No”.  Training hard takes a toll on your body and it’s important to focus on recovery just as much as you do in the gym.  This is why nutrition and sleep are so important, and it’s also why CrossFit.com schedules their WODs (Workout-of-the-Day) in 3-days-on, 1-day-off blocks.  If you are going balls to the wall for 3 days straight, unless you are a cyborg you are going to need a rest day, or a lower intensity day.  This might be your good opportunity to go for that longer run, or warmup and just work on skills for 30 minutes.
So if you are asking if it always has to be this hard because you are feeling seriously depleted, tired, groggy, and you don’t know what’s wrong but maybe it was those 5 intense workout days in a row, then guess what – the answer for you today is “NO!”  It should not be a hard day for you today.  You are going to take it easy, and live to fight another day.  That doesn’t mean you can’t step foot in the gym, but it does mean that you’re not in “competition mode” today – you’re in “working the kinks out” and “mobility is my life” mode, and more power to you because tomorrow you’re going to come in and crush it!
If you’re reading this blog, that means you are on your journey to be the fittest version of yourself possible.  And that means you have to physically work hard.  You have to go to the dark place where the doubt monsters hide in your mind and tell them to pack their bags, you’re in charge now.  You have to keep on pushing your physical and mental limits, and your body and mind will adapt.  And you wouldn’t want it any other way!  To paraphrase our good friend and CFKI teammate Hazen, a fountain of intensity and sage wisdom, “If I wanted it to be easy, I would go to Zumba!”
Ryan

“What gets measured gets improved.”
 – Peter Drucker
CrossFit works.  The reason it works, and the evidence that it does, lies in the fact that we measure everything we do!
From the moment you step into a CrossFit gym, the measurement begins.  I’m not talking about waist and hips with a tape measure and pinching your fat with a caliper, I’m talking about what you can do.  Leading you through a warmup and then a workout, your coach is assessing your current capabilities, your skill level and your physical and mental work capacity.  Our 4-session On-Ramp program at CrossFit Kent Island is so important for the new athlete in terms of learning the techniques and getting accustomed to the types of workouts that we do, but it’s also crucial for the coach to get to know you and understand what you can do.
From there, it’s off to the races, and the second phase of measurement really begins – tracking the results of our workouts.  We track our times on the daily WODs to establish the habit, but where it really is important is after workouts like today’s “Jackie” – a timed test of a 1000M row, 50 thrusters with an empty bar and 30 pull-ups.  What time did you finish it in?  Were you able to complete the workout “as prescribed”, or did you have to scale the pull-ups to ring rows?  We document those results in our Wodify system, so that next time that workout comes up, we have a result to match it up against.  Those that have been doing CrossFit for a while know that it works, because they can go back and check their “Jackie” time from a year ago and see the improvement.  And they improved not because they did “Jackie” every day, but because they can squat more weight now and press more weight overhead – they’re stronger.  They can do pull-ups now – they are more skillful.  And they can make it through this 10 minute workout moving at a fast pace the entire time – they have more work capacity, they’re more fit.
This idea of measuring results to improve results gives us evidence that CrossFit works, and it also leads to the reason that CrossFit works – it creates competition, and competition is a huge motivator.  At first we compete with ourselves, attempting to set new personal records in our deadlift and our 1-mile run time.  For some people working out with a group creates another friendly competitive atmosphere, or checking your score on the daily workout and comparing it to other people that are around your level of fitness.  Even staring up at an unbelievable score on the whiteboard and imagining having that level of fitness can be motivating – you want other people to eventually look at your scores and think the same thing.
Eventually you can actually compete in CrossFit – the Sport of Fitness!  The reason that we harp on standards for each movement and precisely define the workouts is so that we can compete, and preparing to win a competition also drives an unprecedented level of fitness.  I re-read in the CrossFit Journal not too long ago that “men will die for points,” and it sounds a bit morbid, but it’s true!
In conclusion, CrossFit works because we measure what we do, which informs us of our strengths and weaknesses, and in turn motivates us to be able to do more – to lift more weight, to do more work in less time, to be more fit.  Whether we want to beat our own previous results, or we’re motivated by beating our buddy’s time or competing at the highest level, we’re always striving to get a little bit better.  The journey never ends, it’s demanding and sometimes tough as hell, but it’s worth it when you get to celebrate those small victories along the way and look back to see how far you’ve come!
See you on the leaderboard!
Ryan
 
 

Last time we did a 5K run as our workout of the day, I had to rethink my strategy…
A longer run is a good opportunity to try to beat or at least get close to someone else in the class that you know is faster than you.  That external competition is good for both athletes, as the slower runner is trying to make themselves faster by chasing “the rabbit”, and the faster runner is trying not to get passed when they hear the footsteps and heavy breathing behind them!
This time I was going to stick with that overall plan of setting my sights on someone in front of me, but the way I would do it would have to change.
Before, I would conserve my energy in the beginning, letting “the rabbit” get well out in front, and then plan to try to catch up at the end.  It usually didn’t work, as the negative chatter started in my head about how far behind I was, and that it was going to take an extraordinary amount of effort to catch up.  So I didn’t.
The new and improved strategy was to keep up with “the rabbit” the entire time!  I knew if I could put out the same amount of effort that he did in the beginning, eventually he would settle into a little slower pace, and so would I.  We would run together the entire time (even if he was trying to shake me), and with my goal in plain sight it became much easier to keep visualizing success, and stay positive through the run.  The rabbit beat me by a harsh 20 seconds, turning on the gas at the very end while I gutted out my last 1/2 mile, but I PR’d my 5K time — SUCCESS!
This same approach relates to your fitness and health during the holidays.  It’s easier to Keep Up than to Catch Up.  The holidays are full of fun distractions, yummy food and plentiful drinks.  And my message today is not to stay away from that stuff and be a Grinch.  But you need to balance that with Keeping Up your fitness and health, keep moving toward your goals, so that come January you don’t feel like you’re starting over at square one again.  Keep Up this holiday season, don’t put yourself in the position of having to Catch Up.  January will come and you can still redouble your efforts and start off the year swinging for the fences, and you’ll have the mental energy and confidence to actually make it happen, rather than quickly getting discouraged trying to catch up to “the rabbit.”
To that end, we’d like to encourage you to spread the holiday “Keep Up” message with your friends, so through the month of December, you can bring a friend to any class FOR FREE!  Show your friends what CrossFit Kent Island is all about – the benefit to you is another workout buddy and some more accountability through the holidays and 2019!  Remember our Referral Bonus too – if your friend signs up for a membership, you get one free month!
Here’s to a great holiday season filled with good times and a renewed focus on your fitness, with friends!
Ryan

As I write this, I am in the waiting room at Washington Hospital Center, waiting for Denee’s heart surgery to be completed.  It’s a relatively simple procedure because of amazing technology, not an urgent thing or open-heart, and everything is going to be fine.  But sitting in the hospital, not knowing exactly what’s going on for a couple hours, gives you a chance to be still and think.  Think about what’s really important in life, and conversely what’s not.
Family is important.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, and trying to give your family the best holiday possible, leave those grudges and old fights behind you.  Try to make a connection with someone in your family that you haven’t been that close to before.  When it all comes down to the line, your family are the people you can depend on, and if they’re currently not, make an effort to let them know that you are that person for them.
This is what Thanksgiving is all about – celebrating the people in our lives we are thankful for, and letting them know about it.  Don’t forget that we’re not going to be around forever, so make every moment with your loved ones count.
Food is not.  Are you a gung-ho Paleo adherent, swearing off carbs forever?  Good for you, I applaud your determination and 260 days of the year I’m with you brother (weekends aren’t real days).  Don’t make it a big deal when Uncle Carl spoons up a second helping of stuffing.  This isn’t about you and your convictions, it’s about having a good time with family (see above).  Please don’t sit down at the Thanksgiving dinner table ready for war on which nutrition plan is best, or loudly refuse to eat that turkey that your mom put so much effort into, on the the grounds that it wasn’t ethically raised.  You’re being an asshole, and you’re missing the point.  Quietly pass the plate on, and make a mental note to talk to your mom some other time about how to choose the best meat.
Reading back through what I wrote here, it seems like I’m trying to pick a fight with someone who hasn’t done anything to me, and I hope no one takes it that way.  I’m just really looking forward to giving my wife and kids a big hug, and letting them know how much I love them, and then maybe we eat something.  It could be microwaved lasagna, and it will be the best meal in the world.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Ryan

CFKI team,
As we’ve continued to grow and have begun to offer more services, we’d like to also continue to vary the times that we offer our CrossFit classes as well as other specialty programs that will benefit those of you working toward certain goals, or those that want to just “change it up” once in a while.  Some examples include Coach Jason’s Olympic Lifting seminars, Coach Alyssa’s upcoming gymnastics training sessions (oh, it’s happening!), and maybe something that I have up my sleeve soon.
Along with that, at times we take a look at classes that aren’t performing as well as our most popular ones, and try to determine the reasons.  Do these classes not work for your schedules any longer? (10am’ers, pipe in here).  Is it now getting too late and dark for you to regularly attend? (6:30 folks, we need your opinions).  Class times that are poorly attended are potentially good candidates for new service offerings, as we try to serve our membership to the highest level possible and we know we have coaches that are ready and willing to lead you through a fun fitness experience.
Please let us know in a couple ways what you think of the 10am and 6:30pm class times if you are a regular there:
1. Email us at ryan@crossfitkentisland.com
2. Share your “Dive Plan” with us by signing up for class well in advance
Share Your Dive Plan
A couple years ago I wrote a blog called “Plan Your Dive, Dive Your Plan”.  The goal here was to create a paradigm shift in the way we all plan out our fitness journey, in the short term.  I asked that in the beginning of each week, we all sign up for the classes that we plan to attend for the week – our “Dive Plan”.  Then, it’s as simple as diving your plan.  Those of you that are SCUBA divers will be most familiar with this concept, but really it’s about coming up with a solid plan of what you’re going to do, and then DOING IT.  Your scheduled workout becomes a more solid, written in ink and not pencil, part of your day, and you’ll have a much harder time deviating from it.
This creates a weekly and then daily habit of prioritizing your fitness above other things – maybe things that take away from your fitness – which will both skyrocket your fitness level and also make sure that the classes that you want to attend don’t go away!
I encourage you all you go have a blast from the past and read this post, and then get in the habit of Sharing Your Dive Plan with us on Wodify by signing up for class at the beginning of each week.
I know I speak for all of our great coaches when I say we can’t wait to continue working with you to improve our fitness, health, and happiness.  You all are the best!
Ryan

Hi there teammates,
If you’ve been around the gym this year you may have seen Denee and I doing random burpees whenever the mood strikes us, and maybe you’ve wondered what’s going on?  Or maybe you’ve heard the joke when we program 150 burpees in a workout, “looks like Ryan’s behind on his burpees.”  Well, there’s a little truth to every joke, and the reason that we’ve been burpee-hounds all year is that we each committed to doing 10,000 burpees in 2018, for a charity called The Courage Foundation that was organized by Mark Divine, the founder of SEALFIT.  The Courage Foundation’s main goal is to raise awareness and funds for veterans suffering from PTSD, and one of the ways they are attacking that goal this year is to do 2.2 million burpees.  You’ve probably heard the statistic that 22 veterans per day commit suicide, and that’s where the 2.2 million number comes from.  Denee’s and my burpee totals will contribute to that overall goal, and we’re proud to be supporting this cause.
This year for Veterans Day, The Courage Foundation is taking on another specific challenge of doing 22,000 burpees in a 24-hour period, which would break the world record for a group of six people in that time.  A core group of six SEALFIT coaches and athletes are going to complete these 22,000 burpees, and they are requesting our support in throwing even more burpees into the mix, so that we can make a big push toward that overall 2.2 million goal.
I’ve created a CrossFit Kent Island team, and I’d love to see how many burpees we can complete on Veterans Day, which is Sunday, November 11th (the federal holiday this year will be Monday).  Our team goal is to complete 2,200 burpees, which sounds like a big number, but I know we can do it.
One small catch is that Denee and I will be on vacation in the Caribbean that weekend!  But that just means hydro-burpees are in order.  We’ll have the gym open for a window of time on Sunday for anyone that wants some burpee camaraderie, and we will accept virtual burpees as well!
Check out our team page here, which you can share with your friends if they would like to join in or sponsor your burpee efforts (a flat donation, or maybe 22 cents per burpee?).  I’m also going to create a Facebook group page for our team so we know who is in, and we can communicate before and during the burpee-thon!
I realize we are currently in the midst of Barbells for Boobs fundraising, and, like you all, I’m sensitive to too much fundraising, too many requests for cash going out to all of our friends and family.  As a general strategy, we try to limit our involvement with charities throughout the year so that we can lend our best efforts to the ones that really resonate with our community.  So, while I appreciate anything we can do to raise some money here, if the extent of your involvement is contributing a big long set of burpees on a Sunday morning, I’m totally cool with that.  Just let us know what you did so we can add up our total and report back to SEALFIT HQ!

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war and then seek to win.” – Sun Tzu
I took on a workout the other day that totally ate my lunch, and midway through I felt the nagging negativity creep into my head, “maybe you should stop, maybe this is too much…”  I persevered, blocking out the negative chatter by telling myself to just do one more round, and then one more round, and then one more round.  Then it was over, and as we all do after a 25-minute gut session I felt like crap and it took me a few minutes to be able to get up and walk around.  But the workout was 5 rounds long, and I felt like that midway through round 2.
So, what happened?  What torpedoed my effort so early on?  My lack of preparation, specifically mental preparation, for what I was about to do.  I started the first round, a 400M run, 15 power cleans and 15 burpees, like it was the only round, at a full sprint.  Not surprisingly, my next run felt like a slow jog, the next 15 power cleans were singles, and I paused after my first 4 burpees for a really long time listening to that negative voice.
What I should have done before the workout even started is take a minute to visualize completing the workout, noting where my strengths and weaknesses are likely to show themselves, how long the workout will take to complete, and with those two things in mind what my pace and mindset should be in the beginning, middle, and end of the workout.  Starting a 5-round workout at a sprint is a real rookie mistake and shows a lack of preparation, but sprinting at the end of the workout because you know you have a little bit left in the tank — now that’s where you want to be!
Mentally preparing, or more specifically visualizing what success will look and feel like before you take on a challenge, is an accepted and even mandatory practice at work and school — we put together project plans, including what success will look like at each critical juncture.  In preparing for a debate or a difficult conversation, you might visualize how you will respond if various topics are brought up or your opponent makes a certain statement.  Even when preparing for a fight (or a war, in the context of Sun Tzu’s quote above), the smallest bit of mental preparation — internalizing the fact that you’re going to win and here’s how — will decide the outcome.
Visualizing success before the challenge begins is the mark of a victorious warrior, both in battle and in life.  So why not practice this before your next workout?  Read through the workout explanation, and get a feel for the flow of how it will go down.  What is your goal for the workout outcome and how can you break that up into micro-goals?  What parts are your relative strengths that you can move through quickly?  Where will you plan to take breaks?  At what point are you going to have to just grind it out, and what will you tell yourself to keep going?  Now put everything back together and play the workout through in your head.  Imagine finishing the workout with a smile on your face, and high-fiving your teammates as they cross the line.  You got this.  Here we go, 3-2-1…
See you at the box,
Coach Ryan

Today is the last day to sign up your team for our Barbells for Boobs event and be guaranteed a t-shirt.  You can still sign up after today, and shirts will also be on sale at the event.
In previous years, I don’t think I’ve had to announce that deadline via so many platforms and so many times in the past week, but this year, as far as I know, the sign-ups so far have been lackluster, and I understand why – the event for the first time is not at our gym, we’re partnering with Fairwinds CrossFit for our fundraising and our workout event, so it seems a bit different, maybe you don’t feel as attached.  It’s also a little bit earlier than our usual Halloween-timed event, mainly to stay away from the timing of the ESAC which is happening on Oct 27th.
The reason for my reaching out again today is to remind you of the upcoming deadline (NOW!), but also to remind you or inform you for the first time why you should participate, why this is a big deal.
Barbells for Boobs is a great organization with a very worthwhile mission and a unique, if unfortunate name.  Don’t pick your kids up from preschool with a BFB t-shirt on, is all I’m saying.  Their mission is to give women who don’t have adequate insurance for a mammogram the right to know if they have breast cancer.
Breast cancer is something that has touched many of our lives.  The reason Jason and Eric are so fired up about this is that their good friend Liz, a young woman in her 30’s, has been battling the disease. You can listen to her story on the Grounds After Rounds podcast, episode 16 (I couldn’t figure out how to link it here…)  We can probably all think of a relative who has been affected — my mom was diagnosed several years ago, underwent treatment and then had a mastectomy.  Breast cancer is a type of cancer, like many nowadays with our rapidly evolving technology, that is much more treatable the earlier that it is caught;  but if someone does not have the financial resources to get checked out, they are in serious risk of a bad prognosis.
Barbells for Boobs’ website states that for every $120 that we raise, one person will have the right to know if she has breast cancer, and will also be provided with resources after diagnosis.  $360 will give one breast cancer survivor the gift of fitness classes for 3 months, something that we all would agree is so crucial to our daily sanity and will help a cancer survivor rebound back to a fulfilled life.
If you’re available on Saturday, October 13th at 8am to attend our Barbells for Boobs event at Fairwinds CrossFit in Annapolis, but you’re not yet signed up, please do the following:
– If you want to be on a team but don’t have teammates, put your name on the signup sheet at the gym, or email ryan@crossfitkentisland.com and I will do it for you.
– If you have a team put together but aren’t registered yet, take the initiative to be the team leader.  Text your teammates, Venmo request their portion of the registration ($30 each), and go to barbell-for-boobs-2018.myshopify.com to get your team on the books.
– If you don’t want to compete but want to hang out for the morning and have a good time, that’s awesome!  We hope to see you there, and you can buy a t-shirt and/or make a donation onsite, or check out Fairwinds’ BFB fundraising page at https://www.barbellsforboobs.org/fundraisers/fairwindscrossfit
“Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on Earth.”
Ryan

“It’s not in my power how long I will live, but rather how long I will truly exist.” – Seneca
This past weekend was the 20^th edition of GORUCK Selection.  It’s a 48-hour endurance challenge patterned after Special Forces Selection.  The instructors, called “Cadre”, are trying to make the participants quit.  The event begins with 30-50 extremely tough people and at the 25 hour mark of Selection 020, there was only one man still standing with 23 hours to go.  The average pass rate for this event is less than 2% but after 48 hours, participant 011 was still standing.  What did he win?  A patch and a beer.
On October 3^rd of this year, it’ll be 9 years since my brother died.  He lived for 30 years.  I should say he LIVED for 30 years.  He surfed, he bungee-jumped, he skydived, he lived in Spain for 6 months and Costa Rica for 6 more, he built people’s homes and he voluntarily helped others.  His daughter was born shortly after he died and she regularly asks me to tell her stories about him.  I’m thankful because there are so many to share (although some will have to wait until she’s a bit older).
When I tell people about our Hero WOD Saturdays or the Murph of the Month club, they often think we’re crazy but I think it gets to the essence of a life worth living.  Some people live to be 90 years old but did they live or merely exist?
“Memento Mori” is a Latin phrase which translates to “remember death.”  As cryptic as it sounds, the fact that you will die is a reality.  You have no choice in this but you can decide how you live.  You have a choice if you want to spend a Sunday watching football on TV or running 20 miles in the rain and mud.  You have a choice when you decide to hit the snooze button one more time instead of going to the gym to throw some weights around.  You have a choice when you surf around social media on your phone rather than engage with your family or friends.
I don’t know participant 011, but I know he is choosing to truly LIVE his life.  As much as tomorrow is not guaranteed, what will you do today?  I encourage you to make plans for the trip you’ve always wanted to go on; take your kids to the park rather than handing them an iPad; pursue that challenge that might scare you.
Memento Mori.
-Coach Jason