Foundational Articles

You Can’t Have it All – And You Don’t Want It All Anyway…

June 17, 2012 by Adam 28 Comments

“If you don’t change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?”

- Douglas Adams

This post took me quite a while to write because I was exploring and forming the ideas in it as I was writing it. I feel like I’ve grasped the basics of the issues I’m facing, the path to get to a better place AND there’s enough in here that will help YOU get to YOUR goals – and maybe have more fun doing it besides…

That said, this post is an exploration of what I’m coming to believe are the foundations of success in training, healthy living and the rest of life – and some rants about the games society and culture play that keep us from getting where we want to go…

Information Overload

Something that just recently came to me is how many “you don’t have control” messages we get day after day over the years. It came to me, oddly enough, when I realized that I actually DO have full control over my life – at least now I do…

The above is that classic “I Love Lucy” episode where she and Ethel have to work faster and faster to keep up with their work and keep their jobs. What’s particularly fascinating about that scene to me is how it applied to the work style of the time it originated in. Factory or “high-tech” jobs in that time would be just as stressful and overwhelming in those days as a high-tech job is today. Factories and conveyer belt systems were state of the art then just like email, iPads, social media and all that go with them are state of the art now.

Information Overload

You Really DO Have Control…

I recently picked up a copy of the book “Zen Habits” by Leo Babauta. It’s a great book that really made me think. Leo basically takes a “minimalist” approach to his blogging and his life. He has one of the top blogs in the world, so you can’t really argue that his methods don’t work. He basically suggests fewer projects, fewer goals, fewer commitments, fewer daily to-do’s – BUT, he insists that the things you DO choose to focus on are highly important TO YOU and are directly related to your bigger picture goals and vision.

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

It’s been said in many different ways by plenty of smart people, but here’s the basic issue in Leo’s words:

“For many people these days, work is a constant stream of e-mails, of news and requests, of phone calls and instant messages, of papers and notes and files. The day starts with an in-box full of e-mails, and ends with an in-box just as full, and each e-mail represents a request for information or for actions that we don’t have time to fulfill. We are drinking from a fire hose of information, with no idea of how to reduce the flow.”

- Leo Barabuta

And, also said in many different ways by many smart people, here’s what I believe to be the solution, again in Leo’s words:

“The solution lies in setting limits to how much we consume and do. It lies in making the most of our time by focusing on the most important things, instead of everything….”

- Leo Barabuta

Or, Said Even Simpler…

“Stop all the things that make you a pussy and steal your energy. Get your life back.”

- Jim Wendler

I’m Too Busy Trying to be Successful to Succeed…

Already this Spring/Summer I’ve had two pretty large setbacks in my training goals. I’ve had a few more in my personal life as well. I’ve gotten a lot better at controlling the “Voice in The Head” (as Eckhart Tolle calls it) and I’ve been able to ignore (or at least not give full attention to) the “Because you’re a fucking loser!” response that comes back like an echo when I pose the question to myself: “OK, why couldn’t you make that happen?”

But the question still remains: Why did I fail to reach specific goals I had set for myself?

The answer I’ve finally come back to is that I’m not focused enough. Oh, I’m focused on what I want – in my head – but I’m not focused enough in some of my actions yet. You can THINK about a lot of things – virtually all at once – but you can only DO one thing at a time. Your energy, time, patience, willpower and perseverance are a lot more limited than your brain and ego think.

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least”

- Goethe

A Shift In Thinking…

I’ve recently had a pretty major shift in thinking. The short story is, I’m going to take my life back – as Jim suggests above. Regardless, it means I can’t be delusional and fool myself as often as I’d like or for as long as I’d like. She pretty much always calls me out on it.

There was a time when I was really high on the old-school self-help stuff. Even though I’m decidedly “new school” when it comes to just about everything, I read a lot of the older stuff – Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy, etc. – in the early years of my interest in changing my life for the better. I don’t feel like that stuff is as applicable to my life anymore – or to modern life in general. I think that stuff is great – and it’s definitely helpful when you’re low on confidence and vision for your life – because it teaches you to be audacious and hyper-ambitious in setting goals and your expectations from life.

But the 21st Century is different. You CAN’T have it all. Honestly, you don’t even WANT it all – because managing it all once you had it would drive you insane! To paraphrase Seth Godin, it makes a lot more sense to choose the ONE THING you have the passion to be the best in the world at and focus on that. Seth is considered the best marketer in the world. To that he’ll add that he’s also the worst TV watcher in the world and the worst meeting attender in the world. He’s chosen the ONE THING he has the passion to be the best in the world at and he’s focusing on that..

So, Here’s My Shift in Thinking…

Instead of focusing on how much I can do and how fast I can “break through the barrier” to achieving my goals, I’m going to take a different approach from here on out. I’m committing the next YEAR to my writing, blogging and training and to very little else. Instead of being audacious and grandiose in my goals – which has its time and place – I’m going to focus on “showing up” every day and doing the little things that add up to success day after day and year after year.

Here are my training commitments for the year:

A full year of consistent Wendler 5/3/1 as a foundation for my strength training
A full year of consistent Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training leading up to my next belt test July 2013
From the foundation of 5/3/1 above, add in Kettlebell Sport training toward the very end of the summer to prep for my CKT Level 2 with Ken Blackburn sometime in 2013

That’s pretty close to it.

No 500 pound bench press. No UFC Title. “Only” one martial art instead of 6, I’m not going to 20 different certs this year… (There will probably be a little MMA and Muay Thai in there too, but it won’t be a focus…) My first reaction to all this a few days ago was “How can that be all I do for the year?!?!?!?!” I look at it now and think “That’s PLENTY…” Of course there will be other training things I do, but the point is, I’ve chosen the things I KNOW I’ll love doing enough and care about enough that a year spent doing them will be a worthy investment of my time. Yes, more might be nice, but not really necessary. Besides, if I do get a little more than the above done, its a bonus…

So, what does it actually take to succeed?

I think what it really takes to make things happen are Focus and Consistency. If I look at every successful period of my life or any time when I achieved a big goal, created something or made something major happen, I was both focused on the project – sometimes to the exclusion of almost everything else – and I was consistent about working on it or learning more of the skills I needed to work on it.

This is me in the mid-1990s…

In the mid-1990s I was about 26 years old and in the best shape of my life. At this point, I had taken a break from college the year before because I had burned myself out so badly that I could barely function. It was the first time I had an encounter with full on adrenal fatigue (called “chronic fatigue” back then) and all the mess that goes with it. (Interestingly, the burnout happened when I was studying less than my happier years previously, but was now trying to juggle a part-time job, a girlfriend an hour away, a social life and a million demands from my “friends” at the time. I’ve actually written about some of the lessons learned form that period in the post “I’ll Never Be Good Enough.”)

This picture was taken after about a year of recovery – 6 months or so of “convalescing” followed by 6-8 months of focused training:

Adam "shredded" in the late 90s

I looked great and I felt great during that time. You could argue about how “functional” my strength and condition was, but I was training in the ways there were state of the art and popular at the time. And I wasn’t exactly weak with a 405 Deadlift and Weighted Dips with 3 – 45lb Plates around my waist…

If I look at the other times I’ve really accomplished or achieved anything in my life it’s ALWAYS been a time of nearly 100% focus on the goal and the exclusion of as much of everything else as I can possibly get away with. Building this blog, writing my book, rebuilding my health, getting my motorcycle license and learning to ride, productive training in martial arts – ALL were times of almost complete focus on the single goal.

By contrast, the most unhappy, unproductive, depressed, anxious and confused times in my life have ALWAYS been the times when I was being pulled in too many different directions and had too many things going to focus on just the one or two that were most important.

More Lies from Our Friend, “The Establishment…”

A few years ago, I wrote about the fantasy we get sold in mainstream society about having it all. That post was called “Fitness, Health, Money and LIES” and I took a look at the common fallacies and misconceptions that spread through the media – particularly the training and fitness media.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Seth Godin – who writes THE NUMBER ONE MARKETING BLOG IN THE WORLD – has said over and over again to pick one thing and become the best at it. Here he is saying it in an interview on Technorati.

If you truly are passionate about something, GO DO IT! Don’t believe for a minute that you’re going to be able to do everything all at once. Even Arnold couldn’t do it. He focused on being the best bodybuilder in the world – and succeeded – then he blew up the box office, then he went into politics. He never could have done all 3 at the same time. It would have been impossible. Many have probably tried but we’ll never know, because they never made it…

I think the media likes to promote the “you can have it all” idea for two reasons:

No one likes to think they might have to give up something to get something else
Many, many industries thrive on people being frustrated, misinformed and ready for a quick fix or magic pill

If I wanted to be generous, I might even say that many of the hardworking people who make up the mainstream media actually believe that they CAN have it all. They’re functioning under the same delusion. So the delusion just keeps spreading.”

- From: “Fitness, Health, Money and LIES“

So, in short, don’t buy the hype…

“If five million people do a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.”

- Chinese Proverb

All this also reminds me of an Urban Legend that circulated through the university science and engineering programs I went through. Someone always knew someone who heard about some guy who worked full-time, had a family AND was pulling straight A’s in a full-time engineering program on top of it all. Sometimes he was pulling straight A’s in a double major in Mechanical and Chemical Engineering or some other obscene combination – depending on who was telling the story…

The problem with that story – other than the fact that I never met this person or anyone who knew him - personally – is that between classes and labs you’re basically occupied from 9am to 3 or 4pm Mon-Fri in an engineering or chemistry program. What the hell full-time job are you working? Not to mention – and I did the math – on top of the average of 32 hours a week I spent in classes and labs, my nights and weekends were PACKED with homework that I’d barely be able to keep on top of from day to day. There were many, many nights I never went to bed and there were a few times I even went TWO nights in a row without sleeping to get all my work done. And, the funny part is, the people who had part-time jobs on the weekends were always looking for ME on Monday morning to see how I had done this or that from the lab or homework that was due. (By the middle of senior year, I had started to almost completely avoid my classmates because I always had my work done and they were rarely as well prepared as I was. I got sick of helping people who were never in a position to help me back…)

Now, with all that work and sleep deprivation, I still “only” got a B.S. in Chemistry with a 3.4 GPA. That’s without working any kind of job, living at home and being single. Pretty pathetic accomplishment compared to Mr. Awesome with the 20 kids and straight A’s and full-time job…

What’s funny (now) is that I really did feel pathetic and lazy and incompetent for years during and after college because I didn’t work at least part-time while going to school…

Here’s Where It All Comes Together…

As Stuart McRobert says at the beginning of “Beyond Brawn:”

“More of what did not help you over the last few months is not going to help you over the next few months….”

So, herein lies the basic question – and a clue to a basic, human dysfunction that grows more and more prevalent the further into the 21st Century we go: Will you be happier, healthier and more fulfilled with MORE in your life – just MORE stuff to have or do – or will you be happier, healthier and more fulfilled with just a few really important goals achieved, PRs set and truly meaningful things done?

More and more it seems that it’s all just about MORE – more Facebook and Twitter followers, more useless emails to clean up, more inboxes to check, more projects, more goals, more Apps, more accomplishments, more stuff. What if you just chose a tiny handful of the MOST important and meaningful things in your life and focused on those. I know, SCARY right?

But, think about it – what tiny subset of the things you’re doing and working on now would be so satisfying and thrilling that, if they were all you accomplished for the whole year, you’d feel satisfied and fulfilled?

Do those and let the other crap sort itself out…

Now, get to work!

If you want to take action on this stuff I’m talking about and get to more of the stuff that makes you happy and fulfilled, check out these two great (And pretty short!) books:

The Power of Less:

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

Do More Great Work:

And, if you’re interested in blogging and social media business stuff, you can listen to this podcast from CopyBlogger with Chris Brogan for extra credit:

And, finally, this is a GREAT interview with THE MAN Seth Godin for Problogger:

There it is. If this post was helpful to you or made you think, I’d love to know about it in a comment or message.

ttys

Adam

Dedication…

I’d like to dedicate this blog post to Professor John Tanaka from the Department of Chemistry at UConn. He was one of my favorite professors there and was always great to talk to and learn from. I even called him when I was out of school and working in a lab and couldn’t get an inorganic synthesis experiment to work – he got me right back on track in a few minutes, of course. He passed away in April of this year after 45 years at UConn.

Dr. Tanaka taught me how to think, how to find and process information and how to be resourceful in finding answers to questions. Strange as it may seem, I really enjoyed the hours (and hours) I spent tracking down the answers to the “Library Questions” he assigned us every week. They were like little “information puzzles” that had to be solved – mostly by looking through index after index of older chemistry books. There was no Google or information overload in 1999!

Thank you, Dr. Tanaka. I’m a better scientist for having studied with you…

Fitness Goals – Setting, Refining and Staying Focused…

December 30, 2011 by Adam 11 Comments

Adam's Goal Index Cards

It’s kind of a cliche to get all into “goals” around January 1. Personally, I look at the beginning of a new year as the time to review what I’ve done over the past year, evaluate my current goals, set new ones and redirect or alter my life course as necessary. I work with my goals and with goal setting all year and often on a daily basis as I evaluate, re-evaluate and change and revise my goals. I don’t look at Jan 1 as a time to set goals and then forget them, I see it more as a logical time to increase my focus on my goals and I look at the beginning of the New Year as an ending of one time period and the beginning of another.

This year – 2012 – in particular seems to be shaping up to be particularly intense and productive in some really great ways – many old and unneeded or negative things are ending, many new, positive things are beginning, new goals and opportunities are coming into focus and positive change is pretty much pervasive in my life right now. That makes this New Year even more important to me and has me even more actively focused on the coming year. But, I do with my goals almost daily and think a very regular, year-round focus is the best way to get results.

This post gives you a number of different techniques and options for envisioning goals, setting them and creating something solid to review regularly to keep on track and check in on your progress. I’ve used all of these methods at one time or another and I still pretty much use all of them to varying degrees. My two favorites though, are the index cards and the MS Word document that I’ve talked about before.

Goal Setting – Going Multi-Media…

Something that I can get ridiculously excited about at times is this Web 2.0 world we live in. There are virtually ENDLESS opportunities to indulge our creativity when it comes to goal setting. You can pretty much find a picture or a video of just about anything you want to add to your goals…

Below is a new YouTube Playlist I started this morning. All you need is a user account to save the Playlist and you can create a collection (or multiple collections) of videos to watch when you need a little extra inspiration. Before working out is a great time to watch them…

My Inspirational YouTube Playlist

If pictures are more your thing, you can search ONLY images with Google. Here’s just part of the results I got for “Strongman Training.” Plenty of images to cut and past into a Word document or print out on photo paper and add to index cards.

Google results for "Strongman Training"

There’s also this site called Pinterest.com. You can create “boards” and “pin” pictures to them. You can also tag your pics so others can find the topics you’re posting on. You can also search for topics and see what others are posting and “re-pin” their pics to your boards. It’s a fun site and more and more of my Facebook friends are showing up on the site every day. I expect Pinterest to become a really popular and active site in the next year.

Of course, if you wanted to go “old school” you could just create an album on Facebook and put all your inspiration pics in there. You might even – GASP – print your pics out and keep them in a physical folder!

Community…

Speaking of Facebook, there’s this community called “Strong is the New Skinny” on there that can be inspiring and supportive every now and then…

Joking aside, getting yourself hooked into a good, supportive community is a GREAT way to share goals and stay on track. And the internet makes it ridiculously easy to find people who share your values and will support you in your goals. There’s no reason for anyone with an internet connection to go it alone – there are plenty of great groups and forums and other places online to find like-minded people 24-hours a day. In the past, I struggled with finding people who shared my niche and sometimes odd-ball interests. In the 21st Century though, there’s no reason to feel isolated because the people you encounter in your daily “bricks and mortar” world don’t share your values.

Reaching your goals and creating positive change in your life is very much dependent on having a good, supportive peer group that can encourage you, support you and that you can learn from. Humans are STRONGLY influenced by the other humans they interact with on both the conscious and subconscious levels. There’s a statistic that says we tend to earn within 10% one way or the other of the people closest to each other. I find this is usually the case. You can probably extrapolate that figure to fitness, health, happiness, satisfaction with life and almost any other life quality. You become like what and who you surround yourself with so be careful, be selective and be the kind of person other successful and positive people like to surround themselves with…

sins shirts at usapl 2010

Word Processor Documents…

You can always go with a simple old word processor document in a program like MS Word. Here’s a video I did at the beginning of this year as part of my first blog post on goal setting called: “Creating a Fitness Vision and Training Goals for the New Year.”

With a Word doc, it’s easy to add and expand it, print it out, etc. I still have my master vision in a Word doc, but I’ve come to find the index cards a little easier and faster to work with every day. I like the cards for every day reading and review to stay on track and the word processor document for higher level, more formal goal setting and planning…

BTW, my MS Word vision doc is up to 167 pages of pics and text! It’s 6,361 words, too! It definitely describes my ideal life and lifestyle in detail!

Creating Fitness Goals and Vision in MS Word

What’s even cooler about the Word doc is that, when I go back through the older drafts, I find that many things have actually happened! They’re not always present in my life in exactly the way I wrote them, but many, many things have come to be in a similar – or better way – than they were written!

Books and Magazines…

“If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

- Benjamin Franklin

I just LOVE books! I have literally hundreds and hundreds of books. Below are just a couple of the books I’m currently reading or picking through. It’s an eclectic collection for sure and I find that just reading a few pages in a book about something I’m currently working on as a goal or project can really stimulate my thinking, creativity and enthusiasm.

I’ve made it a habit for years now to “feed my mind” every single morning with a good book that inspires or educates me. My morning routine since somewhere around 2006 has been to get up and have coffee with a good book on something I’m currently interested in. I don’t think I could even put a value on what that practice has brought to my life in positive payoff…

Books are great for getting motivated for goals

I’ve had a real love for magazines since I was a kid. Pretty early on in life I learned that virtually any interest you could possibly have had at least one – and likely several – magazines devoted to it. Now, in the 21st Century that’s more true than ever. Things have become more and more “niched down” and there are magazines that cater to virtually every interest. Yes, it’s true that the mainstream journalism markets have taken a beating, but niche journalism is doing great! And, many print magazines blur the line between online and offline by posting additional content online that connects with the print content.

Magaiznes for setting goals

I routinely scan pics in magazines to my computer and print them out on good photo paper for use on my cards. This card has a pic of a truck that has a VERY specific set of characteristics I want to keep in front of me and in my head for my own truck project.

Pre Runner Truck Goal Card

A good magazine is GREAT for giving you lots of pics to draw ideas and inspiration from and they can really help you find websites, products and other resources related to your interests that you’d likely never find through a search engine – because you wouldn’t know that they existed to look for them!

Making It Happen…

Two of the absolute greatest resources for goal setting and creating a larger vision for your life are the “Getting Things Done” books by David Allen and the CD set “The Time of Your Life” by Anthony Robbins. I recommend both very highly. I’ve personally worked with all these resources for years now. They tend to take on greater and deeper meaning for me as the years pass and I work through them over and over.

I consider “The Time of Your Life” by Robbins to have been an absolutely pivotal program for creating positive change in my life. EVERYTHING changed for me the morning I did the “Finding Your Vision” meditation on the second CD of Day 4. It was the first time I really “saw” and “felt” my life in the way I wanted it to be and in alignment with my deepest purpose and desires. Once I had a feel for that vision I began YEARS of positive changes that led me to end many things and begin many others. My involvement in CrossFit and Kettlebells, my career as a coach and trainer, my health and healing – as just a few examples – were a direct result of the work I did with that program…

Getting Things Done

Anthony Robbins TIme of Your Life

Is There Achievement Without Striving, Struggling and Stressing?

Michelle and I were just in yoga class tonight. The instructor was talking about – what else – goals and New Years resolutions… Her take was basically that last year she had all these goals and she was all motivated to go after them in 2011 – and very few of them materialized. So, THIS year, her goal was to “let life happen” and not try to control things too much. My first reaction was to give her a copy of “Getting Things Done…” (Actually, my FIRST reaction was to throw a copy at her head! How very “yoga” of me…)

Michelle and I were talking about this after and the point came up about achievement without striving. My firm belief is that, when you’re on the path you need to be on and you’re aligned with your spirit’s deepest path and purpose, there won’t be a lot of stress and striving. Yeah there will be hard work, but it won’t have that frantic, caffeinated, stressful feeling to it – and it definitely won’t be draining and exhausting.

I can contrast my life now and the things in it – the great Strong is the New Skinny community on Facebook, all my martial arts friends, my great girlfriend, a successful eBook, etc. – with what things felt like when I was working a corporate job, doing graduate classes at night and trying to keep my too big and too expensive house afloat. Things flow pretty well for me now. I still have to work hard, but I don’t feel that exhausting and stressful pushing and striving like I once did when I was living a life that wasn’t aligned with who I am on a deep level. And, the places where I DO feel that negative striving and pushing feeling are actually the places where I’m cleaning up the mess that was my old life. They’re the things I’m working to settle and put to rest. The NEW stuff is flowing and unfolding pretty easily…

When you’re aligned with your TRUE purpose in life and you’re heading where you’re supposed to be heading, things have more of a tendency to flow…

I say the above just to provide some balance and insight. I truly belive that life IS NOT meant to be a struggle. If your life is an endless struggle – or feels like one more often than not – you should probably take a look at some of the deeper more spiritual levels of life like your path and your purpose.

As a little “bonus,” I’ll share a resource that had a profound impact on my life about 5 or so years ago. The resource is the CD Set “Prosperity – How to Apply Spiritual Laws To Create Health, Wealth, And Abundance In Your Life” by Randy Gage. If you’re interested in a spiritual – yet very down to earth and accessible – audio series on manifesting your goals and prosperity in your life, this set set is just awesome.

Now, Get to Work!

I’ve tried my best to give you plenty of options, resources, techniques and strategies for setting goals and staying focused on them. If you have others I didn’t mention, be sure to leave a comment to share it with me and the others who are reading this post.

That’s it for now. Good luck and may 2012 – and beyond – be a great time of positive achievement!

ttys

Adam

A letter to the year 2012

CrossFit – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Kettlebell Swing…

July 31, 2011 by Adam 25 Comments

Sigh… What a week… A Wise Ape once told me if I wasn’t getting hate mail, no one was reading my stuff. Well, people are definitely reading my stuff… This past week, I leaned heavily on my faith and asked myself many times WWTGD? (What Would The Gorilla Do?).

I think I’ve turned a corner on Practical Paleolithic – I think this blog – and my blogging – has evolved beyond the raw rants I was doing last year and become more intelligent. Sure, the sharp sarcasm remains and my usual brilliant and charming wit , but the ranting just isn’t as fun as it was. Or, maybe all the yoga and the uber-spiritual, hippie-in-remission girlfriend are just making me go soft… Either way, I think my writing and YOUR reading on this blog evolved beyond the pseudo-negativity of the massively sarcastic rant. Time will tell though…

Either way, CrossFit is seriously taking off and, IMHO, some really important parts of it are getting left behind. This happens. It reminds me of the Ninjutsu boom that happened in the 80′s or the Kenpo Karate boom the decade before. Remember how there were Martial Arts guys in black masks in EVERY movie, TV show and Cartoon back then? That happened because there was an explosion in popularity and fascination with the Ninja and their Martial Art. So, Ninjutsu went from being this devastatingly effective combat art with a pragmatic Buddhist spiritual side to being something that showed up on Cereal boxes and Saturday morning cartoons. From there, there ended up being all sorts of arguments about who the actual Grandmaster of the art was (it was and is Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi) and if he was even for real, if his technique was any good and on and on…

Then new “Masters” showed up and opened competing schools (Sounds kind of like the “bootcamps” that are popping up everywhere to take some of the CrossFit popularity spillover, huh?). It got to the point where everyone was a “Ninja Master” and there were “Ninja Schools” everywhere. Then people started saying Ninjutsu wasn’t a “real” art. All sorts of arguments started about “effective” martial arts and who’s “Ninjutsu” was better. There were arguments that Ninjutsu “didn’t work” and counter-arguments that it was the most effective fighting art known to Man. This kind of stuff has been around in Martial Arts for a LONG time and you can actually make a case for these arguments being the basis of the original UFC events in the 90′s. In fact, I think there was a “Ninja” in the first UFC and I’m pretty sure he got his ass kicked…

CrossFit Relentless Bootcamp Sign

Just like in Martial Arts, I think the TEACHER and the SCHOOL are everything when it comes to CrossFit. In CrossFit the teacher is called a “Coach” and the school is called a “box,” but it’s the same thing. At this point, the name “CrossFit” doesn’t necessarily indicate guaranteed quality anymore. At the same time, NOT seeing the name “CrossFit” on a “warehouse-style” gym doesn’t automatically mean it’s NOT a good gym either. It could be one of the many former CrossFits that either lost it’s affiliation or chose to disaffiliate. Some of those “original” CrossFit people like OPT, Melissa and Dallas from Whole 9 and Robb Wolf would make OUTSTANDING coaches if they were near you – regardless of whether or not it says “CrossFit” over their door.

Yes, I hate CrossFit and, yes, this blog is about YOU…

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you? Don’t you?

- Carly Simon

I guess the 21st century version of that song is “You probably think this blog post is about you…” The point is NO I don’t hate CrossFit and NO I didn’t write this post about any gym or anyone in particular. No more than writing that I eat some brown rice or goat yogurt once in a while means I hate Paleo and Robb Wolf…

If I routinely quote Glassman and have been saying we lost our way from stuff he said back in 2002, I’m probably not a CrossFit hater now, am I? In fact, maybe I should call myself a CrossFit Fundamentalist and run around thumping old reprints of CrossFit Journal…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: CrossFit is an AWESOME methodology and community. It’s done some great things for training and it’s connected a lot of great people. Some of my best friends are CrossFitters.

Those NEW to CrossFit, take note…

I believe CrossFit should ALWAYS be about Elite Fitness. Not so much always elite PERFORMANCE, but always Elite Fitness. What is “Elite Fitness?” Well, as it happens, Glassman wrote an OUTSTANDING paper called “What is Fitness?” back in 2002. I’m routinely amazed at how many “CrossFitters” haven’t read that incredible article and how many “CrossFitters” don’t even know who Coach Glassman IS…

It doesn’t really matter where you START when you come into CrossFit. The point is: where do you go and what’s your attitude? If CrossFit truly IS Elite Fitness – and is going to remain so – the people involved in the sport need to check their motivations. Yes, CrossFit changes lives and it’s great that it can scale and be accessible to all. I’m all for diverse groups of people seeing the benefits of CrossFit. But I think that CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT is a cornerstone of what CrossFit is all about.

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“Master Chen was renowned for his skill in Taijiquan, perhaps the greatest teacher of his day. At the end of a long life, surrounded by students, Chen lay dying. Chen gestured for his chief student. The student approached and kneeled by Chen’s bed.

‘Yes, Master,’ asked the student.”

‘It is a pity,’ whispered Master Chen. ‘I was only just learning how to punch.’”

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(Thanks to my awesome Facebook friend Robert for digging up that quote for me!)

Here’s the thing: I’ve been a coach for a while now. Something I feel I’m exceptionally good at is seeing the potential someone I’m training has – even if they can’t see it themselves – and moving them toward that potential. All of us can always be better than we are today and it can be surprising how small the daily changes are that add up to BIG changes over months and years. (This is true in LIFE, not just training, BTW…)

But what about the people aren’t pushing the edge of their potential? What about the people who don’t care about pushing the edge of their potential? Or, what about the people who would push the edge of their potential if they had a coach who could help them do it and lend them some vision for who they could be? And, beyond that, what about the coaches who need to be pushing their OWN potential on TWO fronts – their own training and athletic ability AND their coaching ability?

Far from saying I think we should exclude new people from CrossFit or have some massive performance standards, I ACTUALLY think new people should get MORE coaching and MORE attention and A LOT MORE encouragement to SLOW DOWN until they’re ready to go faster and move bigger weight. As coaches or just those who have been in CrossFit for a long time (and training for an even longer time), we have a very big responsibility to teach people stuff the right way right from the beginning.

Everyone is Watching and There are No “Do Overs…”

I’d like to see our community continue to be elite – IN QUALITY – and not have us start looking like a bunch of clowns in knee socks and Vibrams pounding the shit out of ourselves with bad form and too much weight way too often. The truth is, I think there’s a fork in the road and some of us are going one way and some of us are going the other… Time to choose a direction, folks…

There’s a REAL danger of CrossFitters being the 21st Century version of the Ass Clown Gym Guys in the stupid pants who EVERYONE thinks of when you say “bodybuilder.” (Credit to Alysha for the “Ass Clown” terminology…) I sure as hell don’t want THAT to happen. If we’re going to avoid that though, we need to make sure our community stays on track and doesn’t get swept away and wrecked by this latest popularity surge. The world is watching us CrossFitters (Paleo people too…) and we need to step up and do the right thing. We need to show the world our BEST…

Gym Mullet Bodybuilder Pants

CrossFit is MORE than MetCons…

One of the big factors that drew me to CrossFit back in 2008 was that it incorporated so many different disciplines AND had fast and effective methods for teaching them. CrossFit incorporates running, Powerlifting, Gymnastics, Olympic lifting and a WHOLE LOT of other cool stuff. But the fundamentals in those disciplines take YEARS to develop…

Maybe not years in CrossFit, but years in training them. A runner coming into CrossFit is going to be AWESOME at running and likely have not-so-great barbell skills and be lacking a lot of other stuff. A Powerlifter or bodybuilder will have (hopefully) some really good barbell skills and probably not be able to run to his car and back to get his whey protein recovery shake. The beauty of CrossFit is that it is AWESOME at exposing your weaknesses and showing you where you suck currently. But, once you know where you need to improve – PLEASE start systematically working on improving!

One of the things that’s happened in CrossFit – and I started seeing it when I ran my own affiliate – is that people think the MetCon IS CrossFit. They expect – and demand – that every workout crushes them and leaves them in a pool of sweat and vomit at the end. As a coach, you walk a line because you can be seen as “soft” if you dial people back and make them hold back some adrenal capacity and recovery. I’ve actually used a Gymboss Timer to enforce longer time between sets in the Powerlifts with people. As in, Max Deadlift for 5 sets of 5 reps with 3 MINUTES between sets. You should see everyone go NUTS wanting to grab the bar after about 30 seconds! Three minutes feels like an ETERNITY to a CrossFitter who’s been doing a ton of Metcons…

My point is, a “CrossFit Workout” can be skill work with the Barbell Snatch followed by a few singles with 60% of max. It can be a WALK with a weight vest. It can be an hour or two of rolling in Jiu Jitsu. YES, the crazy MetCon stuff is COOL and it DOES increase your capacity (as long as you don’t drastically exceed your capacity and then come back for more before recovering – and then take a two mile run after coming back before recovering…).

What I’m starting to see is a lot of newer people coming in to CrossFit and thinking it’s ALL about the MetCon. There is a tremendous amount of complexity and depth and BEAUTY within CrossFit that has NOTHING to do with MetCons and vomiting in chalk buckets. But, people see stuff on YouTube and think the MetCon IS CrossFit. Then they want to “do CrossFit” so you end up with people running before they can even walk.

If you can’t do a technically VERY GOOD Barbell Snatch or Clean and Jerk, you really have NO business doing those movements in a MetCon with high reps and a focus on speed.

Specializing in not specializing isn’t the same as specializing in sucking…

As far as I’m concerned, CrossFit is like a Martial Art in that it involves – and demands – constant practice, refinement and learning. First off, you better have an EXCELLENT coach is committed to lifelong learning and improvement herself or himself. Second, YOU need to take personal responsibility for your training and learning and improvement. The thing about “not specializing” is another VERY misunderstood deal in CrossFit…

Even though CrossFit doesn’t “specialize” in anything, this doesn’t mean there’s no point in being good at anything. Here are the three standards of fitness in Coach Glassman’s own words from “What is Fitness?”:

“CrossFit makes use of three different standards or models for evaluating and guiding ﬁtness. Collectively, these three standards deﬁne the CrossFit view of ﬁtness. The ﬁrst is based on the ten general physical skills widely recognized by exercise physiologists. The second standard, or model, is based on the performance of athletic tasks, while the third is based on the energy systems that drive all human action.”

Here, he expands on the First Standard:

“There are ten recognized general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, ﬂexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. You are as ﬁt as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A regimen develops ﬁtness to the extent that it improves each of these ten skills. Importantly, improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and ﬂexibility come about through training. Training refers to activity that improves performance through a measurable organic change in the body. By contrast improvements in coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy come about through practice. Practice refers to activity that improves performance through changes in the nervous system. Power and speed are adaptations of both training and practice.”

Note the use of the words “competent,” “training” and “practice. The sports and activities CrossFit draws from are diverse and we don’t “specialize” in any one of them. But we do – or should – strive to be very, very good at any of the training modes we use as CrossFitters. This requires time and practice.

And, here, Coach expands on the Second Standard:

“The essence of this model is the view that ﬁtness is about performing well at any and every task imaginable. Picture a hopper loaded with an inﬁnite number of physical challenges where no selective mechanism is operative, and being asked to perform fetes randomly drawn from the hopper. This model suggests that your ﬁtness can be measured by your capacity to perform well at these tasks in relation to other individuals. The implication here is that ﬁtness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in inﬁnitely varying combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges; train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and constantly varied.”

Here again, Coach is saying “performing well at any and every task imaginable.” Performing tasks “well” isn’t the same as just barely being able to perform them – or not being able to perform them at all without being injured. And, if someone can’t perform a task somewhat “well,” they have no business performing that task in a timed workout (MetCon). At least not with the Rx’ed weight…

Bringing this all together, Glassman goes on to say:

“Our ﬁtness, being ‘CrossFit,’ comes through molding men and women that are equal parts gymnast, Olympic weightlifter, and multi-modal sprinter or ‘sprintathlete.’ Develop the capacity of a novice 800-meter track athlete, gymnast, and weightlifter and you’ll be ﬁtter than any world-class runner, gymnast, or weightlifter.”

But, remember, the “capacity of a novice weightlifter” is still pretty high in both technique AND raw poundage. Even if we aren’t at this level, it’s at least a level we need to aspire to in our training and in setting our goals.

The Martial Art of fitness…

My martial arts teacher, Chris Wright-Martell, told me recently that his core purpose in running his school is to touch everyone who comes to train there in as positive a way as possible, for as long as possible. That’s what HIS teacher taught him because that was his teacher’s ideal as well.

So, I’m not advocating we become a bunch of elitist douchebags who don’t respect or nurture the improvement of EVERYONE who comes to train with us. But I DO expect that we – as coaches – instill rock-solid fundamentals and safe training habits in those we train. If you spent 5 nights a week at a martial arts school I’d expect you to have a good grasp on some basic fighting and self-defense techniques after 6 months. If you told me you were training MMA kickboxing for 6 months and, when we squared off to spar, you had your chin up and out (a nice way to get knocked out) and kept dropping your hands (leaving your face and head open to get hit), I’d wonder about who your coach was and how serious you were about your training. It can be the coach, the student or both.

This really IS Elite Fitness and we really DO need to have a higher standard. I don’t think that’s a raw performance standard as much as it’s a standard regarding heart, commitment, desire and attitude. Some part of that – in my opinion – is a commitment to constant learning and improving in everything your chosen athletic activities entail. One of the things I LOVE about CrossFit is that it can scale and virtually ANYONE can get a great workout that challenges them mentally and physically. But scaling is very different from having lousy form.

If the WOD is Grace (30 Clean and Jerks for time), I’m going to expect – and enforce – outstanding form. And I’m going to drill a whole bunch of movements that are foundational to the Clean and Jerk in the warm-up – Deadlift, Clean, Front Squat, Strict Press, etc. – so that we all know the weak points in each student’s lift and so that I know the weight everyone needs to do the WOD with. If you can do the Rx weight, fine. If you can’t do the Rx weight – with strong form – then you need to use the weight that WILL allow you to use exceptional form so you can start training in proper movement patterns. THAT is scaling. Too much weight with lousy form is bad for everyone – the coach, the trainee AND CrossFit as a community AND as a business.

I wrote this article about coaching my friend and the wife of my Jiu Jitsu teacher through her first run-in with Grace. That workout was after a few MONTHS of working her Clean, her Rack and her Jerk to the point that I could put her on the clock and push her with regard to the weight. CrossFit – especially the weighted and barbell stuff like Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Kettlebells, Strongman, etc. – IS NO JOKE! You CAN get hurt and you CAN mess yourself up long-term doing things wrong. You may not feel it today and you may not feel it tomorrow, but you WILL feel it sooner or later and it likely won’t be pretty.

Incidentally, I STRONGLY believe the COACH should be setting the weights for each individual when getting ready for a WOD as opposed to the athletes – particularly in the beginning. I’ve had people train with me who were choosing their own weights almost immediately – with maybe some gentle suggestions from me – and I’ve had people who I ALWAYS prescribed weight for based on form, strengths and weaknesses, what they were working on currently, how tired they were, number of workouts that week and a bunch of other stuff. And, it wasn’t always about going LIGHTER either. Some people need to be encouraged to go HEAVIER once their form improves – in that case, it’s about “lending them your vision” as a coach and seeing where they can go.

It’s time to raise the bar…

CrossFit is really something great and unique in the athletic world. The fact that it’s spreading and growing and reaching the mainstream could be a really good thing. And I think it’s up to EVERYONE in the community to keep the standards high and make the community and the methodology accessible to everyone who comes into it. It’s also up to us to keep CrossFit from becoming another “Everyone is doing it, no one does it anymore” kind of thing. We’ll know it’s over when Spencer Gifts is selling CrossFit T-Shirts right next to the UFC and Tapout stuff. If that happens, I’m out…

Some people have gotten pissed and said I made it sound like CrossFit (or me personally) doesn’t want new people to come in. Absolutely not. But, at this point, you need to be DAMN careful about where you train. Check out as many CrossFits as you can in your area and don’t commit to one until you’ve really gotten a good look at it. AND, check out the videos on CrossFit.com so you know what GOOD form is on a lot of the exercises and see if people are doing that same form at the classes you’re checking out. Someone just coming into CrossFit with little past experience doesn’t know what a good rack looks like in the Clean or not to round out their back in a Deadlift. They shouldn’t get 10 minutes of instruction and then feel pressured to go as fast as possible with as much weight as they can handle. THAT’S NUTS!

In fact, if you’re new to CrossFit – or not so new – you should be LIVING on CrossFit.com. There’s more information on there than you could consume in a lifetime or two and there’s some really educational and awesome stuff to be found. I’ll never forget when I first got into CrossFit with my friend Merle McKenzie from CrossFit Relentless‘ encouragement. I stayed up half the night reading “What is Fitness?” and a bunch of other stuff from CrossFit Journal. One of the things I loved about CrossFit – and that made me decide to jump into it – was that it offered exposure to so many diverse training modes. Instead of having to “choose” to specialize in Powerlifting, for example, I could train the power lifts within a more broad program. It meant I could train to be good at a wide range of stuff while still having a single overarching training methodology AND a great community of like-minded people around me. Sold!

Put it this way, if you buy a guitar and take three music lessons, are you a musician? No. And would you really want me to throw you on a Moto GP bike after a few quick rounds of “here’s the clutch, that’s the front brake, don’t lean over too far, look where you want the bike to go…?” Of course not. This stuff is HARD! You don’t get good at it overnight. It takes a while!

“CrossFit” on the sign above the door IS NOT an automatic indication of quality training and coaching the way it used to be. Beyond that, it’s very important to realize that EVERY CrossFit gym will have a different culture and feel. Just like one Jiu Jitsu school can be VERY different from another right down the road, some CrossFits are GREAT and some are not so great. You might need to drive an extra few miles to get a GREAT one, but it’s worth the trip…

So, for all the new people who flamed me about making CrossFit sound “uninviting” or “elitist,” the CrossFit I’m proposing would actually be the best place for new people. They’d get A LOT more instruction on form and they’d be encouraged to train at a pace and load that was appropriate for them. Really, who would you rather train with: Someone like me who has devoted the last several years of his life – full time – to learning everything he can about coaching and training CrossFit and Kettlebells or someone who thought CrossFit looked fun and lucrative and went off and got a Level 1 a few months ago instead of doing that online Certified Personal Trainer course they were thinking about.

Look into the people who own and coach the gyms you’re looking at and thinking about investing your time and money in. Read their blog posts (hopefully they HAVE a blog) and make sure you like their ideals and ideas.

Incidentally, when I was coaching full time, MY affiliate was where a lot of people came AFTER they got hurt at another box and realized they needed more hands on instruction with form and technique. I heard that story a bunch of times during the initial consult… (A little quality time with Google will tell you what kind of gym you’re getting involved in ahead of time.)

Elite fitness isn’t just about going “fast” or “heavy.” It’s about great form and technique, health on all levels, building a healthy and sustainable lifestyle and strengthening your body for the long term. It’s not about grinding the hell out of your joints and endocrine system for a few years and then suffering for the rest of your life. As coaches we have a responsibility to teach people how to do stuff RIGHT and we have even more of a responsibility to know what RIGHT is.

Where’s the fun if no one is getting hurt?

Something I’ve learned from Robb Wolf and Dr. Mark Cheng (among others) is how fragile the human body can be when it’s not fed well and moved properly. I think there is A LOT of underestimation of the damage we can do to ourselves with poor movement patterns and bad dietary practices and lifestyles. And a lot of this damage doesn’t show up until it’s too late and there isn’t a lot we can do about it or it’s a lot of work to correct.

I don’t want CrossFit to be associated with bad form, funny looking shoes, people getting hurt and some fad “low-carb” diet. It’s as simple as that.

ttys

Adam

10 Things That Will Make Your Training BETTER…

June 21, 2011 by Adam 53 Comments

A big part of my personal journey recently has been about improving my training. I’ve come at this goal from a bunch of different directions and used many different tools and ideas from a wide range of disciplines and areas to make it happen. Not everything I’ll suggest is typical, but it IS something that’s improved my training on some level and that I think can improve yours too…

1) Set Goals – I talk a lot about setting goals. And I think goal setting is a HUGE step in the process of improving your fitness and improving your life. One of the best programs I’ve ever worked through on goal setting is “Time of Your Life” by Anthony Robbins. It literally changed my life. If you want to see the method I use to keep track of and refine my goals, check out this video blog I did on goals and creating a fitness vision. You don’t need to take it quite to that level – though I think doing so will greatly improve your results AND your life – but the process is something you can use to get yourself on track and get a vision for where you want to go that’s bigger than where you are currently.

2) Add Some Active Recovery Training – This can really be anything from yoga to basic stretching to joint mobility work to committing to using a foam roller regularly. Currently, my active recovery stuff is yoga, meditation and walking around the beaches here in Saybrook Manor (sometimes with a few pounds in my weight vest). The point is, you NEED to “put something back in the tank” when you’re training hard regularly and pushing your limits. I’m always amazed when I see people – particularly CrossFitters – who train themselves nearly to death in their workouts and do virtually NO recovery stretching or “body maintenance” type stuff to help the body recover and improve flexibility, range of motion, etc. If you need some suggestions for this area, check out “Yoga for Dummies” and “Yoga on the Edge” by Sara Ivanhoe and also mobilityWOD.com by Kelly Starett. BTW, things like yoga and mediation have some massive additional benefits that I talk more about in number 10…

3) Learn and Refine a Sport – For me, this is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and, to a lesser extent, Mixed Martial Arts. It can really be anything you want and are interested in though. I have a few friends who are into cycling, lots of friends who do martial arts, some who are into Olympic lifting or Powerlifting, etc. The point is, when you choose an area to focus on that has a “constant improvement” or “competitive” aspect to it, all sorts of good things happen. It also helps focus your training because now you’re training for performance in a specific area – it gives you “yardstick” to gauge your progress. If CrossFit or “Sport of Fitness” is your sport, you can still choose a “sub-division” to train, refine and specialize in for a period of time. Find a CrossFit cert that’s interesting to you or nearby and commit to training that particular area for 6 months to a year. For example, you could do a Rowing Cert, Running Cert, Oly Lifting, etc. and then train the techniques you learned. Either way, when you start really training yourself in a focused and specific area, your body and mind respond in a way that’s different from when you’re just “training to get in shape…”

4) Periodize Your Training – This one is HUGE for me. Like most “exercise addicts,” I LOVE to train. I feel weird and depressed when I don’t train and that makes it really hard to take rest days and cycle my training in a way that works LONG TERM. CrossFit is a place where this is particularly important because the usual idea is to “go hard” all the time. My opinion – and guys like Robb Wolf will back me up – is that you need to cycle your intensity by scaling workouts or changing the “perceived intensity of effort” in a regular way. If you look at the Powerlifting world as an example, you’ll see that NO Powerlifters train all out, all the time. In fact, they usually only “peak” their training poundages a few times a YEAR with an absolute maximum effort. Look at the Westside Barbell program by Louie Simmons or Wendler 5/3/1 to get a better understanding of what I’m talking about. Both of these programs cycle intensity and take a very long-term approach to progress. I’ve also talked about this topic at length in my blog posts “Strength Training and CrossFit” and “CrossFit Workouts and Becoming More Efficient.”

5) Clean Up Your Diet – This one is just SO important. By now, everyone probably knows I’m pretty much sold on some interpretation of Paleo. But, seriously, if you haven’t tried REALLY cleaning up your diet for 30 or 60 days – and I mean 100% CLEAN – you’re cheating yourself. I recently recommitted myself to eating 100% clean for a month and you know what happened? I felt so good when the month was over I committed to doing the ENTIRE SUMMER 100% CLEAN. I’m not even going to have a birthday cake for my birthday in July – I’d rather FEEL AWESOME on my birthday and the days after! Clean up your diet and you’ll see that commitment and focus expand into other areas of your life – and you’ll feel great besides. BTW, if you need some REAL WORLD information on diet – Paleo or just healthy eating in general – check out my eBook “The Paleo Dieter’s Missing Link.” It’s over 160 pages of unbiased, hard-hitting, no BS information on eating for health!

6) Choose a Short-Term Focus Area – I touched on this one a little bit above. Choose an area you’re going to focus on for a 3, 6 or 9 month period and work it HARD and CONSISTENTLY. It could be Pull-Ups, Double Unders, Gymnastic Skills, Running or a certain technique in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu like Arm Bars or Side Mount. This particularly effective when it’s something you currently SUCK at. The point is, if you “drill down” into a specific area or two, you can likely become nearly expert at it in a relatively short time period. It’s just a matter of focusing your efforts. When you focus on a technique or skill or two like this for a time period you’ll actually make much faster progress than if you try to train “everything” for the same period.

7) Choose a Long-Term Focus Area – This one is different from what I was talking about above. You need to also decide on your LONG TERM training focus. This is your MAJOR area of focus and is probably going to be the area you’re most passionate about, the best at and the most committed to improving over a lifetime. Especially when into “everything” like I am and lot of others are, you have to decide what you’re going to become OUTSTANDING at. For example, if you’re a Martial Artist and you’re into Kettlebells and CrossFit, you might decide that Martial Arts are your lifetime focus area where you commit to becoming world class over the course of your lifetime, kettlebells are something you excel at and CrossFit is something you enjoy the benefits of because it improves your other training and makes your Martial Arts better. I talked about this topic in detail in my post “You’re Only as Strong as Your Foundation.” The point is, you simply CAN’T be awesome at everything you do and you need to choose where to focus your limited resources. I think it’s also really important to take Seth Godin’s advice and choose an area that you can actually become THE BEST IN THE WORLD AT. Read his incredible book “The Dip” for more on this and check out this tiny little post by Seth called “Make the World Smaller.”

8 ) Do Technique Work – This goes along with 3, 6 and 7 and has a lot to do with the blog post I mentioned in 4, “CrossFit Workouts and Becoming More Efficient.” It blows me away when I see people training movements like the Powerlifts or Olympic Lifts and they have ZERO understanding of the technique fine points. Do you REALLY think – because your “trainer” or “coach” showed you how to do a movement for 10 quick minutes as part of a warm up before the WOD – you actually “HAVE” that movement and don’t need to practice and refine it? Some athletes spend AN ENTIRE LIFETIME perfecting movements like the Front Squat, Deadlift, Clean and Clean and Jerk. A freakin’ lifetime! There is ALWAYS room for improvement. If you don’t believe me, check out this short little article by Coach Glassman called “Fundamentals, Virtuosity and Mastery.”

9) Create Hard Deadlines – This is a great one to put positive pressure on yourself to really deliver over the short or medium term. This can be anything you want. Enter a local CrossFit competition, commit to a 30 0r 60 day Paleo Challenge at your box, enter a Powerlifting competition or whatever. I just recently did this when Jason Lambert from the UFC was coming to teach a seminar at Modern Self-Defense Center last month. I committed to eating 100% clean and being in the best possible shape I could be in for the seminar – and I organized my training for the 5 weeks leading up to the seminar accordingly. When you have a hard deadline to be in shape and feeling good, you make different decisions and you bring a greater intensity to your training.

Adam Farrah with Jason Lambert from the UFC

Me with Jason Lambert in May of 2011

10) Learn to Quiet Your Mind – This might be one you weren’t expecting. I’ve been working with the concepts in Eckhart Tolle’s incredible book, “The Power of Now,” for over a year – and they CONSTANTLY take on new meaning for me and lead me to deeper and deeper understandings of myself, my spiritual side and so many other things. If your mind is constantly “chattering away” and you’re not in control – or at least conscious – of your behavioral patterns, motivations and, particularly, the places where you screw yourself up, you’re going to have a really hard time making progress. Beyond that, I think TRUE HEALTH happens on EVERY level – Physical, Emotional and Spiritual. There’s a lot more to being healthy – things like having a life you love and being able to function in your work, your friendships and intimate relationships. Health isn’t just about having abs and a good Fran time…

That’s if for now. Below is a little bonus for you if you feel like picking up a new book or two this week.

ttys

Adam

Three Books (That Have Nothing To Do With Training) That Will Improve Your Training…

“The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle
Some good fiction like “The Dresden Files” series by Jim Butcher – I first received the advice of reading fiction at night to wind down from Tim Ferris in “The Four Hour Work Week.” I am a HUGE fan of light fiction reading at night to reduce stress and improve sleep!
“Full Catastrophe Living” by Jon Kabat-Zin

It Probably Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does…

June 19, 2011 by Adam 4 Comments

I’m on another emotional and spiritual growth spurt. I HATE these! I mean, I love them, but I hate them too. It’s great to grow and evolve – constant growth and evolution is really a foundational principle of my life. But, sometimes it would just be nice to coast for a while and enjoy the progress I’ve made. It seems every time I feel like I’m at a place where I can rest a little and enjoy the fruits of my labor, God or the Universe or whoever decides I need to grow. Again. Oh well…

Besides my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, CrossFit and Westside Powerlifting training, I’ve been doing a lot of yoga and meditation. I’ve also been reading some good books like “Emotional Alchemy” by Tara Bennett-Goleman and using some self-hypnosis stuff by Hypnotica like “The Attractor Factor.” All this yoga and “New Agey” stuff tends to stir stuff up and make you think about stuff differently…

It Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does…

Yesterday, I had a pretty startling realization: The meaning I give to certain aspects of my training – and probably certain aspects of my LIFE – aren’t really accurate. Something I’ve been working with over the last few weeks is slowing down my thoughts and watching them – using “Mindfulness” in other words – and trying to identify what my internal dialog is. You know, the stuff you say to yourself when you probably don’t even realize you’re saying anything…

What I realized when I slowed down my thoughts and heard what I was telling myself is this: I have the erroneous belief that my “lack” of performance in certain areas – whether it’s getting pounded by one of my friends at Modern Self-Defense Center on the mat in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or having Bryce from CrossFit Religion FINISH Fran when I’m still working on the 15 part – means more than it really does. I caught myself thinking I was lacking something fundamental in ME and THAT was why I wasn’t as good at rolling in BJJ or as fast in a classic CrossFit workout as I “should” be.

But, what it REALLY means is I just need to put in more time. More time, more learning, more repetitions, more dedication and MORE WORK. That’s it. It just means I haven’t done everything I need to to get there yet. It’s just about time and focused and intelligent training. That’s it…

The Limits Are WAY Beyond Where You Think They Are…

I spent several years deeply immersed in the – for lack of a better term – “self-help” community. I traveled from Connecticut to Boston every week or two, had several mentors who were more experienced than me and I mentored a few younger guys who had less experience than me. A thinking technique I learned during those years was called “Reframing.” Reframing is a way of changing your perspective or the “frame of reference” you’re using to look at something.

I’ve been following the CrossFit Regionals on Facebook this weekend and, in particular, my friends from CrossFit Relentless who were competing. I just found out today that the CrossFit Relentless team finished 6th overall for the Regionals!

And I didn’t even know that my friend Brenda was on the CF Relentless team until I saw these pics of her…

Sure, they’re great pics. But here’s Brenda just about a year ago in a post on the CrossFit Relentless Blog…

If THESE pics don’t make you want to go out RIGHT NOW and train I don’t know what will! I’m more inspired to train and make great progress today – because of Brenda’s example – than I have been in a long, LONG time!

So, here’s the Reframe: Next time you’re thinking that you have to be a natural athlete or younger or have started training sooner – or that you have to be anyone other than WHO YOU ARE at this moment to make the progress you want – think about the above example and all the other success stories like Brenda’s. There’s no secret. It’s about HARD work, good coaches, sacrifice and dedication. That’s about it. I remember a time when Brenda couldn’t do a Pull Up! A few years later she’s competing at the Regionals!

So, the next time you’re down on yourself about your “lack of talent” for CrossFit or whatever sport you’re into and you’re thinking the big performers in the sport have something you don’t, just ask yourself this: “Do I know of anyone who started off without the best foundation and without the best performance and made MASSIVE progress over the course of a few years?” And now, you can say that you do…

So, get to work on your goals and MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN in the weeks and months ahead! I’m going to!

ttys

Adam

Kettlebell Fundamentals Nobody Tells You…

May 7, 2011 by Adam 3 Comments

Today’s question comes from Tiffany on Facebook. Here it is!

“Hello Adam

I have been a follower of SINS for awhile now and would like to say thank you for the information, inspiration, and motivation that is put out there. If you have a minute, I was hoping you could give some advice or point me in the right directions?
I have been doing P90X for a year now and would like to move on to something new… I have been researching kettlebells for a few weeks. I just purchased an instructional video by Pavel and “The Kettlebell Goddess workout”. As far as an at-home workout, is this a good place to start? After reading the comments on the kettleworx infomercial I definitely do not want to make the wrong choice. I’m sure taking classes from a certified instructor would be better, but I cannot find any kettlebell classes in the Cincy area. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Tiff”

Thanks again for your question, Tiff!

Here are useful links that I mentioned in the video:

International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation

Dragon Door

Dr. Mark Cheng and Kettlebells Los Angeles

ttys

Adam

IMPORTANT! Adam Farrah is not a doctor or medical professional. This information is based on my own opinion and is not meant to be medical advice or to treat, diagnose, cure or prescribe in any way.

Strength Training and CrossFit…

April 29, 2011 by Adam 5 Comments

Training and Paleo Diet Q and A Image

Today’s answer is a follow up to Cara’s question yesterday and the great feedback I got from some of the MidCoast CrossFit girls and others. In this video, I give some firmer recommendations and talk more about implementing Westside or Wendler 5/3/1 into your CrossFit program.

Thanks again for your question, Cara and Maggie, Robert and Kristin for your feedback!

ttys

Adam

IMPORTANT! Adam Farrah is not a doctor or medical professional. This information is based on my own opinion and is not meant to be medical advice or to treat, diagnose, cure or prescribe in any way.

You’re Only as Strong as Your Foundation…

April 23, 2011 by Adam 7 Comments

It’s funny how you can use a principle in other parts of your life and then COMPLETELY ignore it in an area where it can make a BIG difference. I guess that’s the folly of being human at times – a classic case of missing the forest for the trees. A lot of you know I’m a HUGE fan of Seth Godin. I think Seth is one of – if not THE – greatest mind of our time. Something he says over and over again is that you have to choose ONE THING that you’re going to be the best in the world at and then do that. As he puts it, you need to be a “meaningful specific” and not a “wandering generality.”

I’ve worked on making this blog a “meaningful specific.” I write on a small handful of topics and in a particular style. I’m working at being the best in the world at being ME and writing the particular type of stuff that I write. I’ve also given up or passed on a lot of other opportunities. I know I can’t do everything and I don’t even try anymore. I’ve passed on jobs and other opportunities because I don’t want to spread my energy too thin – and become a mediocre blogger while I’m being mediocre at all the other stuff I do. You have to choose your “one thing.”

The place I wasn’t applying this philosophy, as silly as it seems now, is in my training. I have a serious case of “Training ADD” and am into pretty much everything – weightlifting, running, kettlebells, martial arts, yoga… In fact, what initially attracted me to CrossFit back in 2008 was how interdisciplinary it was. Finally, I could train all the diverse stuff I wanted to and just call it “CrossFit.”

Then I Became a Wandering Generality…

What happened though, is I found it really hard to make progress. A large part of this, I suspect, was that I really didn’t have a solid idea of what “progress” was. Not too long ago I wrote about setting smaller goals and getting my days right. I guess that’s what got me thinking about needing a core, foundational training mode to build on. It was hard because I love EVERYTHING. Running and yoga are probably the only two physical things I do that I’m not terribly concerned about being world class at. Everything else I obsess about and want to make better. But, trying to be better at everything pretty much guarantees you’ll be good at nothing…

Westside Barbell and Louie Simmons…

Last summer I was lucky enough to meet Louie Simmons and some of the Westside guys at CrossFit Relentless in West Hartford, CT. My friend Merle McKenzie managed to get Louie out for a Power Lifting cert in CT. And that seminar ROCKED! I blogged about Louie Simmons and the Westside Barbell seminar here. I left that seminar totally inspired and totally psyched. In fact, it was at that seminar, on Sunday, that I made the firm decision to drop A LOT of things from my life and make some drastic changes so I could pursue my training and writing passions. I seriously considered asking Louie if I could go back to Ohio with them and train with them indefinitely. I think the only reason I didn’t is because I suspected he’d have said yes and I’d have been figuring out how to up and move to Ohio! I can hear it now: “Hi, mom, I’m in Ohio. Do you mind taking care of the dog, the snake and all the cats forever?”

The Westside system had a lot that I liked and Louie was awesome. At the time, though, it was ANOTHER collection of techniques and methods that I was adding to my already overflowing bunch of knowledge and information. So, I had some great advice from arguably THE BEST mind in powerlifting, but I wasn’t able to act on it because it was competing with 20 other methodologies and training modes. I WAS smart enough to buy both of Louie’s books at the seminar and have him autograph my copy of “The Westside Barbell Book of Methods.” This was fortuitous, because I had that book and my seminar notes to refer back to when I finally pulled my head out of my ass almost a year later…

And, The Wisdom Of Dan John…

I’ve also been reading Dan John’s excellent book “Never Let Go.” There’s so much GREAT stuff in that book. One little gem of advice from Dan was this:

“When things go wrong, simplify.”

Again, something I “know” but not something I was applying to training. I’m sure at one point I would have argued: “But, I’m training EVERYTHING. See, that’s simple…” Maybe my training wasn’t going “wrong,” but it really wasn’t going right either. After reading that section in Dan John’s book I started thinking: “What if I took ONE basic training mode and trained it for a few YEARS?” Yeah, YEARS. Scary thought, right? It sounds so… Permanent…

What do you have to NOT do so you can do something else?

Here again, the basic principle that I KNOW works is this:

You MUST decide what you want to be great at and then drop the things that will keep you from excelling at it. Yes, you can have other “peripheral” interests, but I believe you have to have FOCUS that guides you and allows you to evaluate the other modes you work with.

In my particular case, CrossFit, Kettlbells, yoga, Jiu Jitsu, etc. can add to my Powerlifting training – Louie and the Westside guys are BIG on GPP (General Physical Preparedness). But without a firm hierarchy of importance, it’s too easy to chase after the “ADD Goal Du Jour.”

Choose Your Foundation Wisely…

So, here’s why I chose Powerlifting and Westside specifically as my training. If you follow along with my reasoning, you just might be able to figure out a good foundational training mode for YOURSELF too. If you’ve been stuck spinning your wheels in your training for a while, this might really help you break out of the rut…

Here’s why I think Westside is a great method for me to base my training on:

I have HUGE respect for Louie and the achievements of the Westside guys
Westside is about barbells and heavy basic movements – Deadlift, Bench and Squat – and their conjugates (box squats, dumbell bench, etc.). I really enjoy these movements and my home gym is pretty much designed to train them…
There’s enough variation in Westside that my “Training ADD” can be accommodated and indulged WHILE firmly sticking to the program
Westside trains specific movements, in specific styles, on specific days. This bit of scheduling and accountability is actually working out VERY WELL for me so far
Westside uses fun toys! I’ve already got a drag sled that I love, I’m impatiently waiting for my weighted vest to get here and I’m getting some chains soon. I really like the toys…
Training heavy seems to suit me. Big weight is something that I’ve always enjoyed, suits my body well and – I think – is something I can continue to maintain and progress in as I get older
All my peripheral stuff will enhance the Westside training – kettlebells, yoga, CrossFit, running, etc…
This type of training will likely support the hormonal changes I want to make in my metabolism. Incidentally, when I talked to Robb Wolf last year in a phone consult, he recommended a drastic decrease in CrossFit-style Met Con training and an increase in heavy barbell work. He even mentioned Westside Methods specifically.

What about CrossFit?

With CrossFit, the goal is to increase fitness by becoming GOOD at just about everything. If you’re really good at everything they do in CrossFit, you’ll be GREAT at CrossFit. As Coach Glassman has said, CrossFitters specialize in NOT specializing. If this suits YOUR personality and YOUR goals that’s great! DO THAT! For me, I was going in too many different directions because I wanted to be GREAT at just about everything in CrossFit. That’s not the point of CrossFit though…

So, yeah, CrossFit ROCKS. For many, it might even be a good foundation for training. For me, specializing in not specializing wasn’t… well.. specialized enough…

BTW, there was a GREAT article by Tom Seryak in Crossfit Journal about incorporating Westside Methods into a CrossFit program not too long ago. I highly recommend reading it if that’s your goal.

Are you Horizontal or Vertical?

There’s a business concept that applies in a lot of other places. The concept is Horizontal vs. Vertical. I’m a Vertical person – I thrive when I specialize, focus and pursue the infinite little nuances in a body of knowledge or area of skill. This is a “depth of knowledge” thing. I’ve always been that way. My mind and personality thrive when they focus on just a few things…

Other people are Horizontal types. They like to know a little bit about a lot of things. These are the people who can go to a mountain once or twice a year in the winter, rent some skis, spend the weekend skiing and go home. And they consider the weekend a “success” because they got away, had some fun and spent some time outside being active. Next weekend these same people might do something different. This kind of stuff makes me NUTS personally – I want to be GREAT at something or there’s no point in doing it…

What’s your DIET foundation?

It’s the same thing with diet and nutrition. In my book “The Paleo Dieter’s Missing Link,” I worked hard to connect Paleo and it’s foundational principles to other diets and nutritional philosophies. Paleo is my nutritional foundation and I use principles and techniques from other disciplines to make Paleo work FOR ME and reach my specific goals.

So, there it is…

I forget where I first heard this, but it makes a lot of sense (I’m sure I’m paraphrasing): Find the people who are the best in the world at what you want to be the best at and do what they freakin’ tell you!

Sounds sensible to me. Why reinvent the wheel right? With all that said, I’m going to settle in for a LONG stretch of training with the Westside methods and organize my other training around it.

And, if YOU have Training ADD and aren’t getting the results you want, you might try deciding on a foundational training mode and philosophy and giving it a good, long and honest try.

ttys

Adam

You Really DO Have Control…

It’s been said in many different ways by plenty of smart people, but here’s the basic issue in Leo’s words:

And, also said in many different ways by many smart people, here’s what I believe to be the solution, again in Leo’s words:

Or, Said Even Simpler…

I’m Too Busy Trying to be Successful to Succeed…

A Shift In Thinking…

So, Here’s My Shift in Thinking…

So, what does it actually take to succeed?

This is me in the mid-1990s…

More Lies from Our Friend, “The Establishment…”

So, in short, don’t buy the hype…

Here’s Where It All Comes Together…

Now, get to work!

The Power of Less:

Do More Great Work:

And, if you’re interested in blogging and social media business stuff, you can listen to this podcast from CopyBlogger with Chris Brogan for extra credit:

And, finally, this is a GREAT interview with THE MAN Seth Godin for Problogger:

Dedication…

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Now, Get to Work!

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CrossFit is MORE than MetCons…

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The Martial Art of fitness…

It’s time to raise the bar…

Where’s the fun if no one is getting hurt?

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Then I Became a Wandering Generality…

Westside Barbell and Louie Simmons…

And, The Wisdom Of Dan John…

What do you have to NOT do so you can do something else?

Choose Your Foundation Wisely…

What about CrossFit?

Are you Horizontal or Vertical?

What’s your DIET foundation?

So, there it is…

Other Posts You'll Like:

About Me…

Connect with Adam…

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