Hi and welcome to another week,
Thanks so much to everyone who got into the gym over the last week. It is almost 7pm as I sit down to write this week (and I suspect it might be a very SHORT blog!) and I have been able to spend a fair bit of time reflecting on what has been happening in the gym whilst driving back and forth to Midland to watch the CrossFit competition over the weekend. Our gym had 6x teams participate over the weekend (checkout our Facebook page for 3million and 1 photos and videos!) and the results we achieved were – quite simply – outstanding. Outstanding and amazing.
I say this with the greatest respect for all of the other gyms and competitors involved – but as someone who takes a relatively detached view of all of the fitness competitions (I want our guys to do super well of course but don’t get actively involved in doing any coaching…I just shout encouragement and clap my hands – to me it is about the fun and the challenge rather than winning and losing) the fact that a heap of teams from a non-crossfit gym are able to compete so effectively speaks volumes for the work ethic on display at Round 1 each and every day. There are a lot of ‘technical’ movements that are done at the competitions that we never do at our gym – we throw right hooks, we don’t do power snatches or climb ropes! – but despite this our fitness levels and overall preparedness to keep pushing seems to hold us in really good stead. As always, I wish I could take credit for this sort of stuff but I truly believe that culture is driven from the bottom up – not from the top down – and it is the consistent efforts on display in our classes every day that drives our performance, not anything myself or the other coaches say or do. Like I said though, if you want to throw the credit my way, well, of course I am going to take it!
Anyway – enough of the eulogising. What I had hoped to talk about today was my last week of training and how difficult it has been just to keep a positive mindset and keep going. A week or so back I participated in the trainers challenge as part of the ‘Love for Lachie’ day celebrations against my better judgement (and I have to add against the wishes of my better half!). No surprise, my ‘cooked’ shoulder which I have been ‘managing’ became a little over-cooked whilst doing the monkey bars (goodness knows how I managed those 10x muscle ups…not bad after 7-months or so without doing a single one heh?) and there are a few things it didn’t ‘like’ doing before the trainers challenge that it now REALLY doesn’t like doing – like being attached to the rest of my body without constantly hurting for example! So that was going to be an issue given I like to train by doing boxing classes and boxing with a bad shoulder isn’t always a great plan.
I had a few options. I could have taken a couple of weeks off. As a few people have pointed out, I would probably still be ‘fine’ – I wouldn’t gain (much) weight in a couple of weeks and my fitness would quickly return. The problem with this is that I train as much for my mental health as anything else – two weeks without getting my heart-rate up…well, that would make me a little difficult to live with and as much as I don’t always show it I do love my family and want them to want me around. I could take myself out of classes and just train on the bike/versa/squat rack for a while. Now this would solve the ‘mental health’ bit but wouldn’t solve the “I’m lazy” bit…basically, I like to do classes because between the trainer and the other participants there are a few people around who can kick me in the bum (through their words or their example) and keep me training ‘hard’. I do admit to having a heap of admiration of people who are able to push themselves ‘HARD’ in a non-group/non-trainer led (like PT) situation (like the way Tracy has been coming in and Versa climbing her heart out recently).
The last option of course is to train as part of the class – but drastically modify things so that my shoulder is not being used. This is what I chose – which led to a couple of pretty unpalatable sessions involving the assault bike, barbell squats, the prowler sled and either some active bridging or situps. The sessions themselves were disgusting to do – there was not much letup and my legs have been ‘dead’ all week – but it has allowed me to remain connected to the classes whilst effectively training by myself. I know I blogged a little while ago about doing the class and skipping rather than boxing but participating in the rest of the session…this time it has been a little more serious in that I have needed to ‘lay off’ the shoulder altogether but I have found that it is possible and a week later (Sunday) I managed to do a class including some limited boxing activities…I am hoping by this time next week my shoulder is back to just being ‘cooked’ rather than ‘over-cooked’ again…it is amazing the difference a couple of weeks of ice, rehab exercises and minimised stress can make – plus I am (really, really) hoping that all of the extra assault bike efforts and squats I have had to do have given me a few improvements in other areas. All up, I think there might be a few positives to come out of this injury.
That’s it for this week – it sure has been a long weekend between spending time at the gym and up at the competition but the amazing results our guys achieved really has it has got me excited for the week ahead!
See you all in the gym.
Michael.
Given the last challenge is OVER and this gave me a bit of time to think about “what’s next” during the week, I have decided to launch a new program called ‘Beach Fit 2016’. Now this is short notice – so short it isn’t even up and running as I type this but it WILL BE by the end of this week – but it is going to be a 10-week ‘plan’ (so it will overlap the proposed 12-days of Christmas challenge) that features a 10-day eating plan AND 10x weekly ‘Beach Blaster’ workouts. The idea is you follow the program from the middle of November through until the start of Feb 2016 (which will align with the start of the annual 28-days later food/diet challenge).
There will be two options to get involved with the Beach Fit program. A ‘members only’ version which will be a nominal cost for the eating plan and the body blaster workouts (there will be an optional body scan in here as well I think) AND a ‘non-members’ option which will include the eating plan, beach blaster workouts and 10-weeks membership…if this sounds like ‘you’ or someone you know, keep-a-watch during the week as I have been beavering away on the eating plan/workouts since Thursday and it will all be ready to go pretty soon!
Hopefully everyone noticed that I sent out a second blog this week – this time on a Wednesday – featuring a ‘Food related’ challenge PLUS a recipe of the week. The plan is to try this for a few weeks (at least up until Christmas) and see if it is something that is both a little bit popular with people and has a positive impact…
The first issue is HERE and (as per my previous email) I would love any feedback you might have!
Great video from the Honey Badger…I know there is a guy who plays for the Western Force who gets called the ‘Honey Badger’, but anyone who follows the NFL knows he has simply stolen Tyrann Mathieu’s name!
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