My functional fitness journey started in the hot & humid Miami Beach air, struggling to squat with a plastic tube.
In that moment a passion was born in me to learn anything and everything I could. I watched YouTube videos, read books, watched competitions and listened to interviews.
A few years later I took the CrossFit Level 1 class, went to squat clinics in California and discussed training methods with a Nike sponsored youth football coach, ex-Navy Seal, and anyone who would listen. I don’t know why I geeked out on it, but I guess it’s not the worst topic to get addicted to.
I experimented with lifting programs, running schedules, Japanese, Russian, Bulgarian, Australian etc… I turned myself into a pin cushion of trying anything and everything I could. What was amazing to me though was that no one included mental conditioning in their programs. Sure, if you can push through a hard lift, you’re going to grow your fortitude and mental awareness of your body and muscles makes you feel more connected to world around you, but everyone was missing the most important piece of training. The closest I found to brain fitness came from the small woman leading my hot yoga class in Santa Monica, when she used to repeat positive universal mantras during class.
Something is so wrong about that.
You go to a life coach or counselor and they help you mentally but miss the body. Your personal trainer helps your bones and muscles but misses your psyche. They are intertwined and must be worked together. And don’t for a minute forget that your brain is a muscle. It must be trained consistently and built up over time. You can build confidence, belief and fortitude, and consistency.
As a CrossFit coach I could so easily see that the most important piece of exercise, consistency, was what the majority of people struggle with. Now I was quickly known as the deep dive guy. I could answer any training or form questions with an obscure Latvian training method, but even I’m okay admitting I missed on imparting with so many the main thing I needed to share. I programmed runs, squats, rope climbs but I never programmed affirmations.
That changes now.
The heart and mental strength of the king of the jungle is built through the practice of affirmations. They are simple ways to reprogram your mind and build belief in yourself. You will be able to push through tough workouts, embrace the confidence you feel from moving metal bars around and truly change your entire fitness.
As for workouts, I’ve tried a lot. Out of all the methods of exercise I’ve done, had success with or found to be too alien for me there is one way of exercising I’ve found by far more impactful. It has been a difficult task for me to learn this, as I’m curious by nature. It has cost me years of physical fitness with my experimentation, but now I can confidently say:
“A structured variance CrossFit program, balanced in its design, yet flexible to the individual’s adaptation, yield fitness at the most complete and quickest rate.”
What the heck does that mean in non-Newtonian terms? It’s actually pretty simple. In my search for successful training styles and programs I came across the Theoretical Guide To Programming.
This blog post detailed a potential pattern for programming workouts that started a fitness revolution. These days you can find gyms doing all kinds of programming, but to start the health and exercise powerhouse that now is CrossFit, the results came from that programming style. So what was it? It’s a rotation of Monostructural Cardio, Weightlifting & Gymnastics. For those of you wondering what the heck Monostructural Cardio means, let me explain each simply.
· Monostructural Cardio (M): This is fancy talk for simple cardio. Examples are: Running, Walking, Rowing, Jumping Rope and Skiing.
· Weightlifting (W): Any activity that involves you moving something a distance. Examples can be as complex as deadlifts, overhead squats or weighted pistols or as simple as slam balls, kettle bell carries or bicep curls. (That’s right you can do bodybuilding and still get fit!)
· Gymnastics (G): Any activity that is you moving yourself, and only yourself. Examples can be as simple as situps, pushups and box step ups, or as difficult and complicated as muscle ups and handstand walking.
So, with these pieces in mind the blog post put together a pattern, or rotation that ensured you have variance in the types of workouts you did. This pattern was simple to follow and basic to create for yourself.
The above image was taken from that blog post. As you can see the first day of training is just cardio. Eeek! No! Don’t worry, if you’re not in love with running or rowing, and get bored by that kind of training, you won’t see that day again for almost two weeks!
Reading through the pattern you’ll find the combination of exercises that create your workout for the day. GW will be a combination of moving yourself and moving other things. This could be pushups & kettlebell swings, box jumps & deadlifts, backsquats & pullups & situps, etc…
*On that original post they detailed the type of workouts that each day are both in intensity and time domain. I choose to not follow that recommendation as it limits variation, which is the goal, and I like the freedom of choosing my own workouts.
What you’ll find is that this template is super easy to stick with. That is so important!
Consistency is the key when it comes to training. Stick with this pattern and you will start surprising yourself how good you feel, fast!
A quick note on nutrition.
How many times have you heard the following quote? You can’t out-train a bad diet.
I’m pretty sure I’m at the 10,000 time mark. While nutrition is a major key to your success, I myself actually work with a nutrition coach, focusing on your eating is secondary to my happiness and fitness. It’s sacrilege to say this I know, but the truth is.
You can easily out train a not perfect diet.
What I mean by this, if you’re slightly off on your macro nutrient composition but train consistently, you’re going to get results. If you eat perfect but don’t train consistent, you’ll lose weight and lose your health. So when it comes to nutrition, eat good enough to start. Don’t eat cake and donuts every day. Don’t crush a thirty rack of Keystone Light on the weekend. Don’t feel immense guilt because you ate something other than chicken, rice and broccoli.
Focus on your performance and have fun. There is a quote that I would love to leave you with. It comes from a statement from Greg Glassman, the founder and creator of Crossfit.
“Form follows function.”
Focus on increasing your function. Get better at moving yourself and other things. Increase your cardiovascular endurance and efficiency. Focus on the function and the form will follow. Your body will adapt and answer the call.
