Mental Disorder: Eating Healthy...

 John

 "It is a sublime thing to suffer and be stronger."

This "Saturday Stolen Post" was amongst one of the many noteworthy emails I receive from readers each week. Noteworthy because it officially lays claim to the fact that just about every CrossFitting-Paleo-Health conscious soul alive today is mentally deranged. And not deranged in the thousands of weekly pull-ups, dirty nasty tire flip, and cultish atmosphere kinda way you might think. No, deranged cause we want to be healthy.

In fact, not only does the article below speak on the specific disorder but This Link takes you to a rehab center for those damn crazy people who want to be healthy...shame, shame. Yeah this is noteworthy. Right up there with fat Doctors telling you never to squat again, and dietitians giving diabetics carbs to eat. Only in America can someone become so offended that others choose to be so much healthier than they are that they have to call it a disorder to feel better about their laziness.

Post Courtesy of Natural News.

Do you avoid foods that contain artificial colors and sweeteners, and stick to whole, unprocessed foods instead? If so, you just might have orthorexia, an imaginary "disease" created in 1997 by Dr. Steven Bratman that appears to be gaining more attention in recent days. According to a recent report in Yahoo! News, restricting one's diet to healthy, pure foods is a compulsive disorder that requires cognitive behavior therapy in order to cure.

Written about in so-called respected health journals like theJournal of the American Medical AssociationandPsychology Today, "orthorexia nervosa," which means "nervous about correct eating" in Latin, allegedly causes malnourishment, anxiety, and social disorders. Its creators claim it stems from a type of obsessive compulsive disorder, and that it can lead to anorexia.

As bizarre as it all sounds, there are actually individuals out there that have fallen for the crazy tale that eating healthy is a disease, and some actually take these claims seriously. In other words, eating processed foods filled with artificial chemicals, pesticides, and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) is considered normal behavior, while eating raw, organic broccoli could potentially land you in a psychiatric hospital filled with pharmaceutical drugs designed specifically to treat your "illness."

NaturalNews covered the issue of orthorexia last summer (http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_o...), but the fictitious disease is once again making the rounds in the mainstream media. According to reports, orthorexics "may start by eliminating processed foods, anything with artificial colorings or flavorings as well as foods that have come into contact with pesticides, and eventually shun other things like caffeine and alcohol."

This ridiculous criteria, of course, includes millions of health-conscious Americans that choose to eat healthy and avoid chemicals. Currently, however, this fake disease has not yet been officially added to the American Psychiatric Association's ridiculous Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). So any supposed "treatments" that are sure to be developed by drug companies will not qualify for insurance reimbursement.

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

Rest

Steal This Video: Grains Are Bad...

"Grains are bad"

Never shall innocent blood be shed, yet the blood of the wicked shall flow like a river.

As I created a Nutrition Video Library just days ago to help quickly answer repeat questions, I stumbled upon the above and realized I had failed to post it along with the others in the series.

This video provides a quick snippet of "Paleo Buddha", a nutritional quest of sorts that Practice CrossFit offers all over the country to help take the religion out of food, and make eating as simple as putting fuel in your car...just cheaper.

This horribly simplified, 2-minute explanation only scratches the surface of the Grain issue which has been and could be the source of many posts, books, articles.  Download a free "Paleo Buddha" packet below to get started on a healthier solution for yourself today.

Download Paleo_Buddha_Packet_pdf

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

"Teams of Three"

For Time:

2-Mile Run

1-Min Max Burpees

1-Min Max Power Snatch

1-Min Max Toe Thru Rings

*One Team member is always running, the other team members are accumulating reps rotating stations every minute. Team members can switch runners at any time. Time is called whenever the run is complete and reps are changed to seconds and subtracted from total time.

Post team and time to comments.

Go-Tos: Where You Travel To Be Built Up...

   Tyler...

 "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

Trainer Mindy Shardo shares where she travels to gain ground on things we may take for granted. Or places we have yet to travel, where we can start a foundation.

The following is authored by Mindy S. 

Everyone loves a good quote. They show up on the blog every day, and are pulled from endless sources. I have been able to find value in many things I have read, even if I don’t always agree with the given source.  I don’t need to be Buddhist to find value in some of their beliefs. Being open minded allows you to always be a student, to learn something new every day. We all have quotes that are our favorite, or an author or a particular belief system we gravitate toward when we are in special need of words of wisdom… or do we?

I recently attended the memorial service of an old man who died from a long battle with cancer. There was a gentleman running the service and doing most of the talking. He was dressed in a suit and quoting scripture, so I assumed he was the man’s pastor. However, after listening to him quote verses and lines from up to five entirely different belief systems and giving no guarantee of life after death, I figured otherwise. As I listened to quote after quote being rattled off, I couldn’t help but feel frustration creeping in and sadness for the family. I thought to myself, “If I was a family member of this man, would I feel comforted?” What may be a powerful verse for one man may mean nothing to the man who doesn’t believe in the source it came from… so did these verses hold any kind of meaning for the family? 

Tragedy has a tendency of making people search...for consistency, for comfort, for answers. Perhaps the source was irrelevant to the family… nice, fluffy words may have been all they needed. But I have a feeling that wasn’t the case. How confusing, helpless, and tragic a death in the family must feel when you have nowhere to turn for a reason? When #*%^ hits the fan, and your world stops dead in its tracks, where do you turn? Do you take pieces from here and there until you find something that makes you feel better, or do you go to the one source you’ve always believed in? 

As I contemplated this, I realized I have my “go-tos” in multiple facets of my life. These are the things that when I’m struggling, when things go wrong, when I need help fast… this is where I turn. I don’t need to google “inspiring quotes” or “fast weight loss”  or “healthy choices” because they’re already laid out for me. I’m a believer in….

Jesus and the Bible

 This one could sum everything up on its own, but we’ll break it down a bit more for argument’s sake. Jesus is the one constant in my life that will never change, and He promises that. He is my comforter, healer, savior, and I can turn to His book when I’m struggling with ANY situation life presents me, no matter how big or small it may be. Ways to live, how to treat others, how I should spend my money and my time… for me, the Bible is truth and addresses all issues… no need to turn to other fluffy words of comfort. 

Crossfit

Three years ago I found my fitness gospel; the all-encompassing program that I will forever be a follower of. I have tried endless other ways to exercise and get fit. While these all hold some sort of value, none of them can compete with the unbelievable power Crossfit has to transform one’s health, physical capabilities, and mental toughness. This program is elite, and while I’ll never criticize someone for being strictly a runner or attending a Zumba class, I will tell them there’s a better way to get results.

Paleo

This, too, a newer find for me than Christ and even Crossfit, has had a life-changing impact on me nonetheless. I’ve seen too many results in myself and those around me not to believe this is the healthiest way to go for my diet. Yes, I love my cheat days and don’t plan on giving them up anytime soon… or ever. But never again will I have to question if what’s on my plate is considered healthy or not. I won’t have to search to figure out how to lose weight after pregnancy. I won’t have to yo-yo diet and make excuses about not understanding why I can’t lose weight. I already have the answer, and it can’t be challenged. If it can, show me proof… then we’ll talk.

These are my mantras. These are my go-tos and always will be until I have valid reason to believe otherwise.  It doesn’t mean I won’t listen if you have something else to say, it just means that when things fall apart, I won’t be panicking and searching mindlessly for answers. What are your go-tos? Do you hold tight to single sources or dabble in a bit of everything? And how’s it working out for ya?

Dynamic

Sumo Deadlift

8x2 @ 75% 1RM

For Time:

200m-run

20-Double Unders

10-Box Jumps

4 Rounds

Post weight moved and time to comments. 

Eating More Makes You Wanna Eat More: Why Multiple Meals Suck...

  Casey... 

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people."

When a valued trainer of mine asks me "why," I take heed. Maybe they know the answer, maybe they don't. Maybe they are looking to convince themselves, maybe they are looking to build confidence to help give the right information to another. Either way, when I was asked "why don't we eat every two hours anymore?," I figured I would answer here....calmly.

First, go purchase the latest addition of Muscle Fitness. The current is labeled, "The Ab Issue". Well, big surprise it's either the "Ab", "Chest", "Bicep", or "Ass" issue as apparently theses are the only body parts we care for...where the hell is the "Small Intestine," or "Pituitary" issue...I guess T&A looks better on a cover than glands, or bowels?

Anyway, after you have that expensive, recycled toilet paper. That readers digest that repeats the same shit every year.  Realize that everything in it...is a sales pitch. Admittedly, when any compensation is changing hands there could always be motivation for leading others astray, and that attitude could make for a good pair of skeptical glasses we should have on all the time...I forgot mine for a long time. When I put them back on things got a lot clearer.

More Meals Means More Gas On The Fire...Blah Blah Blah:

Yup, I was right on the front lines of this argument just a few short years ago. Why wouldn't I be? It's what all the funny pages said to do, what all the professionals did, and after I tried it, it worked.

As far as getting lean was concerned it seemed rather logical at the time - "small meals all day like a grazing cow and somehow you stoke your metabolic fire more, and lean out faster." "Eat less, and the fire goes out."

Now the only reason multiple meals works is because two simple rules are followed with it; You are still eating less than what you're burning, and you're still not eating shit food. But just because it works doesn't make it the best way, or easiest, or healthiest. In fact, multiple meals makes you a slave to the clock and tupperware, and if you're already neurotic...watch out.

Once You Pop The Cork:

Multiple meals doesn't make the fire burn hotter, it makes the fire hungrier for more wood. If you have followed our "Never Eat Breakfast Brigade" as you should, you will notice that you are never really hungry...until you eat that first meal. You can imagine now why multiple meals are necessary when you start gunning down calories as soon as you open your eyes. Especially if even a little of those calories are carbs which just serves to riddle you with hunger all day

Do you really think restaurants come up with their menus on a whim. If your ass starts your day with some big piece of cake called a muffin and juicy bullshit, you've essentially primed the pump to guarantee you will run to some other purveyor of food wonderment in the next couple of hours....hopefully right back to the first joint since they started the cascade.

Oh, and this is for you, "but I eat Healthy" people slamming oatmeal and eating fruit with your extra lean turkey sausage on the side.  YOU'RE WORSE THAN THE PEOPLE EATING FRUIT LOOPS. At least they don't try to make candy look like food.

If your first meal of the day was full of fat (nuts, coconut) and had a side of protein (meat). If you waited until after noon to eat it. If it was void of carbs. You would be a slave to food no longer.

More Meals Means More Stored; Less Meals Means More Burned:

Remember, insulin is released every time we eat. Much more so with carbs, and sugar, but with everything to some degree. You may also remember me posting that you're pretty much incapable of burning fat when insulin is hanging around. So the more insulin from anything, especially carbs, the more fat you store.  Thus, the fatter you are. 

Yes, the magazines and commercials would have you believe otherwise. I mean what would they have to gain beside millions of dollars? There has to be a consumer for the 4000/cal a day produced per American. There has to be profit.

But there doesn't have to be stupidity. It took me a long time to fly in the face of everyone else, but I learned a lot, and just because something works doesn't mean it's the best.  Not only is the "multiple meal" approach harder to stick with and harder on producing the results the majority want, but it's just not as good for us.

Eating more meals throws gas on the fire making it harder to burn the fatty wood below. Eating as few meals as possible makes fat the only thing left to burn, and damn does it burn hot. 

Strength:

Bench Press

1,1,1,1,1

Compare Here

For Score:

"Lynne"

Compare Here

Max-Body Weight Bench Press

Max-Pull-up

5 Rounds

Post weight moved and movement numbers separate.

Off-Season Disorder: Just Another Fat Excuse...

 Cledith

"Enjoy playing it safe, just like yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that..."

Chris Farley, God rest his funny ass soul, demonstrated some years back  a now reoccurring phenomenon. Hell for that matter so did beefcake Eric Cartman while taking weight gainer 4000. They both presented the same disorder. The disorder that confuses strength with weight, and fat with muscle...the "Off-season Disorder"

After being in the fitness business long enough, you start to recognize trends very quickly. After a while, assuming you continue to educate yourself, it's starts to be before you fall for them. 

If you have seen enough bodybuilders in your time you will know exactly what the "Off-season Disorder (OSD) is all about....hell I even had it at one time. And this ain't just for orange-painted, man-thong-wearing wanna be's either. OSD also speaks to the "I just wanna focus on strength folks as well".

Back in the long long ago, where machines filled 20,000 square feet of space, trainers wore polo shirts, and owners got pissed off when more that 10% of paying members actually used the gym, I almost mastered OSD tipping the scales at a whopping 260 pounds...off-season of course. 

Questioning me about my extreme weight at a height of 5'8" got one hit with, "I'm gaining as much muscle as possible so I can cut down."  Then I would mind-$#%& myself until I actually believed those bullshit lines I gave people in between contests. The truth was I never tried going about it any other way just like many before me. And hell maybe most of all not only could I to eat anything, but I was encouraged to eat everything. Talk to any old school bodybuilder in the Off-season, and they will tell you, "You shouldn't be pissed you ate a Big Mac, be pissed you didn't eat two".

Regardless of what our community's (and the world's) current strength leader and instructor Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell says about gaining weight becoming more hindrance than blessing, bodybuilders have done it for years, and many CrossFitters are doing it today...and, man, will it hurt tomorrow.

Truth tellers:

For those looking to get stronger, it is not only healthier but more logical to get stronger at the same weight, or at the addition of real muscular weight, simply because if you add just any old kind of weight, you may just be adding more stuff to move, and that's not stronger...that's heavier. 

A misinformation of sorts seems to be rearing its ugly head within the community of folks who really do wanna move more weight. It's the thinking that either the only way, or best way, to do this is to get "bigger faster". And in my personal experience..."bigger faster" was exactly equal to fatter...no matter what you called it.

While its true it may take an anabolic environment created by a surplus of calories, it doesn't take a scale tipping, WOD killing 10% body fat gain that you will just have to peel off whenever you wanna feel like tying your shoes or breathing for that matter. It takes a honed program like that of the above stated guru, coupled with enough calories, proper supplements and oodles of rest. Then you can add real pounds to the bar not pounds to your ass.

Fibbers:

 As for the rest of you in the know, but that find the need to have an excuse like I once did....cut it. I played the same worn out bullshit game years and years ago, and everyone saw through me and others like me then.

Putting an off-season suit on that is much more insulation than necessary claiming your trying to get stronger so you will be better next year is an excuse not to step up with the met-con maniacs and have your ass handed to you like I still am. Its a reason to play  in the rack because you like it a little more, and if I remember correctly CF is not just about constantly varied, it's about doing the shit you like least to get the most.

OSD is just another excuse for being fat except OSD is somehow "holier than thou" because you can squat more than your average Joe, hang out in the gym all day, and include wings and beer as your post-workout shake dejour. 

I have heard of doing CrossFit with a strength bias. And this is fine. But I have yet to hear of doing CrossFit with a weight bias, and if you think more weight makes you better, how come almost allCrossFitters become more compact versions of themselves, and all the sudden lift more? Yep, more muscle, ain't more weight....but it sure as shit moves it.

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

1-Rope Climb

7-SDHP 95/135

25-Wall ball

35-Situps

2-Rope Climbs

7-SDHP 95/135

20-Wall ball

30-Situps

3-Rope Climbs

7-SDHP

15-Wall ball

25-Situps

Post time to comments.

From Good To Great With Dynamics...

   Kara... 

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage."

Our in house analytical trainer Kara Foster speaks about the success of dynamics when applied to training. For those of you unfamiliar, or simply interested in the "why" behind the game, give the below a read.

The following is authored by Kara F.

From Good to Great with Dynamics

Remember the last PR you missed? The bar just seemed to slow down, or maybe the weight just plain stopped moving.  Chances are many of you thought, “I need to get stronger.”  Maybe, but perhaps you just need to be faster.  Enter dynamics.

 The What and the Why of Dynamics

Just like great CrossFit draws upon the best of multiple sports to develop general physical preparedness (GPP), great strength training combines MAXimal effort lifts with dynamic drills to build strong athletes…who continually get stronger.  

MAX effort workouts are designed to elicit just that – a single, maximal lift.  A heavy three- or five-rep effort may also be used rarely on specific movements. The goal is to push the body hard enough to stimulate a hormonal response that physically changes, or adapts, the muscle to be able to move a bigger load (i.e., absolute strength). The athlete’s goal, of course, is to achieve a PR.

Dynamics, on the other hand, support higher MAX lifts by focusing on the greatest lift speed possible.  Using a percentage of their maximal weight, athletes work at low reps across a prescribed number of work sets to increase the rate of force they apply to a bar as well as their explosive strength capacity.  When done correctly, the dynamics equation is simple: Increased Speed + Increased Power = Increased MAX Effort.  

So, you say, I just move the bar harder and faster then. Well, sort of. 

The Dynamics Commandments

When we talk about great strength training, the best programs include the following:

Variation – Gurus like Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell in Columbus, OH say that building strength requires an athlete to resist what he calls the “Law of Accommodation” or a decreased training effect.  If the name of the game is muscle adaptation, the only way to win is to force the brain (i.e., CNS) to adapt to something new all the time.  That means constantly altering things like resistance (think bands and chains), grip and bars to avoid hitting training plateaus. It means continually rotating MAX effort and dynamic, or speed, workouts, and changing major lifts to prevent boredom.  There are lots of different types of dead lifts, squats and overhead movements out there, and Louie encourages coaches to use ‘em all.

An Ongoing, Integrated Approach – You’ll only get better at kipping pull-ups if you commit to both the brute strength work and the skill refinement.  The rationale for an integrated MAX Effort and Dynamics strength program is similar.  A typical program targets, at least, one MAX upper and one MAX lower lift in a given week with benchmarks done on some sort of schedule.  That same program should also plan a single upper and lower body dynamic lift to perform once per week for 3-4 weeks (i.e., a cycle).  The percentage of weight moved each week will increase slightly, but usually stay within 50-75% of an athlete’s one-rep MAX effort for the select lifts.  You can do one without the other, but the strongest people on earth use both, so why wouldn’t you at least experiment?

Intensity – By this, I mean amping up a strength workout just like you do a WOD when you choose to make your box jumps unbroken or pick up the bar faster.  In a dynamic training session, for example, this can be done by reducing the rest time between sets as you move through a cycle.  As the weight gets heavier, an athlete must challenge him/herself to keep the bar moving at the same rate of speed for every lift even as the weight increases each week.  Imagine the gains to be made in just a few short months on a program like this…and the loss if it’s not incorporated consistently.  Think of what happens to your endurance in just one week of a “WOD vacation”.  The suck is similar when dynamics is only hit or miss.

Rest – Manage strength training like you do (should do) your WOD schedule…when you’re tired, rest.  It’s preferable to put 72 hours between both MAX and Dynamic Effort days to ensure you’re recovered enough to shoot for progress each time.  For example:  You might program your MAX sessions for Mon/Thur and your Dynamic sessions for Sun/Wed.

To move big weight, you’ve gotta be strong and fast.  If you’re still not convinced of the value of Dynamics to a great strength program, Louie Simmons makes a suggestion…”If you think speed’s not important, take first gear out of your car…”  (For more on Louie Simmons, check out the CF Journal, or Westside Barbell).

Strength

Box Squat

1,1,1,1,1

Compare Here

-Every minute on the minute perform-

1-Power Clean and Jerk AHAP

5-Dips

Max-Burpee's

AMRAP 7 Minutes

Post weight moved, total CJ weight moved through all rounds added to burp total.

The Difference Of Being Strong, And Acting Strong...

 

 Join The 47 Day "Don't Cheat On Cindy Challenge"

"We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open." 

Acting strong needs mirrors to workout, being strong needs a destination.

Acting strong needs friends to tell them how great they are, being strong needs friends they can help become great.

Acting strong looks around after a PR to see who's watching, being strong puts more weight on.

Acting strong eats clean because they have to, being strong eats clean because someone that may have to,may welcome the example.

Acting strong storms off when things don't go as planned, being strong controls the brainstorm we all feel, then plans for tomorrow.

Acting strong is hurtfully honest, being strong is honestly helpful.

Acting strong is there for whomever is there for them, being strong is always there.

Acting strong waits to see the outcome, being strong makes the outcome.

Acting strong needs an entourage, being strong builds a community.

Acting strong needs applause, being strong needs to make others feel like they are applauded.

Acting strong is the loudest coward, being strong is quietest fighter.

Acting strong waits for a better day, being strong lives everyday like its their last.

Acting strong will bow to a tyrant in hopes they may become one, being strong will rise against one.

Acting strong will pray as a last resort, being strong will pray as a first step.

Acting strong will give opinions, being strong will hear opinions...and keep going.

Acting strong will display trophies of themselves, being strong will display trophies of others.

Acting strong has unending pride, being strong can't be humble enough.

Acting strong joins a team so they can play, being strong joins a team so it can win.

Acting strong interrupts, being strong interprets. 

Acting strong sets standards that value themselves, being strong sets standards that show value in others.

Acting strong is a burden, being strong carries them.

Acting strong fears the strong, being strong fears their own strength.

Acting strong will do anything to be accepted, being strong searches for those in need of acceptance.

Acting strong needs proof to believe, being strong is the proof others believe in.

Acting strong has no weakness, being strong is weakness overcome time and time again. 

Dynamic:

Push Press 

8x2 @75% 1rm

For Score:

"Cindy"

Compare Here

Compare Here

5-Pull-ups

10-Push-ups

15-Squats

AMRAP 20 Minutes

Post weight moved and rounds to comments.

Cash For The Cure...

“I'd like to wear a rainbow every day, and tell the world that everything is o.k. But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back. Until things are brighter, I'm the Man in Black.”

This week's "Saturday Stolen Post" is just as educational as those to come before it. If you didn't know what cool was, that's it. The man in black was one of the coolest dudes I know of and even watching the old version of him just shows eyes that are more wise and genuine than some of us will ever know. If there was ever a bigger window to a soul, I haven't seen it.

"Hurt" Lyrics

I hurt myself today
to see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
the only thing that's real
the needle tears a hole
the old familiar sting
try to kill it all away
but I remember everything
what have I become?
my sweetest friend
everyone I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
upon my liar's chair
full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
beneath the stains of time
the feelings disappear
you are someone else
I am still right here

what have I become?
my sweetest friend
everyone I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

if I could start again
a million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way 

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

Rest

Steal This Video: Overhead Squat Fix...

Overhead Squat Fix

"Silence is not the way we need to talk about it."

The Overhead Squat. One of the most difficult movement in CrossFit? Or simply one the most overly complicated? Weigh in below.

Assuming you have spent the proper time in your mobility corner praying to the Gumby Gods of flexibility, there is little else to do with this rather simplistic yet beautiful total body damager. After someone has had a go at your hips with ice picks, your wrists can support your body-weight, and your shoulders are connected in such a way that they can actually reach overhead without your entire body compensating below for the above movement, then a more unique approach to betterment may be right up your alley.

At Practice CrossFit we employ many Westside Barbell tactics for WOD improvement. The one that seems to never get old, and never disappoint is the Box Squat.

Watch, steal, and try the components of the video above and watch your OHS improve drastically.

Strength:

Rest

For Time

"Teams of Two"

400m Lunge (rain or shine)

then

30-Burpees

25-Hollow Rock

20-Thrusters 65/95

4 Rounds

Post teammate and time to comments.

Top Gear Fear: How To Redline Your Ride...

   Stacy...

"You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth, you can point with it too."

Sweat was pouring down my brow and puddling on the discolored black mat floor. The clock was more hieroglyphic, and unusually far away...and spinning. The loaded bar, heavy, was at my feet making my shins bleed. The chance was mine, pull or not. Then "I thought"...then I lost.

Have you ever test driven, or at least rode along next to someone who did? I have. In fact, my family owns a few car dealerships, and so I've sat next to folks test driving Ford trucks, Honda hatchbacks, and Toyota mini-vans. The only thing consistent from driver to driver regardless of age, gender, or background is that every driver acts like they're test driving a Ferrari. Every driver hit that "Top Gear" without fear, and smiled when they did it as if it was second nature. Why wouldn't you rag out the car you were about to buy?..before you took it home that is.

I need you to imagine yourself in a grassy meadow being licked by a cool summer's breeze with warm light bathing your skin. Maybe you're not the meadow type. Put yourself on the ocean. Maybe the beach...your feet wet with the tide just catching your ankles. You feel the sand beneath your fingers as you recline back. That perfect kind of sand that is much less the ground and much more a marshmallow that lets you sink in continuously like the arms of a valued lover...never ending, always closer, never resisting, always inviting. Imagine your relaxation. Not just relaxed, absorbed in yourself, your emotion, your senses. WHAM. IMAGINE YOU JUST GOT HIT BY A %$#&ING TRUCK. That's how fast we get to our "Top Gear". Zero to Sixty in seconds. And if you're not buckled in, head in the seat, you get whiplash.

Shifting gears on our way to our "Top Gear" is a learned event that admittedly takes practice. Normally we don't walk into CrossFit knowing exactly where our top gear lies, but after a little beautiful CrossFit hazing we learn exactly how to get to that gear.  It's our decision to either shift into it or remain comfortable and fearless in our lower gears.

I wager that after a nominal amount of time we are all on a basic level of CrossFit, extenuating circumstances, age, and injuries not-withstanding.  I don't believe it's always the skill or strength that gets us through the line. Instead, it's the natural ability we were are blessed with equally. The ability to shift into that uncomfortable, fearful gear our engine was produced to handle, and handle well. Uncomfortably well.

Several times I have walked away knowing I missed that gear. The reason I didn't "pull" was because I thought about why I shouldn't, instead of why I should. Once you "think" your internal engine won't take the stress of your Top Gear, you will undoubtedly succumb to second best. Once you realize (and I promise it's true) you will not die by going faster, that you will be able to finish, that you will be able to pull, CrossFit changes shape.

CrossFit starts to become much more a shape you can mentally shift yourself into than of the modifications you have to make to achieve a particular movement, or get better at "just this piece". CrossFit becomes, "I do pull-ups because they make my mind better".  If you really ponder on that, the implications are tremendous.

You know your "Top". It's scared you before. If you're anything like me, voices creep up and tell you to downshift or you'll overheat and quit. I will tell you from first-hand experience of when I am too weak not to listen and when I just shifted, and those %#^$ing voices are wrong. The more you rev the shit out of the "Top Gear," the more it drowns out the assholes, and the longer your loud-ass engine is revved up, the less you will ever hear the assholes again.

Strength:

Rest

For Time:

"Hoppertastic"

-Each class pulls from the bowl-