A few weeks ago, in this post, I discussed the hows and whys I work out at home. I’m going to say right now: I’ve never had George Lucas call me and say ‘Sean, come hang at the ranch for a week or two.”, nor has Tim Cook emailed me to say “Sean, I’d like to match your current salary +50% for 5 years, so you can focus on being an IOS developer.” Bruce Springsteen has DEFINITELY never showed up at my house saying “heard you were a fan, mind if I crash on the couch for a few days? Let’s throw a huge block party this weekend; I’ll play, and buy the beer.” I doubt those things will ever happen. (wink wink)
IT TOTALLY WORTH A SHOT!!!!!!!!
At the end of a chain of events I never saw coming, my lovely wife and I checked out a new Crossfit gym near our house. We loved it. That’s important…WE loved it. With sandbags, I’ve been doing modified Crossfit for a few years. I’ve read the pros and cons, winced at the meatheads on YouTube and the ones who can’t be EXTREME!!!! enough. I’ve seen the average people make amazing changes. I’ve always been open to it, but needed that push. She gave me that push.
What did I see? I saw a coach who walked us through each exercise and stressed form. The workout was ‘Fran’, 21 reps of thrusters then ring rows (or pullups if you can do them), then 15 reps, then 9 reps….all for time. I saw it modified in such a way that we both nailed the workout and we NEVER encouraged to take on more than we could. In fact, it was suggested we do them with PVC pipe and not the barbells. We decided to do the barbells.
I also saw a subtle psychological trick. I do sandbag thrusters with an 80lb bag. I had the 45 lb bar and looked for some 10 and 5 lb weights to put on it. All I saw were ‘plates’, which I assumed were the standard 45lbs. They weren’t!! They were rubber, and some we 10 lbs. They also had 15 lb bars that looks like 45 lb ones. Once could grab 10’s and put them on the light bar and look like they’re lifting 135 lbs to an average gym goer. It’s the illusion of putting up a lot of weight. That’s powerful!!!!! You walk into a gym, haven’t done the workouts; you’re nervous. You don’t want to look like a newb. If you’re putting up 35 or 55 lbs next to someone doing 135….and your bars look similar, you’re going to feel less self-conscious.
What didn’t I see? The jacked up, over caffeinated, super shredded, ‘brah’s’. I also didn’t see any 3/4 naked women with 2% bodyfat, parading and flexing. I saw people that looked like us; hopeful, encouraged AND encouraging. I didn’t see ANYONE push anyone to do more than they could do. I didn’t see form sacrificed. I didn’t see ANY unsafe activities.
Hey, I’ll be honest, I’ve been injured because of bad form. I’m not going to encourage my wife to do ANYTHING that could hurt her. If I see someone encouraging time or reps over good form, that’s it…done.
This is new territory for me. I’m excited. I’m doing this with my best friend; someone who’s going to inspire and motivate me. We’re going to have something new in common, something new to talk about; Changes we’re making together.
My training has taken a turn for the better. There’s something new and exciting on the horizon. I’m going to be tracking progress here. If you’re curious about Crossfit, I promise to do my best to be an objective source.
And, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Cook and Mr. Springsteen, feel free to message me right here.