The cliche is "ya can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs." and Coach Glassman says it slightly differently when he says that you will never be a champion racer without having a few wipeouts... the messages in this video may be slightly different but the results are the same so if you want to really be exceptional you have to be willing to fail. I actually believe this failure has to be experienced, not just intellectualized, because if you go "the bottom" in what ever endeavor and are strong enough to pull yourself back up you will be much better off.

The speaker in the video below is Dr. John Elioit, the author of OVERACHIEVEMENT, which is a must read for anyone who want to escape the middle of the pack. Haven't read the book yet? You're missing out.

on chrome equipment, loud music and tons of TVs. I know I am missing out on the "meat market" atmosphere and potential for many (maybe) dates. I know I could have my selection of any variety of fitness classes that sound like a feast for the senses and WILL NOT LET ME GET BORED! I know I could have any one of a dozen of pieces of equipment that could work EVERY individual muscle. I know... I know... maybe I am missing something but I will stick with Petranek Fitness - Crossfit LA...

Here are some more things I am missing.
http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2007/1stDistrict/March/1053987.pdf

and these:
http://www.topix.com/forum/com/bft/T5O63H7F09C4KTRF7

and let's not forget these:
http://ripoffreport.com/reports/0/139/RipOff0139216.htm

or these classics:

Below is a trailer for a documentary that my friend, Chris Bell, made about his personal involvement in steroids in conjunction with interviews with athletes (Carl Lewis, Barry Bonds) Actors ( Stallone and Schwarenegger) and politicians. It's won BEST DOCUMENTARY at Sundance and he's being compared to Michael Moore.

Enjoy!

Reach back into your memory.. before work became your priority in life... before being stressed out in college exams or high school cliques... or homework and if you could use the excuse that your dog ate it... Remember when you could fly? Or at least when you believed in the possibilities of, well, possibilities. The time I am speak of is when you had limitless energy and you really did believe you would be president, or an astronaut or a movie star or the scientist who cured cancer.

One of the more interesting things about Crossfit is that I find interesting is that I've been doing this for 16 months and I still have yet to find a workout boring... I find myself looking at the world and my life with open eyes, just like when I was a kid. Today Cill had us do a variation of a seated dumbbell shoulder press from the floor. This was so challenging and NEW. So I find my imagination and interest peaked constantly from Crossfit.

So the following video is of a Crossfit Kid who probably believes she will be president and who knows if she continues at the rate of the progress she's at she just might get there.

For the record... I wanted to be an astronaut. too bad I didn't find Crossfit earlier.

Actually I should have put the title "what is athletic?" in the title but you may not have even started to read this now...

So this comes from our article in Muscle and Fitness and several women in the gym asked "why not get Muscle and Fitness (Hers) to do an article on the women athletes of Petranek Fitness?" My answer was that the editorial perspective for that magazine is for things that the people of Crossfit don't do... we don't do abercisers, yoga, spinning, concentration curls with dumbbells (pink colored or otherwise) and we don't advocate using "diet products" to attain that desired "beach body." We do do exercises that involve the full body, working from the core to the extremities. The "beach body" is a by-product of performance and nutrition.

So I want to know what the women who read my blog think about the female athletes in the two videos below and pick up the latest issue of SHAPE or MUSCLE AND FITNESS - HERS. Do you think those women in the video are what you want to model for your own goals or is it the women in the magazines? And more importantly tell me why and don't hold back if you have a strong opinion one way or another.

BTW - The 13 minute video LINK is worth watching until the very end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iavq_y20thc

I finally read the ENTER THE ZONE and it has had a tremendous effect on my body and performance (for more details see my nutrition and workout logs). I will be updating everyone on my actual results of a strict Zone Prescription (weighting, measuring and counting blocks) within the next week.

Below i s link to to the official DR. Sears site and a video I enjoyed an I hope you do as well. In addition there is a TON of useful information to aid in your nutrition plan.

http://www.drsears.com/ZoneTV/tabid/394/Default.aspx

What gets you to kick yourself into the next gear? Do you need an up-tempo song or maybe the music from ROCKY? Do you cheer someone on to get them to "give back"to you? Do you set mini-challenges with a third party to make you push harder? Or are you still searching for that one (or many) thing to get you to push thru?

Below you will find a simple message and a video that will BLOW YOU AWAY...I'm not going to ruin it thru explanation... but I was choked up after watching.

I find people, when lacking for a better phrase, use the word obsession when discussing my affinity for some things in my life... namely CrossFit (however I tend to jump in with both feet in much of what I do). Maybe I'm being generous stating they actually might use a better phrase if they knew something different than "obsession" however this is my article so I will assume they're nice people in my life... maybe they are trying to compliment me... maybe they are impressed I could clear the clutter out of my way and prioritize what I find important in life and get it done... maybe, aw hell, I know it's none of that. I know they look at me (and maybe you too?) like a freak and I normally get this reaction in social settings when they have seen or heard the demands CrossFit puts on your body.... it's that look of bewilderment followed closely by another gulp of their beer and a drag on their cigarette and they tell me how they hit the weights and then do cardio 3-4 times per week at the Globo gym... Very quickly into the conversation I tell myself "they just don't get it" and I force myself to change the topic quickly because if I didn't I would get evangelical and really distance myself from them more...

But I have to ask... how do you do what OPT does in this video without some type of obsessive nature?

How do you push yourself consistently for the weeks and months to hit the 6:59 that he does in the video?

How does something memorable ever happen without a FIERCE DETERMINATION to be the best that you can be?

When people think of Steve Jobs (or Bill Gates for you PC users) and all his amazing MAC/APPLE (microsoft) products (iphone anyone?) does anyone say dismissively "that Steve Jobs is obsessed?"... I think not. I believe they relish in his ingenuity. They love him and his passion for making their life better. Hell they love it so much they line up hours before the MAC stores open to be the first to purchase a new thingy... Steve (or Bill) are the top of what they do because they constantly challenge themselves and their team. I'm sure they are at the edge of the "cliff" every day.

So are you obsessed?

And if so do you think, like me, that it's a good thing?

And if so you and I are a lot more the same than different.




PS - it's no coincidence that we are doing the HELEN this PR phase.

Having spent a lot of time surfing the internet looking for SOMETHING of value I am often disappointed... not today. Today I found a video that really "speaks" to me and I'm not sure why... maybe because the workout depicts something I wish I could do... maybe because it's broken down with copy and slowed to spotlight a specific area... maybe because this guy is fully committed to this endeavor and therefore a"geek" like me.

Take a look and let me know if there is something that you get out of it.

So In my discussions with a multitude of people I invariable get asked (or comments) about Crossfit being safe.

consider the following from the CDC for yearly statistics on children:

basketball
More than 193,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for basketball-related injuries.

baseball and softball
Nearly 116,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for baseball-related injuries. Baseball also has the highest fatality rate among sports for children ages 5 to 14, with three to four children dying from baseball injuries each year.

bicycling
More than 373,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries.

football
Almost 186,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for football-related injuries.

ice skating
More than 14,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for ice skating-related injuries.

in-line skating/roller skating
Nearly 58,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for in-line skating-related injuries.

skateboarding
Nearly 27,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for skateboarding-related injuries.

sledding
About 23,500 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for sledding-related injuries.

snow skiing/snowboarding
More than 18,500 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for snow skiing-related injuries.

soccer
About 85,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for soccer-related injuries.

trampolines
Nearly 68,000 children ages 14 and under were treated in hospital emergency rooms for trampoline-related injuries.

Now I've been training for 14 months, that's about 300 workouts and have only witnessed one SERIOUS injury during Crossfit. A person took an extended break (5 months due to work) and came back to join in the baseline day for the ANGIE got rhabdo and that will happen when you push yourself off that damn "cliff" Andy is talking about. In hindsight that possibly could have been prevented. I know I have torn up hands from this weekends Angie Finals and rightfully so since I pushed my body to perform. However I feel that the level of instruction, individual progression with instructors support and feedback and our community attitude of support without being too pushy has really added to a safe training environment... now the strains and sprains will come and go but nothing at the level of what you're about to watch next... these people wholeheartedly throw themselves WAY over that cliff's edge.

Enjoy.

Here's an example of kinda-sorta-not-really but more glossy and sexed up. This frustrates me to no end (and I hope you as well) because it diffuses the message of a very effective workout/learning tool (kettlebell) by making it the CARDIOBELL (WTF?) and throwing models into swimsuits... listen, I respect everyone's right to market their "idea" of a training system but it's obvious that if the person(or company and marketing people - let's be honest) actually worked out with kettlebells they would not produce this product.... this is just another example of people taking a "notion" of an idea they "heard" was hot:

Actually it believe it would go down something like this.

Ext - ESTAB SHOT - LARGE CORP BUILDING

Bustling city below

INT - CONFERENCE ROOM

A TEAM OF EXECUTIVES, all about 40-60 lbs overweight, sit at a conference table with charts and graphs and everyone has a MOCHA FRAP and a bagel in front of them... with low fat cream cheese of course.

BIG WIG: Team, we need something to sell that is portable and could rival our sister-divisions BOWFLEX dumbell set.

SMARMY EXEC: Sir, I saw these things in some training video, very kitsch, very retro.. and retro is in... I believe their called CATTLE BALLS.

SMARMIER FEMALE EXEC: It's pronounced KETTLE BELLS for those who are in the know... I've personally used them before, well my trainer made me. They ahve been around and they are definetly in.

BIG WIG: In??! I love being "in!"

You could see where this is headed.

Sure you may think I'm being pushy but that's ok in my opinion... but before you jump to any conclusions why not try the Zone for 2 weeks, by the book to give it an honest chance, and then tell me what you think. Oh- and by the way the Zone isn't anti-carb, let's get that out there, it's just for lowering carb consumption and truly balancing the diet.

Below are some videos that have the inventor of the Zone Diet, Dr. Barry Sears, discussing. He make it really easy to understand.

hopefully this is as funny to more people than just myself... but if it isn't then oh well.

So I surf around A LOT on youtube and I ran across this video and I was intrigued at the content.. see I found it by searching for EXTREME FITNESS to see what comes up and to see what is out there that other people are doing that I could learn from and incorporate into my own fitness...

This video made me frustrated and proud at the same time. Frustrated because I see things like this all the time from "fitness professionals" and Big Box gyms trying to repackage the same exercises and group classes but really it's the same old thing (think TURBO JAM classes or CORE TRAINING). What I have found it that is is some form of "cross training" or actually mixing isolation moves in with some cardio and keeping the heart rate up slightly more than normal. Then I'm proud for Crossfit really delivering on it's promise to deliver world class fitness. Look at any of the training that is introduced (Olympic, power-lifting, Kettle-bells, etc) and there is no fluff only results that put the community into the ranks of some of the best trained individuals in the wold regardless of your personal achievements.

I believe this video is an example of the backlash from the marketplace. The people are turning away from Big Boxes and are searching form something new. The sad thing is that, while the workouts in this video's fashion are at least somewhat intense, they will never get to true fitness thru isolation moves. Eventually a person from this atmosphere will stumble onto one of our videos and be hooked. We should welcome them with open arms 'cause weren't we all there at some point? I know I was.

12 months ago I did the Helen.. time was 18:15, horrible, really truly horrible but I was 37 at the time and thought I did my best, I was supposed to feel that way afterwards... ya know, half dead, sucking for oxygen, I thought I was past my prime that I reached in my 20's and the times of people (Andy, Stanwyck, OPT) were all incredible times because they were all under 10 minutes. I thought there was a fundamental difference in the way they were "built". That somehow God favored them when he doled out genetics... but as I come to know more about Crossfit and the people and what their history of performance is I begin to see a trend... the older you get the better you do. Now the act of constant training isn't lost on me. I know you can't reach a point, take 6 months off, and expect to do better. But haven't we been programmed to expect that all physical milestones are reached early in life and all we have to look forward to when we get older is a weaker body?

When we recently did the Filthy Fifty I finished at 26:29 and I didn't know how to quantify that time since it was my first time doing that workout specifically... the only thing I know is I must have done well because I finished midway in the pack of the Petranek Fitness elite (AP, Stanwyck, M'tano, Jeremy, Traver, Chris Devlin) with Andy's time being 20:something... then he tells me that the last time he did this, 18 months ago, his time was 28:+... and he cut 8 minutes off! So this is promising for 2 reasons: I beat his time (yes!) from 18 months ago and I could look forward to getting better with age.

Here is a video that I found challenging. I hope to do this workout soon.

I read Jim Collins a lot and his book GOOD TO GREAT advocated "Fallure" instead of Failure... the difference that fallure is the point of you doing something and having your results tell you , like climbing a mountain and falling off only to be caught by your safety wire, that you've reached your limits... and failure happens without even trying... you look at the mountain and say "I can't do it." the problem with failure is you never really know where your limitations really are.

so the question is do you reach "fallure" or failure?

here is some reading on Jim's business principles...

I read Jim Collins a lot and his book GOOD TO GREAT advocated "Fallure" instead of Failure... the difference that fallure is the point of you doing something and having your results tell you , like climbing a mountain and falling off only to be caught by your safety wire, that you've reached your limits... and failure happens without even trying... you look at the mountain and say "I can't do it." the problem with failure is you never really know where your limitations really are.

so the question is do you reach "fallure" or failure?

here is some reading on Jim's business principles...

Hey again,

So this video really connected with me however I will warn you in advance that it is long-ish. I may be reading into what the speaker covers but I feel there is an organic relationship between the way we experience Crossfit activities and how he describes creativity especially when discussing the choreographer.

If all this does is make you think about academia, personal growth and the state of the world then I did my part.

Feel free to drop me a comment if you're so compelled.

Cheers!

So some of you may not be as aware of my total lack of natural abilities. Now I'm not talking bad I'm talking horrible. You may think that's just colorful hyperbole but ever since I could remember I really had to work longer and harder at most everything I earned. It's also part of the reason I became an instructor in Crossfit (as well as in Martial Arts) because it gives me an opportunity to perfect things and support my own growth. That said, I found something really exciting last year and wanted to share because you may have some similar thoughts or experiences as well...

I was watching a video of a workout on the crossfit main site and it included box jumps... well, up to that point, box jumps were anything but fun for me especially in that I could not "bound" back up quickly. So I watched the video about 3 or 4 times and later that night I was in the middle of a workout and during the middle of the 2nd round... you know the point where you're so far from the beginning that you forget what it felt like to be energized and too far from the finish to feel like it's almost over (let's call this the POINT OF NO RETURN) ... I lost myself in the workout, a state of FLOW if you will. And Andy called out "Burch, what're ya doing?" I didn't have an answer except to know that I was indeed bounding back up to the box like I was made for it. Ever since then I haven't had a problem with "bounding" box jumps.

So, I'm wondering what the connection is between excessively watching the crossfit/youtube/petranekfitnesss videos and learning.

Post your thoughts and comments and any similar experiences.

thanks and enjoy the video.

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_AmundsonHeavyFran.mov

Or try here and choose from any number of great videos!

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html

BTW if you watch the one entitled "Nasty Girls" make sure you watch to the very end.

So the past 12 months has been incredible. I'm not sure where to start with how this journey has been so fun but I promise to have some more entries to chart where I'm going and what I'm doing in the next 12 months. I hope that you will take this journey with me and also tell me where you are and what you are doing.