Kells Blogpost - The Magic Pill That Actually Works

OK, CFK Beasts…quick rant. Sorry but I’m not sorry.

I have a friend who recently went to their annual physical. This person does CrossFit, works hard inside and outside of the gym, and has steadily improved over the past year. They show up, they have goals, and they put the time in. It’s a process, but it’s working.

While at the physical, this person’s nurse practitioner took it upon herself to offer-up a “solution” to my friend’s goal of getting in better shape: a risky surgery. This idea had never even crossed my friend’s mind, and they were stunned that this quick fix was offered in such a cavalier manner.

Not only was this suggested course of action delivered with the bedside manner of a French ISIS member…it was also completely unnecessary! My friend has shown improvement, is motivated, and never once asked for a solution that was this drastic and risky.

C’mon “nurse”. Do better.

Guys this happens way too much. We are being overprescribed, overdrugged, overprocedured and quick-fixed to death. Don’t believe me? Google “incidence of inappropriate procedures in the US” and read the second article that pops-up.

I have learned many things working in the healthcare industry for the past 15 years, not the least of which is the following: as a patient, you absolutely must advocate for yourself. Ask questions. Challenge. Do some research.

Of course we need the expertise of our caregivers, and the heights to which we can climb using modern medicine are unfathomable. We should be grateful for that every day. But that does not mean we should lean on these advances as a crutch, get lazy and hope that all of our problems will be quickly solved. More often than not, the best “magic pill” is work. Working harder. Working like a maniac. Obsessing over an outcome until it becomes a reality.

Have you ever SEEN someone transform themselves through sheer force of will? It is goddamn glorious. Primarily because it reminds us of what is possible, and that the human spirit is far stronger than anything that “happens” to it.

We see it in our own CFK community every day. Type II diabetes? Nope, gone. Haven’t seen the south side of 200lbs in 10 years? Can’t hang by yourself off of the pullup structure for more than a few seconds? Can’t get back to “pre-baby” shape? Bullshit…all of those goals have been/are being CRUSHED. And not through bariatric surgery, or taking a diet pill, or getting a fucking tummy tuck.

(OK…obscenity-filled seizure over)

The magic elixir is waking up earlier, eating smarter, working with more intensity and driving toward an outcome like your life depends on it. Unfortunately most folks don’t want to step away from watching Duck Dynasty long enough to internalize this. And many of our healthcare “providers” are doing nothing but facilitating this mindset.

There are other ways, guys. Just work harder.

Stoic philosophy tells us that the obstacle IS the way. Hardships are gifts that can propel us in a better, stronger direction. They simply need to be recognized and used properly. Lost your job? Relationship ended? Lost control of your weight and/or health? Something or someone was taken from you? Don’t overcome these circumstances…USE them to become infinitely better then you thought you could be.

In 1914, a massive explosion destroyed the majority of legendary inventor Thomas Edison’s manufacturing plant. As he watched his work being destroyed, the 67 year old was quoted as saying to his son “go get your mother and all her friends. They’ll never see a fire like this again!”.

Edison knew that he could have cried, yelled in anger, or gotten depressed as a result of this occurrence. But instead he smiled, told his son to enjoy the spectacle, and began rebuilding his business the very next morning. While he lost what amounted to about $23 million in today’s dollars in the accident, he rebuilt quickly and produced the equivalent of $10 million over the following 12 months (his best year to date).

There was no magic fix. At 67 years old, Edison just redoubled his efforts and thrived amidst potential chaotic circumstance. He used his situation to make himself better than ever.

A great example for all of us.

And so, to my friend…I know that YOU know that there are no quick fixes. Yes, modern medicines and procedures are wonderful and necessary to save some people. Of course they are. But you are not one of those people. I hope that you USE this situation to your benefit. Take the words spoken to you and use them as rocket fuel to get you to where you want to be.

…and go see that nurse a year from now and tell her that you didn’t need her magic bullet. You had your own.

-Mike

(Recommended reading on these ideas: The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday; Antifragile by Nassim Taleb)

Kells Blogpost - Go Forth and Fail

I recently heard an interesting interview with a guy by the name of Howard Chang. What he discussed resonated with me so much that I had to share it with our community…

Chang is the CEO of a successful Canadian advertising agency. He is also an entrepreneur, an author, an endurance athlete, a martial arts champion, and was just named one of the 50 most progressive people in Canada.

What a loser.

No really, I mean it. What makes Chang interesting is not his resume; it is his long list of losses and his approach to failure. He actually seeks out failure, as evidenced by his leaving the sport of competitive karate at age 17 because he had already become a national champion. The sport had become “too easy” for him, and the challenge was gone.

What did he do from there? He switched over to endurance racing, a sport he had absolutely zero affinity towards. He was not good. He might not have completely stunk, but he was pretty close. He raced often and he lost almost every time.

...until he didn’t. He worked is butt off and he got better, until he ultimately started placing in/winning high profile races. 

What Chang’s actions teach us is something profound, and something that is incredibly lacking in our society today:

Not only is it ok to lose, you should actively put yourself in situations where failure is probable, if not guaranteed to some degree. Why??? Because that is where growth happens, plain and simple.

Be a loser, friends. There is incredible value in it.

Consider these facts: The average millionaire will go bankrupt at least two times (Chang included; he made his first million at 22, went bankrupt at 30, and then came back stronger than before). JK Rowling's Harry Potter manuscript was rejected by a dozen publishers over the course of a year before someone gave her a chance. Michael Jordan had his (unsuccessful) swing at baseball. Apple fired Steve Jobs for being an unreasonable, ambitious prick.

Look around. The most successful people in the world are ok with stepping outside of their comfort zone and taking chances.

“But what if I fail? What will other people think?”.

Fuck ‘em. To quote the great Lester Bangs, “You’ll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.”

Now…what does this have to do with CrossFit? Everything!! As a coach, there is nothing cooler than having someone who is successful in another walk of life (business professional, teacher, super-mom, etc), and they completely resign themselves to the process. They’ve never done CrossFit, and know that they will not be proficient at it right away. Why? Because nobody is! Not one person can rip off 200 double unders in a row or perform a heavy squat snatch without ever having done them before. It just doesn’t happen that way, even though it is in our nature to want to be good NOW.

But the people I’m talking about get the fact that they’re going to have to not be good at something for a little while. They are OK with it. They do not feel foolish or silly learning something new, because they know that the long game is ultimately growth. This attitude is pervasive throughout CFK, and is an ideal mindset for all of us to continue to strive for.

And by the way? This approach is physiologically good for us. It literally makes our brains grow. When we learn something new at the age of 30, 40, 50, 85, whatever, the neural pathways change in our brains. This is called “neuroplasticity”, and it is the literal changing and growing of our brains based on behavior, emotion and thought. This is an extremely real and very positive occurrence.

All of this stems from an idea that we are always discussing at the Kells: Comfort Zone. The more you take yourself out of yours, the better you will become…period.

So what can you do right now? Couple ideas:

·      Start at the gym…and miss a lift. Go for a heavy lift. Maybe you dump it, maybe you don’t. But work with your coaches to determine a threshold-pushing strategy. Unsuccessful attempts done in a smart, safe way will lead to growth. Know your limitations, yes…and then push them in a safe way

·      Sign up for an endurance race, obstacle race, martial arts class, art class, or anything else that might interest you that you haven’t tried yet

·      Email three people in a field that interests you and ask them a pointed, smart question. Do some research, provide value to them, begin a dialogue, and see where it goes

·      Ask for 10% off of your next cup of coffee. For no reason. This is a fun one that is harder than it appears

·      Write a business plan for that business that’s been kicking around your head. Start page one tonight

The point is to take convention and turn it on its ear. Consider any boundaries you have placed on your life, fitness, work or relationships and smash them, if only for a day. Get comfortable with that discomfort and rejection.

And if you fail at every one of those things?

Congratulations.

You are now better than you were before. 

Kells Blogpost - The Most Important Question You Can Ask Yourself

He was sprawled out on the floor, literally gasping for air. He was in phenomenal shape for his age, but even so, the fact that he was on the wrong side of 50 made me do a double-take to make sure my friend was doing ok. We had just completed a workout so grueling that we were simply laying on the floor, punch-drunk with fatigue and chewing on that metallic taste that gets in your mouth after you pump your lungs with too much blood over a short, intense period of time.

“We do some fucked up shit here”, he said. “WHY?”

Brilliant. A question so profound yet so simple. Why do we show up? Why do we do what we do? Not just in CrossFit but it life?

The answer to this question should mean everything to you.

What is your "Why"? No matter what it is, we all need a strong, well-defined one, particularly if we are looking to accomplish anything challenging in our lives. I don’t care if it’s going to the gym, going to work, or just getting out of your bed in the morning…if you don’t have a strong Why, things are not going to get done. You won’t do them as hard or as well. If you are going to drive change, in the world or in yourself…if you are going to impact others, you absolutely must have a strong Why.

What is yours? Write it down on a piece of paper and look at it often. It doesn’t particularly matter what it is, as long as it is impactful to you. If you do a good job at identifying it, it will without question serve its purpose as a motivating force in your life.

What drives you? What pushes you? Is there something within you that allows you to say Fuck Off to the snooze button in the morning? If not…find it.

What is the SPIRIT behind why you do what you do? The purpose. Because there are two extremes here, aren’t there? On one end you might be sleepwalking your way through an existence with no discernable goal or purpose. Showing up to a job that you don’t particularly like, checking dogmatic boxes and going through the motions. On the other end, you have a motor; someone or something (or both) that is propelling you forward. And honestly, it could be anything. Maybe it’s your children. Your parents. A mission or a calling. Or the specter of a loved one who is no longer here.

Maybe it’s something material! Fine. Money? The house that you want in the town that you want? If it is driving you to do what you want to do and to get things done…perfect. The concept/correlation of money and happiness is an entirely different argument; all we are considering here is what is driving you through your days to a positive trajectory.

Your Why drives you to take action…today, not tomorrow. Don’t be haunted by the ghosts of your potential when you are lying on your deathbed. Most of what we accomplish in life is just the tip of the iceberg of our capabilities. But if your Why is strong enough, you’re more apt to take that leap…into a new job, or a new relationship. Into a CrossFit gym for the first time. Or to do that thing you’ve been avoiding all of these years…write the first few pages of that book that has been kicking around in your head, or start that business that you know is for you.

I’ll say it again…do NOT let the ghosts of your potential accuse you of not using all of your gifts. This is called “regret”, and regret is a nasty business. Use those gifts now while there is still time.

Are we just talking about an occupation or a gym membership? Hell no. BUT, it is all part of the bigger picture. If you look at somebody who is dialed-in to CrossFit, who puts themselves in that program on a daily or weekly basis, more often than not that person will have a pretty strong Why…someone who has a motor inside of the gym that translates to life outside of it.

Because guess what? We all get tired. We all get to a breaking point where we can’t take another step, run another mile, do another rep or even just get up in the morning because some life circumstance punched us in the face. And when we reach that point, it is the strength of our Why that not only gets us past that point, but allows us to thrive in those circumstances.

On a micro level, you could just be having a bad day, or be in the middle of a grueling workout where you can’t even see straight. On a macro level? Maybe you lost your job. Maybe he or she left you and they’re not coming back. Maybe you or someone you love got sick…really sick.. Life does not use kid gloves when it throws challenges our way. But it is a beautiful thing to watch someone who is so very clearly in the midst of whatever battle they are in handle themselves with strength, poise and grace. The stronger your Why is, the more capable you are of conducting yourself in that manner.

Anybody can be a ray of sunshine when they have a full belly, are in a good relationship, their bills are paid and they have a solid roof over their head. What happens when that’s NOT the case? Same applies to the gym…anyone can show up on the day when whatever is programmed is one of their strengths. But what about when it’s a heavy day and you’re not strong? Or a running day and you can’t run? What do you do then? Again, it is here where your Why carries you.

In “Man’s Search for Meaning”, Viktor Frankl writes that “those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear with almost any ‘how’”. Beautiful words from a man who went through Hell and back, and who was eminently qualified to make that kind of statement.

So, CrossFit friends and future CrossFit friends alike…what is your Why? How do you define yourself, and what talents are you presently leaving on the table?

Keeping in the spirit of this question, CrossFit Kells will be spearheading an extremely unique challenge for the South Shore CrossFit community over the next 6-12 months. It will be hard, cold, wet, slightly expensive, and incredibly rewarding. Those who accept this challenge may even meet themselves for the first time while completing it. This challenge will essentially be offered to anybody, but will definitively not be for everybody.

We will be releasing details in the coming weeks, and if your curiosity gets the best of you by all means come and see me. In the meantime…consider this topic and these questions. Dedicate some time to them and write a few things down. None among you who do this will be sorry that you did…

-Mike

Kells Blogpost - Why Challenge Yourself?

OK, CFK beasts…going a little deep and personal over the next couple of blog posts, so please bear with me if things go a little heavy in the CFK blogosphere. As we start this challenge, I find myself looking around at people stepping outside of their comfort zones, committing to something that will make them better…and I feel proud and inspired.

I thought I would share an experience I had back in 2012, when I decided to do a personal challenge based on the suggestion of a mentor. The challenge was basically a 10 day gauntlet of no sugar, caffeine, or alcohol, no media of any kind and a few other things. If you’re interested in the particulars (and have a few minutes to kill at the cubicle or in the restroom!!), the complete details of the challenge can be found here:

http://www.brassringfitness.com/2011/03/14/the-agoge-challenge/comment-page-1/

It was called the Agoge challenge, based on the approach that the Spartan society took to living back in the day. The goal of the challenge was to simplify your life for a few days, to look inward, and to sacrifice in the name of personal improvement.

Part of the challenge called for a journaling of the experience, and the reason I am sharing this with you is that I just revisited my entries from the Agoge. It was pretty cool to look at my thoughts during this thing from back then, and the timing is pretty good given the CrossFit Kells challenge upon which we are now embarking. For the food part of this challenge, I basically just ate bread, eggs, chicken, broccoli and almonds for 10 days. This was during a time when I LIVED for my lahhhhge iced regulahhh from Dunks in the morning, crushed a heaping bowl of granola before bed every night, and consistently took down Hawaiian pizzas from Duxbury Pizza. To say I went through sugar withdrawals is an understatement!

Part of the goal of this challenge was to not talk about the challenge, which I did not. The goal was an inward focus, not an outward one. But seeing our Kells community getting fired up for our own challenge, and seeing some folks nervous about committing to this given their diet and lifestyle routines, I thought it might be beneficial to a few of you to share my experience.

Here are a few bullets from my journaling over the course of those 10 days. As we go through our challenge this month, I highly recommend writing down parts of your experience for your own reference. It will make the experience a richer one for you, and it will also be interesting to look back on it at some point in the future.  

“Agoge – July 2012”

Days 2&3 

“Now that I’ve been eating the same diet for a few days, seems to be an interesting effect. There’s a feeling of fatigue that is relatively constant…wondering if that is a manifestation of the lack of sugar that I am used to? Will be interesting to see if this continues. Given this feeling, there has already been thoughts from that “other side” casting doubt on this challenge. “Why do this to yourself? What will this prove? What will change?” These questions were also posed after seeing/smelling pizza, cookies, and thinking about that next iced coffee. The answer is this….why do it? Because I want to. Because I can. Because the concept that character is built thorough sacrifice and doing things that are hard is an important one. I still have a lot to prove to myself…to challenge myself with”

“Who would know if I quit? I would”

“Of course I want to kick back with a bowl of granola and watch a movie; not happening”

“As you work through UM, start to journal and document more. There is something about putting it in writing that makes the experience more real and enriching.”

“As for Agoge…keep going strong. Today there were certainly questions and doubts cast….don’t listen. Yes, it’s hard and will get harder. That’s why you’re doing it. These are the building blocks for the strengthening of character…do not cheapen that buy quitting. You owe it to yourself and (your future self) to stay the course, suck it up… embrace the suck”

“The hardest part seems to be the fatigue feeling and the food cravings. But there is no question you’re getting enough sleep, so that “fatigue” is your body lying to you.  You’re fueling your body with enough nutrients…keep at it keep at it keep at it. It will be worth it”

Day 5

“There did not seem to be ANY of the fatigue today…very interested to know if that was the body’s reaction to no sugar – do some research on this. So, close of day five and still going strong (despite the temptation to go to the beach and have a bunch of beers). It looks like the fatigue issue has passed”

Day 6

“Pretty good energy throughout the work day, just a few moments of the fatigue feeling here and there. Body seems to be catching up to the diet. No question getting leaner…165 lbs on waking up this morning. Too thin” (I forgot about this part…165! I looked like I was about to blow away into the Atlantic Ocean if a stiff breeze came)

Days 7 & 8

“Strong couple of days, holding strong on the Agoge. Still 5AM wake-up every day; yesterday situps, meditation, and a ball-busting crossfit wod. Interesting part about yesterday was a back/forth going on in the mind. This challenge has had elements of fatigue in it throughout, be it physical or mental. Yesterday, the quitter voice was begging not to go to the gym after work. Rationalizing, justifying, etc….but the strength voice won. Glad I went”

That's it, guys…just a few simple entries to share. The rest went a little TOO deep and probably best saved for some kind of couch session! But the point is this…doing these little challenges and proving something to ourselves is an important exercise. Doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks…are you doing this for YOU, and how are you going to feel when you’re done?

You just have to have the right “WHY”…which, by the way, is the topic of our next blog. 

What is your “WHY”? 

We are going to explore this, as well as offer a challenge to only a few of you that will unquestionably be life-altering…

Good luck this month. 

-Mike

Kells Blogpost - Sugar-Free Junk Trunk

Bums.

We all have them. They’re quite functional, very important to our strength and movement capabilities, and can be a lot of fun to look at. AND…they will be a big part of the next CrossFit Kells challenge.  

Beginning May 4th, we are going to spend 30 days targeting our arses in two ways:

1)   We are going to lunge. Every day.

2)   We are going to remove BAD sugar from our diets

Let’s start with #1…

Why the lunge? Because it’s a phenomenal builder of our posterior chain, which is the most influential muscle group in the body. Think hamstrings, hips, back and obliques.. This movement is excellent medicine for our hips, our connective tissues and our balance.

We talk about hip extension every week, as well as the concept of “core-to-extremity”…a fancy way of describing the process of recruiting power from the strongest parts of our body (legs, hips, butt) and transferring it to the weaker ones (shoulders, biceps, triceps, etc). A strong posterior chain directly contributes to powerful hip extension, and therefore improves our core-to-extremity capacity.

The strength of your posterior chain significantly impacts not only your athletic prowess, but also your ability to physically navigate your life…jumping, running, pushing, pulling, sitting, standing, doing the tango…everything. The bad news? The majority of us spend WAY too much time sitting on our trunk-junk every day.

This is bad.

Whether we are driving, sitting at our desks, flying on a plane, or sitting on the couch crushing seasons of Breaking Bad, we are pretty much turning our butts into our feet….this is a problem. Sitting has become the new smoking.

CrossFit attacks the posterior chain via movements like KB swings and deadlifts. And for the month of May, the Kells will continue that focus by utilizing the lunge. The lunge is THE most beneficial exercise we can do to strengthen our hamstrings…and it will WITHOUT QUESTION make your butt feel like you’ve been shot with a cannon.

Here is what this part of the challenge will look like:

·      Each day for 30 days you will perform walking lunges (no additional weight, just body weight) until failure. “Failure” here will be defined as a break of more than 5 seconds between strides. Your daily goal will be to take at least TWO more steps (one for each leg) than you did the previous day

·      The beauty of the lunge is that you can literally do it anywhere, so no excuses. At the gym, in the house, or at the office? Do walking lunges. Confined to a prison cell? Do standing lunges…no excuses

·      This is an every day challenge. When you are on a rest day from the gym, be sure to warm-up for 5-10 minutes before doing your lunges

·      You absolutely must foam-roll your glutes, quads, hammys, back and calves after you lunge. This doesn’t have to be every day, but it does have to be often. This is not an easy challenge (hence the “challenge” part). You will be sore as hell on many days….again your glutes will feel like they were stabbed with a letter-opener. Expect this and plan for it; foam rolling will help

#QUADZILLA

Part TWO of the challenge will involve SUGAR…specifically, getting it OUT of your diet. To refresh your memory, re-read the Kells Blogpost from March on the evils of too much sugar in your diet:

http://www.crossfitkells.com/wodblog/2015/3/24/the-real-american-sniper

More specifically, we are targeting ADDED sugar. Naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables and other whole foods are acceptable and recommended. Added sugars, however, are off limits. This includes refined sugar, natural sweeteners and artificial sweeteners.

GUIDELINES:

Foods that have added sugar of any kind are not allowed.  You might be surprised to learn that sugar has many names and is often disguised in the ingredient lists. You may have noticed many foods now advertise as having No High Fructose Corn Syrup. What manufactures don’t promote is that in place of the corn syrup is likely another form of sugar.  Reading the fine print on ingredient labels is absolutely necessary for this challenge, and a habit that we should all have. As part of the challenge we will be providing you with a list of 50 different names used for sugar.  

No added natural sugars or sweeteners of any kind, to include: honey, molasses, stevia, agave nectar, coconut palm sugar, xylitol, maple syrup, etc..  This is important in order to start to enjoy the real taste of foods.

No added refined sugars (white sugar, corn syrup, brown sugar)

No added artificial sweeteners (Truvia, Splenda, Nutrasweet, etc.)

Basically, if it has added sugar or sweeteners, of any kind, do not eat it.

You ARE allowed to have one protein shake per day. While the protein powder you use is up to your discretion, we recommend the following: SFH, About Time and Gameplan

Note:  Again, when we say no sugar, we mean no added sugar. There will be naturally occurring sugars in milk, plain yogurt, fresh vegetables and fruit, and that’s okay. The idea is to give up ADDED sugars that are in most all processed foods. So when you read a nutrition label, look at the actual list of ingredients, NOT the percentage of sugar per serving (unless you must do so for medical reasons).

Make the challenge easier by doing the following:

Drink at least 6 (12 ounce) glasses of plain water each day, or 2.2 liters.

Consider drinking one nutrient-dense smoothie each day

Eat FruitFruit contains plenty of natural sugars and is also an important part of any healthy eating plan.  The possibilities are only as limited as your local grocery store.  Also, fruit is a great way of naturally getting the sugar you might be craving and will help make this challenge successful.

Duration:The challenge goes for one whole month – 5/4 to 6/4

We will also provide you with a list of suggested items to get at the grocery store. These items will keep things tasty, healthy and variable.

Questions & Answers:

Q: The label on my bread says that it has 6 grams of sugar but the ingredients don’t mention any kind of sugar. Which do I follow?

A: Look at the ingredients for added sugars. Most all foods have naturally occurring sugars, even vegetables and dairy. Naturally occurring sugars are acceptable; they’re healthy.

Q: What if I slip?

A: Don’t look back, the past can’t be undone. Continue on with the challenge.

Q: Will I go through withdrawals?

A: More than likely you will experience some withdrawals. Sugar is very addictive and you will likely experience some side effects. It is possible to experience headaches, weakness and irritability. It will pass and typically takes 2-4 days to get through this phase. Please do not commit any crimes in a sugar-withdrawal rage during this phase, as it may impact your participation in the rest of the challenge.

ALL Kells members are strongly encouraged to participate in this challenge. You WILL improve your squat and your Olympic lifts after this challenge; you WILL get leaner; you WILL feel better. And since we are encouraging 100% participation within our community, you will also have plenty of support. 

Sign up for the challenge at the gym, or send me a note. We will provide more information on scoring and prizes (of course there are prizes!!!) this week.

So there it is! We’re lunging, we’re dropping sugar, and our posteriors will all be starring in the next Beyonce music video when June rolls around….done and done.

-Mike

Kells Blogpost - Step 1: Don't be an A@#hole

I know a guy who is extremely successful at what he does. He is a very intelligent and talented surgeon at one of the most respected hospitals in the country. He saves lives, makes a positive impact on his patients, exhibits poise in some very challenging situations and on top of it all is in pretty good physical condition.

But MAN……..what an asshole.

Now you can be sure that this individual is quite satisfied with his station in life; his accomplishments, those he has helped, etc……Great. But is he the best person he can possibly be? Absolutely not; he doesn’t pass the Jerk Test, and for that he gets a Fail. Call it a human fail.

Contrast this person with Mark Divine. Mark is the founder of Sealfit, a fitness and lifestyle company out of Encinitas, CA that combines many of the principles of CrossFit with the rigors of Navy Seal training. Divine himself is an ex-Navy Seal. He is also an entrepreneur/CPA/MBA/yoga instructor with a black belt in Seido Karate who can probably dismantle you with a popsicle stick in about 30 seconds. AND…he is one of the most humble, genuine and thoughtful people you could ever come across.

Two extremely successful, accomplished individuals. But one of them is deficient enough in the area of emotional intelligence that he is falling short on his potential as an integral, well-rounded person. We’ll get back to the good doctor in a minute…

Divine, on the other hand, has dedicated his post-Seal career to helping people become more dynamic, formidable human beings. He applies his analytical, CPA mindset to the knowledge that he has gleaned from Seal training to come up with multiple models on how to improve performance, life balance and mental toughness.

One such model looks at four basic, critical components of personhood. Four areas that every single one of us can reflect upon, analyze and improve. They all have seeds in what we do at CrossFit, and are themes that we will repeatedly weave into the fabric of our training at CrossFit Kells. They are four simple capacities:

·      Physical

·      Mental

·      Emotional

·      Heart Spirit (a.k.a. GRIT)

Let’s take a very quick look at what these mean, extreme examples of each (where we don’t want to be), as well as where these apply to CrossFit.

1)   Physical Capacity

Defined: This is very simply our physical ability. How fit are you? How well can you move in different domains and in different situations? How developed is your general physical health and conditioning?

Extreme Example: Someone that is overdeveloped here could be the stereotypical steakhead. The classic dumb jock who spends all of their time in the gym and never picks up a book. This person has way too much focus on physical capacity and not enough on the other areas.

CrossFit Application: This is an easy one! One of the primary benefits of CrossFit is the improvement of general physical preparedness. We work on strength, bodyweight movements and metabolic conditioning to improve our physical well-being………and of course, to be prepared for the inevitable upcoming Zombie Apocalypse.

2)   Mental Capacity

Defined: What is your mental acuity? How do you apply yourself? Call it book smarts, street smarts….doesn’t matter. How do you navigate your environment by using your cognitive abilities?

Extreme Example: Consider the brilliant college professor with the ten-ton brain. He can recite the periodic table of elements in Mandarin Chinese -backwards- but can barely bench press a tooth brush or run more than twenty feet. He also has the conversational abilities of a ham sandwich. Way too down-in-the-weeds from a mental standpoint.

CrossFit Application: One of the best quotes from CrossFit founder Greg Glassman is this: “The greatest adaptation to CrossFit takes place between the ears”. Meaning, the mental aspect of CrossFit is unbelievably important. How do you plan for a workout? And I don’t mean just planning your rep scheme. I mean, do you prepare for failure? Do you plan in advance what you will do when the pain comes? Do you meditate? Do you use visualization? There are powerful mental approaches that we can apply to CrossFit that will absolutely make us better.

3)   Emotional Capacity

Defined: How is your emotional control? When it comes to stress, fear, joy, anger, kindness, anxiety and empathy…how do you handle yourself? How do you treat other people? How do you treat yourself?? What degree of emotional intelligence do you exhibit?

Extreme Example: This brings us back to Dr. Sphincter. Here is a person who seemingly has everything in the world going for him, yet can’t figure out how to treat other people with kindness and respect. It’s simple: don’t be that guy.

CrossFit Application:  Building upon the aforementioned mental piece, we also can work on the emotional components of CrossFit, can’t we? Anger and frustration can repeatedly rear their ugly heads at the gym. Are double-unders easy? Are snatches a walk in the park? Fuck no. Can they be maddening? Yup. The question is, how do we handle those frustrations when they are presented to us? Is your approach to these challenges a positive one (I WILL get these), or a negative one (I suck at these). When we practice emotional control, we’re in a better position to grow.

4)   Heart Spirit…a.k.a Grit

Defined: Here, Divine applies the Japanese word for “fighting, non-quitting spirit”: Kokoro. If you get knocked down 35 times…will you get up for #36? How do you react when things get bad….what about when they get really really bad? Kokoro means grit. Perseverance. Not only overcoming obstacles, but actually using them to your advantage.

Extreme Example: Since you can’t really have too much heart, we can consider examples of a deficiency in this area. I always think of certain pro athletes in this example. You know, the people with all of the gifts, all of the talent in the world? But they’re soft. No heart. They fold when it matters. They don’t try…or they give up at the first hint of hardship. Jeff George? Vince Carter? A-Rod (yeah I said it)? Sidney Crosby?

CrossFit Application: Again, here we build on the mental and emotional foundation. How do you react when things get tough? Perhaps when you are halfway through a dark/grueling/pain-cave of a workout, and every part of your being is telling you to stop. Do you quit? Is your self-talk positive or negative? What is your internal dialogue?

So where do you fall on the spectrum of these capacities? Are there one or two things you can get to work on right now to shore any of them up?

The great news here is that not a single one among us has achieved the desired end-state of perfection in all of these areas. In fact, that perfect end-state does not exist; it is an impossible task. BUT, by taking stock of where we fall in each of these, we can strive to become better in all of them collectively. The result of which will make us better than we ever imagined…

We will be revisiting these themes frequently at the Kells, and I hope you will find them helpful to your training and to life in general. If you are interested in learning more about Mark Divine, check out his blog at www.sealfit.com. It will be time well spent.

-Mike

Kells Blogpost - The REAL American Sniper

As we continue to examine the three pillars of health (sleep, diet, exercise), we are going to start digging into the most controllable variable of all three: DIET.  

What exactly do we mean by “controllable”?

Think about it. Sometimes we simply can not exercise (possibly due to injury, or a scheduling conflict that is beyond our control), and many people struggle mightily with the actual act of falling asleep (as good as their intentions of actually going to sleep might be, they struggle with insomnia). But food? We have complete control over the nutrients that we decide to put into our mouths for consumption. Nobody is putting the proverbial gun to our head when we tear into that bag of Funions or the 30 rack of Bud Light (although it does taste so good when it hits the lips!).

BUT, don’t confuse “choice” with “easy”.  Of course it can be difficult (and not as much fun) to eat well. And not surprisingly, the majority of the country agrees with that statement. A full two thirds of Americans are statistically overweight or obese. Obesity is a $150 BILLION dollar per year problem….and if you’re keeping score at home, that’s a total of a 10% tab on YOUR health care bill (yup….we’re all paying for it). The good news? That number will double in 10 years…ugh.

Bad times.

And the main culprit in the majority of our diet-related problems? The one that is picking-off Americans left and right, sniper-style, in the form of diabetes and cardiovascular disease?

SUGAR.

Sugar is killing a crap-ton of Americans, and it’s certainly ruining the potential results that you could be getting from your workout.

The topic of diet and nutrition is a huge one, and we can’t cover all of it in one blog post. We could spend a ton of time talking about the aforementioned health crisis in this country. More specific to this group, we could talk extensively about eating to PERFORM; using food for fuel, and examining how approaches like Paleo eating can help us optimize our workouts.

But for now, we are going to take a quick, very basic look at sugar, and why you need to have a better understanding of it.

If NOTHING else, here are four things I want you to know:

1)   You need to understand INSULIN. Insulin is very simply the body’s “traffic cop” that tells it what to do regarding fat storage and fat burning

2)   The more sugar is detected, the more insulin is released. The insulin traffic cop tells the body: “store your fat…hang onto it, and don’t do anything with it until I get rid of all of this sugar”

3)   Within this cycle, when the body needs to BURN FUEL, it will burn the sugar first, NOT the fat that is stored in tissues and around organs

4)   The more sugar is consumed, the more the cycle continues. The body can become INSENSITIVE (or resistant) to insulin, and we get fatter and fatter.  We have a name for this: Type II Diabetes

While there is certainly more to the story, let’s stick to the big picture for now:

More sugar = more insulin = we STORE more fat instead of burn it = we’re an overweight country

THIS is where millions of Americans get totally confused. “The label says no fat!  I’m eating healthy!!!!!”

No……..you’re not.

The food labeling in this country is an absolute joke and a disaster. If you are in the middle aisles of the grocery store (not on the periphery where most of the whole foods are) and you see “low fat”, “heart healthy”, keep walking. I guarantee you that there is lots of sugar in that bad boy.

“Sugar free”, you say? Then look at the label for "aspartame". Or glucose. Or sucrose, maltose, fruit juice, dextrose, raw sugar, starch, honey, corn syrup or any other kind of syrup.

“You don’t understand….I drink DIET Coke”!! There is nothing “diet” about Diet Coke. One of the primary ingredients in Diet Coke is aspartame,  which is an artificial sweetener. Artificial sweeteners are worse for us than sugar is!

Guys….aspartame is making us fatter.

Aspartame is making us fatter!

Aspartame is making us FATTER!!!!!

(I’m either having a mini-stroke here or am about to go Full Jack Nicholson in The Shining)

ASPARTAME IS MAKING US F#@*ING FATTER!!!!!!

(….ok....I’m good now)

Try this one: consuming one soda per day increases your risk of diabetes by 29%.

“But I drink soda, and I eat sugar free stuff, and I’m thin!!”

Sorry, you’re not off the hook. Remember that Insulin Traffic Cop? He directs the body to store fat around the organs as well…especially the liver. This is not “love handle” fat, it is organ fat.

Again…….not good.

We can go on forever with this but I believe the point has been made. Sugar is bad, mmmmmmmmkay?

This DOES NOT mean we try to stop cold turkey; not necessary and certainly not sustainable. We just need to consume less of it. Guidelines from the American Heart Association are 6 to 9 teaspoons of sugar per day. Where are we at right now? Twenty-two teaspoons.

If you want to optimize the hard work that you are putting in at the gym, or even be just a little more healthy, you gotta put down the Chunky. Drop the yogurt (yup….lots of sugar). Step away from the "Diet" Mountain Dew.

This is not “new” news, and most of us already know this. But hopefully now you understand a little more as to WHY it is so important.

Next time we’ll take a look at Integral Development. What it means within the context of CrossFit, and how we can work on it.

-Mike

Kells Blogpost: Kill Your Comfort Zone

You're soft. Admit it, you are! And so am I…

We all are.

In 2015 we have every comfort, privilege and benefit that one could ever imagine. We have GPS, Google, Uber, Smart phones, Smart cars, cars that park themselves, butt warmers in said cars, instant everything, organic everything and skinny venti no foam no whip iced mocha lattes. Our Spartan forefathers would be amused.

Yet despite our access to these luxuries, fear not….all is not lost. Our primitive programming is certainly alive and well and calling for stimulation, we just need to tap into it. Consider Joe Desena, founder of Spartan Race. Desena is a huge advocate of pushing our limits as human beings and tapping to into the needs that we have as primal creatures. He (along with other creators of similar obstacle races) has built a million-dollar business around the idea that despite all of the present-day comforts that we enjoy, there is a need for us to step away from those comforts in order to grow, achieve and fulfill the basic craving we have to feel challenged and alive. Joe does multiple things every single day to pull himself out of any type of comfort that he might enjoy, and pushes himself to get better. By doing this, he drives his Spartan Race community in the same direction (take a listen to his podcast – great interviews with interesting people).

Consider CrossFit! One of the main reasons that it is so effective and impactful is because whenever you walk through the front door of your CrossFit gym, you are guaranteed to become uncomfortable. Repetitive discomfort is a great prescription for improvement.

As Nietzsche said, "Praise be what hardens us"

So let's all move out to the woods, hunt some caribou, give up toilet paper, light a fire and get caveman up in this piece?!?!? No, not exactly. Modern technology is amazing, and there's no reason that we shouldn't benefit from it.

But that doesn't mean that we allow ourselves to get too comfortable. And certainly, many of us are doing something about this right now!  We are showing up to CrossFit a few times per week, we have done a Spartan Race or Ruckus or a Tough Mudder, and that's great! All I am saying is let's build upon that.

By doing CrossFit we challenge ourselves every time we show up, which is awesome. But we can certainly do more, and periodically at the Kells we will be issuing "comfort" challenges to our community toward that end. They will be fun (most of the time), they will get difficult, and they will definitely make you stretch your comfort zone and test your resilience.

SO....with that, our first Kells Comfort Challenge can be summed up in two words:

Cold Showers.

We are offering a five day cold shower challenge to all Kells members. If you participate, it means that you will not be taking anything but a cold shower for five straight days (beginning Monday, March 30th). You must last all five days, and no hot (or even LUKEWARM) showers. Whoever is left after five days, we will pick a name out of a hat, and the winner will receive either a brand new pair of Reebok Nano 4.0 Crossfit shoes, or the new Nike Metcon 1, your choice. The only requirement is that all participants post on the CFK daily WOD/Blog to log their activity (i.e. the fact that you took your cold shower that day). And yes…this will be honor system – of course we trust you! Plus it’s not scalable to have VanHaur test the water temperature for everyone’s shower….he has a day job!

Sooooo....why cold showers??

Glad you asked. There are many benefits to this challenge, so let's break the two biggest ones down.

#1 This is an excellent mental toughness exercise. 

Is this difficult? You bet it is… It sucks! And you will have a million excuses going through your head about how stupid an exercise this is when that water first hits you. You will rationalize that a pair of sneakers is not a good reason to justify torturing yourself for a few long minutes. But this is not about shoes… It's about intentionally putting yourself in a difficult, uncomfortable situation and pushing through it. After the first day, on days 2, 3, 4 and 5, you will dread the experience. And that's the point.... pushing past that feeling and doing it anyway. This is a great example of how you can test, develop and hone mental toughness.

#2 The physiologic benefits of cold showers are substantial, including:

* Improved circulation. Good blood circulation is vital for overall cardiovascular health, and cold water causes your blood to move to your organs to keep them warm. Cold shower proponents argue that stimulating the circulatory system in this way keeps them healthier and younger looking than their hot water-loving counterparts.

* Relief from depression. Many historic greats suffered bouts of depression.  Henry David Thoreau is one such man, but perhaps Thoreau’s baths in chilly Walden Pond helped keep his black dog at bay. Research at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine indicates that short cold showers may stimulate the brain’s “blue spot”- the brain’s primary source of noradrenaline — a chemical that could help mitigate depression.

* Keeps skin and hair healthy. Hot water dries out skin and hair. If you want to avoid an irritating itch and ashy elbows, turn down the temperature of your showers.

* Strengthens immunity. According to a study done in 1993 by the Thrombosis Research Institute in England, individuals who took daily cold showers saw an increase in the number of virus fighting white blood cells compared to individuals who took hot showers.

* Increases energy and well-being. A cold shower gets your heart pumping, and the rush of blood through your body helps shake off the lethargy of the previous night’s sleep. The spike in energy can last several hours.

Make no mistake, this will be a shock to the system (especially if you have never done this before). Probably the most important thing to remember:  breath control. This is cold water, and your nervous system is programmed to react a certain way to the stimulus. When exposed to the water, your breathing will be increased and shallow. Your job is to override that reflex, slow your breathing down, and take deeper breaths.

Most importantly, this exercise is about a commitment to doing something. Your inner dialogue will tell you how dumb of an idea this is, and "who cares what they're doing down at the gym", or "screw this…I'm warming up".   Examine the excuses that you tell yourself before getting in the shower about why this is not a good idea. Examine that inner dialogue that is trying to talk you out of doing something to which you have made a commitment. Does that pattern mirror anything else? Is it similar to you talking yourself into or out of any other situations in life (a job change, a relationship, a habit , etc.)? On the flipside, this is an opportunity to commit to something, and to follow through. Never underestimate the value of that.

Finally, if this particular challenge is not for you, don't worry. We will be doing more of these in the near future. Additionally, you can do your own challenge! Perhaps you can do your own version of the cold water challenge by just turning on the cold for 10 or 20 or 30 seconds at the end of your regular shower. Or you could do something completely different: Meet three new people every day for five days. Turn off the TV at 8 o'clock at night every night for a week. Start the first progression of a challenging movement at the gym that you've been avoiding. Reach out to somebody that you do not know in your field of expertise (or one that you would like to get into) and introduce yourself. Ask them a question, and develop a dialogue.

The possibilities are endless here….but what we are trying to do is turn comfort on its ear. Kill routine.

So there it is, Kells peeps…the Cold Shower Challenge. We hope you jump in on this, as we are sure about the positive results that will follow.  Message me or confirm with us at the gym by March 29th that you are IN! You will be happy that you did.

-Mike

Check out this reference video/article, or just Google the benefits of cold showers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb0h8ZKvJW4

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/01/18/the-james-bond-shower-a-shot-of-cold-water-for-health-and-vitality/

Kells Blogpost: America’s #1 Health Problem (and what you can do to avoid it)

 

March 18, 2015

Here at the Kells we will constantly be delving into, dissecting and trying to improve upon the three universal pillars of health: Diet, exercise and sleep. These three areas are the foundation on which healthy living is built, and regardless of what kind of fitness you are into, you should care very much about where these three pieces fall within your spectrum of wellness.

Now, while these pillars may not be new concepts to anyone reading this, the little secret here is this: THE most important of the three (by far) is the one that gets consistently ignored on a nightly basis by more than 100 million Americans.

Sleep.

I know….change the channel, right? It’s sexy to talk about fitness regimens like CrossFit. And it seems that people get swept-up in a new “miracle” dieting fad every few years. But SLEEP? BORING. I get it…but ignore these facts at your own risk.

Sleep is actually even a dirty word in some circles, isn’t it? Gordon Gekko never slept (or ate lunch). Governator Ahhhhnold Swarchenegger tells us that if we want to get ahead in life, we need to hurry up and “sleep faster”. We have years of social programming embedded in our collective psyche telling us that we have to sleep less to achieve more. And nothing could be further from the truth.

According to sleep expert Dr. Kirk Parsley (see link below), chronic sleep deprivation increases the risk for almost every single major disease state, including cancer, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and depression. The biggest problem, though? NONE of us believe that we, as individuals, are affected by this.

In all likelihood whoever is reading this right now believes that they are not impacted by a lack of sleep. We all think we feel fine…and that might be true! IF you are getting 7-9 hours of sleep every single night. If you are not (like the vast majority of Americans), then you probably have some work to do.

“But I’m busy!! I need to unwind at night! I have a crazy schedule!”

Some of the most hard driving, successful, busy individuals in the world get 8-9 hours of sleep per night, because they know that it is critical to do so. The difference between them and the person who gets 6 hours per night? The perception of sleep. In the information age, sleep is treated as a luxury rather than a necessity. We now have the tools in place to work 18-20 hour days, so we go for it. Gotta get that big promotion. Gotta climb the corporate ladder!

Nope.

We are not machines. Our cells have clocks embedded in them that refuse to conform to our desire to get less sleep. Further, our primal “hardware” is not even equipped to handle our society as it currently exists (the elements/stimulation that we are now exposed to on a daily basis). Our “Tribe Size” is too big (thanks to Facebook, Twitter, etc), and we biologically can’t handle it.  

But we still stay up just a little later anyway. We check the news feed. We unwind from the day with a little Duck Dynasty. And it’s hurting us.

The Science Behind Sleep

Despite the fact that most of us would like to flip a switch and be asleep, we know that it is not that easy. Sleep is a process…there is no active mechanism to turn it off and on. It is simply the absence of adrenal function. And when our normal circadian rhythm is in-synch, we see a healthy release of cortisol, which is a steroid hormone that our body releases to suppress the immune system (we want this) and aid in the metabolism of fat, protein and carbs.

Understand, though, that there are different levels of sleep that we attain throughout the night, and the money-maker for us is deepsleep. Deep sleep takes place at various intervals of the night (picture a mountain range chart…and the deep sleep “valleys” take place earlier upon initial sleep, with the duration gets shorter as the night goes on). It is best at about 2 hours in. Here, we see a huge benefit in the generation of testosterone, growth hormone (a phenomenal fat burner) and immune system benefit. In fact, the benefits of deep sleep are many, including better: body composition, memory, cognitive speed, healing, strength, endurance, decreased inflammation, hormone release and mental simulation (executive function/decision making).

….so yeah, it’s kind of important.

And by the way, The #1 predictor of how much will power you have (or put another way, how to best optimize your own will power) is how much you sleep. Let’s repeat that one…

The #1 predictor of how much will power you have (or put another way, how to best optimize your own will power) is how much you sleep. 

Guys, I hope you’re grasping how important this stuff is. If you're joining us at the Kells, and if Crossfit is part of your fitness regimen, then your intent is probably to get “better” on many fronts. To get healthier. And if this is the case, then you are overlooking something extremely critical to your goals if you are not getting enough sleep.

If you tell me that you're serious about a healthy lifestyle, about improving all aspects of your life, or even just about getting a little better from a wellness perspective...but you are not serious about your sleep? Then I would have to respectfully disagree with how serious you are. We cannot realistically expect to repeatedly PR our deadlift, or to get those elusive double unders as fast as we want them, or kill it at the office, or have our bodies do what we want them to do and perform the way we want them to perform if we can't execute on one of the most basic yet extremely critical components of a healthy lifestyle. You have to get 7-9 hours of sleep per night….period. And this is not a soap box – ALL OF US struggle with this. But it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do something about it.

NOW WHAT?

So how to begin? Like any lifestyle change, especially one that is difficult to achieve, we do it slowly. We commit to it. You most likely are not going to start getting an extra two hours of sleep tonight and sustain it…that's not realistic. Start with just a basic awareness of the importance of sleep. Don't just take my word for it, take a look at the links I've attached below and do your own research.

Next? Start with going to bed 30 minutes earlier every night for 2 to 3 weeks. And if that gets you across that seven hour threshold, great. And maybe try to get a little bit more over the course of the next few weeks and months. And if you’re still not at seven hours? Add 30 more until you get there.

Start slow, make your goals achievable, and stick to it. This is the first step to sustainable change.

-Mike

Next time we’ll take a look at the evil cousin to “not enough sleep”……Sugar.

Helpful links on sleep:

http://theconversation.com/peak-athletic-performance-is-dependent-on-sleep-cycle-36769

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9C_8-OoxI

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why