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