Other Sports

So I competed in the CrossFit Games Open and have since had some time to reflect. It was competition! Pure and simple. They determined that fitness, when judged by the CrossFit parameters, should be judged based upon a particular set of exercises performed over a set time frame. It was scaled to everybody broken down by gender and even age group at some point. It was fitness in competition format!
 
For me It was FUN!

I enjoy competing. It is fun to test myself against an old me and against others. I am competitive I like seeing how I stack up against others and athletic events, which is part of the popularity of FlyWheel. CrossFit is its own sport just as running is its own support and football is its own sport. It takes a certain fitness to play football but it takes a different fitness to run as a sport regardless of distance. Most people who do CrossFit regularly can jump into a football game and fare pretty well. Those same people can probably jump into a half marathon and gut it out at least once without injury. There are cases of professional football players who did not fare well in a CrossFit work out. They are truly fit, at the peak of anyone's game and yet they suffer under a CrossFit work out.

But just as those same football players will adapt and improve their own football skills by doing CrossFit so too will a runner improve their running form and be a stronger runner for it by incorporating CrossFit. They call CrossFit "The Sport of Fitness" but you have to be pretty fit and pretty fearless to take it on for any length of time. CrossFit draws and maintains a certain type of person, the person who thrives on bettering their last performance. Just as Krank Nashville is great for getting you fit enough for their indoor cycling class and/or Strength Classes Krankers tend to do quite well at CrossFit when they go. However most Krankers prefer the comradeship found at Krank. It is Fitness and athletic ability, just slightly more specified to a different fitness.

We are all trying to become more fit and healthy. One type of exercise should not be looked down upon by any other fitness group. Yoga requires fitness. Pilates requires fitness they just don't have competitions. There are other sports besides baseball, football, basketball and hockey. It was not so long ago that Soccer was a rare sport in the US. After Pele and bunch of European guys wowed the US for a few years then Soccer basically vanished until the mid 80's. There are Other Sports out there. There is Roller Derby and Mountain Biking and Spartan Race or anything that requires mental and physical stamina to endure to the finish. I like running on trails. Lucky for me there is plenty of that activity to go race and test myself against others regularly. I like Spartan Racing as well as an occasional backyard football game. Our psyche wants to compete.

We compete in sports.
We put Gym Time to the test.
We challenge our comfort zone.
Most importantly we improve ourselves simply by seeing a thing through.
I encourage you to find your sport.
I encourage you to improve upon who you are through physical challenge.
I urge you to discover your true strength. The strength that is stronger than your greatest weakness. When you overcome your ability to quit in a physical endeavor then you send a signal to your subconscious mind that you can overcome more than you thought before.
Strive for physical fitness and your mental fitness will come along for the ride. Choose a sport to compete in. Any sport. Any One that scares you. Try to get good at it. It doesn't matter if you take up knitting for speed. At least you will find achievement and a more fit mind.

Compete with yourself or friends to see who can be most fit and healthy. Even the loser of that challenge will add years to their life.
No go be healthier than you ever thought possible.

The Trail Changes! Adapt!

I like running trails. They are a microcosm. The world changes faster than you can realize it. Right now your cells are changing themselves from what they were to what they think they will be used for later. The trail changes every time you run it: limbs fall, leaves blow, and trees give way to the forces of the wind.

When you demand of the body sitting on the couch, then the body adapts to the "rigors" of sitting on the couch: it adds some fat, the muscles become weaker, digestion slows, and cravings change. When you demand work from your body then the body changes to adapt for that work: it adds muscle to what was overworked, it reduces the fat that slow the work and it speeds digestion so there is less to do during a given effort.

On the trail Nature needs to adapt. A tree that can no longer stand in the wind will fall and decay to strengthen the roots of the trees still standing until the cycle repeats itself. Leaves blow over rocks making your footing more difficult for running. Limbs fall from trees and make the trail just a little more challenging than the last run. Sometimes rocks settle into soft soil and make your run easier.

The lack of predictability is what makes trail running enjoyable. The constant focus on the new terrain is what allows my mind to stop thinking about the day and the struggles of life and focus on the task at hand. It is meditative to run trails. It sharpens your focus on what needs to be done right now, not the possibility of what MAY happen in the future. You only get right now! The past is gone and the future may never get here.

The take away:
It is fine to prepare for the future. Buy accident and life insurance to protect yourself and your family. The focus on the now is more important, Be Present with what you are doing.

You can adapt to what you have overcome and be stronger for the now. A life lived is greater than a life worried over.

The Workout for the week: Once or twice this week do the following:
Run your the distance of your longest run in the last 6 months. At every mile or every 8-10 min do - 20 Body Weight Squats, 15 burpees(30 if you are training for a Spartan Race), 20 situps. If you run for an hour you will do be challenged enough to complete your "average" Spartan Sprint.

Go Prepare yourself for life! Get out on the trail and run!

Is P90X2 good for outdoor athletes?

I don't usually promote other blogs on my own but this one is from Steve Edwards, co-creator of P90X. Steve is a great fitness person since he does some of the toughest sports out there (without actually racing in a Spartan Race, Ha Ha!). Steve bikes, runs, and climbs. He is also a sort of Renaissance Man as far as fitness goes. He does not stop with lifting or indoor cycling or running miles on end or keep his workouts confined to the gym. He lays out the P90X2 program a little but mostly as a tease.
There also a link to an evolution of the programs Steve has helped to develop. Take a read. I kept my blog short to give you time for his blog and time to get your sweat on today. Now read a little and go work out!

I can be a computer idiot sometimes so you might have to copy the link and paste it in your browser.

http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/2011/12/p90x2-for-outdoor-athletes.html

http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/search/label/P90x%20mc2

My Spartan workout -08/31/11

This one wasn't so bad today I was little pressed for time:
1mi easy Warm up
Mobility work for 5 min.
2x thru-
50 squats
five uphill sprints
25 Burpees
five uphill sprints
1 mile cooldown jog
I'm feeling pretty good bring on Spartan Super Staten Island. Me and the Team will be ready.
Who wants to join me next week?

Spartan race WOD - Sat 08/27

Spartan Posts the Workout Of the Day on their facebook page. Yesterday, just 2 days after heavy Deadlift, I did this workout. It was fun for me.
This past Saturday with hurricane Irene bearing down on New York City I set up into Hudson River Park to do the Spartan race workout of the day. It was broken down into those going long and those not going as long the workout was either 8 to 10 miles with 20 burpees( each mile or 12 to 16 miles with 10 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxah7HxCFbg&feature=player_embedded) each mile.
Here is the route that I took. I warmed up from point a to point B to point where I started the workout with 20 Burpees and set off for point C. Point C only did 15 burpees, as soon as I set off away from them I really felt like a pansy.
I managed to force all 20 Burpees at the remaining points. When I got to point age I did my 20 Burpees except point G where I did not find grass. At point G, I did 4 rounds: 5 squat thrusts and 6, 7, 8 and 9 push-ups.
At Point H I did 10 Burpees, 50 meter Bear Crawl and 10 more burpees. I finished with a 100 m grass crawl on my elbows.
I was wiped out but I found a new place in myself, I learned something about myself on this workout. I learned that I can push myself past the point where my mind says "Stop". I found that if I pushed myself past that 15th Burpee I wasn't going to stop until 20. You can use your workouts to effect true change: "Change comes through movement". When you do a workout that breaks you down, you come back stronger- more capable.


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Training for Spartan Race SI, NY

I am training for the Spartan Race Staten Island on Sep 24/25, 2011. I am volunteering 1 of those days. I will periodically post some of the crazy workouts I do. Here is what I did Tuesday that required some P90X, Yoga X Wed morning to loosen me up.

Warm up - 2500m C2 rower - 10 min
Foam Roller/Lacrosse ball for hip mobility - 5 min
Heavy Ass Dead Lift - 5x5 - 221lbs, 232lbs, 254lbs, 285lbs, 285lbs
Metabolic Conditioning - Without stopping( no time since I forgot to stop my watch) 4 rounds - L-Sit rope climb, Pushups to fail( wide, Military, normal, heart 2 heart since I was supposed to be doing a P90X workout that day), 20 sit ups, walking lunges 50yds.

I am feeling it for sure.
Today will be a mountain man run, details later.