To do or not to do the Open?

Yes - there is an elephant in the room:-)


The Open is almost upon us and it is time to get after it and prove our fitness, both to ourselves and to the rest of the world!  It is time to slap the fingers of all the people who still have not understood the magnificent nature of CrossFit, and to show all the haters, that CrossFit athletes are legit in every sense of the word!

I get all that - and to me the Open, the Regionals and the Games are like X-mas all over again, except that I dont have to endure the part of the family that I would rather not have spent time with - instead I get to spend this amazing period of time with some of the finest people I know - the CrossFit community!  So just to make it clear before we proceed - I am a huge fan!

Every year before the Open, the question is always whether to do the Open or not? Everywhere you go the first question you get is if you are going to compete in the Open?   Needless to say I got the same question this year, and the answer this year was NO!  I will not do the Open!  I have had a year of injuries that culminated with a herniated disc, an bulging disc, a dislocated shoulder, and a torn quad.  I have spent the last 6 months trying to stick to a rehab regimen, that is not always fun, but I am moving in the right direction! So should I abandon this to do the open, and add an intensity to my workouts that I have not seen since I began my rehab - I dont think so!

So when I have answered the question as to whether I should do the Open or not with my above mentioned injury status, I always get the same answer. " Dude, you can always scale the workouts!"  "The open is for everyone!"  and this is where I get in trouble, and I will have to see if I manage to get your temper flaring from my answer?
The open is not for everyone!  The open is for those in our community who consider themselves athletes, and have a physical status that will allow them to step outside their comfortzone and perform! The reason I say this is that to me, the open is not about doing all the workouts despite the fact that you are injured!  That to me is just stupid!  Instead you should use the CrossFit methodology to rehab your injury, so that you can compete next year! I dont find it particularly impressive to see someone with an injury go through the Open - however I am genuinely impressed when someone who has not done anything like this acknowledges the fact that they now feel like they can compete with others  in the same position as themselves - given that they are all injury free!
In a perfect world, I would like to see our community celebrate the individuals who use CrossFit to become painfree and rehabilitate, just as much as those who fight their way through the Open! 

Going back to myself - I could probably go through the Open, and get pathetic scores on every single workout, and not get more hurt than I am right now - but to what end?  To be a part of the community?  My question is if I am not a part of the community if I dont?  Am I excluded from the community if I dont gamble with my health?

So my question to all you dear friends is quite simply  - what do you think?


Much love!

Saying no to social media?

I have a fair amount of friends that I would take the liberty of calling "hipsters"!  Now, I am aware that there is probably a definition of a "hipster"  that has been universally agreed upon, but since I am unaware of this definition or what forum would have been appointed to make the distinction on what is and what is not a "hipster"  -I have taken the liberty of deciding that these people are, in fact "hipsters"!

I just had to get this of my chest before getting into the actual topic that I would like to discuss!

About a year ago these hipster friends of mine began taking about taking time of social media. They wanted to get out of the time consuming, intellect killing social media frenzy, and kill of bad habits of stalking others on social media, and feeding their own insecurity by seeing how awesome everyone else was.

Not long after this I began seeing the status updates on facebook, twitter, Instagram etc. "This is my last post", "Not sure if I am coming back to this forum again!" etc.  they were in fact abandoning these social media platforms, and beginning to make their way back to spiritual serenity, and a daily routine that did not include hours on end navigating through different social media platforms in order to see what everyone else was doing!

I have to admit that at first I was impressed, intrigued, and began nurturing thoughts of potentially travelling down the same path! I have to agree that some days after visiting facebook, twitter, Instagram etc.I have found that I was intellectually numb after getting back to reality.  Not that I have too much of an intellect to start with, so I figured that I had to look after whatever little I had left!
So the first thought that came to mind was a realization that I would probably spend more time in the future visiting regular news sites, and reading papers - just the way I did before I was sucked into the social media vacuum. I also realized that the news reported in these conventional media are more often than not, very depressing!  Not very often do I find stories about human compassion, about people helping each other out, fund raisers and charities, long lost friends who find each other again, tear-jerkers that help restore faith in the human race etc.
I realized that if I were to abandon social media I would be left with news of human disaster, deceit,  revelations of politicians and celebrities that I could not care less for about! I would basically become depressed with where the world was going, and before long I would probably begin advocating to my family that we go live in the mountains, and prepare for the impending doom!

After this the choice was pretty easy!  I am staying on social media!  

The thing with social media is that it requires a certain amount of self discipline!  You have to set up parameters and guidelines for how you use them.  How long time do you spend on these medias?  How often are you there?  Are  you always on-line checking every status update that is pushed your way?  If you have not set up these parameters for yourself, then social media will consume your time, and a "cleansing" period may be a good idea - but make sure that you check yourself during this period of time - you could be the reason social media is not working for you!

For my own part - I'm staying and enjoying that there is a place where the success stories and feel-good stories have just as much space as the disaster journalism that has become predominant in conventional media!  But I am staying on my terms!  So I guess it is safe to say that I am not a hipster:-)

Are you staying or going?

Food for thought - If I take a pen and jam it in my eye - is the problem really the pen?

The fine art of being a thief!

Like many of you, who have been doing CrossFit for a longer period of time, I have also had the pleasure of getting the chance to program athletes.

It is a huge responsibility to have dumped into your lap, and needless to say you want to do your very best to make sure that the programming you come up with actually gives the athlete, who has entrusted you with their road to fame and fortune, the best possible outcome. So how do you do this?  How do you make sure that you actually achieve what you have set out to do?  This was a conversation I have with a friend who had just embarked on this journey, but had hit a wall, writers block, or whatever it is called when you cant seem to come up with new and fresh WoDs for your athlete.

Before getting to the nitty gritty details of programming actual workouts, we discussed what goals the athlete had, what physical status the athlete had, How long the athlete had been training, what injuries the athlete had in the backpack and so on and so forth.  Once we had that covered and had established where we were trying to go and what we had to do to get there, we could begin addressing the problem which seemed to be creating actual WoDs.
Being of a lazy nature and true control freak, I have a tendency to lean towards workouts that I have tested before on athletes of a similar nature, so that I know what I am actually getting out of the WoD.  By doing so I know what to look for and I have references of past experiences that will help me get the information I need to steer the athlete towards our common goal, a lot easier!  For the record I have to say that I do build new workouts as well, but I dont mind using WoDs that I have used before - and I definately dont mind using WoD's that someone else has come up with!

Once I introduced the idea of checking in with websites, trainers, boxes etc to find workouts - my dear friend looked at me like I had just stolen the Mona Lisa, and informed me that he would never sink to that level of intellectual theft?
I was surprised at his reaction, and wondered if it was still intellectual theft when these workouts were posted online, and often accompanied with an encouragement to do the WoD's and compare times/weights/results etc?

I guess you could say that he accepted the thought after an extended discussion, but then proceeded to wonder if his athletes would not think less of him since he was not coming up with WoDs of his own?  I have to admit that the thought had never occurred to me that anyone would think this was a problem.  I may be naive but I was fairly convinced the athletes I programmed were more interested in the results they were getting than where the WoDs were coming from, and who if anyone had done them before!
I dont think the problem with Fran has ever been that it had been done before??

So todays thought is this-  I think it is perfectly legit to be a thief when it comes to programming someone, as long as you are not stealing entire plans ie - dont just copy several months, or weeks of your favorite boxes programming.  Dont pay to have some ninja program you and then use this programming on someone you are programming (the reasons are obvious- I hope).
However using workouts from someone else is perfectly legit as long as they fit into the plan you have for your athlete!  Using someones elses WoDs is the biggest compliment you could bestow on anyone!  It is like saying " brilliant thinking buddy!" and where is the problem with that?

So being a thief of programming and picking up the gems from someone else is a fine art, as long as you do it right!  Do you do it right?  Would you scavenge the internet to find the WoD that would give the right stimulus to your athlete, or would you rather re-invent the wheel every single solitary time you try to take your athlete one step closer to his/her goal?

Much love

Proud parent of a new addiction!

There is this guy in your office!  
You know him well enough but you have never actually taken the step to become actual friends, and there he is walking around with a strange smile on his face.  It is almost like someone shared a secret that no one else knows, with him.  His posture is a sure give away!  He used to look just like you, hunched over and eyes steadily fixated in the floor 3 feet in front of him, but now he walks around like the the Egyptian sun God Ra! 
You return to the days choirs and soon forget that there was something strange about him - after all you were never really friends!

A couple of days later he cruises by your desk again, but instead of walking by with the impressive stride you noticed a few days ago, he now comes to a grinding halt at your desk and asks how you are doing?  This sudden interest in you and your well-being is unnerving, and at the same time as you are being cordial and answer him without giving anything away, you wonder to your self what his hidden agenda is?

A little later at you desk your get a friend request on facebook and Instagram from him, and just to be polite you accept, after all you work at the same place and would not want to create an awkward situation between the two of you.  At least this is what you tell yourself as you cruise through his pictures and status updates on facebook.  You soon notice that he has indeed found the Holy Grail of training and reinvigorated his life with a really absurd fitnessregimen called CrossFit!  
You have heard about it before but never really bothered to get involved, it seems more like a cult than a healthy way to earn some goodwill before going to town on beer and treats all weekend! 

The week passes and you cant help but notice his activities popping up in your news feed on facebook and Instagram.  What you see solidifies you initial impression that the guy is a raging lunatic, but admittedly so a lunatic of good nature and good intentions!

Monday morning and you have just had your first cup of coffee and life is slowly returning to you, spirits are rising as you browse through the collection of email that have made their way to your inbox during the weekend, and the cautious notion that this could indeed become a good day is sneaking into your mind!

You dont even notice that he has crept up from out of nowhere, and is now hanging out at your desk, with his coffee cup that is filled with something he callas bulletproff coffee, whatever that is!  before you know it he has invited you to join him in todays WoD? Apparently he is going to crush some girl called Grace?  You wonder to yourself what evil she has done to deserve being crushed, and if you have gotten it all wrong - maybe he is not a lunatic of good intentions, but indeed and pure breed lunatic with bad intentions!
Had all systems been up and running you would have laughed it all off, and politely declined the opportunity to witness and take part in the crushing of Grace!  However, systems are not all go, and before you know it you have agreed to meet at a gym that is apparently called a box (it is the same globogym you have been going to the last 2 years and you have never heard it described as a box? This is getting out of hand fast!

A little later that day you meet at the box, which is basically just an area by the free weights area in your regular gym?  You are a bit surprised since you had hoped that he would open a door you had never seen and take you to a new part of the gym - you are being a good sport and playing along!

He comes over and begins going through the plan for the WoD (which you have now found is the Workout Of the Day).  It sounds like you are going to do a warm up, then "play around" with clean and jerks until you have established a heavy clean and jerk.  After that you are going to crush Grace!  To your relief he lets you know that it is the name of a workout, and not an actual person about to experience some horrible punishment! You used to do clean and jerks when you were still telling yourself that you could potentially make it to the big show as a hockey player, but a fast calculation tells you that this was at least 15 years ago!

You are in pretty good shape, hit the gym at least 3-4 times a week, and the occasional recreational 5-10k run is not a problem, so what could go wrong?  he asks you if you want to lower the weight on the bar, but you realize that this would take a huge chunk out of you ego, and you are not exactly an invalid!  The answer is that he does not have to worry about you!

Two days later you are still trying to recover from the dislocated discs in you lower back, the compartment syndrome in you erectors, the bruises on your shoulders are constant reminders that things are not as they should be, as is the fact that you cant raise your arms above 90 degrees without assistance. CrossFit sucks!  You have unfriended him on facebook and ignored his 5431 emails about joining him for another WoD!



We all know him, even if he has not talked us into working out with him, and lured us into thinking that CrossFit is for everyone, and since these are functional movements they are safe beyond max loads!  
We know that in order to learn how to do CrossFit it is best to actually go to an actual box and receive instructions from coaches who know what they are doing! He on the other hand is the proud parent of a new addiction and he just wanted to share it with others, so he did what he thought was best and try to expose someone else to this brand new love of his!
I am not saying that you should not bring people along and let them experience CrossFit!  What I am saying is that you should bring them along to an actual box where they can get the introduction to CrossFit that they deserve, and that will eventually lead them to experience CrossFit as it is supposed to be experienced, in a safe environment under the watchful eye of someone who genuinely knows what they are doing!

I have seen him in many gyms, he is not one person.  He is a personae that is becoming more and more of an everyday appearance as the knowledge of this beautiful thing that is CrossFit is spreading.  So my question to you is if you have encountered him, or if this is just a phenomenon that occurs in my head?


Much love