The only thing holding you back is YOU and the circumstances YOU have created for yourself. Period.
Via Zach Evan-Esh @ Underground strength
I will take ownership. I will take ownership of my thoughts, words and actions. I will take ownership of my diet. I will take ownership of my lack of flexibility. I will take ownership for not training strength. I will take ownership for the decline in my METCON. I will take ownership for my commitments and responsibilities. I will take ownership for myself and my wolf pack. I will take ownership of my integrity. I will take ownership of my financial situation. I will take ownership of my goals and dreams. I will take ownership of my relationships to my family, friends and loved ones. I will take ownership of my ownership.
I commit to pushing my potential. I commit to achieving that potential. I commit to being my best every single day and giving my all in each and every situation. I commit to taking opportunities presented and converting them into successes. I commit to creating something from nothing. I commit to turning dreams and goals into realities. I commit to this life, this world and the rest of eternity.
From the Gospel according to Michael Winchester
Being a 21 year old with no real tie downs you’d probably be surprised that I think about anything else apart from partying. But leaving all stereotypes behind and choosing the things that are important to me like trying to “tread my own path” has given me some valuable ideas in which I wish to share and it may help others.
Over the last few months I have been trying to focus in on the things that make me happy and cutting out all the shit that doesn’t. That has meant a bit of a job shift, reconnecting with the people in my life that I for lack of a better term have “cut out” and just spending more time on stuff that is important to me. The result is right now I’m loving life. I have more energy, I’m enjoying things a lot more and I just feel better than ever.
I had found working my ass off for a whole bunch of people that didn’t really give a shit about what I held important, didn’t work for me. The family back home that I had left behind, I wanted in my life. The partying ways of a normal 21 year old, weren’t for me. I decided living the much cleaner, simpler life was also what I wanted. So what did I do?? CHANGE – probably the 3rd worst C word in the English language(the 1st being commitment 
).
I guess my question to you is, what is important? If someone said to you, and you could live your life any way you wanted, how would you? And why aren’t you doing that right now? There are no excuses to this answer just the harsh reality that if you’re not doing things the way you want then change.
“There are excuses or results, you can’t have both”
Peace out
Sean
Pete, Vonny, Nick, Melissa, Becca, Sean and I went to gymnastics last night and once again had epic fun! Check out the footage (Thanks Melissa for filming us!)
From the June Newsletter…
I was speaking to Becca the other day in regards to how she used to go to the Gym at ClubLime. We mused over what life was like back then and how it compared to now? It’s been awesome to see how far she’s come working out in the garage with me and without the aid of a lat pull-down or leg press machine. She’s stronger than ever and running better than ever and I’m happy to say that it’s no thanks to pin loaded machines or a treadmill… I asked her: now that she knew what it took to achieve real fitness, could she go back to a gym with all the machines, treadmills and mirrors, etc.? I guessed I asked the question in jest but got a response that was far deeper than I had anticipated…
She brought up a really good point that mega-gyms like Club Lime and and Fitness First only exist for people who want to tick the box – not for people actually trying to achieve real health & fitness. The whole mega-gym sales pitch is based on you maintaining your comfortable life. And you continuing to return to a place that’s always comfortable… I mean you watch TV all the time and hey, they want to keep you comfortable - so why not come and watch TV at the gym while you ‘tick the box’ jogging on a treadmill or kicking back on one of the many recumbent cycles. Sean mentioned some Evo gym clients schedule workouts to be the same time as their favourite TV shows… WTF? I’m not saying that people who train at Fitness First don’t have a clue (some of the guys that rock out to our Saturday arvo workouts train there but they also do CrossFit) If intensity is the key to results (and it is) but you have time to watch TV while you workout then I might question your level of intensity?
If you didn’t already know personal growth is based on being uncomfortable. Uncomfortable with where you are right now, and it goes well beyond just health and fitness too. It applies to relationships, business, finances, and pretty much any area of your life that you’re looking to experience growth. If your comfortable with where you’re at (at this very point in time) why change? That is unless your version of ‘change’ is simply ticking boxes for your conscience… If someone asked you “Do you go to the gym?” You’d could tick that box and happily say “For sure! I go like 3x a week…” But do you know why you are going? are you going in order to achieve your health and fitness goals or just to tick a box?. Do you even know what those goals are? or have you forgotten? Do you feel comfortable when you go to the gym or get nervous before a workout? I’d say: get comfortable without being uncomfortable. as you cannot grow without it.
You need to move beyond ticking boxes and understand why you do what you’re doing what you do. Once you understand the ‘why’ you need to set goals. and finally you need to track your progress towards those goals. The reason we time workouts, count reps and record results is so that you have a benchmarks to work with. If your workout isn’t measurable how will you know that you did better than what you did last time? (beyond “well I’m ‘pretty sure’ I felt like I went harder than last time…?”) You can’t record what you did in a body-attack, a body-balance or a spin class – and you’re accountable to no one – just yourself and for most people (‘most people’) you’ll always take the soft option – when the instructor asked you to wind up the resistance on the bike you had a choice – Maybe you did? Maybe you didn’t? But I guess no-one but you will ever know…
That’s the difference with CrossFit. Your results are public. You’re accountable. You know exactly what your last ‘Fran’ time or ‘Cindy’ score is (as do we) – You know because your always thinking about how to beat it next time. You know what your 1RM deadlift or 3RM back squat is – You know because you actually care and it’s been recorded. If you want something to grow, you need to track it. If you want to take control of your finances you’ll create a budget and track your spending – If you want you get healthier, fitter, stronger and faster you’d track exactly what you’ve been eating and you’d track your workout results. What are your health & fitness goals? or have you forgotten? How are you tracking towards those goals? Are you doing everything you possibly can to achieve them or are you just ‘ticking a box’…
Sean and I will continue to challenge you at every single workout and encourage you to question what you think you can achieve by pushing you beyond what you thought you were capable of…(whoa that was a big sentence) Every workout we run we’ll try and get you out of your comfort zone. We get all our girls and guys to get upside down with frog-stands and handstands. We’ll ask you to pick up heavy things. We do it because it expands your circle. You experience growth. If you’re comfortable you won’t grow. If you go to a place that doesnt challenge you mentally or physically every single time then you’re not growing… We want you to find out what your capable of and trust us, it’s so much more than you think.
Don’t just tick a box. Know the why. Set some goals and track your progress towards those goals. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable and experience real health & fitness!
Camaraderie and community. This is what CrossFit parses down to.
I was never a big ironhead before I started CrossFit. Sure, I worked out and lifted weights. I went to the gym regularly, and, since I had been a fighter, I worked out a bit differently than most people. Probably a little more intensely. I even had a couple of training partners, Amundson and Big Matt. And they were, still are actually, a couple of amazing and inspiring guys (in and out of the gym).
But I never had a community. I never had a cheering section. I never had a great group of people gathered around me, urging me to make the lift, forcing me to suck it up and hit one more pullup, telling me to control my breathing and go faster. I never had a couple of coaches watching my every rep, keeping me honest, studying each movement with a trained and experienced eye, helping me with my faults and weaknesses (lots o’those).
I certainly never had a huge online resource where I could go and check up on everything from killer workouts to injuries to form and mechanics to equipment and more. There wasn’t a far ranging bunch of gyms that I could visit and train–slapping hands and grinning after each workout with hitherto total strangers in the exact same way I do at home. I wasn’t fluent in a unique and special language, filled with names and numbers, times and movements, spoken across the nation.
Camaraderie and community. It is the name of the CrossFit game, folks. Enjoy it.
– From CrossFit West Santa Cruz
This was way too good to just send out in the newsletter so I decided to post in the site as well – Ben.
Hi – my name is Jason Lyons and I’m a proud member of the Adapt Health and Fitness crew. Let me start by telling you a bit about myself. I’m 38 years old and the proud father of 4 beautiful children. I was born and raised in Narrandera and like most people in Canberra, I’m a public servant.
My family are sports mad, so as a youngster I literally participated in every sport that was available to me – rugby league, Aussie rules, cricket, and biathlon (running and swimming) – anyway you get the picture. It’s fair to say that from the age I could pick up a ball until the time I stopped playing competitive football (about 5 years ago) I was very fit and generally my health was excellent.
Like a lot of men my age I thought that because I had never smoked or been a big drinker, that my health was good, yes I was carrying a bit of weight around the mid section, but I could easily work that off through diet and exercise – or so I kept telling myself. Things took a dramatic downturn about 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with high cholesterol and on top of that, fatty deposits around my liver had begun to cause me problems. My doctor put me on cholesterol medication and warned me about the health problems that I would face in the future if I didn’t start to address my lack of exercise and poor diet. In an attempt to reduce my cholesterol level I started exercising on a more regular basis and did my best to stay away from those foods that we know we just shouldn’t eat.
About 6 months ago I visited my doctor for a routine check of my cholesterol level – you know the drill, the doc takes blood and you wait for the phone call to say everything is ok. You can imagine my surprise when I received a call from my doctor a few days later informing me that he wanted to see me ASAP. I was even more surprised when he told me that on top of my high cholesterol (which had got worse), I also had insulin resistance or pre-diabetes (for which I got more medication), but just when I thought things could not get any worse, my doctor told me that the problem with my liver had continued to deteriorate and that if I did not address my health issues I would probably need a liver transplant in 10 to 15 years, in other words if I didn’t change my ways, I was going to die in 10 to 15 years. I’m sure you can imagine how I felt at hearing this news, particularly given the fact that I had a very young family – my youngest child was literally only a few months old at the time. For days after hearing the news I thought about the scenario of having to tell my children in 10 years that their father would not be able to see them become adults because I was going to die.
After receiving such bad news I thought long and hard about how I got myself into the situation I was in. The truth of the matter was that I ate far too much rubbish (take-away etc), over indulged with food generally, and I didn’t do nearly enough exercise. I’ll tell you one thing though; it’s amazing how motivated you become to change your life after your doctor has looked you square in the eyes and told you ‘change your ways or else’.
At that time I vowed that I was going to change my ways starting immediately. The first thing I did was take myself off to a dietician, who gave me some great advice about what I should and shouldn’t eat, and basically, about the importance of leading a more physical lifestyle. However I have to say that he didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know.
At this point I was feeling quite down about the whole thing and I new that the change in my diet wasn’t the hardest part of the challenge; it was the exercise that really concerned me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to keep myself moving whilst carrying football injuries that affect my knee and shoulder. As chance would have it, I bumped into a close friend of mine, whom I hadn’t seen for many years, and boy was he looking great. My mate filled me in on how he transformed his lifestyle and shed a huge amount of weight. I then made the decision that I too needed a personal trainer to help me along my way.
I started PT sessions once a week and was introduced to a sport that I now wish I discovered earlier on in my life – Crossfit. I started exercising a lot more and with the encouragement of another mate of mine, I bought a mountain bike and began riding a few times a week, including to work and back. My new exercise routine was working out quite well and I got the exercise bug. My desire for Crossfit grew and grew and it was then that I started training with Adapt (about 6 months ago). When I first started with Adapt I weighed 108 kgs, which meant that for a man of my height I was about 30 kgs over weight, and about as fit as a teddy bear. As I sit hear at my computer writing this case study my weight is 86 kgs – I’ve lost 22 kgs in less than six months and it’s all due to Crossfit. In my view, this form of training is the best training anyone can do and trust me I’ve done a bit of training in my time. I’m not going to lie to you and say that it’s easy to lose a lot of weight in a short period, its not, but doing Crossfit with Adapt made it all the more possible.
About 3 months ago I again visited my doctor for a medical review. I had the usual blood test and answered the standard questions. A few days later I received a call from my GP asking me to come into the practice to see him. You can imagine what was going through my mind at this stage. I walked into his office, sat down and braced myself for the bad news, but to my astonishment he told me that the only reason he asked to see me, was that he personally wanted to inform me that my test results had significantly improved. My cholesterol level was back in the normal range, my insulin level was normal and my liver count was normal. He congratulated me on what I had achieved in such a short period of time and sent me on my way. I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was at hearing the good news. In a period of less than 3 months I had managed to turn my health around and was well on the road to recovery – believe me when I say that I could not have achieved these results if I wasn’t doing Crossfit.
My favourite workout would have to be anything with pull-ups in it (although I haven’t mastered the technique yet). For me staying motivated isn’t really a problem because I see the fruits of my labour every time I weigh myself (which I tend to do a bit these days) and the improvements in my fitness levels from week to week. I get a great sense of satisfaction from doing Crossfit, and it achieves great results (when I first started training, the weight was almost falling off me), but most importantly its fun. I love the fact that you never do the same workout twice in a row; the training is very varied and never boring.
Although my diet was on track, I gave more thought to how I was going to fuel my body for my next workout and gain maximum results. At this time, Adapt helped me with nutrition advice and introduced me to the Paleo diet, which is proving to be very successful. Training with the lads at Adapt has changed my life. Its great working with Ben and Shaun, not only are they knowledgeable trainers, they’re great people and very inspirational. I enjoy the friendly environment at Adapt and the amount of encouragement I get every time I train. I’ve met some wonderful people and look forward to my group sessions with Adapt every week.
My advice for those people considering getting into the whole health & fitness thing is DO IT and DO IT NOW – you’ll never look back. Crossfit has changed my life and if you get half of what I’ve got out of Crossfit, it’ll change your life too.
Hey guys, Well we’re back from Sydney and the 2010 CrossFit Games Australian/NZ Regional Qualifier and OMG! What a weekend! Nick and Melissa came up to spend Saturday cheering on me and Kai, Liz and Amelia and the rest of Canberra crew as we threw down and got our arses kicked by 5 WODs in 2 days.
Megan Smith from CrossFit Base monstered through all the workouts and ended up coming in 2nd place which means that she’ll be heading over to America to complete along side Commando Steve and Chris Hogan (who was the weekend’s ultimate victor – winning all 5 events) Mick Shaw posted a pretty comprehensive wrap-up of the weekend’s events here.
I owe a massive thanks to Rosko from CrossFit Crew for all his efforts in coaching me literally minutes before my event. I didn’t manage to finish the workout in the allotted time but I did manage a new OH squat PR @ 60Kgs x12 – Without Ross this just would not have happened. I had no game plan at all. So thanks buddy you rock! And thanks to Becca, Nick, Melissa and the rest of the Canberra crew who cheered me on it was totally awesome – all you guys rock too!
Here’s some footage of me having a crack at the final WOD…
This guys is unstoppable!
Speaking of unstoppable guys, last night’s ‘Boys’ workout: ‘Cindy’ uncovered some up’n'coming monsters. PBs were being broken all over the place, Nick destroyed it with 23 rounds, Rosey with 18 rounds. Hutcho spewed in the bush and Jamie completed all his rounds with no bands for pull-ups. All the guys that rocked up -- threw down. It was an old fashioned, classic Adapt’ Tuesday night session with some of the guys even backing up at today’s lunchtime session -- OMG bring on the sectionals and regionals next year -- you guys will kill it!
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Ben
OMG This workout looks epic! I might try it after I get back from the Regionals next weekend… Ben.
This morning’s sprint WOD:
21-15-9
KB swings (24/16kg)
SDHP (with KB too)
Box jumps (24″/20″)
– straights sets only – If you need to break up a set then you have to buy back in with 3 burpees – this is a sprint workout so fight for it…
