I have been thinking a lot lately. Not that I don't always think (I find my mind going 100mph sometimes, other times I do a decent job of shutting off), but the last few weeks have been more internal than normal.
I was fortunate enough to go to a seminar at a private 'gym' in Salt Lake City a few weeks ago. It was a 2 day seminar on how that gym operates. The what, where, when, and why of all things Gym Jones. What was taught and what I got out of it were vastly different than my assumptions going into it. Day 1 affected me the most. Day 2 was great, and was some sort of 'redemption/practice' for Day 1, but Day 1 was the money maker.
I parenthesize gym because a gym describes a physical place, where people sweat. They come, they sweat, they leave. 24 hour fitness is a gym. Gold's gym is a gym, as well as Balley's total fitness. All places where people have gone before me and sweated and lost weight. However 99% of those people stay fat, are delusional, and dissatisfied. Why? Why is it that people constantly stay overweight? Too many of my friends have been upset with the way the look, the number that is on the scale when they step on it, and the amount of time spent attempting to be a certain body type. These same people are too quick to blame something or someone else. They want to lay the negativity on their genetics, their work schedule, or their inability to control themselves.
That is all bull shit. Genetics do shape our somatotype but it doesn't determine our body fat. Work 'schedule' has not bearing on if we have the ability to get in the gym or not (schedule not stress, everyone has different work stress and different ways of dealing with stress, however last time I checked the avg person did not work a 16 hour a day work week). I recently read an interesting post about timing and using the excuse for not being able to workout/train. 168 hours exist in a week. If you sleep 7 hours a night, and work 10 hours a day/x5, that leaves you 69 hours during the week to train. Do not tell me that you cannot find 5-10 hours a week to do some high quality training.
Training and working out are completely different. Most of my friends who I described earlier go and do their 45' of a 'cardio sesh' and then 'weights', can't understand why they are still disgusting, why they are still a slob. Could it be the rice-a-roni they eat? How about the late night taco bell but no soda cause they are watching their sugar? That is ridiculous because their elliptical said they burned 300 calories. How could that person not loose weight? Unfortunately that is 99% of the United States, the unhealthiest and fattest country on earth.
They need to look at themselves and really self-assess what they are doing. They need to learn the difference between putting in hard work and going through the motions. They need to learn why humans store fat (it is not calories in calories out, sorry). They also need to learn what it really means to use their mind. Lifting a 35 pound bar a bunch of times, or moving 15 pound dumbbells paired with riding the bike is what I call movement. Movement is not training, it's not even working out. You crossfit people 5x a week are no better. You're 8 minute subbed down fran is no better than their 45' 'cardio sesh'.
Currently I can row a 2k in 6.53. That time is decent. For a rower that is a laughable number, but for a shitty crossfitter, it is decent. I rowed a 5k the other day and at the 3000m mark (which meant I had rowed 2,000) I was 7.13 in. I could have gone faster but I knew if I wanted to keep pace I had to maintain a certain power output. The difference between those two times is very small, however the difference in intensity is huge. Intensity, is what is lacking from most of the worlds 'movement, working out'. Intensity is instituted from the mind and no where else. Working out is easy, movement is easy, training of the mind is simple, yet incredibly challenging. When was the last time your training/workout/movement session made you nervous? When did it make you so nervous that it forced you to mentally make a decision half way through about being a quitter or finding a way? I am going to guess for most of you never. There lies half of the problem. Intensity is gone from most gyms (Crossfit gyms you aren't different). Learn what 'they' are doing and implement it into your own program.
The seminar in Salt Lake taught me a lot, it forced me to think a lot. How good was I at what I do? More importantly how did I view myself against others in my field? Am I being a good coach? What about a good son/cousin/friend? I don't know the answer, I do not know how my family and members would answer that. This made me feel uneasy, which was not acceptable.
Complacency is the killer. Surround yourself with C effort people you will become a C. The day is yours and for most of us we wake up hoping it is over closing in on the weekend. What kind of day is that? Control your mind, live for you, and improve you first and judge everyone else last.
