It’s shocking, I know.  We also skimp out on workouts, occasionally shovel through a pint of Ben and Jerry’s half-baked ice cream, and, every so often, enter a state of inebriated unconsciousness at annual Christmas parties. I won’t bore you by tossing out any names, but these things happen. The point is that we’re human too and, inevitably, we pick favorite athletes. If this bothers you, be a better athlete. In the meantime, you can listen to me talk about one of my favorites: Andrew Gillis.

Andrew began coming to Cynergy three months ago with that one trait which leaves a bitter-sweet taste in the back of a coach’s mouth: ambition. Ambition is a beautiful thing: it drives us, it pushes us to become better. Great. Dandy. Smiles, sunshines, and lolli-pops. Too much, though, and it can hinder an athletes performance. Smiles themselves cause wrinkles, the sun cancer, and lollipops, well, they rot your teeth, spike your blood-sugar and stick to everything—especially the cup-holders in your car. Mixed with pride, over-ambition can skew an athlete’s perception of themselves and their actual limits. It leads them to throw 45’s on a barbell they can hardly lift, to make rigid pushups look like the flopping of a land-ridden fish, and, in the worst cases, sends them snatching all the way to the E.R. Not exactly the athletic ideal.

When he first came, Andrew had a case of O.A. and I did the exact thing a coach shouldn’t do: I ignored it. There’s a certain hurdle coaches have to jump in such situations; we have to take responsibility, we have to administer a stern “no” and accept that there may be arguing, yelling, some sour feelings but that, in the end, it’s all for the best. Sounds a bit like parenting, huh, kids? But instead, I told myself he was just pushing himself, that everyone needed to throw on weights to get better and that while deadlifting, his back didn’t look that much like the spineless-slither of a half-coiled snake…right? Bad, bad, bad, coach.

This continued for a few classes. Then mama stepped in.

“Brett,” Cindy called to me from behind a ninety-five pound barbell, “you got to tell Andrew to take down that weight. He’s going to hurt himself!”

Caught. Red-handed. That was it. No more lying to myself. I realized then the severity of my wrongdoing and that, yes, he really could get hurt, and that, yes, it would have been my fault. I had to face it now; yelling, screaming, hands waving, you name it. He could maybe pick me up and toss me. Who knew? Imaginations can really be scary things.

When I approached Andrew, however, he calmly changed the weight, and, after a short talk with him after class, assured me he hadn’t even realized what he was doing and that he would fix it right away.

Well, that was easy.

Since then I’ve found Andrew to be one of my favorite athletes to watch. He is driven, constantly pushing for more reps, more weight, and less time, but is wholly aware now of his limits, raising hardly an eyebrow when I request he change the weight. Sometimes, in fact, he does it on his own. And I couldn’t be prouder.

This is the beauty of coaching: as your athletes learn, you learn yourself. If you’re to take anything away from this I hope it is that, if you’re a coach, don’t be afraid to step in, don’t be afraid to take the bar away. It’s your job to know what’s best for them, even if they don’t think it. As for the athletes; drive yourself, but know your limits and, if you have trouble identifying them, trust that your coach can. Listen to them; they know best. They’re there to help you. Do that and you’ll not only become a better athlete but, with a little luck, a favorite athlete as well.

Chasing the CrossFit Dragon

I wish those of you – who aren’t 9AMers or 6PMers – had the oppportunity to “sit around” after the WOD and tell your stories.  I hope you find the time!

I overheard two people [women actually] talking today in the grocery store while I was shopping for Paleo.  During  their conversation they had mentioned that they worried about how they were going to fit into a certain pair of jeans that they had bought at Kohl s’ just recently. I wish I could have told you that they were heavy or large, but they weren’t. At a glance you would have thought they were in pretty good shape. Albeit they were covered up with sweaters and such it was difficult to tell. They both had young children in carts, so the kids were under 5 years old. The kids seem well adjusted and were behaving like kids do…filled with sugar. The conversation seem to be going on for a while because the same two were still talking about this as they moved from the deli, to the seafood and then finally to the meat aisle.

I noticed that in the cart were typical non paleo grainish type foods:  bread, cereal, soda, chips, you know the same things that most Americans have in their homes at one time or another.

I moved passed them with out anymore thought.  Until I came to the end and at the check out they were still at it about not the jeans, but getting through the holidays with out gaining weight!

I thought to my self…they have no idea what is going on. My initial reaction was that they are sabotaging themselves with out even knowing.  [I wish I would have had a business card a that point]  Oh well… missed opportunity.

On the way home in the car their conversation reminded me of the Butch Cassidy and the Sun dance Kid movie where Paul Newman and Robert Redford  are running from some posse or someone and they end up at the edge of a cliff .  Butch turns to Sundance  and says “I can’t swim!”….Sundance responds with  “Don’t worry about drowning, the fall is going to kill you!” And they jump….

Most people are worried about how they are going to lose weight and fit in their cloths when they have no idea what is really happening to their bodies [and their childrens]  by the way they are eating!

IF is supported by science, not to mention various religious and cultural practices. There are countless studies that show calorie restriction is good for you. Overeating is not! The theory is that this process produces just enough mild stress from calorie restriction to be good. This mild stress stimulates the production of proteins that protect the neurons against more severe stress. This mild stress reduces blood sugar, improves insulin sensitivity, reduces blood pressure, and increases HDL levels. It helps your body get to a healthy body weight and increases your life span.

We have gotten so used to the three square meals a day, we get anxious when there is no food.  We plan on having food readily available at all times. While this seems like a good plan, our society has taken it to an all time level where sloth, overeating and obesity are overwhelming us.

If you have seen success with the challenge so far and have a good understanding of what to eat on the Paleolithic diet, then you should probably try the idea of timing your meals like this. Here’s how it works.

Let’s say you pick a day to start. You eat your normal Paleo diet all day, stop eating around 6 pm, then go to bed at your normal time. Wake up in the morning and fast until 12 noon. You eat your day’s worth of food in the next 4 hours and then start the cycle again. With this cycle you would have fasted for 18-20 hours depending on the time you have finished eating your meals. I would recommend that you time your foods around your work out.  Fast up until your work out and then start your meal right or soon after, leading up to your next fast.

But be careful. Not all nutrition professionals see the merits of fasting. Some think of it as a recipe for disaster, setting up a person for binge eating and metabolic confusion. Make no mistake about it, you do get hungry, fatigued, and irritable in the short term. Fasting is not comfortable initially.  However, over time the opposite effect is reality. You get a sharpened sense of awareness, you become more powerful, and with the reduction in cortisol and other hormone levels you actually become more steady.

Don’t go crazy with hunger. If you feel hungry, have a shorter fast for that day. It’s not about starving yourself. Listen to your body. You can intermittent fast intermittently. You’ll still get the benefits from doing it even once or twice a week. The important thing is to let your body go for some time without any caloric intake – that means no cream in coffee, no protein shakes, no juice…. nothing!

On a similar note, adding more cardio exercise to lose weight while fasting will have the opposite effect of what people think will happen. Because a lot of regular running, cycling, etc., stimulates your fight or flight response, raising Cortisol levels, which raises blood glucose, which stimulates an insulin response, which, of course, is the fat storage hormone. This is actually the opposite of IF. While our ancient ancestors might have had to run from a predator now and then, they probably didn’t do it several times a week for hours and hours.  Your just not built for that. Modern hunter-gatherers are noted for the conservation of energy in their activities, with more walking than running, etc. Short powerful explosive exercises are more accurate.

If anyone has any further questions feel free to e-mail me at kab86ed@aol.com.

Perception routinely alters what we see. When people view something with a preconceived notion, they tend to take those ideas and see them whether or not they are there. This problem stems from the fact that we are unable to understand new things without the inherent bias of their previous experiences. A person’s view creates his or her reality. We can only think about things we have been exposed to. When objects are viewed without understanding, the mind will try to reach for something that it already recognizes. It gets compared and processed. The thing that most closely relates to the unfamiliar from our past experiences, makes up what we see when we look at things that we don’t comprehend.

What does all this mean? When we try something new like CrossFit for the first time most of us we have no idea what it looks like. It is unfamiliar. So we put our own perception on it based on what we have witnessed in our fitness experiences. This can go either way based on where you are. If it is a positive one and we are open minded and willing to trust its methods, we can succeed. If we are not open to it and draw unhealthy close-minded conclusions we are set up for failure. Examples are plentiful in cross fitting: Loud music, big weights, pull-ups and rope climbs. It is easy pickings to make snap judgments here!

Once an initial perception is made it goes infinitely to the universe. The Halo effect is what follows. The Halo effect has to do with judging or evaluating something by a single experience. This overall impression can be good or bad but will effect our further involvement. Each of us can remember making a snap judgment about CrossFit based on a first impression. Some of them were good and some were not so good. Then we tried to perceive it further based on this first impression, regardless of whether it was positive or negative. If this impression was incorrect, as it often is, it often takes considerable pressure to concede and break the halo effect.

Crossfit is designed to enhance a positive perception of one’s self. It makes you work past certain challenges and makes you go where you have never been. This mentality makes you have self worth. Perception and the halo effect are most damaging when it shows up on our self-appraisals where our overall good or bad opinion of ourselves interferes with our ability to perform at our highest level!

The key to the success of CrossFit [and life in general] is to be careful with your perception. Is it what you want it to be: especially of yourself? You have what it takes. You just have to see it!

Maureen Lane

Cynergy CrossFit would like to acknowledge the incredible transformation of Maureen Lane (a.k.a. MEL).

Maureen Lane joined the Cynergy family by signing up for our Boot Camp program in October of 2007 and has been a consistent presence at Cynergy CrossFit ever since.  Her dedication and commitment is unstoppable and the proof is in her workout performance, accomplishments and future goals.

Now, a short 2 years later she is a different athlete… a different woman.

Unable to make the jog to the Mail Box (@200M) without walking on day one, she now has an impressive list of accomplishments to her name.  Maureen truly epitomizes the impact of 2 years of training and dedication and the profound changes it can make not only on the body but on the person!

Just to name a few of her accomplishments…

• July 4, 2008 – Firecracker 5K Hilton Head
• October 9, 2008 – Rock Climbing
• October 5, 2008 – Skydiving
• Nov 23, 2008 – Marine Corps 5K race
• Sept 28, 2008 – USMC 5K run
• March 2009 St. Patrick’s Day 5K (Cynergy)
• May 16, 2009 – Cadogan’s Run 5K
• May 24th 2009 – Boston’s Run to Remember, half marathon!
• May 25, 2009 – Christopher’s 5K run
• June 6, 2009 – Harpoon Ale 5 Miler
• Sept 26, 2009 – Duxbury Triathlon

Plans for 2010?  You bet she has a few!

• Feb 2010 – Climb Mt Kilimanjaro
• April 2010 – Boston Marathon
• August 2010 – ½ Triathlon

Just getting started!!!  I assure you!

One thing I have learned about Maureen is that she does not back down from a challenge.  Whether it be to add a few more weights to the bar or jumping out of an airplane!  Her attitude and willingness to go places that are unfamiliar have truly brought her to a new level of fitness and awareness.

Well over 60 pounds lost and PR’s on the Leader Board*, Maureen you are truly an athlete!

*The Leader Board is a list of the top performers in several different workouts – or WODs (Workout of the Day).  These are displayed on the wall at the studio.

In the words of some of her fellow athletes…

Carol “B” Wadsworth
When I think of MEL I think “silent thunder.”  She flies under the radar, but there is no mistaking her impact.  She is consistently improving in the competition with her past performances and continues to inch her way up on the Leader Board.  She has entered every challenge created at Cynergy and exceed at all of them – text book case!  CrossFit challenges – at Cynergy’s box and CrossFit New England, 100 day push-up challenge, 100 mile run challenge, Zone Diet, Paleo Challenge – I know I’m forgetting some them!  I’m proud to work in her midst – I love her drive and her incredible dry wit!

Jill McCaughy
I have come to learn there is NOTHING you can’t challenge Mel to do that she won’t. Rock climbing vacation 2008, Wanna to run a 5k? Wanna skydive? Wanna to run a 5 miler?  Wanna run a 10k?  Wanna run a half marathon?  Wanna climb Mt. Kilimanjaro?   Seriously, unbelievable.  The transformation she has made with her fitness and physical appearance is totally amazing.

Suzi Llewellyn
All us girls looked at each other..Still being a nervous wreck of what we were going to be told to do in the parking lot that day… But Maureen (MEL now) and I looked at each other and said, “How bad can 1 hour be?
Maureen is an amazing woman as well as an athlete.  She still can’t believe she is referred to as an “Athlete.”
On 10/27 ~ Mel e-mails me… “Pull ups don’t make me want to vomit anymore.  I like them and am getting better at them every WOD!”  :) AWESOME!

Maureen has inspired so many of us with her willingness to never back down from a challenge – no matter the size.  She will undoubtedly continue her pursuits for excellence while inspiring all around her.  She is a tremendous leader, athlete and friend.  Thank you for all that you do!

She hates all kinds of woodland creatures, including but not limited to: squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, geese, and even deer. Yes, especially deer. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to name an animal that she wouldn’t love to chase after at breakneck speeds to God-knows-where.

She doesn’t though, because I don’t let her. I tell her to “Stay.”

I’m very glad that she listens, but really, why should she? When we are out walking off-leash in the woods and some nasty critter presents itself, she could easily leave her two-footed owner in the dust to give chase. Usain Bolt couldn’t catch her when she was going at full tilt, never mind me. So why doesn’t she just go?

The truth is that my dog has forgotten just how capable she is. Early on during her training, she learned that if she didn’t listen, she would be scolded (“Bad Dog!”). Now, instead of taking off and risk Daddy yelling again, she will “Stay” even though she could sprint away and there would be little I could do about it.

She has been trained; she has been “Mind F**ked.”

Every one of us in our years on this Earth has been “trained”, so to speak. We all have preconceived beliefs and notions, rooted REALLY deeply within us, telling us what we can and can not do. In the gym, those things are easy to see. “I’ll never get a pull-up.” “I can’t learn this stupid push jerk!” “I hurt my shoulder back in college, so now I can’t lift anything heavy.” “I can’t keep up with her; I’m too old!”

Unfortunately, the people who utter phrases like these are usually right. Their own negativity puts a leash on their success. They CAN’T do those pull-ups, learn a complex lift, or pick up heavy stuff.

They can’t until their heads see that they are capable of much more… that is, until they Unf**k themselves.

It’s easier said than done. Many of us don’t even consciously realize that our Mind F**ks are holding us back. Too often, we let excuses get in the way of what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s easy to say “Her Fran time is 5 minutes faster because she’s ten years younger.” It’s a lot harder to recognize, and then more importantly change, the REAL reasons that she’s faster than you.

The older we get, the more miles that we put on our bodies. None of us are perfect, and sometimes, little issues (physical AND mental) get in the way of reaching the top of our game on any given day. Fear, fatigue, stress, laziness, lack of willpower…. we need to recognize the things that are holding us back, and do everything in our power to dominate them. Instead of being things that limit our effort and performance, push them to the front of your mind and use them as motivation to get better.

Not everyone of us is destined to be a CrossFit Games athlete. Every single one of us, however, can get better at what we do… running fast, lifting heavy… Going hard or going home. It is no longer enough to “Embrace the Suck”; we must now also “Embrace what you Suck At”. Whatever is holding you back, beat the crap out of it for the one hour a day that you’re in the gym with us. Eventually, the whooping you give will carry over into every aspect of your life.

So cast aside the leashes. Go chase those pesky little creatures… especially those damn deer. Leave your mental anchors behind and just go for it. Just don’t tell Cadence I say so…

“…CF is not image obsessed the way more fitness cultures are…but this is also not obvious to the uninformed. Form follows function, and one of the CF greats once said to only chase performance and the aesthetic stuff will take care of itself. I believe the quote was “do Fran in 4 minutes, then look in the mirror. That’s what you’re supposed to look like.” I take that as having 2 different meanings, and both are valid. Either when you get to that level of fitness, you will have already achieved the look you desire. Second, if you can do Fran in 3 minutes….who gives a s***…..whatever you look like that point is obviously healthy….”

It got me thinking what drives us to crossfit? Is it the way it makes you look or the way you feel? Is it the competition of the WODS? Or something else?

What drives you!

Get ready all you Cynergy Fire Breathers! The games has been announced for the 2010 season. July 16-18. You are going to have to qualify in a district competition to be able to compete in the regional competition.

The affiliate cup challenge will be announced later. I am sure that it will be just as exciting!

Get ready! Paleo, Fish oil and power over broad times and domains. Be ready for anything and specialize in non specializing!