Machines and Fear

Warmup: 

1k row 

Mobility/ stretching/ dynamic warmup ( ask for specifics if you want to know) 

WOD:

2 min AMRAP strict pullups (or kipping if you cannot do +10 strict at a time) 

Rest 1 min

2 min AMRAP of Burpees

Rest 1 min

2 min AMRAP of back squat w/ 185# (or 50% of 3 rep max) 

Rest 5 min

Oly work:

1 power snatch every minute for 10 min @ 75 percent max

Straight into 

1 clean and jerk every min for 10 min @ 75% of max

Rest 2 min

7 dumbell bench press / 30 dubbs / 1 rope climb

6 db bench/ 30 dubbs/ 1 rope climb

5/30/1

Until you reach 

1 bench/ 30 dubbs/ 1 rope climb

Rest 5 min 

8 x 120 yard sprints every minute on the minute 

* your rest = remaining time of each minute. 

* *sprint 80-90% of top speed 

*** try to keep slowest interval no slower than 2 seconds of your fastest interval. 

Rest 5 min

Repeat 8x120 yd sprints every minute on the minute 

*same as above

My thoughts for day/ week:
*sorry to all grammar freaks - I did not go back and edit this. 

"Machines and fear"

You wont see any machines at NoX Training. I already know someone  out there is going to point out a picture with the rower and say that the rower is a machine. I would have to disagree and say that the rower is not a machine. What do machines do? they do  work! The rower is just a measuring device to measure work. They measure a persons power output. Calling a rower a machine is like calling a keyboard a printer. 

Machines are completely different from the rower or any body weight or free weight movement. Walk into a globo gym and you will find that 90 percent of the implements inside there are machines. What does that tell you? Basically it tells you that you cannot lift the weight without any assistance from machines and thus the machine ends up getting the best of the workout, not you. It also tell you that the gym does not want to hire people to educate people on how to get a better workout. 

The treadmill, stair climber, press machines, leg extension machines, bicep machine, etc ( for lack of better names)  all fit into this category and should be eliminated from the gym place in my opinion. 

Take the treadmill for example. You set it at a certain level and then the machine starts spinning without any effort from you. All you have to to is lift up your feet to stay on the machine. You are using hardly any muscles in the process. Running on flat terra firma on the other hand requires much more leg muscles and endurance. The ground is not going to start moving for you if you want to run. You have to move yourself. You have to create the force to propel yourself forward. If you want to run fast you have to do much more than pick up your feet faster as you do on the treadmill. You have to generate exponential amounts of force to increase your speed on flat ground or else you aren't going to move any faster. As a result you are getting a more beneficial workout. I guess if you don't want a beneficial workout from running then stay on that treadmill.  Other than injury rehab there is very little use for a treadmill.  so get off of that treadmill! why would anyone want to look like a hamster anyway? 

To continue,  take a machine that is used for chest presses or shoulder presses for example. What do you see attached to those weights? is that a pulley? What do pulleys Do? They were invented to make it easier to lift weight. Why would you want to make it easier to lift that weight when it comes to working out? Isn't the point of working out is to have some sort of struggle? or maybe the pulleys are there to give your ego a boost since you are able to lift more weight with the help of pulleys? or maybe the person that created the machine didn't think that you could lift the weight by yourself without any pulleys? any way you break down these scenarios means no good. These machines ( even the ones without pulleys) have a fixed range of motion which means that you don't have to use any balance, coordination, etc to move the weight. The machine is controlling the weight. You simply just push/pull and the weight moves in a predetermined path. While you still get a decent workout you are nonetheless missing out on numerous other critically important benefits that you can be getting if you were not using that machine to lift that weight. these benefits that are being missed out on are sometimes more important and beneficial to the benefits you are actually realizing. missing out on the  fitness elements of balance, coordination, agility, accuracy, etc. during your workout will result in a much less effective workout. Using machines means You are missing out in increasing flexibility, balance, coordination, agility, and even stamina as there are less resting point in using free weights and or body movements. 

I know its scary to lift free weights without the assistance of machines or even running outside in the fresh air without being in a secure gym on a treadmill. I still get scared every time I am about to lift free weights over head or put a huge load of weight on my back before I squat. Heck, I still get scared when I am about to do a body weight workout! I still get the butterflies everyday when the time comes where I suit up and get my workout clothes on to go to "the box". 

I still get scared every time I glance over to see what is on that whiteboard and see what I think is an impossible workout. I even get the chills on the days where I write my own workout (most of the time my brother and coach mike writes the workouts). 

I still get scared when I hear that clock count down to start off the workout. I doubt I would get scared if I was about to run on that treadmill or do a chest press or do work on any machine.  You know why? Because I already know I can do that.  There is little or no excitement in doing things I already know I can do. There is no scariness in doing what you already know you can do. 

Whens the last time your workout scared you? Did your last workout scare you? 

By scared I don't mean dreading your workout.  I mean, SCARED to the point where your heart rate is at a resting rate of 110bpm and you haven't even started to warm up yet. 

If you cannot answer the 2nd question above or if it has been a long while then you need to step it up. I can answer yes to this 99.9 percent of the time (we sometime do need easy and low intensity for recovery). And Yes I am talking to both athletes and everyday people who are working out for purposes living Healthy lifestyle. My parents aged 55 answer yes to the above question every time. Mario, a member in his 40's has answered yes to the question every time. Allyson, age 25 has always answered yes. Fernie, age 13, answers yes. Ashley, in her early 20s answers yes a few time a week. Even coach mike answers yes. Everyone at NoX Training and members of CrossFit gyms world wide answers yes. 

 There is no better way to accomplish fitness goals than fear (or any goals in life for that matter).   There is little or no fun or fear in doing things you already know you can do.  Fear comes with the unknown. Great things are born from doing things that you are either afraid to do or not knowing the outcome before you begin. For those of you who know about basic world history are aware that all of the great inventions/ discoveries/ accomplishments came from being faced with fear and overcoming the fear and unknown. Fear drives us. Intentionally engaging in Activities that cause fear leading up that activity is called Self inflicted fear ( im making up definitions here). This type of fear applied to fitness goals and life goals can help you accomplish BIG things! This is how coach mike came up with the motto of NoX Training: "real life fitness". This fear taps causes us to tap into our animal instincts. As such, we enter the activity/workout/ goal with large amounts of adrenaline fueled  energy which  causes us to do things we previously thought were impossible. 

When is the last time your goal scared you?do the steps you need to take to accomplish that goal scare you? 

 More specifically, when is the last time you made a goal that caused fear to enter your mind when you though what you needed to do in order to accomplish that goal? Again, if you cannot answer that or if it has been a while then you need to step it up! Of course the mini goals that are needed to accomplish the big goal is not as scary and easier to face. 

The first step is to get yourself around individuals who have the same goals or people that have qualities that you strive to achieve. Humans are competitive species and if you are  around like mined individuals you will compete to achieve goals faster than the person next to you. A goal being reached by the person next to you will push you harder to reach  your own. Straightforwardly, 100 percent of the people I am around on a daily basis have similar goals as myself and/or have qualities that I am striving so hard to achieve. 

Anyway, Back to fear..... fear chases many people away. Only certain people are mentally strong enough to place themselves in a position of fear. The people that face these fears and overcome their fear day in and day out experience greater success; much more than people who stay in their comfort zone as comfort zones create little or no improvement. You know the outplayed saying; in order to get better than today you need to stop doing what you did today. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking down on the people that are not taking on fear and doing things that are outside his or her comfort zone. Some people are comfortable with the status quo and there is nothing wrong with that as long as that person is happy. There are Some people who are not comfortable with their homeostasis. Some are the former and some are the latter. I am the latter. 

 Every time I arrive At NoX training I have butterflies and am fearful on what lies ahead. Every time arrive at the box feels like the first time being at NoX. 

 New members have an assumption that the fear will eventually subside and that it is going to get easier. Most people look at me as if I am crazy when I tell them that 1. its not going to get easier and 2. you're always going to have those butterflies and 3. That fear will probably never go away and I hope that it does not. I hope it does not because that is when it becomes boring. When things become boring means that you should not be doing that activity any more. Working out at NoX has not become boring. Maybe its because I am constantly facing and overcoming fear on a daily? Or maybe its because of the good people there with me facing the same fear? Or maybe both? I would say both for sure. 

The day that I face no fear when going to workout or when thinking of a big life goal is the time that I need to immediately reconsider what I have just done and turn around my actions/thoughts before i get into an unwanted negative trend.