I’m sorry that I have not posted on here in a while I’ve been extremely busy working on multiple projects. Although I have lots of irons in the fire and at time feel somewhat overwhelmed I am seeing some great results and producing some awesome products!
So with that in mind I’d like to Introduce you to my new web site Discipline Strength Performance Athletics! Check it out and sign up for my monthly newsletter which will keep you posted on all of the happenings and offers with DSP Athletics. In addition to the DSP Athletics site soon you will see several other branches of DSP Athletics each focusing on a different area of training. There will be DSP Running (focusing on personal training for distance running from 5K to ultra-marathons), DSP TriSport (focusing on personal training for triathlons), and DSP Mind State (focusing on the mental/emotional/spiritual aspect of endurance training) pages coming soon!
Also, there will be a store on DSP Athletics up and running soon with some cool DSP gear to help you stay stylish while you train!
Keep checking back and remember to sign up for my newsletter to stay in the loop!
“Twenty seconds before a race there’s absolute focus. The key thing is to achieve relaxation, but at the same have absolute total control. You’ve got to find the balance between being totally ready to go and really at peace with yourself as well.” – Cathy Freeman
Think about how dialed in physically and mentally you have to be to achieve this state Cathy Freeman is describing above!
I too try to create this focus before beginning any event or WOD, in competition or not. This time is important to me and i like to think of it as the calm before the storm. To achieve this focus I close my eyes and visualize myself executing whatever event I’m about to do. I make it as realistic in my mind as possible. I feel the barbell in my hands and my body support the weight its applying to me. I feel my legs propelling me forward in the pose position for those first few strong strides of a race and then continuing on in the wheel-like cyclical motion with complete ease and efficiency. I feel my hand dipping below the surface of the water and pulling me along smoothly as I rotate like a corkscrew through the water. I think you get the idea…
The point that I’m trying to make is that this period of focus is something that all competitiors should do in some form or another. No matter how you choose to prepare yourself in those last few seconds before that infamous “3,2,1, GO!” it is something that has to happen. This is not the time to be overcome with nerves or be thinking about how you could have trained harder or anything else negative. It is going to be what its going to be. Accept that and give it a full effort. You will most likely surprise yourself. Most athletes outperform themselves in competiton as opposed to in training.
Team: 1. CrossFit Marysville 2. CrossFit Fort Vancouver 3. CrossFit Boise
I’m particularly happy for Rory Zambard! She was my Level 1 instructor and I know how dedicated she is as an athlete, competitor, and instructor. Clearly, CrossFit means a lot to her and she deserves to be going to the Games. Best of luck to you Rory!
“If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.” – Steve Maraboli
There is a lot to be said for choosing your training partners carefully. I mean a lot! People tend to become a product of their environment and in the CrossFit box the environment is the people you train with everyday.
Always try to train with people that are going to make you better by pushing you to always do your best. Only hang out and train with those that are going to elevate you. Train with athletes that are more advanced than you and watch how quickly you begin to perform at their level. From a nutritional aspect do not eat meals with people who are on a different diet or worse don’t care about nutrition at all. Keep your diet clean and try to share meals with those who do the same. (For instance if you are trying to follow strict Paleo do not go out to eat with someone who’s going to down three pitchers of beer and two large pizzas.) The more and more you train with a group the closer you will become and the more motivating it will be. You will have a better chance of getting to the workout (which is often times half the battle) because you feel as if you’re letting your training partners down by skipping a day.
In other words, surround yourself with positive influences in every aspect of your life as you possibly can. The true beauty of this synerginistic relationship is that as you rely on your training mates for support you will realize that they are relying on you in much the same way.
JBLM CrossFit crew! Always motivating to be around these athletes!
D>S>P
DAILY FEATURE: Lifeproof Cases
Definitely need to give a shout out to LifeProof for hooking me up with a free new case for my iPhone! I was checking out their products at their booth at the North West Regionals and they were having competitions every couple hours where the winner received a free case. Considering these cases retail for around $90 I thought I would give it a shot. The particular workout was a max plank hold. The top male and top female plank holders would win a case. Being particularly adept at the plank I thought that I had a pretty good chance at winning the case. Well as it turns out at the end of the competition I was announced the winner! I can’t tell you how long I held the plank for because I don’t like to brag, but suffice to say that the reps working the booth said that they’ve never seen anyone hold it for that long. Just saying…
All kidding aside though Lifeproof makes a great product and I love my new phone case. The thing is literally indestructible, as are all of the products they make. High quality products and a cool company. Great combo for a business model!
DAILY MOTIVATION: “In Pursuit of Vikings” – Amon Amarth
This week’s Beast Friday motivation is in honor of The Uncommon Breed. Read more about them below in the Daily Feature.
Onto the Beast Friday song! This is “In Pursuit of Vikings” by Amon Amarth. Honestly, unless you are a fan of heavy metal you probably won’t enjoy this one too much, but I think it’s pretty cool and it is my blog afterall. Also, it goes along with The Uncommon Breed’s logo, read more below to see what I’m talking about. For those of you that are metal fans or need a good song to pump you up before hitting the WOD on Beast Friday enjoy “In Pursuit of Vikings”!
D>S>P
DAILY FEATURE: The Uncommon Breed – Performance Apparel for the Modern Day Savage
The Uncommon Breed’s Logo!
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a new CrossFit apparel company I met at the CrossFit NW Regionals! They are officially launching on Memorial Day so go pick up some of their gear and get in on the ground floor of this movement!
Their logo is an ancient Viking symbol known as the “valknut.” It is three interlocking triangles and means “fallen warrior” in Old Norse. (Hence the reason for the “Pursuit of Vikings” as the motivation song. A loose connection I’ll admit, but hopefully they’ll appreciate it all the same.)
They are called The Uncommon Breed and the brand describes themselves as: “A collection of combat vets, CrossFit athletes, first responders, fitness maniacs, passionate athletes, and all those that commit to a life of shenanigans and bad-assery. There you have it. AMERICA!!”
They have an impressive team of employees all of which are ex-military. These guys are speaking from personal experience about the warrior mindset and motivations behind their brand. They also have a great collective of sponsored athletes that are currently doing amazing things in the CrossFit world!
Read more about the founders and the sponsored athletes and check out all of their apparel and accessories on their web site!
To all of the crew at The Uncommon Breed many thanks, much respect, and best of luck!
Myself and two of the Uncommon Breed crew. Thanks a lot for all that you do guys!
The Conditioning WOD that I did was not what was prescribed on CF Endurance. Unfortunately, I still struggle with HSPU and really cannot get an L-sit pull-up either. So I scaled and changed the WOD to what’s above. Still gave me an awesome workout.
AFTERNOON SESSION
Rest, recovery, and going to CrossFit NW Regionals!
“Win or lose you will never regret working hard, making sacrifices, being disciplined or focusing too much. Success is measured by what we have done to prepare for competition.” – John Smith
There is a lot of truth behind this because your preparation for competition (and I’ve said this before) is the true struggle. This is where your focus should lie as this is where 99% of the work that you do is going to be done. The actual competition and performance itself is but a small sliver of your work as an athlete.
Train like you compete and you will find that the competition seems easier. This technique will also serve to calm your nerves on the day of the competition. You will not have to do anything different than how you’ve been doing out. Despite the outcome of the competition you know how hard you worked and you know how much you improved. There is no failure there, only progress. Focus on you training time and cherish it.
“Just because I liked something at one point in time doesn’t mean I’ll always like it, or that I have to go on liking it at all points in time as an unthinking act of loyalty to who I am as a person, based solely on who I was as a person. To be loyal to myself is to allow myself to grow and change, and challenge who I am and what I think. The only thing I am for sure is unsure, and this means I’m growing, and not stagnant or shrinking.”
― Jarod Kintz, At even one penny, this book would be overpriced. In fact, free is too expensive, because you’d still waste time by reading it.
Your mind is full of wondrous things. Make sure you can filter it when necessary.
Not so much motivational, but words of pure wisdom. Do not let anything, I mean anything prevent your progress. Not your thinking, not someone elses. Discard what is not going to help you reach that next level and embrace all that will. Your mind is full of memories of the past, thoughts of the present, and ideas and plans for the future. Do not get bogged down in your own mind dealing with the past nor concerning yourself too much with the future. Focus on the present moment. Doing all you can with this precise moment in time will set you up for future success and create pleasant memories of what will soon be the past.
Have you ever done something that seemed terribly difficult or miserable at the time, but when it was all said and done you were glad you did it? These are the events that shape past memories, are difficult in the moment, and make you stronger for the future. Do not shy away from difficulties in the present as they often make us stronger in the future.
P.S. You’ve got to love the title Jarod Kintz’s book. I mean come on, not to judge a book by its cover or title, but just seeing what its called makes me want to read it!
P.S.S. How incredible of an artist is Anroid Jones (picture above). FACT!
“Resolve that whatever you do, you will bring the whole man to it; that you will fling the whole weight of your being into it.” – Orison Swett Marden
Nothing worth doing is easy, because nothing worth doing is deserving of anything less than your full effort. No matter how mundane or difficult the task. Your full focus and effort should be put behind everything you do. If you are putting your name on something, whether it be a project at work or your WOD time on the white board that is what you will be known for. People will form an impression of you based on your deeds, however seemingly small or insignificant. Therefore do everything with your very best. Put your whole self into it. Devote the necessary time to preparation and execution and do not cut corners. Short cuts will lead you nowhere worth going. Have some pride and honor in yourself and the work you produce.
D>S>P
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DAILY FEATURE
K-Star getting after you again! This time for not cooling down. Great advice, we all need to start incorporating more cooldowns into our workouts.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” – Frank Herbert
Not sure what this is, but it looks frightening. So I thought it would be a good visual representation of fear. (If anyone knows exactly what this is, let mw know, I’m curious!)
There is a significant difference between being afraid of something and having what I’ll call a “cautious awareness” of it. Having that nervousness and twinge of excitement (the “cautious awareness”) going into the unknown or before an event keeps us mentally and physically on edge. This helps us maintain focus and ensure our body is in a position to execute and perform instantaneously. Obviously this is a good thing as most competitors will tell you feeling nervous before an event is normal and even desirable for this reason.
On the other hand though is fear. This goes beyond nerves and excitement into the realm of stress-induced anxiety. Once you reach this state it is difficult to recover and your body will show signs mentally, physically, and emotionally. Far from being optimized for performance a body experiencing fear is put into a fight or flight mindset leaving little room for comprehension of anything else except personal survival.
That’s why we need to avoid fear, at least irrational fears that are uncalled for and will lead us nowhere. So the next time you experience that twinge in the pit of your stomach have the mental clarity to decide whether this is just nerves or truly a fearful situation requiring the fight or flight response. Control your mind, control, your body, respond appropriately. No fear!
D>S>P
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DAILY FEATURE: Stop Wearing Flip Flops!!
I cannot overemphasize how important it is for the health of your feet and pretty much everything else from the knee down to NOT WEAR FLIP-FLOPS. Under no circumstances should you ever wear any type of shoe/sandal/flip-flop that recquires you to curl your toes to grip it to hold it on to your foot. Check out the video above by the man Dr. Kelly Starrett from MobilityWOD and San Francisco Cross Fit. He goes into detail about the health hazards to wearing these types of things.
There are plenty of other shoes that you can wear that will keep yuor feet feeling and looking cool in the summer months. Personally, I am a big fan of TOMS shoes for their mission, ethics, and style. For those of you unaware of the company their founder Blake Mycoskie created the mission is to donate one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of Tom’s purchased. Since the inception of this program in 2006, TOMS has donated over 10 million pairs of shoes! I strongly encourage you to get a pair of TOMS to support their mission and save your feet.
This is a great article about the “paleo method” of sleeping. It’s in quotes because there really is no paleo method. Rather the article is about a more natural and instrinsic way to get the best night sleep you can. This is done by getting back to some very simple habits that allow us to get the type of sleep our bodies are already programmed for. Stated in five easy to read, yet informative thoughts, this is a well written article and definitely worth a read.
Warm-up: Stretching with PVC, 25 jumping jacks x 3, 10 leg swings L/R, 10 bent over hamstring stretchs L/R, 10 hip circles.
Running: 3.84M in 31:04.
Just trying to pick up the mileage again. I’ve been focusing a lot on building strength and its coming along well. I’ve gained about 15lbs over the past month and a half and am looking to start to taper the gaining off and take the level I’m at and build cardio and strength from there. Walking the fine line….
KVELERTAK! Great metal band I was recently introduced to. I was getting into their stuff just in time to see them live! They opened for Mastodon at Showbox SoDo last week and I have to say they were awesome live! In case you’re wondering Kvelertak is from Norway and all of their lyrics are in Norwegian. One seems to follow the other there. Even though I don’t know what they are saying its still a great sound! When time permits I’m going to look up the translation to their lyrics. For now, with thanks to Google Translate I can tell you that Kvelertak and this self-entitled track means “Stranglehold.” If you like this song check out other titles by them like Mjod (“Mead”) and Blodtorst (“Bloodthirsty”)! Enjoy.
Great way to kick off Beast Friday. And this one will be a Beast!
This is more for all of my endurance athletes out there who don’t do too much with the weights. CFers this really doesn’t apply to you, you already know this (or you should!). I’ve been sitting on this article for a while waiting for a good time to share it. I suppose now is as good a time as any. The article was taken from Competitor magazine and was written by our good friend Nate Helming from Helming Athletics, the Run Experience, and San Francisco Cross Fit.
The article describes the benefits of heavy weight lifting for improving your running. Instead of rehashing the entire thing, I’ll let you read the article directly from Nate!
Warm-up: Stretching with PVC, 25 jumping jacks x 3, 5 KB OH press @25lbs x 3, 5 KB swings @25lbs x 3, 10 A/S x 3.
Strength: ME pull-ups
BW x 7, 10lbs x 5, 15lbs x 3, 25lbs x2, 35lbs x 1
Conditioning WOD: Angie – 100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats for time. This was not pleasant…Angie stole my gloves. If anyone doesn’t get that reference I’ll briefly explain. In cross fit when doing so many consecutive pull-ups that the skin is pulled from your hands and calluses it is referred to as being “de-gloved.” So now when I saw that Angie stole my gloves, you get what I mean.
Time 24:00
ME pull-ups then 100 pull-ups in Angie will do this to you!
AFTERNOON SESSION
Warm-up: 25 jumping jacks x 3, 10 leg swings L/R, 10 hip circles L/R, 10 bent over hamstring stretches.
Running: :90s on / :60s off until form/pace dissipates. *Done on a treadmill set at a 2.0 incline.
DISCIPLINE - STRENGTH - PERFORMANCE ATHLETICS 