Five truths about CrossFit they probably haven’t told you

It seems not a day goes by that I don’t read something about what it is we do at CrossFit: that it is some sort of cult or that we are a chiropractor’s best source of business. I usually find these write-ups very amusing. Generally, someone who has never actually set foot in a CrossFit facility writes them, but they are written with all the authority of a seasoned veteran. I guess I have an advantage in that we are the only box in our town so when someone from Armidale comments about CrossFit in any way shape or form I know if they have been in to experience it OR if they are speaking completely out of school. So, here are five things that the people talking about CrossFit may not have told you:

1. We really do give a shit about technique. That’s right: we actually want you to learn how to pick something up without getting hurt. You see it does not bode well for us to have someone come for one or two sessions and then get injured and never get near their goals. A lot of CrossFit movements may look unusual, but they require an amazing amount of body awareness and control to complete. To be successful with both the clean and jerk and the snatch you first have to be proficient in the technique.

2. Most CrossFitters are everyday people. That’s right: accountants, brickies, carpenters, teachers, students, mums, dads, grandparents… We aren’t all gifted athletes who look as though we were chiselled from granite. We are regular everyday people with jobs, responsibilities, hobbies and social engagements. It just so happens that we also like to work out together and with a reasonable amount of intensity. And with that comes an amazing sense of community, so maybe it is a little cult-like because I have never come across a more supportive group of people than the members of our box. They look out for each other, they work out together, they socialise. If that is a cult, then I never want to leave it.

3. We can be a chiropractor’s best source of business. YES, I said we can! You see, when someone starts here I refer them to a chiropractor and physiotherapist to see if they have anything specific wrong that may have been missed for years. And then, once they become an avid CrossFitter they will find that they will seek treatment for any niggles that they have. My anecdotal experiences from working in a commercial gym were that attendees seldom actually sought treatment: they usually used the injury or condition as a “reason” to hold off on exercise for a while. CrossFitters get a mindset that they want to improve, hence seeking treatment and getting over anything that is wrong with them.

4. CrossFit is varied, NOT random. If you are attending a gym or any other place and they say they will throw together a CrossFit workout for you or they are making it up as they write it on the whiteboard then the coach, trainer or your friend has no concept of what CrossFit is about. Yes, it is about preparing for the unknown and unknowable, but that does not mean that it is a bunch of random movements thrown together to form a semblance of a workout. Your box should have progressive programing that is varied enough to continue to elicit a response regardless of your training level. If you look closely at our program you will see an underlying strength program and progressions right through all of our met cons and any supplementary work we do.

5. You don’t have to be fit to start. We have everything from 16-year-old athletes to 65-year-old grandparents in our sessions. AND they do the sessions side by side. I can tailor a workout to suit anyone, but that isn’t to say it is for everyone. You simply might not enjoy it – hence it isn’t for you. By being able to adjust weights, reps and even exercises within a workout you can start out at whatever fitness level you are currently at. I am not going to make you lift more than you ever have before and I am not going to make you keep going when you cannot. You will decide when you need to pause and you will give me that filthy look that lets me know I need to leave you to your devices. But if you come and talk to anyone in our sessions you will find that 95% of them were nowhere near fit when they started out.

So, there are five things that you may not have known about CrossFit. You can argue with them and call them out as lies, but really, I don’t care.

The above five things have been my personal experiences since becoming a CrossFit addict a few years back. I have lived them. I eat, breath, sleep and live CrossFit everyday.

So the next time someone says anything about CrossFit, just ask them or yourself one question:

If they are so vocal and so outspoken about this style of training, why?

Why go to the effort of running something down on the Internet, to a friend, colleague, or family member? For if CrossFit wasn’t affecting them or they weren’t thinking about it, then they wouldn’t even mention it would they?
About the Author
Jim Ridley is Armidale’s accomplished personal trainer. Since losing over 25 kilos and becoming a PT, Jim knows where you are coming from. He is the owner of Gym Ridz Personal Training and CrossFit Armidale, 2012 Winners of the Health, Beauty and Wellbeing section in the Armidale Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. It is the only private training studio in Armidale and Armidale’s only CrossFit gym. Jim is also an avid, if not tragic, St George Illawarra Dragons fan.

It is a regular thing that someone decides to get fit and healthy, go on a diet, start an exercise regime, etc. But, more regularly than not a lot of people will find something to get in the way of commencing a change.

One I hear quite a lot is: “I can’t afford it”. Now, when you look at your income and expenses it is pretty simple that a gym membership, some PT sessions or a CrossFit membership just won’t fit in with what you already do. And there is the problem straight up.

You are thinking of this in terms of another cost being imposed on you, not of the value of what you are about to engage in. A dollar cost is easy to see, but what about physical cost down the track? That isn’t so easy to see.

This is where you need to look at value. How much do you value your time with family or with your kids? Would the cost of exercising be worth it if it meant that your family would not have to look after you due to illness or old age? You cannot place a dollar value on that.

But in simplistic terms, what are you spending that money on now? Do you eat out one or two nights a week? Do you drink alcohol regularly? Do you have an indulgent morning tea with friends a little too often? What is in your shopping trolley? You see, if you want to be serious about your health then the questions I have just asked need to be answered.

If you eat out, yes that will have to change. If you drink alcohol very regularly again, that will have to change. If these things do not change there is little point in starting a program, as your actions will be counter-intuitive to it. And simply changing the odd couple of indulgences will see you more than able to afford any program.

To lay it out for you: if you use the excuse that it is too expensive with me I will tell you that you do not value your health and that you are being selfish by potentially causing your family and friends to be affected down the track.

Your health is the only real thing you can have a direct impact on via your own actions. Start valuing it now before it costs you so much more in the future.

Be a new you in 12 weeks!
So you have decided the time is right…

• You are going to get fit and healthy.
• Have the body of your dreams.
• Live like you have always dreamt you would.
• And you are going to do it all in the next 6, 12, 13 weeks?

Now, time for a reality check. It took you how many years to get to where you are today? And you are expecting to right all those years of wrongs in the next two or three months?

It took me around 10 years to figure most of it out. No, I still don’t know it all, but I am learning more every day. I have completed more challenges over the years than I care to remember. I have even won one and was featured in the Australian Ironman magazine. But the true change occurred and I found the new me when I transitioned my thoughts and goals from ones based on aesthetics to goals based on performance.

I used to look in the mirror and then work out what I wanted to change and then write my program based on what muscles weren’t up to scratch. Looking in the mirror time and time again made me view myself in a rather dim light: I was always picking up imperfections. But when it all boiled down to it, I would look better each time, but I would not necessarily be performing better…

I would be eating too much sugar; I would be looking for ways to cut the last bit of fat – not the healthiest of options. And, on top of that, I was never happy.

I no longer work in competition blocks. I work in years, then back to quarters and then to months. What do I want to achieve by month’s end? How heavy will my deadlift be by the end of the first quarter? How much better will I be in a year than I am today?

And that is where the paradigm shift occurred. I started competing with me. You see, the biggest flaw in every challenge out there is that others are judging you on your appearance relative to someone else or some unobtainable ideal.

This, my dear readers is not at all healthy from a mental health viewpoint. When we constantly compare ourselves to others in appearance we are always looking over our shoulder at what others are doing when realistically, all that matters is that you are better than you were yesterday.

 

About the Author
Jim Ridley is Armidale’s accomplished personal trainer. Having lost over 25 kilos and becoming a PT, Jim knows where you are coming from. He is the owner of Gym Ridz Personal Training and CrossFit Armidale, 2012 Winners of the Health, Beauty and Wellbeing section in the Armidale Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, and the only private training studio in Armidale and Armidale’s only CrossFit gym. He is also an avid (if not tragic) St George Illawarra Dragons fan.

Women are barraged with what they should look like by the media. It is also the case that on the other side of the coin us men get belted with perfectionism via other peoples values. I am not trying to win points for either side here, merely drawing your attention to the fact that our health is suffering as a whole from ridiculous stereotypes of what we should and should not be.

While women are made to feel, quite ridiculously, inadequate by some magazines and television programs, men are now not off the radar. You only have to look at headlines for popular magazines. “Who is your girl’s back-up plan?” “Five Pounds Of Muscle in A Month – Pack on lean mass fast with these eight essential bulking strategies “ These are just two headlines from popular men’s “fitness” mags.
The first is reeling us in as it is insinuating that your partner has someone “in case” things go south. I’m sorry trying to point out that someone is inadequate is not the best way to get them to exercise and be healthy. It is creating anxiety in the readers mind. It even suggests that married women are more likely to have a backup plan. I’m sorry this is crap. If you are married and your wife has a backup plan then the two of you have deeper issues than you getting fit. It is just a rubbish anxiety ridden article to get you feeling guilty and then maybe you will want to do what the second headline says.

Alright 5 pounds in a month. Or 2.28kgs in metric. Now I want to ask you one simple little question. Why do you want to add that sort of mass to your frame? I am now constantly hearing from younger males, “I want to be bigger!” Again I ask WHY??? If you cannot answer me with a well thought out and reasoned answer, then I will suggest to you that wanting to get bigger is someone else’s value being placed on you. Needing to bulk up to fight in a heavier category, lift in a weightlifting comp in a heavier category and lift more, compete in a heavier category in bodybuilding are all reasons for getting bigger. Anything else is bullshit. Look I get it as much as anyone that lean mass gives you a faster metabolism and that you are then healthier. But more isn’t always better. Can you afford to buy more food, fruit and vegetables, meat, supplements? Yes extra muscle mass is expensive, to grow it and then to maintain it.

We are now bombarded with images of ripped 6 packs and broad shoulders telling us this is the ideal male, and so we men are now slavishly following what we are being fed by magazines and television that is the image of the perfect male. “If I was a bit bigger I’d be happy, if I had the 6 pack I’d be happier”. The thing is if you are going out, and drinking or eating all the wrong foods, then you are telling me with your actions that the ideal physique you claim to want, is someone else’s value being pressed onto you. To grow, you must be disciplined, you don’t walk past a set of dumbbells and “presto!” you are the non-green version of the Incredible Hulk. And you especially have to be disciplined with your nutrition.

The main thing I am getting at here is do not let anyone else dictate your fitness and health goals, men and women alike, comments from friends saying things like “you look great you don’t need to go the gym anymore” tell me more about them than they do about you. The biggest point is that they have a belief that you are going to the gym to look a certain way, that is utter bullshit, if you are going to the gym for looks you are not doing it for the right reasons. You are doing it to appease someone else.

Focus on your health and wellbeing and you will find that motivation is better. You will also find that by focusing on the process, you will start to look a whole lot better in the mirror. You will be more accepting of who you are and as time goes by you will become a leaner, stronger, fitter version of yourself. And you know what? It isn’t perfect, nor will it ever be. The only men that can look like a Brad Pitt or a Ryan Reynolds is Brad Pitt or Ryan Reynolds. Your genetics are different to theirs. But that is life, there never is a perfect, but if you perceive and view yourself through a kinder light, and see that you look like the best version of yourself, you will find that you will hit all your goals and more.

I think we have all been over the health benefits of exercising more times than has ever been needed. Your heart health is better, less risk of diabetes, less risk of stroke, less risk of obesity related illness and well general good health that keeps us out of the doctors surgery. Maybe that isn’t enticing enough to get you to start. So here are 6 more great reasons to start.

1. Food. Yes that is right, I don’t eat rabbit food, I don’t drink my meals nor do I eat anything resembling cardboard. There are a whole heap of great tasting foods that are actually good for you. And when you treat yourself to a night at a restaurant you appreciate what you are eating so much more.

2. Friendships. Since getting my butt off the lounge about 12 years ago, I have made quite a number of new friends along the way, we share common goals and values. This has led to, not just with new friends but existing as well, much more fruitful and enjoyable friendships. I guess I value everyone close to me a lot more now.

3. Mental Health. Depression has affected me for quite a while, exercising has helped to alleviate that. But not just assisted with the depression, I am a more focused person, I am more determined and due to the challenges I have overcome trying to achieve and maintain fitness it has given me a renewed ability to overcome obstacles in everyday life.

4. Sleep. Going back to uni days I was prescribed sleeping tablets. After uni and the subsequent weight gain I would wake myself up snoring, my now wife would wake me as I had stopped breathing, I would sometimes wake myself up from this. I would then not be able to go back to sleep and sometimes would be in bed for 10 to 12 hours, but arise unrested. I now sleep much more regular, I don’t take long to go to sleep and when I do I seldom wake before 7 to 8 hours. Now I can get up at 4:30 am and feel rested.

5. Social events. This was quite a surprise for me. But what I have found is that I don’t go out as much, so when I do it is to the worthwhile events. I now tend to really enjoy myself when I go out and I spend time with people that mean more to me, hence I am saying no to going out for the sake of going out. I now spend time with my friends, savour a glass of red, or a couple of ales, and really enjoy what I am doing.

6. Sex. OK this should be number 1. It should be on every “Why should you exercise?” list, blog post whatever. Before being fit my interest was there, but not like it is now. I would rather sit around or lie around in bed and try to sleep. NOW I am as interested as a teenager finding a stash of his dads magazines. But I now have stamina, energy and more than anything a much better libido than before I was fit. And well we all know that stamina is something that women appreciate 😉

So there you have it, 6 things that I didn’t know before. Maybe I was just dumb and these were obvious to you.
Perhaps the fear of illness and death, as I pointed out at the beginning, wasn’t enough to kick someone off on a fitness program. Then maybe the above 6 reasons might help.

Better than Yesterday….again

So 11 years. Seems like a long time. But when you sit back and look at it, it really isn’t.
This story starts 11 years ago. We get people that want to get fit and healthy from time to time that try out CrossFit and then decide that they can’t do it as they aren’t fit enough or that they can’t do all the movements. They look at me and say, “But you can do it every day and it’s easy for you”.

11 years ago I was in a similar boat. The difference being I didn’t have someone demonstrating to me the best way to go about getting fit and healthy.
I wish 11 years ago that CrossFit had existed in town, the challenges of it, the fun of the community because I was so unfit, and so out of shape, and oh my was I unhealthy. I wish that there had of been someone that could have showed me you just need to do it one small step at a time.

My weekends were spent sitting on the lounge, watching TV and eating chips and drinking beer or soft drink. I lived a block from the Bowlo, yet I still drove to Coles. The furthest I would venture out would be to drive to a garage sale or two, then Jodie and I would head to the pub for the afternoon, wind up spending Sunday nursing a very disgusting hangover to then wake tired, lethargic and not wanting to go to work. Then Monday night at about 9pm I would be exhausted and ready to collapse.

One day I went for a walk with my dog, I was out of breath by the time I hit the corner, around 120m, I turned around and went home. That over the next few weeks turned into a 20 min walk, and so on and so on.

So now if we skip ahead 11 years I now workout 6 days a week. And for a reasonable amount of time. My training regime for one day alone consists of 18 strict muscle ups, Hang snatches 13 of them getting progressively heavier, then some work on my ATP system, around 72 power cleans at 61Kg and 64 handstand push ups in a 16 minute period. Then a series of wall ball shots, toes to bar and double unders, capped off with about 1200m of running broken into three 400m all out efforts.

Now if that day 11 years ago I had not taken my dog for a walk and started off, I would never be able to do what I do now. But it has taken me 11 YEARS to get that far. Now don’t be daunted by that.
It won’t be that you think you have to get fit first, it won’t be that you can’t do all the movements. It will be that you don’t want to step outside your comfort zone, you are happyish where you are and you don’t want to think everything has to change. I can show that it can and will, but only a little at a time.

You see now that I know how to get myself there, I can show you the correct methods, give you the tools to start off and keep going. You just need to let go of whatever it is that is holding you back from starting and let me guide you along your way.

About the Author
Jim Ridley is Armidale’s accomplished personal trainer. Having lost over 25 kilos and becoming a PT, Jim knows where you are coming from. He is the owner of Gym Ridz Personal Training and CrossFit Armidale, 2012 Winners of the Health, Beauty and Wellbeing section in the Armidale Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. The only private training studio in Armidale and Armidale’s only CrossFit gym. He is also an avid if not tragic St George Illawarra Dragons fan.

Why?
Pretty ambiguous title I know.

But I want to make a point of telling you why I became a trainer and coach. And why sometimes that can be so hard.
Going back about 10 years or so I was quite overweight, I was lethargic and, well, generally unhappy in myself. I started trying “things”, and by “things” I mean diets, shakes, extreme exercise programs, you name it I almost certainly tried it.

And then I began a little education, I completed my cert 4 in fitness, and when I was done I quickly realised that I knew 3 parts of nothing. So I then had to go out and find more to learn. But what was driving me to do this? Part of the answer was to make me better than yesterday, but the real answer was that I thought that if I had already made all the mistakes I could then help others avoid those same mistakes.

So each and every day I am working on improving my knowledge, gaining new skills and refining my craft. My drive, my why, is to service and assist those that want my help.

The thing that brings me joy, the thing that I look forward to everyday when I get out of bed is seeing what new personal bests our clients and members can achieve each day. To see ‘everyday’ people achieve beyond the everyday inspires me no end.

But it gets tough at times, it can be hard. The hours are long, the information available out there is confusing to you, and the convenience of doing my work out is just that, too convenient.

The toughest part though, is showing you what you are capable of. But you know what? That is also the most enjoyable. I love the challenge of convincing you that you can deadlift more than you ever thought possible. The challenge of guiding you through your first Fran as Rxd.

The challenge of picking you up when you are down. The challenge of assisting you reach a more fruitful, enjoyable life through good nutrition and exercise. The sheer challenge of making you better than yesterday.

YOU are the reason I go to seminars and conferences and courses.
YOU are the one I love to see achieve beyond what you thought was your best.
YOU are the reason I am up late studying the newest findings in nutrition.
YOU are the reason I feel guilty for not actually working anymore, I am doing what I love.
You see YOU are my why.

Those that know me, know I love my family, and so you would understand that in order my why is Family, Service, Balance.
The service and balance help me achieve the family part. It is all inclusive.

Now go in and find your why, not out. Dig deep inside yourself and find why you want to exercise and eat better.
Why do you want to live better?
Why do you want to live longer?
Why do you want to be better than yesterday?

The gym is so scary!!
I have now heard another angle on this. It seems that no matter what we will try to justify our lack of exercise on an excuse that really, does not have the legs to stand on.

If we are to get right into the psychology of why we never start an exercise program we will find that our excuses are just a justification in our own minds so that we feel no guilt or less guilt about not doing anything.
A fair bit of the time in CrossFit there will be participants with very minimal clothing on, why, there was even an attempt in Europe for a nude class (not sure oly lifts would be fun in the nude, but hey I digress). And now I have heard about people not wanting to start as they are intimidated by this. However the same people would frequent a beach or local pool together and not have a problem. So what is the true reason? I don’t know, I am not in your mind. That is a question I want you to ask yourself.

The ones getting around the gym in not much all started somewhere before you. Now speaking from experience the people in our gym that wear no shirt or crop tops aren’t showing off, they are usually bloody hot! (We are after all in a shed in an industrial estate) What those people are doing is showing confidence and a feeling as though they are comfortable with whom they are. They don’t compare themselves to you, and nor should you to them. In fact I have witnessed where these members of our box have gone out of their way to help new people through a session.

But the main thing for me here is something a very smart man passed on to me.
If you want to improve yourself, or better yourself in any way, surround yourself with people that are performing better at your chosen pursuit.
If you continue to surround yourself with the same people day in day out, you will not strive to be better. And so you will do as the human condition wants and reach homeostasis. I am not just referring to fitness here. Career, family, education and even spiritual, you need to surround yourself with people that have gone before you. I am not saying dump your friends and family, I am saying to expand this circle.
Will that be a little uncomfortable? Yes, it might be very uncomfortable, but that way you are forced to grow and adapt. You become better, faster than you have before.

So stop right now. Look at what you are doing fitness wise. And look at what you wanted to achieve with your fitness and health 6 months ago, 12 months ago, 1 month ago, why even 1 week ago.

Are you where you wanted to be?
Are you making all the gains you want to?
Are you still thinking about the fact that you need to do something but it might be hard?
Are you just doing the same old gym routine?

The reason could well be that you haven’t changed a thing and so have reached that homeostasis. Jump outside your comfort zone, go to your nearest CrossFit affiliate and surround yourself with people that want to see you succeed, that will pick you up when you are down, but most importantly they will help make you better than yesterday.

Last week I spent a few days in Sydney. I was going down there to effectively call it quits on something that I thought I no longer needed. As it turns out, it was exactly what I needed but I had lost sight of that.

How many times have you thought that there was something in your life that you did not need any more to only be reminded only a short time later that you in fact needed it more than you thought?

The thing that I see every day that people need, but that don’t recognize that they do is their health. It isn’t until we are unhappy with what is in the mirror that we turn or life around.

I see so many things prioritised everyday over one’s health that I can only assume people don’t think they need to help themselves health wise, or they have been misled by an entire industry for too long.

Take this pill, drink this shake, by my 12 week challenge, eat (insert any diet title here), and you will look your best in the shortest time possible.
Well what if I told you it runs deeper than your skin, than your clothing size? You see high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, none of these care what you look like, they occur because of inaction on your behalf to your health and exercising and eating well is the first step to looking after yourself and keeping things like I just mentioned at bay.

I have heard I don’t have time so many times I don’t care to hear it that much anymore. I am quite empathetic when it comes to almost anything, however we all have 24 hours in a day and how you choose to use them is your business, but if you have time to watch TV, then I cannot accept for one second that you don’t have time to protect your most valuable asset, your health.

Stop looking at working out and eating well as looking good. Look at it as it should be an insurance policy against diabetes, heart disease, obesity and all related illnesses. Once you look at it from the right perspective you will wonder why you didn’t start yesterday.

If you even kind of understand that exercise and nutrition are about being your best, not looking your best, click the link below, get in touch with me and we can help make it happen for you.