My Next Steps In Fitness 05/14/2012
It's been a few days now and the excitement of Regionals has passed. Now I am sitting around each day, wondering what the hell I'm supposed to do next with all my training. Wondering why the hell I was so close with so many different things over the years, yet just not good enough to really shine. Well folks, it's time for a really self-analytical post here. It may come across as a little negative, a little bitter, maybe a little whinny at times (we'll see how it goes...); but, I need to do this every now and again to gain a better view on what I am doing in life. I have talked very often about taking time here and there to take a serious look at yourself so that you can make the necessary changes in becoming a better person each and every day. And when you feel like you might be in a rut, or in a place you just don’t want to be, in any way, then it's time to take that moment. So, here are some of the thoughts I've had over the past week. Damn it! CrossFit season is over for me! Just like that. All that hard work, all those extra hours of foam rolling, training, thinking and stressing about how far I could go and in three simple days it's over. At first I was a little relieved. I think that the mental stress got to me just a little as we got closer to Regionals and I was just happy to put my worries away for a while. What I mean by that is I was teetering on the edge of being burnt out. It's tough to be so one-track-minded about something for so long, especially if you're like me and have a mind that wanders off so easily. But that relief turned very quickly into restless confusion and frustration over what my next steps will be in training. I can now look back on everything I did and so clearly see where I went wrong. I got strong as hell, I put on a TON of weight, I somehow got a good deal better with my conditioning, and my body-weight and Olympic movements only slightly improved. My nutrition was streaky, as was my life in general which led to varying levels of motivation throughout the whole process. From a physical standpoint it's pretty obvious what I need to do to get to the level I hope to be with this Crossfit thing. I need to stop being such a wimp with my nutrition and just stop letting food consumption be so closely connected with my emotional state (yep, I am a stereotypical girl and eat sweets when I'm sad. Oh, and by the way, I'm a dude. Just in case any of you were confused by that sentence). When I lose control of the food, I lose control of my stress levels, my sleeping patterns and my overall positive outlook that I pride myself in having on a regular basis. Food does so much for me in terms of how I am as a person (it does for everyone, but this post is about me!), and when I eat like crap, I feel and act like crap. Simple really. Easier said than done of course. I'm also sure that eating better would have helped me stay around 220#, rather then the 230# I ended up getting to right before Regionals. And while I did get better at things like muscle ups, handstand push ups and running, I’m sure I would have gotten WAY better if I didn’t have to move such a massive amount of weight! I am not disappointed with my weight gain at all, hell, I put 40# on my squat, 30# on my deadlift, 35# on my clean and 25# on my snatch, not bad! I just know I could have controlled it a little more and that would have been that much more helpful. I am not at all worried about where I am headed with my training. I have all the faith in the world with my coach, Rudy Nielsen for programming. I know that for the summer months my focus will be getting even stronger (I already have my weight goals on the board in my gym, and will post a summer goals post in the near future), but the main thing will be getting outside and doing my metcons in the woods and the great outdoors like I enjoy doing so much. I will probably either skip out on The Outlaw Way's conditioning sessions and do my own in the woods, or, find a modification of theirs to use in the woods. I will continue to train at Outlaw on a pretty regular basis so that I can get good coaching points from Rudy and the other athletes, especially on my Olympic lifts. I will also head into the city for a few sessions here and there with a couple different USAW lifting classes. I have high expectations for my Olympic lifts over the next six months. So, from a physical training standpoint, I am right on track with what I need to focus on. Ok, enough about the physical, I am sure I'll get more into that soon enough, especially the food! On to the important stuff, the mental! I feel like I’ve written before about the idea that one might hold oneself back by being scared of success. And while I definitely relate a little to that idea, I think that I am probably a little more scared of focusing only one thing. Sure sure, the beauty of CrossFit is that there is no specialty and you get to focus on a ton of different thing. But the fact is, you still are only focusing on CrossFit, and not all the other amazing things life has to offer. I love baseball, trail running, climbing, well, I could just go on a rant here, but you get the idea. I have some strange mental block from allowing me to commit, like, SERIOUSLY commit to any one thing. And this is where I begin to confuse myself. I say this because from an outside perspective I’m pretty sure I appear to be an over-committer. And if I were to compare myself to “the majority”, I’m sure that would be an accurate description of my personality. But the truth of the matter is, I will always find a way to mentally check out, even if it’s just a tiny little bit. I find something else that excites me and that little bit of distraction takes away from gains and successes I feel I really should have. Sweet, Courage, you get distracted and you should be better. Well, what are you going to do about it? And at what point do you look at your life and say, well, maybe I can’t be better? Honestly, that’s a great question, one I have asked myself in many situations and take pride in being able to answer at almost any given moment. I stopped playing baseball because I lost the drive to play at the level I was at. I put everything I had into the game and got as far as my physical and mental self would allow. Now, with CrossFit, I am not yet there. I keep getting stronger, faster, better. I know that I could reach numbers that are far beyond what I have now. And I know that I can get even more mentally tough and competitive. Well, the question is pretty easy to answer in the end. I know I want to compete again next year at Regionals. And, I want to compete at a high level, as in, I want to give the other athletes a run for their money in getting to the Games. So, I need to take the next couple weeks, look over my training, and assess the best path to get there. I need to light a fire a little deeper in me that will never burn out. I can write here that I want it, and I can tell people I talk to that I want it. But in the end, I have to believe, with every ounce of my soul, that I truly want it. If I come up with that as a conclusion in the next couple weeks, then it’s going to happen. I’ll let you all know. Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage Add Comment Regionals Pics and Links 05/08/2012
The Whole Crew!
Taking in the day
The CrossFit Games Regionals 05/07/2012
 What a weekend! It's taken me a little bit to wrap my head around everything, but through it all I have to say it was an damn awesome three days. I'll get to the details in a second, but I'll throw out the highlights right now! Oh, and I'll also post up a string of pics and links after this post as well do you all can get a taste of the enormity of what CrossFit has become. So, on to the highlights! I met CrossFit founder Gerg Glassman. I spent time catching up with friends and CrossFit greats such as Christy Phillips, Gretchen Kittleberger, Jen Jones, Ben Smith and so many others. I connected with an absolutely AWESOME group of bad asses: The Outlaws (Reebok head honcho and ex-NFL stud Don Hasselbeck told me we were like the Raiders of CrossFit, now that is pretty damn cool). We proved that we are right there, all of us on the team, right there with the to competitors in the world. We could taste it all weekend. Man, writing about it now is getting my heart rate up again, so I'll get to the details now. We showed up Friday morning to the massive venue next to FedEx field where the Redskins play. Checked in, found ourselves a spot in the "Athletes Village" (where all the athletes hung out, ate food, recovered and so on), and pretty quickly had our four teammates getting warmed up for workout 1. My teammates were: Laura Nielsen (Coach Rudy's wife and one time Games competitor), Courtney Modecki, Lindsey Adkins, Tyler Degenhardt, and Tony Mayo (our two backups were Colleen Sullivan and Thomas Hansen). The first workout was a ton of heavy deadlift with handstand push ups and Tony, Tyler, Courtney and Lindsey were up for that one. They did very well, running about as smoothly as we hoped and gave us a 6th place finish to start off the weekend. The next workout called for myself, Tony, Courtney and Laura, and was all about the order we went in. It involved a 1000 meter row, 25 pistol squats and 15 hang cleans with a crazy heavy weight. I started off with a fast row, then it was all about just getting through the rest of the exercises without causing any sort of bottle-necking (the second I got off the row, the next person jumped in and began their row, then they could move on to the pistols only if I was already done with them). We went exactly as planned and while we would have liked to finish in the top 3 on this one, we ended up with a respectable 8th place. We were in 6th place overall after day one. Got some good food and sleep and we were back bright and early for another day of beatdowns! Tyler and Laura took on the 3rd workout, dumbbell snatches and sprints, and they gave us a 7th place finish, bringing us down to 4th place, and only 8 points out of a qualifying spot to the Games (the top 3 teams would go). A couple hours later we were warming up for the 4th workout and the final workout of the day: 75 squats, 50 pull ups, 25 shoulder to overheads (then same reps with front squats, then overhead squats. Oh, and that is just the girls. Then the guys would go do the same thing. It was a lot of reps to say the least!). Myself, Tyler, Courtney and Lindsey took on this one, and again, we were hoping for a top finish with our abilities. We went pretty damn smooth all though this one and only had 1 or 2 slip ups. But those were enough to push us down to a 6th pace finish, still damn good though. We moved back to 5th place, but we had advanced 2 points closer to a qualifying spot. So, we had the Games in our reach going in to the final day and final 2 workouts. I had an awesome dinner with Lindsey, my brother and his girlfriend, then hit the sac to rest up for our big push. I can't lie, the energy in the arena that final day was freaking insane. You could feel the tension of the team battle going on for 3rd, and you could feel that same tension going on with the individual competition as well. It was crazy exciting! The snatch ladder to start the day would prove to be one of the most exciting events to watch. Team Outlaw again had a respectable 6th place finish (with Tony Mayo hitting a huge PR to help bring our score up) but it was some other teams that just put on a clinic. Some girl from CrossFit Wilmington hit the 185# snatch and is the only girl in any Regional to even come close to that weight, let alone hit it. It was so inspiring to watch. And of course, watching a little dude like Ben Smith drop under 265# like it's a PVC pipe just puts so much into perspective. Anyway, we had a good bit if ground to make up in our final workout, and me, Tony, Courtney and Laura were fired up to get the job done. The workout was just a mess of exercises, muscle ups. barbell holds, wall balls, chin over bar holds, buddy carries along with a heavy dumbbell, partner box jumps, man it was crazy. Tony and I had a plan, and it was to to kick ass. Well, it didn't really turn out to go that way once we got to the wall ball and chin over bar holds. I suck at holding that position, and Tony was just spent at that point. We wasted so much time and energy trying to finish off all 60 wall balls that once we got back to the final SINGLE muscle up at the end of the workout, we both failed about 6 times before finally getting them with some crazy contortionist-like moves. We finally finished off and made way for the ladies, who just flat out took over. They cruised through the workout, finishing about 12 seconds before the cut-off and giving us a 7th place finish for the workout. Man! While we were just about the most consistent team in terms of placement, we needed to be consistent about one spot better each workout to have made it to the Games. In the end, there was a 3-way tie at 2nd place leaving us about 8 points behind those three teams. So close!!! In the end, the teams who went clearly deserved to be there. It was an awesome experience to be there, and even better to be right there in the running for the top spot. I am so incredibly honored to have had such an awesome team and support crew to train with and workout with for this entire crazy journey and I would not have given all that up for anything. I generally feel like I tend to be a loner when it comes to training and competing, but I must admit, I am so very proud to call myself an Outlaw. And I know, for all my followers out there, I'm sure it looks strange to see me decked out in gear that doesn't have my name on it! Ha, it felt weird. But in all seriousness, I have nothing but thanks and pride in being one of the original 15 or so Outlaw Way exercisers, and while I wish I could have helped get the Team represent all us at the Games, I know we did an incredible job, and I could not be happier with the weekend. It was so cool to look up after that final workout and have a crowd of Outlaws cheering, offering high fives and hugs right there. it felt like I was part of a massive, bad ass family. And to make things that bunch great, Lindsey and my bro were there with their support. God what a great weekend! And now, it's time to get back in the gym and keep getting better. Oh, and to cheer on the rest of the Outlaws already headed to the Games, and the ones who have yet to compete! No matter what happens out there with this new and insanely fast-growing sport, it is dam cool, and I am happy to be right in the thick of it. Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage Regionals Info 05/03/2012
Tomorrow is the big day! Below I'll post up some info on the event, like where the hell it is, when heats are going, and of course, when I'll be going! The CrossFit Games Mid-Atlantic Regionals - May 4th, 5th, 6th 8001 Sheriff Road Landover, MD 20785 (Apparently it's right next to the Redskins stadium, so, should be pretty easy to find. Just look for the CrossFit signs that'll be all over the place!) Team Workout Start Times (in case any of you missed it, I am competing as part of Team Outlaw!): Friday - 10am and 1:20pm (I'll be doing the second workout, at 1:20pm) Saturday - 9am and 11:50am (Again I'll be on the second one) Sunday - 10am and 1pm (I'll be doing both) This is going to be n absolute blast all weekend people. If you plan to come out to show your support for yours truly, make sure to hang out there a few extra hours and just soak up the intensity and constant inspiration going on at all times. There is nothing like three days straight of elite exercisers doing their thing. It's so much fun! Hope to see you all out there! And of course, if you DO come, wear your Courage Performance shirt!! Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage A Memorable Birthday 05/03/2012
So, last Friday was my 30th birthday, and it was a damn good one. There wasn't really a plan to do anything leading up to the big day, probably a little frolic through the woods and then out to grab a boat-load of meat to consume! But, one of my long-time clients and good friends asked if her and her husband could put together a party for me. I hesitatingly accepted her offer (I just feel guilty when someone does stuff for me, something myself and all of us should learn to get over if you have that problem!) and she went about organizing what would turn out to be one of the most wonderful gifts I've ever received. There were some 50+ people who rolled through this wonderful house, great food, plenty to drink, and the coolest cake I have ever seen in my life! It was great to hang out with so many of my friends and I must make one quick point to a new group of friends I am excited to have, the Outlaws! Only having met the crew from Outlaw CrossFit a few months ago really, I feel like I have connected with an awesome group of people. And I'm proud to rep the team this coming weekend! This is my natural transition to my next topic, The CrossFit Games Regionals! Tomorrow marks the first of three days of competition and I'll be headed to the PG County Athletic Complex with Team Outlaw to battle for a spot at this years CrossFit Games! I am feeling so confident in our chances of making the top three teams to win a spot to the Games. Rudy (our coach and owner at CrossFit Outlaw) has done a damn good job of programming so that all of us are more than prepared. And as the first time ever competing as part of a team, I am looking forward to the group dynamic and added energy of each event! It's been a crazy couple weeks for sure. Training has been really focused, birthday was awesome, Lindsey surprised me with a GoPro camera which is AWESOME and all you guys will get to check out my experiences this weekend from the view of this bad ass camera! And the next couple months look to be just as exciting. I have a trip down to South Carolina to celebrate my host-sister's (from my host family when I played baseball in FLA) graduation/birthday. I have a long trip out to CA to hang with the old crew, workout and do a little training camp at CrossFit San Mateo (and probably go surfing and eat the best BBQ in the world!). I have Courage Bars to attend to and am planning some huge things for them this summer. And I expect to see a record breaking number of athletes come though the nations largest gym, The Garage (all of 200 square feet) through the summer months! I also promise (as I have done many times before) to write a little more regularly on this thing! I definitely go through phases with being motivated to write. As many of you know, writing doesn't really come naturally to me (as you can tell with all the grammatical errors on this site, something I plan to change, in fact, read note on this below!) so I struggle here and there with the idea of just sitting and writing anything. Either way, I am scheduling out a time on a regular basis to write, and edit video over the summer. Should be one filed with plenty of good info and ideas! As for grammatical errors, if you find one of my idiotic misspellings, or a major error in my writing (overuse of commas, run-on sentences and the like do NOT count!), let me know and I will do something "entertaining" as self-punishment for writing like a loser! Sound good? Finally, I'll be posting all sorts of updates from Regionals on Facebook and Twitter (@jcourage), so make sure to follow along! Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage Training And Camping 04/17/2012
The past week was a pretty good one all around. I cleaned up my diet as Regionals are getting closer and the immediate effects were wonderfully rewarding. I trained hard, feeling pretty good all around. And, Lindsey and I went out to Catoctin for some hiking and camping. As we move on to another week here, I am feeling excited for the revved-up week Rudy at Outlaw has planned for us, and am looking forward to all the athletes that are coming in to train! Lots of good things all around it seems. So, let me share some of the highlights. Last weeks training was nothing to write home about; it was a de-load week of sorts, so nothing too intense except for a threshold training day. My body officially loves this style of workout for some reason, and this one was no different. It was 5 rounds of 250 meter row, 10 squat clean to thrusters with 95# and 15 burpees, with 3 minutes rest between rounds. And it was all done with a 20# vest. I felt like crap through it, wanting to quite after the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds. But I just kept on trucking and that night, when I posted my results, I found that I had the 2nd best time posted. Blew my mind. I think that I actually react much better to all out gassers then I originally thought, and it has shifting the way i think about my approach to most workouts. I need to stop getting so caught up in gaming each and every little thing, and just go all out. I react better to that perspective for the most part (exceptions would be for workouts with muscle ups, handstand push ups and things like that. I took Saturday off, even though it was a great collection of workouts, I had the opportunity to head out to the woods, and to be totally honest, I would say that most of the time being out in nature is going to win out over pretty much anything. With the big three-oh coming up in a couple weeks, Lindsey hooked up a trip to the Catoctin mountains. The idea of what they had out there was about as perfect as I could imagine: hike about 3 miles into the woods and find a ice little pre-built lean-to. Set up camp, hang out, and have some fun in the woods! In the end, the location was a bit of a let down, just nothing at all to do any where near the site. We hiked about 2 hours, then drove another 15 minutes the next day to get to some awesome hiking, bouldering, waterfall-ing and lake-chilling-next-to-ing that made the whole trip more than worth the time! I think the camping location would have been way better had there been a decent sized group with us, but with absolutely nothing around there at all, it led to some restlessness for sure. It inspired me to build something like that for people on a ridge with a view, or on some water somewhere. No that would be damn cool. Anyway, on our way home we stopped for dinner in Frederick, MD; absolutely lovely city if you've never been. So, this week coming up is supposed to be a crazy intense one for all us in the mid-Atlantic region. Next week is a taper week, and then it's only one week after that until our regional competition, pretty exciting all around. While I'm pumped up for the week of training, i already got off to a shaky start by using today (Tuesday) as my rest day. i ended up spending all day moving equipment from my temporary gym space (officially closing at the end of this month) to The Garage. It took some serious planning, but I was somehow able to cram almost double the equipment in the garage while opening space up. This summer is going to be absolutely EPIC with all the athletes coming into this place. My goal is to have the smallest location that has 65 members or more (and I am certain I'll have upwards to 100 athletes come through the 200 square foot space by the end of the summer!). While the mornings and afternoons are quickly being filled, I have begun taking classes out at outlaw CrossFit as well. With the success of Rudy and Laura's The Outlaw Way, they have been looking for some support at their gym, and I am super stoked to be able to help them out. It also allows be to be able to train with the group there on a more regular basis, and I am feeling the positive effects of training with others on an almost daily basis. Well, there's an update for you all, no PR's, no crazy, insane news, just a boring ol' update show. I have a few topics that I am itching to write about, so I expect to get to at least two of them by the end of the week. Oh, and Regional workouts are announced tomorrow! Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage A Fun Weekend 03/28/2012
For the life of me I can't figure out why I am having such a hard time with keeping this blog up to date. For some reason I just can't bring myself to write like I used to and I know you guys are helplessly sitting by your phones/computers waiting longingly until I finally post again. While I make no guarantee to post every day, I can promise that I will try to get back into the rhythm of doing so. That all being said, I have two posts: a positive one, then a negative one. I'll start with the positive. This past weekend, the last weekend of the CrossFit Games Open, I was up in Massachusetts for my cousins Bar Mitsfah. I was a little worried for a couple reasons: one, where and when would I get the Open workout? And two, how was I going to stay healthy?! Well, everything turned out to be pretty damn good and I am happy to say, I had one of the better workout experiences in a while. Flew up to Providence, hung at the relatives house for a little bit in Mansfield, MA, then headed over to CrossFit Torque, a small, family-run spot about a mile and half from the Patriots Gillette Stadium! The workout space was maybe around 800 square feet, but was very well organized. But what set these guys apart right from the get-go was how freaking welcoming they all were! Not just the owners and coaches, but all the athletes I met in my two visits, so nice, so friendly and it was impossible NOT to feel at home there. So, I hot the workout with the goal of beating my last years score of 111 total reps (for those of you who don;t know what the workout was, it was 3 reps of each of thrusters at 100# and chest to bar pull ups, then 6 each,then 9 each, the 12, then 15 and so on for 7 minutes. My goal was to break up the pull ups early so that I wouldn't burn out, and start breaking up the thrusters around the round of 12. I would move comfortably through everything so that I didn't smoke myself and run out of gas. Well, I didn't give myself enough credit on this and when I dumped the bar 3 times on the round of 18 thrusters, I got so annoyed at myself for throwing such a light bar down that I kind of psyched myself out for the pull ups. I finished 1 rep shy of finishing my 18 pull ups, and a score of 125. About 10 seconds later I came to conclusion that I would do this one again! The bar was SO light! I had so much more in me, and I wanted to get everything out of this last workout that I could. And, if I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to qualify for Regionals, I needed every rep I could possibly get! So, after a wonderful, celebratory Saturday (and eating about 8k calories in not-so-great food, including and not limited to about 4 pieces of wonderful cake!) I woke up sickly on Sunday and ready to get after it! This time around I planned on not putting the bar down at any point (this approach would force me to hold on to it until I just couldn't anymore), and break up the pull ups in the same way as last time which worked really well for me. I also committed to moving faster between exercises. And, to add to it all, I stupidly forgot my Oly shoes, and waiting for them to arrive I had the unexpected surprise of having 6 family members show up to cheer me on. Add the 6 or so people from CrossFit Torque who were waiting on me to finish and I had a whole slew of people ready to pump me up! Now, before a workout starts, having that many people watching you is a little nerve wracking. But, once the fun begins, and all your energy is focused into just getting through the thing; having that many people there supporting your every move does nothing but help like crazy! Needless to say, I was able to bang out 9 more reps, finishing 8 thrusters into the 21's and finishing with 134 reps! This helped a TON in moving me up in the standings. Unfortunately, when all was said and done, I finished in 61st place by only a few points (the top 60 make it to Regionals by the way). Such a bummer (and the inspiration for my negative post coming tomorrow). Anyway, if you're in the South-Of-Boston area, check out CrossFit Torque, really cool people there. Now, I want to talk about our Saturday mid-day fun and how my family did some stuff I just don;t think people do anymore. We spent a good 4 hours outside, playing. We played bocce ball, basketball, football, some strange baseball game, rolled around the grass, played with matchbox cars and shot little Styrofoam rockets 50+ feet in the air and tried to catch them. When was the last time you went outside and just played? And I'm not asking this of the 6 year-olds that read my blog, I'm asking it of the teens, and adults, young and old. And if you haven't done it, is it becuase you think playing around is too childish? Is it because you don't have the time, or energy? Those don;t count as excuses in my mind. Because I was so hyper aware of how much time could have easily be spent sitting in front of the TV as a group, or sitting around eating chips and chatting. But instead, we were laughing, talking, playing, moving, running, inventing, imagining, being human and having fun. I think if the whole weekend went horribly wrong, I would have looked back at it in a positive light because of those 4 hours running around with everyone outside. Next time you're with a group of people, especially if there are kids with you all, swallow your pride, take the stick out of your ass, and get out and play. It's more fun than sitting on your ass, eating bad food and melting your brains cells in front of the TV! Mever Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage Back On The Sadle 02/22/2012
Well, yet again I have neglected writing for a couple weeks and I apologies to those of you who enjoy reading my blog on the regular! But I have decided on what I will be doing for Lent. First off, I have never actually done anything for Lent, never really grew up with it or anything so it never really caught on for me. And really, I am approaching this first time for me all wrong, but that's ok, I'm really just committing to something and it just so happens to land on the first day of Lent. I am giving up on excuses for NOT writing on this blog and will be writing a post every single day! Yep, it's back at posting up motivations, updates, ideas, thoughts, complaints, and on and on. So, you have that to look forward to! Other than that, I'll start off with a little update on my training, the progress of the gym space, The Open, training with The Outlaws and whatever else pops in my head as I write! So, training has been going very well. Following The Outlaw Way, and getting down to train with Rudy Nielson and his crew on a regular basis has worked wonders on my progress. I always thought that I just needed to break down one last wall before becoming legitimately good at this whole CrossFit thing, and while I am no Rich Froning, Jr., I feel like I have at the very least figured out exactly what it takes. I still have my weaknesses, and while they are big weaknesses, I am WAY better than I was even teo months ago. I feel like that wall I need to break through is still there; but rather than being a 10 foot think steel wall, it's a frail drywall (the link there is for fun, and it tends to be highly offensive and littered with bad language, besides that, it is hysterical. you've been warned). Last Friday we hit a threshold workout and something just clicked in me. I figured out how to push through more than ever before. And while I've had a few crappy workouts after that, it has really opened my eyes on how to better approach all the other workouts that could and will be offered throughout a competition. I am bubbling with confidence when it comes to competitions coming up. That leads me to The Open. Tonight CrossFit will be announcing the first of five workouts that around 50,000 people worldwide will be performing in what is easily the largest and most divers competition the world has ever seen. After the same process last year, I can honestly say that the powers that may be over at CrossFit figured out the best method for finding The Fittest On Earth in the given year. While I am sure there will be some minor changes throughout the years, I think the basic template will stay the same. For those of you who do not know, it works like this: The Open: One workout is announced every Wednesday night. People have until Sunday night to submit their score, either by video, or by going to a qualified affiliate who can validate your score for you. Every person is signed up in a specific region, and I think there are 14 regions around the world (I am in the Mid Atlantic Region). The Regionals: The top 60 athletes from each reason will make it to Regionals. They get their by being the best at the workouts announced over the five weeks of the The Open. This event will be a 3-day event (although the dates posted this year suggest a 4-day event...). These will be run just like a normal CrossFit event, with 6+ workouts over the weekend, all at the same location and everyone competing for a top spot! The Games: The top 3 athletes from each Regional make it to The Games. This is the big event that will probably be on ESPN and where the winner get $250K! It just keeps getting bigger and bigger! It's a pretty cool event all around, and if you don;t want to sign up for The Open yourself (you might as well, it's only $20 and can be done almost anywhere!) you can follow along the world HERE, or me and my adventures on my blog as I'll be updating my process. Turns out I'll be performing each of the 5 workouts in a different location each week! Crazy! Cool, besides that, not much going on! I have a massive project in the Courage Bars looming over me which is nothing short of insanely exciting, and I am focusing on getting those made up and marketed in some way as I train and get my clients training as well. I am negotiating a gym space right now, and with all the bad luck that has followed me in trying to open a space since I moved back to the East Coast, this is proving to be the most promising. I don;t want to spill the beans on the details with this one yet at all, but know that I am still working on a daily basis to get something going! Obviously, as things roll along I will update everyone, so, staying positive! If you haven't yet, or if you know of some people that can vote, please vote for me for Best Personal Trainer in DC here. It only take s few seconds and I am committing to doing something wonderfully crazy and entertaining (physically obviously) if I win this year! Ok, that'll be the update for now. But I'm excited to get to writing on a daily basis, have lots' of great topics to get to! Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage My New Training Program 06/08/2011
 After a couple rest days (one with an easy 2.5 mile run), I got my act together to set out my new training program. While I am still a little beat up from the Regionals workout (specifically, the one that ripped my hands to shreds and apparently my biceps are internally about as bad as my hands are externally...) I figured I should be good enough to get after a new program. My hands have healed up so quickly, in fact, they are fully usable as of today. Insane. Proving once and for all I have Wolverine qualities (from X-Men, no the actual animal. He heals fast for those of you who don't know). To get things rolling I went out with a large group last night and did a crazy long sandbag workout that lasted us about an hour. perhaps not the smartest move Ive made but it was low-intensity enough to not beat me up too much. In fact, with a little pool time this morning I was feeling really good to go in the gym. So, for the next two months I am going to be following a very straight forward strength program designed by a trainer I follow from time to time named Mike Robertson. A regular on T-Nation and a big name in Sports Performance, Mike has a very straight forward and easy to understand approach to his programming. My goals for the next four months are to focus on my greatest weaknesses (gymnastics) and get myself back to the basics in terms of strength. So, this turned out to be just about as perfect a program as any. Monday - Run/swim. Tumbling/gymnastics. Squat focus strength. Tuesday - Run. Rings/gymnastics. Press focus strength. Short MetCon. Wednesday - Tumbling/Jumping/gymnastics. Mobility/Recovery Thursday - Swim. Isometrics/gymnastics. Deadlift focus strength. Friday - Lock-out focus strength. Medium/log MetCon Saturday - Optional. Sports. Sunday - Rest. Mobility/Recovery The running, gymnastics, tumbling and MetCons are all my own additions to the program, and, I will be opting in strict pressing for the most part over bench pressing as I suck at that movement completely. For a more detailed look at this program, check out the article on T-Nation HERE. Robertson will be publishing the second month soon. After these two months, I plan to put together my own program based on aspects of ones that have worked for me. The ulitmate goals here are to become WAY more proficient with all things gymnastics (especially muscle ups and handstand push ups), and get my strength numbers to new, much, much higher levels. In terms of goals, here is what I am expecting out of my training in the next 4 months: HSPU - 5+ strict (current - 1) Muscle Ups - 1 strict, 10+ kipping (current - 5 kipping) Deadlifts - 550# (current - 500#) Squat - 445# (current - 405#) Strict Press - 200# (current - 181.5#) Additional goals/focuses: Continue to learn what nutrition program meshes best for me and my training program at the time to more quickly see and feel results. Focus more on supplemental lifts to build stability and balance I have clearly lost thanks to my hardcore CrossFitting (I have very strong opinions on this that I have alluded to in the past, I have it in my to-write list as a separate article altogether). Condition on a regular basis as to informally train for my next big feat. Um. This leads me to my next subject. Many of my closest friends and such know this, so I guess this is the first official announcement: I plan to attempt an Ironman Triathlon this coming fall. As only i know how, perhaps always wanting to do too much to ever be incredibly good at anything, I am already looking into a nice, quiet Maryland Ironman I can jump into and do. It's been a goal of mine for a few years to do one before I turn 30, so, I have a little under a year to get it done! Following that fun, it's CrossFit 100%. So, lot's of good info out there. I am sure more will be coming your way over the next couple weeks!! Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage Let The (Regional) Games Begin! 06/02/2011
 Tomorrow marks the start of the Reebok CrossFit Games Mid Atlantic Regional competition. Three days, six workouts, a little over 30 dudes (same for women, and about 15 teams I believe), all fighting for only a few spots to the CrossFit Games in CA at the end of July. I have yet to feel nervous, I am excited, I am eager to hang out with so many like-minded people and I am feeling pretty positive about my fitness levels. I have no idea what is going to happen out there, but all I o know as that when I hear "GO", I am going to do just that. I plan to give it my all, trust my training, trust my fuel, trust my body and push myself harder and farther then I ever have. That is what I enjoy doing, that is why I love CrossFit, and it fires me up to know that I will be surrounded by people who want the same thing. I think the reason my nerves are so calm is that my mind has been elsewhere today (probably a very good thing when i think about it). Today marked the two year anniversary of my Mothers death and it has been overwhelming thinking about all the good she not only brought to me, but to so many people around the world. I have written about her many times on both this and my old blog, and I feel like I could write something new and positive about her every day. Today I will leave it at this: she is the main reason I push myself. For her, if you were not working towards doing the thing you loved with all your energy, you were wasting time. And if you were not smiling while you did it, you were doi g something wrong. This weekend I dedicate my effort to her. Through the pain and struggle of each rep I will relish the opportunity to feel so alive. I will be beyond grateful to be able to be out there, healthy, happy, moving, sweating, pushing myself to new limits around hundreds of others who desire the same for their lives. I am humbled by her every day, from the day I was born, to this day, 3 years after she has passed. So this weekend, and for as long as I live, I will continue to challenge myself, I will smile through and enjoy each and every challenge, and i will share my love and passion for this with as many people as I can. To all you competition tomorrow, to those of you who competed last week, to the hundreds waiting to compete over the next couple weeks, to to everyone who pushes themselves to be better; you inspire me every day. You all freaking ROCK! For those of you wanting to come out tomorrow and over the weekend to spectate, cheer and be totally blown away with how awesome these CrossFit events are, you;ll find the info below. I will be updating the blog each day with posts, pics and videos. And, I'll be posting to Facebook and twitter throughout the weekend. be sure to follow along even if you can't be there! George Mason University Field House 4501 University Dr. Fairfax, Virginia 22030 Friday - 9am-6pm Saturday - 9am-6pm Sunday - 9am-3pm $10 per day or $25 for a full-event pass. Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage | ArchivesMay 2012  
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