Become Active 04/05/2012
 
_ Over the past few months I have become aware of something that really bother me.   People have no idea what it means to be an “active person”!  I have mostly seen it in younger people (ages 9-18), where, IF they get activity in during the day, it’s either a practice or game with their sports team, or a little 15 minute stint outside that usually consists of hanging around and texting, or kicking a ball around in a generally stationary position.  I have talked with a good deal of these kids recently to fond out what their activity level is like at school, and have been even more shocked at how little people these days run around!  Most breaks are spent hanging out, talking, eating, texting, playing games on their phones or catching up on work that they are slammed with.  But it’s not just the kids, and in fact, arguably a huge reason the kids are so inactive is because their parents are even more inactive.  There’s work, errands, social lives, taking care of kids, and on and on; so many excuses to not be active.  I was shown a really funny TV ad that shows people excuses for not being active; and, as funny as it is, it is so completely true!

So, over the years people begin to form the idea that to stay healthy, they need to get out and be active for 15-30 minutes a day. They need to make sure this activity is scheduled into their busy lives and for the most part, it becomes one of those things that is the first to drop off the schedule the second the day gets out of hand.  Well, I’m sorry, but a 15-minute walk around the block is NOT activity.  Taking your kids to their soccer practice and pacing the sidelines is NOT activity.  Getting outside after school and throwing a football back and forth between text messages is NOT activity.  And the fact that our society is so lost in inactivity that these things can be considered activity is really, really sad. 

I have to agree, if you are obese, completely inactive, really, really old, or horribly injured or sick because of a serious lack of health, a 15-30 minute stroll is extremely important.  And this is the case especially if you have kids and can take them with you.  But I feel like there needs to be a HUGE shift over the coming years to a point where we can all agree that a 15-30 minute walk is something we do after dinner to enjoy each others company and enjoy the evening air.  And activity should be defined as getting to the gym, working out with friends, playing sports, running and playing outside; not because we have to, but because we don’t know any other way.  Imagine if your go-to thing to do when you had a few hours to kill was to go explore the woods, climb a tree, hit a workout, go for a run, etc.?  But, unfortunately, most people flop down on the couch, turn the TV on with a drink or snack and slowly destroy their bodies and minds.

So parents don’t tell your kids to go run around; don’t buy them video games and don’t keep crappy food in the house.  Take your kids outside and play games with them.  Motivate them to sign up for teams and leagues, and camps and so on.  Oh, and do all this stuff yourself as well!  Make being active a natural part of your life so that forcing yourself to get outside for a short walk isn’t what the world calls “activity” anymore.  It’s up to all of us to change the definitions of things rather than accepting what we’ve become. 

An active person is one who loves and craves activity; one who actually lives actively.  If you have to schedule activity into your or your family’s lives, you all are not active people.  You are merely attempting to mask the lazy, unhealthy, unhappy people you are.  Yep, I went there, and I defend that statement to the death.  We as human beings are meant to be highly active.  We are built for it.  Don’t let our bodies and minds evolve into weak mush like so many of us people are.  Go a month without watching TV.  Cut your time in the car (unless it’s going to be active) in half.  Doing even one of those things will all of a sudden make your realize just how much time you really do have on your hands.  And the more time you spend being active, the better your life will become.  Just give it a try and see what happens. 

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage 

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_ This question is usually asked with a load of negativity or judgment, and generally after you’ve done something apparently stupid, like, trying to deadlift at Planet Fitness...  But I ask this question in complete seriousness, to help inspire a deeper view of yourself so that maybe you can come out the other end a better person.  But I realize that this could be an extremely loaded question.  I’m sure when push comes to shove, you could probably find all sorts of problems with yourself.  So, I want to narrow it down to finding one really major issue.  And, I can guarantee that every single person in the world has one. 

Your problem does not have to be completely negative.  It does not have to be that you’re a pathological liar or something (although, if that’s your problem, you must acknowledge that), hell, your problem could be the complete opposite in your head or on paper.  I knew a guy who over time found out he was too nice.  Yeah, he was so overtly nice (for whatever reason), that it ended up effecting his life negatively.  People found him annoying, they found him suspicious, or just plan too happy to be around.  Now, he may be wrong, he may be right, I have no idea.  That’s not what this post is supposed to be about.  This post is meant to be a call-out to think about what your problem might be, and to work on making it NOT a problem anymore. 

First, it’s probably worth me defining what I am calling a problem.  I think that for this exercise, a problem is something that hinders your, and/or other people everyday activity.  Think of it how they diagnose OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder); everyone has OCD tendencies, but when they begin to negatively affect your life is when you should probably do something about it.   So, say you think your problem is something like drinking too much wine.  Well, does your wine drinking cause you distress?  Are you pissed off and unable to be dealt with if you don’t have it?  Do you HAVE to have it?  Are you difficult to deal with when you DO have it?  Do you think about it all day and base your day around the time when you can finally have it?  Well, if you answered yes to any of those (and I am sure there are plenty of other examples of negative effects) then yeah, this could be your problem.  If no to all of them, than you know what?  Maybe it’s actually not a problem.

Another thing I want to avoid doing here is picking out too many problems.  I am certain everyone reading this could begin writing out a list of problems they think they have.  But again, that’s not what this post is about.  I want to diagnose one problem, so that you can approach dealing with it with a clear head.  The second you begin listing off problem after problem you will overwhelm yourself and not be able to help yourself at all.

So, who wants to go first?  Well, seeing how I’m writing this, I guess I will.  But, I challenge all of you to post to comment about what you think your is.  To be honest, I know that there are hundreds of people that read this (and if you told your friends and shared it, there would be thousands… just saying…), and I am really curious to know if my writing is actually doing something for all you.  Yes, it’s great to know that people are reading, and I have gotten plenty of positive feedback (oh, and the main negative feedback is spelling and grammar!  I am working on that, I promise).  But will any of you actually step up and try something I am proposing here?  I guess we’ll see…

My problem is that I over-analyze.  When something happens to me, or to someone near to me, I break it down into more detail than is necessary.  A lot of the times I find that doing this leads me to never act on the issue because all I am doing is thinking about it so much.  I will think about how the something occurred and how it could have been avoided or changed.  I think about why it occurred and how reactions were and why.  I think about the person (whether it be me, or another person) and why they/I would have done such a something, and what would have caused them/I to do it.  And my over analyzing tendencies goes so far as to making decisions.  I will break down the choices so much that I just can’t do anything.  I am a classic “analysis-paralysis” case. 

Well, my goal isn’t to give ways to fix you, because hey, I’ no therapist or anything.  But what I can do is let you know how I have been working on my problem.  First, I was honest with myself about my problem.  If I denied ever having one in the first place it would be impossible for me to improve as a person.  Second, when I catch myself beginning to over-analyze, I try to stop it as early as I can, and do something that I know clears my mind.  Generally it is getting outside and being moderately to very active.  The second I do this, I am able to come to a conclusion about what I am feeling very quickly.  So, perhaps I do have an answer for you, perhaps I am actually a great therapist in the end!  When you find yourself faced with your problem, do something that will put you in a state of calm, happiness.  When you are clear of negativity, you will be able to deal with your issues so much better.  The cleaner you are, the easier it is to get rid of dirtiness.

This obviously begs the question: what makes you calm and happy?  But there I go breaking down the situation way too much.  Perhaps a post about that soon?  I’m off to the outside world now to clear my head.

Never Stop, GET FIT

Josh Courage
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Picture
My favorite picture of us
_ Feeling a little bad that for the first time in a good while I passed over my moms birthday without writing a little post.  So, perhaps it’s a bit late, but I wanted to pay a little respect to the woman to inspired so much in me, and continues to do so.

For those of you newer readers who don’t know about my mom, she was one of the greatest fighters I have ever met (and I do know a few elite level MMA crazies, so…).  What I mean by that is that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she fought through an incredible number of years going the natural route.  She stayed active, she committed to overall health both inwardly and outwardly.  She worked on healing relationships and making new and lasting ones with the idea that all of this would allow her body to naturally fight this horrible sickness.  What blew my mind about my mother the most was that when she was seemingly at her worst, and I mean stage-4 cancer, disintegrated spine, major osteoporosis, rapid weight loss and probably a whole list of things I am forgetting, she still lived. With all these problems, she still cooked almost every single meal.  And a meal for her would easily average an hour or two because it was 100% real food.  She consumed nothing processed, nothing fake at all.  She would walk twice a day, sometime for over an hour.  Put this into perspective people, so many of us seemingly “healthy” people make excuses to not workout, be active, and make our own food every single day.  Our country is fatter and sicker than ever before.  And yet there was this frail, horrendously falling apart woman who chose to pursue what she believed and loved every single day.  She made no excuses, she smiled every day, and she hoped to leave us all with the feeling of deep love in the end.  And I would argue that her ultimate goal in life was achieved.  She proved that living a life that you can respect and smile about is way better than choosing excuses, prescription drugs, tons of surgeries and a long, painful death.

Now I don’t want to paint a completely positive picture of her, while she inspired so much good, there was plenty she did that caused pain in our family.  But this is also something she taught me; to be straightforward about how you feel and to face those feeling with honesty and a clear mind.  She strived to be the best woman she could be to all of us, and to everyone in her life.  And while she slipped up here and there, she clearly found success in the pursuit of what she wanted out of life.

I am especially aware of her missing in my life around this time of year because we used to go see the Cherry Blossoms together in Kenwood, MD.  We would stroll around, talking, silent, laughing, thinking, and just soaking in the power of the beauty of those flowers.  One of the most vivid memories I have of her was her spinning and spinning around with her arms out when a gust of wind blew and covered us in a snow-fall of pick flower pedals.  It doesn’t matter who you are, there was something so touching about the joy and freedom she clearly felt in those moments.  It was impossible not to smile.

I miss her.  I hope to remember every day that the best way to live life is to do what you feel deep down to be right.  It doesn’t matter if people disagree with you, try to hold you back, argue with you, or even fight you.  If you believe in it with all your heart, good things will happen in your life.  And when the end comes, you can look back on everything you did, everything you stood for, and be proud.  My mother was proud of all of us, and I am so proud to have had her as a driving force in my life for so long. 

Happy belated Birthday, Mom!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage

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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
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Been a bit since I last ran through what I've been up to, so, here you go!  The lull in posts over the past 4-5 days has been because I was out on a cruise down to Mexico and internets was insanely expensive, so, opted to just lay low for a while.  Let's start off with The Open.  As I write this, we are only hours away from the announcement of the 4th workout (out of 5), and the exciting thing for me with all this has been my rapid comeback.  After a debacle of a first workout, finishing 375th in the region, I had a respectable 2nd one, pushing me to 103rd.  Then, I good score in my eyes brought me down to 82nd overall after 3 weeks.  I'm fired up becuase there are a limited amount of exercises they can bring out for us on the last two workouts, and I am very confident I'll do pretty well.  My goal is to not only finish in the top 60, but to hopefully get myself down to a better finish than last year (I finished 30th last year).  I haven't really made an official announcement yet, but because the chances of me actually making the Games are pretty slim, I'll be joining the Outlaw CrossFit team and competing with them to hopefully get to the Games that way!  I am exited to do this as I've never done a team competition and I feel strongly that team Outlaw will tear it up (as of now, we are at 10th in the region, and am pretty sure we'll finish top 5 or so when all is said and done). 

So, this past weekend.  This was an interesting trip all around, and it solidified that I really do know what I like and don't like.  So, I met Lindsey down in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday, grabbed dinner on Las Olas Blvd and then went to get some recovery sleep before doing the 3rd Open workout.  After a hearty breakfast we went to The Playground Gym to join their 10am class for the workout.  This place was awesome!  A HUGE warehouse, just north of downtown and filled with every bit of equipment one would need and more.  They had full powerlifting gear, tons of racks and platforms, a great space out back with tires and sleds, and tons of really welcoming and enjoyable athletes, and of course, some great coaches.  After getting my 10 rounds plus 27 reps in the crazy humidity of Florida, I hung around for a bit with the coaches to get some light Oly work before headed back to prepare fro the cruise.  Had a great time at The Playground Gym (owners of CrossFit Affliction as well) and was excited to head back there on Monday after we got back from the cruise.  I was able to get my back squat work, then joined the 7pm class for their conditioning: 5 rounds of 400 meter run and 15 overhead squats at 95#.  This was the perfect workout post-crusie bender and I was happy to move through this with a time of 13:41.  I would assume that a 12-ish minute time would be doable at full capacity, but it felt so good to just go all out.  After that, I hung with the coaches and did a bit more accessory work.  So, if you are ever in Ft. Lauderdale, make sure to get in touch with these guys and join in for a class, they are a bunch of damn good people.

On to the cruise!  Ok, I totally get how some people can really like these things.  Everything is right there for you, food, sun, games and such f you want, and plenty of people to keep the energy levels up.  We had some fun on the flow-rider, had a really good people-watching time, got TONS of sun, drank and ate too much, and had a absolute blast on our day out on Cozumel, Mexico.  The negatives from my perspective (and mind you, these are merely MY opinions!  I have a pretty distinct personality, so take these comments accordingly):  you are stuck in a limited space.  To me, it is scary as all hell to not be able to go anywhere at any time.  While the ship was impressively big, you are still completely limited to what's on it, and I could start to feel myself becoming a tad bit claustrophobic.  The next is the food.  While it was actually pretty decent, it was insanely processed.  I could tell that right off the bat becuase no matter how much or little you ate, you felt crazy bloated after, no matter what!  When I had fish tacos in Mexico with fried fish and cheese on them and felt awesome, I knew there was something strange going on.  And while there was plenty to do (flow rider, climbing wall, basketball court, game room, freaking skating rink and so on) it was just not the same as say, surfing, actual rock climbing, running around in the woods and swimming in the ocean.  I found that my snootiness on relaxation is pretty strong and I can't get myself to be totally chill unless I'm in nature.  Oh, right, and I'm also NOT an extrovert; as in, I really don't get any energy at all from being around other people.  I get my energy from being alone and in nature.  Some people are just different, what can I say.  So, if you like being around people, if you like having tons of different foods and and drinks and having everything right there for you, then a cruise is perfect for you.  And I know tons of people who love cruises, so, makes sense.  But for me, just ain't the thing for me!

Allrighty, there's the update show for today.  I got a few things planned out for posts to come, so look for those through the week!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage
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_ This post is inspired by a few recent incidences where coaches have said some pretty ignorant things about CrossFit, and what I do.  I completely understand the misunderstanding that so many people have with CrossFit because there is so much crap information out there.  But one must only take a second or two to realize that no matter what you are practicing, it could be wonderfully beneficial, or horrendously detrimental depending on the coach and how things are programmed.  CrossFit is a very generally defined strength and conditioning program at heart.  And that is what I do.  I train people to become the most athletic person they can possibly be, using the theory that training every aspect of athleticism in a hyper-controlled manner will do just that.  It is difficult to argue the fact that if one is at his/her best athletically, they will be able to adapt to the demands of their sport better than one who is not in “complete” shape.  And because this is the goal of my training, I do not practice what uneducated people believe Crossfit to be: a random collection of exercises thrown at you in a violently intense circuit with the goal of moving heavier and heavier weights as fast as possible.  Perhaps I don't actually practice "CrossFit"; but again, it's a vague enough definition, and I enjoy being a part of the growing community, so i will continue to claim to be a part of it.

So, to the coaches and people who refuse to take the time to understand what it is that I am actually doing.  I will offer a two-fold post.  One point is to explain how what YOU are doing is might not the best for an athlete’s optimal performance and slow gains (kind of a dick thing to do on my part, I know, but every now and then it is deserved).  The second point is what it is that I do.  After that, if you still insist that I randomly create workouts that are goofy and crazy, and just meant to get people running around, I can do nothing but feel bad for your ignorance. 

I’ll start by asking a few questions.  How much do you make your athletes run, and how often do you have your athletes max?  I have found it to be very, very common for coaches and trainers to use maxing out on lifts (establishing the max amount of weight a person can perform for 1 rep) as their go-to test for where people stand.  They then use this number as a base, run the athletes through their program before re-testing to make sure their maxes are higher.  Well, it shouldn’t really even be a discussion about how wrong this approach is.  It makes me cringe to think about 40 young athletes, or 1 beginner client walking into the gym and building up a to a bar with as heavy a weight as possible for one rep. 

“But Courage, how am I supposed to get a baseline” you might ask?  Simple, have each person perform an air squat or two.  If they can’t perform this basic movement through an adequate range of motion while keeping a stable midline and engaging the proper muscles in the proper sequence, they shouldn’t be loading ANY weight to their body!  Your program should begin with basic fundamentals of each movement, mobility, and proprioception training, and incrementally heavier loads to prep their nervous systems for growth.  If one person proves to have trouble squatting under control, keep them away from the barbell until they prove they can handle it (and this goes for all other lifts as well). 

I could go on for days there, but I’ll leave it at that.  Now, on to the running question:  I get running, especially for high school athletes and teams.  But from my perspective it is a tool to build teamwork and enforce discipline, NOT to “get them in better shape”.  The thousands upon thousand of studies and articles out there proving that short interval sprints and exercise are the most effective for anaerobic capacity training should end any argument about longer distance running for athletes (unless you are a long distance runner).  But again, for teamwork and discipline purposes, I get it, and I support it (as long as it’s done intelligently).  Unintelligent programming of high volume sprints and/or long distance running is just asking for injuries and even worse, negating all the hard work and effort the athletes have put into their other training.  And this goes double for doing this stuff pre-practice or pre-gym session.  If you want an athlete to get better at shooting a basketball, hitting a baseball, running a very specific route, or l lifting a flawlessly performed clean, you better make sure they get the majority of their reps in as fresh as possible.  If they are always practicing under high levels of cardiovascular and/or muscular fatigue, you force them to perform movements sub maximally, forming injury-building habits and sub-maximal performance.

When you are halfway through your season, or a client has been training with you for a few months and all of a sudden minor to major injuries start popping up, it should be pretty clear where they are coming from: the coaches programming.  The more difficult thing to process is crummy performance, or, plateau-ing.  It’s when a baseball player all of a sudden doesn’t have that fire under them each play, or swing; or that person in the gym has low energy and can’t seem to make any gains at all.  This is when a good coach takes a step back, looks over the progression of training this person or people have been through (if it’s not written down somewhere you might as well write yourself off as a good coach now, keep everything charted!) and make an adjustment ASAP. 

So, “mister perfect” you might say, how would you do it?  Well, first off, I am far from perfect, and that is step one: be humble.  You are not the best coach in the world; you do not have it all figured out.  If your methods do not change over the years it means you are not learning anything from anyone or anything, and the same issues will continue to occur.  If you are not adapting and growing as a coach, your athletes will never be able to grow to their potential.  Simply put, if you are not constantly evolving, you're not a good coach. 

If you have a good year, or you have a good client, here and there, and it is common thing the majority of the time, generally it is because you had a more talented person/group of people who were able to overcome your flaws as a coach with raw ability.  What I mean is that if you tend to have a decent percentage of clients that just don;t seem to get any better; or, a few years at a time on a regular basis of a crappy team, with a good team on some other years, you are clearly not a good coach/trainer.  If what worked one year does not work the next, adapt, change and continue to grow.

You must spend so much of your time reading studies and articles, and talking to other coaches and athletes about their thoughts and ideas.  Try new things, keep notes, and always be open and available to discuss and question anything.  One of my three rules to all athletes/clients is ask questions.  They, and of course, I, should know why I am having them do all the things I program.  I want my athletes to question what I am doing because then they can learn more.  The more they learn, the more they understand about what they are doing, and the better they become and faster they progress.

Know exactly what is you are doing.  Have a program.  I can’t tell you how many times I have talked to a coach or trainer and learn that they have an idea of what they are having their athletes do, but there is zero progression (and yet I have some of these people think that I program complete randomness…hm…).  As stated before, if you want your athlete to perform at maximal potential, you will give him/her a program that allows for proper sequential growth.  This means that you assess their ability to move, correct flaws, correct imbalances, prep for volume and load, then progressively increase volume and loads through balanced exercises and rep schemes.  Attention will always be towards loading the muscles in the proper sequence, performing each exercise as properly as possible before overly loading it, and understanding the program well enough to avoid over-training individual muscles, joints, and the body as a whole.  There is no need to go into more detail than this.  If you are a good coach, you’ll know exactly what I am talking about and you are probably doing this.  If you are an athlete/client, you should be asking your coach if this is what they do, and paying attention to what you are doing and how you are feeling (you should be feeling better and better by the way, and if you are not, you should be able to ask your coach why and be able to easily talk with them about it). 

Finally: food.  If you are not paying attention to what your athletes/clients are consuming, you are not doing them any good what so ever.  As a coach, it is your responsibility to pay attention to the health and well being of your athletes because you are their leader.  If you are open and honest with them, they will learn how to take care of themselves pretty quickly, making your job that much easier.  But, you cannot expect someone who pays you to help them get better at sports, fitness, and/or life to figure it all out on their own.  Simply put, do your job right.

It breaks my heart the amount of coaches/trainers out there that just have no clue what they are doing.  It actually scares me because the people who choose to turn to a professional to help them out have no reason to know if that person is total BS or not.  Yes, each individual should take at least some responsibility and understand the basics.  But, if a person chooses to be a coach, or a trainer, or anyone that puts themselves in some sort of “leader” roll, they better respect that roll enough to know exactly what they are doing.  Hopefully what they are doing is good.

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage 

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_ In the words of East Bound And Down superstar Kenny Powers “I play real sports, I don’t want to be the best at exercising”.  Freaking hysterical, especially that he said that well before CrossFit was a big deal.  Now there are fast-paced Reebok commercials on primetime TV with Iceland Annie and Chad 86 advertising this new, crazy sport.  And I both love it and hate it!  I have a ton of posts coming on different aspects of all this, but I wanted to throw out a short and sweet one as a big wake up, or a big reminder depending on where you stand.  CrossFit is officially TWO THINGS!

CrossFit is:  the greatest strength and conditioning program (if programmed by an intelligent coach).

CrossFit is: the sport of fitness.

As a CrossFit athlete myself, and one who trains mostly high school and college athletes, I have to always be aware of the line that is drawn between how we train.  My athletes are here to get better at their sport, so the training they do with me is geared towards that, and that alone.  I am trying to get better at CrossFit, so my training is wildly different.  The same goes for someone coming into the gym to simply get in better shape.  An incredible “Fran” time, or being able to rip out 60+ snatches in 10 minutes should NOT be the goal.  But if you want to compete in the sport, the same way one might choose to run a marathon and then train for it, then doing crazy things that are risky would make more sense.  But, if you are training for a specific sport, or trying to become generally more fit and healthy, use the methods of CrossFit intelligently and your results will be greater than anything in the world.

Again, I am always happy to go into exactly what it means to train with these two perspectives; but the main thing is to first acknowledge that there are two distinctly different things at play.  Next will be my thoughts on how we all can make the differences more clear.

But for now, stop confusing the two!

Oh, and got an article up on a great site on this topic by the way.  Check it out HERE

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage

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_ Just a heads up, this post is specifically about baseball.  I haven’t posted about baseball in well over a year, but I was in the cage today and a whole bunch of stuff I had been working on and thinking about last summer came flooding back So, if you’re not into baseball, oh well I guess, too bad! 

I have been a big baseball guy for some time now.  Many of my readers here know of my background as a baseball player, but in case you don’t, and to get a little better understanding as to how “into it” I actually was, here are a few historical points:

I played on 3 summer ball teams and 3 fall ball teams every year of my high school career.  This meant that during a regular season in my teens, I would play upwards to 100+ games.  A major league season is 163 games, so, for a 16-year-old kid, getting up into the 115 games range, along with school and such is a bit crazy.  Oh, and this did not include camps, showcases, private instruction and getting together with buddies on the ball field to goof off.  Needless to say, my life was baseball. 

In college I used to go to double practices in the fall (I would practice with the position players, then after that with the pitchers.  Then I would join them all to lift.  I would then eat my dinner and head back to the gym for tee work and drill work on my own into the late hours.  I guess while most people partied, I opted to play baseball most of the time.  I just liked it that much.

In pro ball, as a pitcher, I would always keep a bucket of balls and a couple bats in my truck so that I could head over to the field in the late morning and take an hour or so of swings.  It relaxed me.  Even though we would spend 6+ hours a day at the field, I liked being there more than anything else in the world. 

All of my jobs up until I became a trainer were baseball related.  I was a grounds crew guy in high school.  I interned at The Baseball Factory and did private instruction during college.  And I instructed and coached at camps right out of college as well.  The first company I ever started was right out of college called Baseball Fitness.  Needles to say, I have a good deal of experience in the baseball world and given how I geek out about fitness stuff, one can only assume I did the same thing growing up with baseball.

Ok, pre-theory note.  Hitting a baseball is majority visual.  The theory I am spelling out talks mostly about the physical and neurological aspect of hitting or throwing a baseball.  With that said, my theory should work for pitchers, and should be incorporated into hitting drills.  But to become a better hitter, you need to be able to see the ball, recognize the flight of it, and react accordingly.

So, on to my theory.

Cut back your swing repetitions and pitch repetitions per week by at least 50%.  This includes swings and pitches you take pre and during games.  This does not mean you just swing and pitch les, it is a controlled method of training your reps.  Here’s what I propose (I’ll use hitting as my example as hitters generally take way more reps than pitchers): 

Day one - take no more than 50 swings to contact.  Take plenty of dry swings to warm up, then use tee work, soft toss, or cage swings to accumulate your 50 swings.  After each contact, take up to a couple minutes to analyze the swing and break down why it was good or why it was bad.  Use that information to adjust to the next swing.  Day two - go ahead and accumulate however many reps you feel necessary while incorporating the information you gained from the first session. 

Day three – combine the first two days.  Take 5-10 regular swings at a time, then take a few minutes to break down those reps and what went wrong/right with each swing.  Hit about 5—8 rounds of this and call it a day.

Day four – back to your high rep day, incorporating past information

Day five – repeat day one.  This time drill specific types of swings.  Go only away, or only pull for all 50 swings.

Day six – high rep day again, this time working very specifically on adjusting to different pitches.  Take swings in, middle and away, high and low, and try to have the reps as controlled as possible.  If you take 150+ swings, try to make each and every one as close to perfect as possible.  If that means taking 30+ seconds between each swing, do it.

Day seven – Same as day six but 2/3 of the swings.  So, if you took 100 swings, only take 75 this day.  Stick with the same approach.

Repeat!

The reason I think this will work is based on the idea that spending more time understanding what you are doing will do much more for you than just doing, over and over again.  Using Olympic weight lifting as an example, it’s about practicing quality reps that helps perfect the ability to flawlessly move insanely heavy weights.  The same should go for baseball skills as well.  Perfect your ability to actually make contact and/or to throw a perfect strike and any time and you will be a much, much, much better baseball player.  I have seen way too many young ball players spend hours in the cage, or on the mound pumping out rep after rep to never see any tangible gains.  That’s because they are not letting their minds and bodies understand WHY a specific swing made such perfect contact, while the next one popped up.  It is body control, proprioception, having a full understanding of where you, the bat and the ball are at all times.  This does not mean you have to have the prettiest swing, it only means you must have complete control over that swing.  And fewer reps will allow you to focus on that understanding without over-fatigue and the forming of sloppy habits.

This theory has not been put to practice.  I actually am pretty amazed I have never heard of anyone trying this.  But, based on my training for other skill-based movements, I am very confident it will help.  And help a ton.  It will also clear up more time for ball players to work on other stuff, like PFP’s, base-running and learning signs (all things that most baseball players take for granted and then lose layoff games because they suck at them)!!  And of course, the more time you have the more time can be spent in the gym getting stronger, or at home recovering.

For all you baseball players and fans out there, I would love to hear your opinions.  And believe me, I will be putting this theory to test with as many guys as I can this coming summer.  So, then I’ll have real proof!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage

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__ Let's step away from overused metaphors like glasses being half full and such and break it down as straight forward as possible.  How do you see the world?  Some people know instantaneously that they are positive or negative people and to those people, well, you got something pretty big figured out.  To be honest, I can respect a bit those people who admit to being really negative; at least they are honest with themselves and with everyone around them as to who they are.  It allows for people like me, and others who don't much care for over-negativity to not hang out with them on a regular basis.  The other type of person is one that doesn't really know where they stand.  Perhaps they are both?  Perhaps they think they are positive in general, but are really pretty negative.  This is a tough one because how is someone supposed to be honest about who they are if they have no clue they are lying to themselves, or, they just don't care?

Here's a go-to test.  Take one day and decide to make note of the first thing that comes out of your mouth.  Interestingly, what will inevitably happen is you'll either not say very much (and still, the things you say, pay close attention to them), but what you CAN do now is really see what it is you wanted to say.  When you get cut off, do you want to say something to express your frustration?  Did you actually say something?  Or did you just pay no attention?  Or did you notice something really cool the person cutting you off was wearing?  The fact is people, while it is a choice to act on your negativity and/or aggression, for some people it is much more deeply rooted than simply being able to just stop.  If your natural inclination is to think negative thoughts most of your day, there is something deeply struggling inside of you.  Its funny, I know by writing this I am going to get a lot of blood boiling in negative people.  But that right there is perfectly proving my point.  If my post here annoys you, pisses you off, gets you all defensive and you find yourself making excuses, or throwing stuff back at me, either in your mind or maybe in email, or to my face, well, simply put, you're a negative person!

If it IS your natural inclination to exude negativity, I can only offer my advice on some things I have found work for me.  I am obviously not a therapist or anything like that.  So, that being said, take my thoughts as merely experiential and based on my young years of learning from people, myself and over-analyzing pretty much everything.  Here's one my Mom used to tell me when I was a kid.  I always found it cheesy, but when I tried it, it worked absolute wonders for me.  I still use this method to this day when I feel negativity taking over in my head, and it still works so well.  When something happens (let's use the getting cut off scenario again) and you feel those negative thoughts and angry feeling bubbling up.  Take a second and try to find something unique, or cool, or interesting about the person.  Perhaps they have a cool hat, or a shirt that you relate to, or a sweet pair of shoes on, or an interesting hair cut?  Tell yourself this.  And for added effect, say it aloud to yourself so you can hear your own voice.  If you really want to feel the full effects, tell the person who cut you off the positive thing you found about them and watch what happens.  A positive thought usually leads to other positive thoughts.  You see someone with cool shoes and you begin to think about your own shoes.  Then you remember an awesome pair of shoes you had as a kid and the time you and your mother or father went shopping for them and had such a fun experience.  And just like that, the tiny little “being cut off” thing vanished into a wonderful daydream of a happy childhood memory.

Maybe you can take that little shift in thinking, and ponder about how stressful wasting your time on feeling negative towards everything really is.  How, if you are always putting other things down, it’ll be pretty damn hard to look at yourself, and the things you want to love in a positive light.  Negativity begets negativity people, and it is powerful enough to strongly affect the people you surround yourself with.  

Oh, and one last thought for todays post: when was the last time you smiled for no apparent reason, someplace in public? 

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage

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_ For my thirst Outlaw Training Camp, I flew on down to Naples, Florida to join an incredibly inspiring group of about 40 athletes at Real Fitness for one of the most epic weekends of my life.  PR's were flying all over the place, burpees were accumulated in ridiculous numbers, pools were taken over by too many meatheads, we all were witness to what it looks like to have 400# hoisted from the ground onto someones shoulders (it's effing insane by the way!), and we got to experience the sheer joy of spending tons of time with a massive group of like-minded crazies!  Here's my summery of the weekend.

Flew into Ft. Myers a bit last minute but was lucky enough to get picked up by the great Corey Perry, and he drove us directly to Real Fitness, one of snazziest CrossFit gyms I have ever been to.  It was clean, well organized, had every piece of equipment one could ever want, and the best pull up rig known to man (individually adjustable bars, so perfect for the burpee fest that ensued on Saturday morning).  We all introduced ourselves, then got going with a few hours of Oly lifting.  On a personal note (which I will make for each workout), I felt really strong, but just didn't have the technique where it should have been, letting the bar get too far away from me on both lifts and missing PR's by a long shot.  It was really fun to be around everyone though, and seeing some impressive lifts all around.  big Bill grabbed 400# and got it to his shoulders, but just couldn't stand with it.  That was one of the most insane things I have ever seen directly in front of me.  400# is a TON of weight!  Oh, and the first large serving of Courage Bars vanished faster than anything I have ever seen!  Hell yes!

Here's where I can give my first and biggest shout out: Joey Sandoval, co-owner of Real Fitness was gracious enough to put me up for the weekend, and while I made another huge batch of Courage Bars, he cooked up an incredible feast of steak, Brussels sprouts and shrimp.  Good man right there, thanks brother!

Saturday morning brought in the CrossFit Games Open WOD 12.1:  7 minute AMRAP of burpees to a target touch.  We spent about 30 minutes going over every possible strategy and angle of the workout before breaking out into 4 heats and attacking the workout.  There were some pretty impressive numbers coming out all around, some in the mid-130's, and all I wanted was to get around 120.  I started off at a good pace but then slowed down pretty quickly.  The strange thing is, from that slow-down point, i never changed my pace faster or slower from there on out.  For a while I thought it was the perfect pace, but when the 90 seconds left mark hit, I knew I was behind.  I tried with everything i had to pick it up, but I couldn't go any faster.  I finished with a measly 112 and was pretty pissed off with that score.  I think if i had gamed it faster out of the start, really blew it open and picked up 10-15 extra reps in the first 2 minutes, I still would have been able to keep a decent pace throughout (that’s what I do well, just grind things out) and finish much better.  I went back and forth so many times about doing it again that I almost drove myself crazy.  But in the end, I opted to just let it rest and make up ground on the next 4 weeks of events!

After we all recovered a little, we hit our second workout:  5 rounds for time of:
10 GHD sit ups
20 KB snatch 24kg (10 each  arm)
40 double unders

I was feeling sick to my stomach for some reason, so I was happy to be in the first heat.  And my thoughts on this one, just find a hard pace and don't stop at all.  I did everything unbroken except for stopping on 39 double unders on my second round b y accident.  The KB snatch is where I made up a lot of my time, transitioning without ever putting it down.  I finished in 8:34, enough for the best time for the dudes (that made me pretty happy seeing how there were so many extremely high level athletes there!).

After that it was off to the pool to work on some basic swim technique and drills with some Olympic swimmers, then hit up a swim workout:  15 minute AMRAP of:
50 meter swim
8 HSPU's
20 meter broad jump
20 pistol squats

Holy cow this one was brutal in the strangest of ways.  It wasn't overly fatiguing, it wasn't muscularly fatiguing, just annoyingly hard enough to be really hard!  20 pistols is a LOT!  I was in the last round as well, which meant a good deal of doing nothing.  But, we were in Florida, it was 80+ degrees, it was a collection of super down to earth people, and we were outside, working out!  What a perfect combo.  When it was my turn to go, I just picked a pace and stuck with it all the way through.  The HSPU's ended up being the limiting factor for me, and adding to the difficulty was that we were doing them in the grass against a fence (but I was able to annoy Rudy Nielson because I have actually done this a few times thanks to my extensive outdoor training protocol!).  By my last round I was doing singles.  Perhaps it was the failed attempts of diving in the pool with goggles on, or the fact that I was singing a song over and over in my head to stay on a rhythm with my pistols, but I thought I got 3 rounds plus half a swim, my judge said I got 4 plus half the swim!  Sweet!  Very happy with that, especially with swimming and HSPU's involved!

Saturday night saw a fun evening of eating, drinking, hanging out, telling stories.  Oh, and BP and Bill being absolutely hysterical! 

Sunday was two more workouts along with the ever-so-famous squat clinic that basically blows your mind on what the hell the squat is, even if you’ve heard it before…twice.

Workout 1: 7 minutes to establish a 5RM front squat, from the ground.  IO pulled 275# and struggled through the front squats.  The pulled 285# off the floor with ease and got 4 squats before the bar slipped out of my fingers on the fifth rep!  We all got to witness THE Elisabeth Akinwale pull 220#!!  Then Bill went for the 400# again, catching it but not standing.  It was awesome!

Final workout:  3 rounds for time of:
400 meter run
5 bar muscle ups
30 foot handstand walk
12 wall balls (11 foot target)

This one was awesome; the perfect combo of muscular and cardiovascular endurance, with high-level skill.  There was a cutoff time of 12 minutes and I was able to finish it in 11:43.  The handstand walks got me pretty bad, but everything else went smoothly and quickly, even the muscle ups which I got totally unbroken!  Unfortunately I had to rush out before the final two heats could even go to catch my flight.  I would have loved to stay and mingle with everyone, as I have never been around so many people I liked that much in a damn long time.  The whole weekend reminded me of of my old baseball travel days where we would just spend all day together doing the thing we loved and talking about it.  I’m sure anyone who isn’t really into fitness would find us all pretty annoying, but as Talayna, Akinwale and I said on the way to the airport:  working out, eating and sleeping with people who want to do only that as well is the greatest thing in the world.  If only we could all just do that!

Yet again, the Outlaws proved to be some of the most inspiring, motivated and fun people I have ever met.  I cannot wait to get together with them all again.  And as the Outlaw community grows, it can only get more exciting when we all meet up to throwdown and geek out!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage

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