Four Things I Wish Everyone Knew

It’s tough knowing that certain beliefs are fundamentally in the way of people’s success. The thought often makes me want to just send people a memo to clear things up and send them on their way. 

Maybe the 378th best option is to write a blog about it. 

If I could impart four things I wish people knew about the gym, training, and their bodies, it might look something like this list:

1. 1. Pausing your training due to injury is the LAST thing you should do. I don’t care how insane that sounds, you’ve got to think this one through. There’s zero examples I can think of (and I’ve tried for years) where there is an exception. Going to have surgery? Perfect! You should keep training to be the most prepared for the medical equivalent of a car wreck that surgery will be on your body. Can’t use your arm? Great! Move with a quality stimulus every way you can without pain. Lost your leg in battle? Of course you wouldn’t accelerate the atrophy coming your way by immobilizing yourself. Break a pull up record! 
   2. We’re not a CrossFit gym. I cry myself to sleep thinking about how many people are decidedly not coming to see us because they think we are a thing they don’t understand. Nevermind the half a dozen courses we offer here that are nothing like CrossFit, even our most general (CrossFit-looking) program lacks the variance needed to qualify for the methodology. What angers me most about this is people passionate about not doing CrossFit largely don’t know what it is. Frankly, people don’t know what Pilates is from a methodology perspective, either, but that doesn’t stop them. And, that burden of responsibility resides on CFHQs shoulders; not the consumer.
   3. If you’re interested in changing your body shape and/or bodyweight, shedding the calorie exchange worldview is vital. Simply shifting to a worldview that everything in your body runs better, easier when it’s made up of more muscle tissue. Building lean tissue will lose you more fat stores and help you lose weight than the endless mathematical journey of trying to be small and underfed. 
   4. What you can do in 8-weeks or even a year is meaningless. They say the “brightest stars burn out the fastest,” so approach the gym with a reverence and intensity that you can commit to for thirty years. That’s interesting and would change your life. If you’re going to try working out hard for a year, I’d say maybe just play video games instead. It’s most fun and you’d have the same result twenty years from now. 

Maybe it seems intense or harsh, but I keep coming back to how much good would come from these perspective changes. If nothing else, keep an open mind. Afterall, dogma has ruined the fitness industry over and over and over again.