Lift Through It
Discipline earns self-respect.
Reflecting
No one was watching. Just alone with my thoughts and the weights. I usually have a coach with me 1-on-1 for post-WOD weightlifting, but he had to cover for one of his employees so I was on my own to complete the programming. It was a struggle. I had sets of three heavy wide grip bench press, four rounds of Arnold presses and chest supported rows followed by three rounds of tempo skull crushers and sled extensions.
The thought kept creeping into my head that I could just quit early. But I focused on how much I’d hate myself later. I focused on that pain from losing self-respect. It was less painful to just go hard even with no one looking. The greatest moment of this past weekend’s CrossFit Games was Roman Khrennikov’s choosing self-respect over self-pity, finishing out on a broken foot, earning a place on the podium.
Figure out a way to lift through it.
Training
This morning’s white board —
As many rounds as possible in fifteen minutes:
15 parallel ring wows
30 heavy double unders
6 205 lb push jerks
Next 5 AM run:
We are already getting some really cool runs on the calendar for next year. The two I’m most excited about are the Saranac 6 and the Presidential Traverse Night Run.
Fueling
Chicken and broccoli to cut a bit of fat:
Supplementing
More for my “no” list: Tongkat Ali, Fadogia Agrestis, and Ashwaghanda. Each is marketed as a testosterone booster; none are backed by evidence. Hat tip to Dr. Cam Sepah for steering me away from these and many other bad ideas.
Measuring
Trying to get leaner, but it is slow going. I’m trying to drink a lot of water and eat a lot of produce while tightening up the window of time in which I eat. I am eating meals only between late morning and early evening, which is going well so far. I’m completely cutting out snacks, which have never been as healthy for me as intentionally planned out and plated meals.
I’ve substituted mastic gum for snacks – it is flavorless but satisfying and helps ride out the times when I’d otherwise snack. Are you really hungry or just bored? Chew mastic gum before eating anything. If you get tired of chewing it after a while and aren’t hungry afterwards, you were probably just bored or fidgety and avoided a few hundred unneeded calories.
Recovering
If your skin gets chewed up from either long runs or from heavy barbell lifts, Rock Rub will help it recover. It is natural, scentless, and worth trying. Last post I mentioned a few ideas for packable fitness equipment. Here’s a recovery idea. Instead of a bulky foam roller (which I use at home and the gym), pack a lacrosse ball. Even better? This spiky massage ball is 42% off for under $6.
Closing
I don’t plan on ever charging anything for this but I work hard on developing and sharing ideas that could help you live a longer and better life. If you get value out of it, please let me know. I appreciate the encouragement and would love to hear about your successes at getting stronger, faster, leaner, and better. If you want to repay it you can donate to Vale Tudo’s fundraiser here.
Watsi is my favorite non-profit. It enables anyone to directly fund life-changing healthcare for people around the world. I'm launching this campaign to raise money for patients in need of care. If you chip in, 100% of your donation will fund healthcare. At the end of the year, I’ll distribute all the money we raised to patients.
I’m eager to see what we are able to do. Over a long period of time, professional and personal life becomes a mix bag successes and failures. But this is one of the few things that I’ve done that has been 100% positive. I admire the people who run it and nothing makes me happier than funding kids’ healthcare, especially in countries I’ve visited such as Tanzania.
My goal is for every subscriber to chip in at least $1. While I’ve done much bigger efforts in the past, for this one my goal is as high a participation rate as possible in hopes that at least some subscribers will like the cause enough to do more either now or later. I first learned about Watsi from a VT reader so I want to do my part in passing it on. Thanks for doing what you can!
- Chris
Amen!!