I’m off to CrossFit (rowing, chest to bar, and front rack lunges on today’s white board). What are you training today? I’m not an expert in much of anything, but enjoy writing about the journey. In that spirit, any questions on anything from mountains to MMA, CrossFit, trail running, etc?
Sep 16, 2022·edited Sep 16, 2022Liked by Chris DeMuth Jr
How'd you pick your coach for extra strength training and conditioning? Were there certain criteria you were looking for? Did you meet with a few coaches before deciding on the one you use now?
I tried a few en route to the right fit. I had a very precise idea of what puzzle piece I needed. Essentially, I leave CrossFit having spent all of the stress my joints can take with compound movements under the combined pressure of time and the social pressure of being with my friends. I didn’t have any remaining stress (either competitive or structural) in my day but wanted to get stronger. So it is a Globo Gym, in walking distance from my home with a bodybuilding focus. The coach is friendly, but not in the high energy environment and style of my CrossFit box. He is a good listener to my priorities but also is able to push me beyond my comfort zone.
Who/where do you get direction for your various therapy/bloodwork/etc? Are you working with any integrative health people, or sorting this out on your own?
My main guidance is from Dr. Cam Sepah who I follow closely (except when he says "take a rest day" or discourages ultras and other endurance sports). I do blood work with a Tasso unit monthly (through https://www.maximustribe.com).
What's your sleep discipline like? I found a massive change in my energy levels when I started to practice proper sleep hygiene: quieting my mind, winding down the day, proper room light/temp, proper bed/pillow, etc. I also had my mild sleep apnea treated. It's 1/3 of your life: maximize it! Get environment and routines setup correctly once, then lie there like a log for 8 hours and reap the benefits. It's the ultimate passive investment.
Militant. 6:30 PM wind down. Fire myself from any key decisions or communication until the AM. I try to refocus from things that are highly actionable to military history or other topics that interest me but aren't impacted by me. Asleep by 7:30 PM 7 nights a week. I set a 3:30 AM alarm but naturally wake up right around then and tend to click it off by the time it goes off. I really like a 9 hour sleep opportunity window to lock in 8 hours of sleep. 90% sleep efficiency for a 45 year old is about all I can hope for so the time commitment works for me. A hard 2 PM caffeine cut off but an informal noon preference for no more caffeine. And free vitamin D from the sun every day that it is available. The brighter the day and darker the night the better the sleep. And even though it is an expense in the summer, icy bedrooms -- 65-67 degrees tops.
I lifted chest yesterday, legs the day before, ran the day before. Today likely a "day off" as I'm going up to the mountains late morning to fish N' forage!
Yes. I like everything by Steven Pressfield especially Gates of Fire https://amzn.to/3DroMUd. My grandfather got me onto Louis L’Amour cowboy novels since I was a kid. I love nautical fiction by Patrick O’Brian and C. S. Forester. For comedy, I enjoy George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman series. Once I get onto a writer such as the above that I enjoy, I tend to just plow through them all (currently doing that with Ranulph Fiennes at the suggestion of a Vale Tudo reader).
Offline question: Any particular fitness goals you are working towards? (ex mile time, dead lift pounds, # pullups, etc). Do you benchmark yourself with a particular set of lifts or wods on some time interval?
Thematically, my goal is to be strong for a fast guy and fast for a strong guy. I’ll never be at the front of an ultra or with the most plates at the gym and that is okay because I make so many necessary compromises as a hybrid athlete. I want my fitness to progress to a level where it is never the deterrent from any activity I want to try. A deep water solo/DWS requires a few miles of swimming through choppy open water? Cool; no factor. “Functional” might be an overused buzzword, but perhaps I want to get to the point where I’ve murdered as many excuses as possible.
Specifically, I want to be able to sumo deadlift 733 lbs by August 2023.
“There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.”
- Mark Rippetoe
Favorite wod? Not for time as heavy as possible back squat, farmer’s carry, and pegboard.
Offline question: Seems like the love for fitness is relatively new in the years I've followed you; what made this such a passion? Really have enjoyed following as you share this.
It is pretty new. I’ve always loved big expeditions so partially this was getting ready for Kilimanjaro earlier this year and then subsequent adventures. My financial/fitness goals really coalesce around wanting to be able to see the world under my own power then repeat stuff I love with my kids then, hopefully someday, with my grandkids and (depending upon scientific progress) great grandkids. Someone wants to fly to Alaska for backcountry skiing on a whim? Yes. I want that to be my answer for as many decades as possible and all that entails in terms of having the time, money, and energy. I want it to be a yes today (literally a “yes” when someone wants to do something great). I want it to be a yes if my kids or grandkids want to go too.
Offline question: How do you balance climbing/bouldering with a lot of the other grip intensive strength work re tendinitis/elbows? It's a huge struggle for me to fit climbing into lifting, and at the end of the day, I think I typically have to either prioritize one or the other while letting the de-prioritized languish somewhat.
Mostly I just suffer. I am currently focused on getting stronger, despite the weight consequences for climbing. And I do a lot of grip-specific things that I can do from my desk – rolling up and down a kettlebell (https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-wrist-roller), Titan’s telegraph key (https://www.ironmind-store.com/Titans-Telegraph-Key153-I/productinfo/1243/) which is particularly good for strengthening my weak outer two fingers, and bending nails/ripping decks of cards. At CrossFit, when I’m done and waiting for the last person to finish, I pinch plates between my thumb and index finger starting with 45 lbs then go down by 10 lbs each time I drop them.
My long-suffering wife gets daily invitations at 3:30 AM to join me in the gym or on the trails with an added bonus of enthusiastic encouragement for her to be her best self. She has taken the middle ground between either accepting or murdering me. My young kids occasionally join me on the weekends at the gym, their schedules permitting. How we structure WODs: I go at my pace and they work on an exercise while I’m doing it then progress to the next when I move on, so we stick together and finish around the same time. My gym is quite accommodating to families on the weekend and the kids have become fixtures – helping coaches with equipment, scampering up the pegboard, and just soaking up what lessons they can learn.
Chris, thanks for doing this. I've got a few questions, so can separate them out.
- Beyond sleep and some of the supplements, what else do you focus on regarding recovery ( ie stretching, massage, etc). Along those lines, do you actually take scheduled rest days at all (sounds like no?)
I love a ten minute ice bath. I just put a hundred pounds of ice in a big tub, then fill it with water, completely submerge myself then expose my face to breath and stay there for ten minutes. I hyperventilate for 2-3 minutes uncontrollably then am able to control my breath and thoughts for another 7-8 minutes. When I come out, I feel great. After a morning run with some cold water crossings this winter, I realized how great I felt after cold exposure, so have made that a priority.
How'd you pick your coach for extra strength training and conditioning? Were there certain criteria you were looking for? Did you meet with a few coaches before deciding on the one you use now?
I tried a few en route to the right fit. I had a very precise idea of what puzzle piece I needed. Essentially, I leave CrossFit having spent all of the stress my joints can take with compound movements under the combined pressure of time and the social pressure of being with my friends. I didn’t have any remaining stress (either competitive or structural) in my day but wanted to get stronger. So it is a Globo Gym, in walking distance from my home with a bodybuilding focus. The coach is friendly, but not in the high energy environment and style of my CrossFit box. He is a good listener to my priorities but also is able to push me beyond my comfort zone.
Who/where do you get direction for your various therapy/bloodwork/etc? Are you working with any integrative health people, or sorting this out on your own?
My main guidance is from Dr. Cam Sepah who I follow closely (except when he says "take a rest day" or discourages ultras and other endurance sports). I do blood work with a Tasso unit monthly (through https://www.maximustribe.com).
What's your sleep discipline like? I found a massive change in my energy levels when I started to practice proper sleep hygiene: quieting my mind, winding down the day, proper room light/temp, proper bed/pillow, etc. I also had my mild sleep apnea treated. It's 1/3 of your life: maximize it! Get environment and routines setup correctly once, then lie there like a log for 8 hours and reap the benefits. It's the ultimate passive investment.
Militant. 6:30 PM wind down. Fire myself from any key decisions or communication until the AM. I try to refocus from things that are highly actionable to military history or other topics that interest me but aren't impacted by me. Asleep by 7:30 PM 7 nights a week. I set a 3:30 AM alarm but naturally wake up right around then and tend to click it off by the time it goes off. I really like a 9 hour sleep opportunity window to lock in 8 hours of sleep. 90% sleep efficiency for a 45 year old is about all I can hope for so the time commitment works for me. A hard 2 PM caffeine cut off but an informal noon preference for no more caffeine. And free vitamin D from the sun every day that it is available. The brighter the day and darker the night the better the sleep. And even though it is an expense in the summer, icy bedrooms -- 65-67 degrees tops.
I lifted chest yesterday, legs the day before, ran the day before. Today likely a "day off" as I'm going up to the mountains late morning to fish N' forage!
Sounds ideal; enjoy!
No questions. Just glad to see you on your way. Kudos to those who see the path as important as the destination.
Thanks, Brent.
Offline question: Do you read fiction? Any good fiction book recs?
Yes. I like everything by Steven Pressfield especially Gates of Fire https://amzn.to/3DroMUd. My grandfather got me onto Louis L’Amour cowboy novels since I was a kid. I love nautical fiction by Patrick O’Brian and C. S. Forester. For comedy, I enjoy George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman series. Once I get onto a writer such as the above that I enjoy, I tend to just plow through them all (currently doing that with Ranulph Fiennes at the suggestion of a Vale Tudo reader).
Offline question: Any particular fitness goals you are working towards? (ex mile time, dead lift pounds, # pullups, etc). Do you benchmark yourself with a particular set of lifts or wods on some time interval?
Thematically, my goal is to be strong for a fast guy and fast for a strong guy. I’ll never be at the front of an ultra or with the most plates at the gym and that is okay because I make so many necessary compromises as a hybrid athlete. I want my fitness to progress to a level where it is never the deterrent from any activity I want to try. A deep water solo/DWS requires a few miles of swimming through choppy open water? Cool; no factor. “Functional” might be an overused buzzword, but perhaps I want to get to the point where I’ve murdered as many excuses as possible.
Specifically, I want to be able to sumo deadlift 733 lbs by August 2023.
Offline question: Favorite lift? Favorite wod?
Favorite lift? Back squat.
“There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.”
- Mark Rippetoe
Favorite wod? Not for time as heavy as possible back squat, farmer’s carry, and pegboard.
Offline question: Seems like the love for fitness is relatively new in the years I've followed you; what made this such a passion? Really have enjoyed following as you share this.
It is pretty new. I’ve always loved big expeditions so partially this was getting ready for Kilimanjaro earlier this year and then subsequent adventures. My financial/fitness goals really coalesce around wanting to be able to see the world under my own power then repeat stuff I love with my kids then, hopefully someday, with my grandkids and (depending upon scientific progress) great grandkids. Someone wants to fly to Alaska for backcountry skiing on a whim? Yes. I want that to be my answer for as many decades as possible and all that entails in terms of having the time, money, and energy. I want it to be a yes today (literally a “yes” when someone wants to do something great). I want it to be a yes if my kids or grandkids want to go too.
Offline question: How do you balance climbing/bouldering with a lot of the other grip intensive strength work re tendinitis/elbows? It's a huge struggle for me to fit climbing into lifting, and at the end of the day, I think I typically have to either prioritize one or the other while letting the de-prioritized languish somewhat.
Mostly I just suffer. I am currently focused on getting stronger, despite the weight consequences for climbing. And I do a lot of grip-specific things that I can do from my desk – rolling up and down a kettlebell (https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-wrist-roller), Titan’s telegraph key (https://www.ironmind-store.com/Titans-Telegraph-Key153-I/productinfo/1243/) which is particularly good for strengthening my weak outer two fingers, and bending nails/ripping decks of cards. At CrossFit, when I’m done and waiting for the last person to finish, I pinch plates between my thumb and index finger starting with 45 lbs then go down by 10 lbs each time I drop them.
Does your family train with you ever?
- Thanks again for doing this and your time. Absolutely love the content between this and StW.
My long-suffering wife gets daily invitations at 3:30 AM to join me in the gym or on the trails with an added bonus of enthusiastic encouragement for her to be her best self. She has taken the middle ground between either accepting or murdering me. My young kids occasionally join me on the weekends at the gym, their schedules permitting. How we structure WODs: I go at my pace and they work on an exercise while I’m doing it then progress to the next when I move on, so we stick together and finish around the same time. My gym is quite accommodating to families on the weekend and the kids have become fixtures – helping coaches with equipment, scampering up the pegboard, and just soaking up what lessons they can learn.
Chris, thanks for doing this. I've got a few questions, so can separate them out.
- Beyond sleep and some of the supplements, what else do you focus on regarding recovery ( ie stretching, massage, etc). Along those lines, do you actually take scheduled rest days at all (sounds like no?)
I do not take scheduled rest days.
I love a ten minute ice bath. I just put a hundred pounds of ice in a big tub, then fill it with water, completely submerge myself then expose my face to breath and stay there for ten minutes. I hyperventilate for 2-3 minutes uncontrollably then am able to control my breath and thoughts for another 7-8 minutes. When I come out, I feel great. After a morning run with some cold water crossings this winter, I realized how great I felt after cold exposure, so have made that a priority.