Why my gym (Crossfit) is better then your gym

I don't mean to be presumptuous, being as I've most likely never been to "your" gym, but this blog post is going to be about why my gym rules. Both why I love Crossfit, and why I love my gyms, both Crossfit Minneapolis, and Crossfit St. Paul.



So I know its been, wow, over a month since my last post. Its been a busy month, and as usual, life gets in the way of life. Two separate weeks of business trips, followed by a week of laziness, really made November fly by. The last two weeks at the gym have helped hold off any turkey day weight gain, but the prior 3 weeks put a damper on any weight loss.

It has been a good month though. Good trips for work, good work on the race team, and good improvement in the gym. To set the stage for my rant about gyms, I want to share a "test" I found in the November 2010 issue of Men's Health. It asks "Are you Men's Health Fit?" First the tests.

Test 1: Plank position. Hold the standard plank position for 60 seconds. If you can, elevate your feet and try to hold it again for 60 seconds. If you can do this, put your feet back on the floor and rest your elbows beneath your eyes instead of your shoulders. How'd you score? Average is 60 seconds with the standard position. Above average is the elevated feet positioning. MH Fit is the extended arm position.

Test 2: Overhead Squat. This is like a normal back squat, but you hold your hands above your head, like how Olympic lifters catch the bar when doing the snatch. Average is being able to bend your knees to 90 degrees, but only if your heels come off the floor. Above average is getting to 90 degrees and keeping your heels on the floor. MH Fit is doing this with a 45lb barbell. (Yeah only a 45lb barbell.)


Test 3: Deadlift. This is the standard lift of a weighted barbell from the ground. Average is 1.0-1.25 times your body weight. Above average is 1.25-1.5 times your body weight. MH Fit is more the 1.5 times your bodyweight.

Test 4: Standing broad jump. Name says it all. 6-7 feet is average. 7-8 feet is above average. MH Fit is more than 8 feet.

Test 5: Push-ups. Standard push-up with 1 sec pause at the bottom, which is "essential" and thereby makes it more difficult. 16-29 is Average, 30-44 is above average, and 45+ is MH Fit.

Test 6: Chin-ups, regular dead hang pull-up. 3-7 is average. 8-10 is above average. MH Fit is over 10.

Test 7: Mile run. 9-12 minutes is average, 6-9 is above average, and MH Fit is under 6 minutes.


Now for example, here are my scores, a 6'1" 290lb, 31 year old desk jockey:
1. Average, I failed on the elevated feet plank.
2. MH Fit. Not only can do an overhead squat with 45lbs, I can overhead squat 175lbs.
3. Above average. I can deadlift 405lb. If I lose 20lbs I'll be MH Fit.
4. Average, my broad jump is about 7 feet.
5. Above average. I just 32 push-ups, and I'm sore from a workout a few days ago.
6. Below average. I can't do a pull-up, but within the next year I will.
7. Average. I run an 11 minute mile right now.

So scoring that up, I end up in the upper Average or lower Above average area. Which isn't too bad for guy who works out 3-4 times a week, huh? It seems weird to me, because I wouldn't put my "fitness" level that high. But then again, most days I compare myself to other Crossfit'ers, not to regular gym goers or other everyday people. So how did you do on the test? I would guess that the majority of my gym would achieve above average, with many of them finishing in the MH Fit level. I guess that shouldn't surprise me when Crossfit's motto is "Forging Elite Fitness." Top level Crossfitters would crush this test, and that includes the girls.

Okay, okay, the Crossfitters score well here, but why, right? There are a few reasons really, and it gets a little hard to explain. But essentially it comes down to the training methodology used. Crossfit (CF) revolves around constantly varying our workouts and our weights. We do everything from high rep, low weight, sprint workouts, to slower heavy weight workouts over longer periods of time, to every combination in between. The goal is to create athletes who can handle a broad range of activities. Now I'm totally butchering the "intro" explanation given by CF trainers, so if you'd like to learn more about it, stop by your nearest CF gym.

Outside of the CF mantra, there are other reasons I think their methodology works well. One of the biggest things I love about CF and my gym, is the community feel it has. People cheer you on during a hard workout. People ask where you've been if you've been missing. Its great extra motivation to not skip a workout when you know friends will be asking where you were. Its also good encouragement to go do the workout and see them. Completing something and sharing pain or suffering creates bonds, ask anyone who has done service in the military (and thank them while you're at it). I never, ever, ever got that feeling of community at Bally's.


Another thing CF does really well, is it pushes your boundaries. Workouts generally have some sort of "scoring" component. Either the most reps in a certain amount of time, or the most rounds or simply finishing the workout as fast as you can. Having that added competitive edge for a workout really gets you to push yourself. It also helps that the trainers hound you not to stand and catch your breath for too long. You finish workouts, and you are totally spent. Or at least you should be. Unfortunately it never gets easier either. If you're stronger or faster, you push yourself faster or with more weight.


Now I love this, the competitive edge to the workouts is something I haven't felt since I played sports in high school. Since then, workouts were just something you were supposed to do. Their goals were never as clear as they are now. I push myself harder in a CF wod then I ever did at the gym in Bally's. And this was never more clear to me then when I tried to workout on my own at the hotel in Columbus, Indiana when I was there for work. I'm sure everyone has slightly different answers and reasons, as to why they love Crossfit, and to find out, just stop by a local CF affiliate and ask one of the members.

Speaking of goals, I thought I would share my goals for my 2nd year at Crossfit. The big one is to be able to do a deadhang pull-up for the first time in 15 years. Also, along the lines of the MH Fitness test, I want to do a body weight overhead squat. That's an ohs with my body weight on the barbell. Both of these will clearly be aided in my weight loss goals as well. I also want to run a 10k in under an hour.

Well until next time, and hopefully that'll be sooner then this last one was.

Photo's courtesy of Carla at Shootingthegap.

More shrinkage!

It was a great week! Lots of stuff going on at work, a couple great workouts at Crossfit St. Paul, all followed by an awesome weekend.

I was really disappointed I couldn't make the trip out to Madison this weekend to catch the amazing football game against "the" Ohio State, but it did get started off well bright and early (well more like barely light out, but whatever) Saturday morning, and getting to see our friend Claus hit 110# of weight lost at Weight Watchers. Its inspiring. If I hadn't been slacking, I'd practically be at my goal. Glad I'm back on track now. I was able to work out a 2.8lb loss my own self, as was Jeff.

The big changer for me this week, was taking the time Saturday and Sunday last week, to make a few meals and have plenty to take with me for work lunches. A nice meatza started it off, along with some burgers on the grill, and fresh home grown butternut squash.


So the Paleo food has been working out well for me this week. And one of the next blog updates will be a quick and dirty primer on what it means to eat Paleo and why you should be doing it. I'll try to give you all enough information to see why its good, while also showing you some places to go to learn about it more from smarter people then me.

This week was also pretty good for workouts. Following a previous week that beat up my back a bit, this week went better. I still find workouts can induce some swelling, which irritates my scared nerve, but continuing to clean up my eating, and upping my fish oil intake, will help reduce all that unwanted inflammation. More on that in the Paleo Primer to come. We had a nasty Deadlift and Burpee workout, but a new Yoga class the following night helped stretch things out a bit. And Thursday was a big night, with a really hard 30 minute AMRAP. That's "as many reps as possible" in 30 minutes. But more fun, was Thursday nights barbell club! We worked the Clean & Jerk this week, after a few weeks of working Snatches. Hehehe. This leads me to another upcoming blog topic, which will be a Crossfit and Olympic weightlifting primer. And rather then why you should do it, it'll be more of why I love it. One point is competitiveness, and another is the fun of learning new skills. I mention this, because at the last couple weeks of barbell club, following weeks of working the skills, I've been hitting more and more PR's (personal records) for lifts. Granted I'm not pushing things super hard because of my back, but still its challenging to get the timing down for all these lifts. And below was my PR from this week, at 215#, after failing twice, Tyler decided to video everyone to show us how high were getting the bar, and that we shouldn't be missing these.



Remember, I'm still learning these. And yes, I did like a half of a mini split jerk, but admittedly that's one of the parts I really need to work next anyways. I'm mostly shoulder pressing it anyways.

I'm also still trying to workout how to share my food logs, or if I'm going to. And how to do a weight tracker, to show progress. I did add some of my favorite links along the side now too.

This week looks to be even busier as we finish prepping the Bear Patrol Chumpcar for a track day at Road America in Wisconsin, but the following week I should have plenty of time to work on blog posts from the hotel during a business trip.

Have a great week everyone!

Well...here goes!

So it took me a couple more days then I thought, to get this done, and get this written. But I've been collecting my thoughts, and procrastinating, and reading, and trying to figure out what to say. Essentially it all comes down to making the decision and commitment to do this. But there's also an element of honesty that goes with it all. Honesty with myself, and honesty with everyone I know, about what I'm doing.

Alright, pause, hold on, I feel like I need to warn anyone reading this, that it'll likely jump around a lot from thought to thought and I apologize for that. But I'm too lazy to organize and structure and format this. Its a blog, not a technical report.

Okay, back to it now. What was I talking about, oh yeah, honesty. That's basically why I'm even doing this blog (and dragging Jeff into it). I don't think I've been honest with enough people that I'm trying to lose weight, and that I'm going to change personal habits and how I eat because of it. I say this, because as a guy, I think we're under different social pressures then girls, you know to be manly and stuff. Not like it should matter, I know, I know, I'm just saying.

That being said, I'm not going on a "diet". Not in the traditional sense of the word, but I am changing my "diet". Because really everyone has a diet, its how you eat. Before I get into what the new diet is going to be, I thought I'd give a brief history for those who haven't know me forever.

I've battled my weight for most of my life. I was always a "husky" kid, but luckily for me, in junior high, I pretty much grew into my weight. Thanks puberty! If only I could grow into my current weight... Unfortunately a series of injuries in high school started to derail things. Well, really it was my eating habits that derailed things. I used to be able to eat tons of food, and of course for football, we all WANTED to gain weight. Then some injuries lower your activity level, but you don't change how you eat, and things start piling up.

My first real success with weight loss happened during my first summer job after high school. Of course working in a factory, assembling and boxing cabinets for eight hours will burn some serious calories. Unfortunately that was followed with the freshman 15, 20, and 25, and sophomore 15-20, and the junior 15-20, etc etc. When I graduated I was at my then heaviest.

Then came my first success with a new way of eating, and actually learning better portion sizes. In Detroit, I met my friend Dania, who introduced me to Weight Watchers. It was amazing. I lost probably 85lbs between careful calorie counting, and getting into running. Then old habits started slipping back with poor eating habits, and a missed workout or two or three.

Next came my move back to MN. I left Detroit for Springfield, MN out in the middle of nowhere. And this was the first time I had seen my eating coincide with mild depression. This was of course compounded by the pain I was living with after I ruptured a disc in my back. The pressure it put on my sciatic nerve got worse and worse, and none of the doctor or chiropractic advise seemed to help. By the time I went to a specialist, it time to head under the knife. Ooh picture time.

Anyways, got that fixed, and shortly after that, moved back up to the Twin Cities for a new job. It was awesome to be back. My brother (who is sawesome!) let me live with him for awhile until my house sold, and I was ready to give Weight Watchers another try. After about a week, I was able to talk into joining me, to lose some weight together. Having a partner in crime always seems to help. We also got into working out at Bally's ghetto fabulous gym in Fridley (terrible place). We did the usual weightlifting and mild cardio stuff, and even eventually got in doing some circuit training, which was pretty cool. But nothing compared to what we'd find later.

So in comes my friend Dania again. She's fitness drug dealer or something. First she talks me into trying a food allergy test, which was interesting, and lead me to trying out the Paleo diet. And I of course talked Jeff into trying it, because at some point we had discussed the "Caveman" diet in the past. We tried the Whole30 Plan as an intro. It went pretty well, but with the food allergy thing telling me to stay off eggs for awhile, I cheated for a long time and kept eating oatmeal. Which is a no no, as its still a grain.

Then came Crossfit. Of course Dania told me about this too, because she had joined one somewhere out in CA and its was "SO COOL". Turns out I had seen some stuff about it in Mens Health magazine when they featured the "300" workout for the Spartans. They had trained at Gym Jones, which was really similar. I think when I heard about it the first time, I had searched for places in Minneapolis, and the closest was the place in Eden Praire, which was too far to hit after work. But this time when I looked, there was now Crossfit Minneapolis. And thus began our new way of working out. I'll get into why I love Crossfit another time.

About 4-5 months into our CF workouts, things in Minneapolis were combined with St. Paul, and we began working out at Crossfit-St. Paul. And just a couple months ago, we did our first Paleo challenge at the gym. This time around, I was more strict then I had been in the past with grains, and when I re-introduced grains, I really noticed the increase in swelling in my joints. And frankly, it makes me feel like sh*t. But the darn grains are addictive. And that's where Robb Wolf has made things easier to understand. I've been reading his new book, and he does a great job of explaining how things work in our body. Its been eye opening. It helped too watching King Corn and Food, Inc this weekend again too. I highly recommend checking them both out.

So here goes! Based on some of the recommendations in Robb's book for people who need to lose a lot of weight, I'm going to be going Paleo, but also ditching dairy and eggs (which are typically allowed on Paleo). First for 30 days, then I'll re-add eggs. But then I'm going to remain strict through until my Doctor appointment in early December. This will be challenging, as there are a lot of things going on between now then. Namely a trip to Vegas and of course Thanksgiving. But like one of the guys at Crossfit says, "anything worth doing, is worth overdoing!"

And in light of this big change, I decided to having a going away party for Papa John's. We are no longer on speaking terms with the Papa.


I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to post in terms of food logs or exercise logs or thoughts on struggles or whatever. So be ready for anything. For sure there'll be more pictures because they're worth a thousand words, which will totally save me from typing (and you from reading through my typos).

Thanks for reading! - Greg

It's official-ish...

So its official, I'm going to lose weight and get healthy. When I moved back to Minneapolis 2.5 years ago, I got started again on losing weight. And initially it went well. Within about 6 months I was down 30lbs. Unfortunately since that time, I've been pretty much stuck at the same weight, plus or minus 10lb, for... well... you math whizzes should have guessed it, 2 years. Normally for me, that would be pretty good to stay at the same weight that long. Too bad I'm still roughly 100lb from my goal. So this is just the beginning, and I want everyone to know I'm going to lose the weight. Its not like its a secret that I'm overweight, I mean these pants totally make me look fat, I know it. I'll write more tomorrow, its getting late tonight, and morning will come all too soon. But the next post will be more of a manifesto about what I'm doing and why, and how I roped Jeff into it.