How a golf certification helps your physical development...

WE DON’T CARE

…about competing against each other. We’re here to support each other and work to be an improved version of ourselves. We want you to leave a happier, more capable human being so you can enjoy your life the way you want to; longer. You vs. You. We’ll help you beat the You of yesterday.

MINDSET

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been immersing myself into a golf-oriented movement screen program and it’s been really humbling and enlightening to be a beginner. Many of you are feeling “being a beginner,” at The Standard and it’s really uncomfortable and can be intimidating— LOTS of room to feel inadequate and inferior.

YOU BELONG HERE isn’t just a slogan we put out; it’s a fact. Every human deserves the pursuit of better health and each of you who trust us to guide you along that pursuit have a place in our space. There will be challenges daily, you’ll be lost, you’ll mess up a workout, you’ll get corrections and improvements, and as you walk out the door, you’ll have overcome fear, anxiety, frustration, and have done something your body will thank you for.

It’s hard to be a beginner. It’s hard to be around people who already know the ins and outs. See this environment as safety and not threat. Safety because there are people around willing to lend the knowledge from their experience to you. Not threat— no one sees anyone as a burden or inconvenience or stupid or anything negative. We’re all in this together, working to make ourselves just a touch better than yesterday, if you’re working toward that too… YOU BELONG HERE.

TRAINING

HOW does titleist (the #1 brand in golf) Performance institute certification help you?

I learned a lot! I’m the first person to say that CrossFit isn’t perfect. It’s about as close as you can get and we do what we can to get it even closer, but holes will always exist. TPI Level 1 is all about movement screening to determine where physical limitations exist. Those limitations will impact the golf swing in predictable ways once we have the data, but that data also helps to understand our human movement generally. If you don’t possess enough internal rotation of the hip, your squat will look a certain way, if you can’t put your hand over your head correctly, your push press and pull-ups will look a certain way. If we screen to get the data, we have a better understand of the body and how it might naturally respond to the challenges we present each day in the gym.

Just FYI, there are 16 tests and I failed 14. That’s not even a bad thing. It’s JUST DATA. I have 40* trunk rotation and I want to get to 45* to “pass.,” but more so because I want to load up my swing further and gain more swing speed. It’s not about passing, it’s about understanding. The more we understand, the more we can predict and address the areas we’re lacking in.

So what’s that mean for you? If you want to get screened, I’ll help you do that. I need the practice, so volunteers are welcome. It won’t cost you anything for the screen. If you want me to build you a corrective/improvement program, it will just cause it takes time… AND hitting the ball better or moving better is worth it. =)

SECONDLY, I’m going to implement some of these correctives in warm-ups and extra credit. If anything is in there without a video, you’ll know why. Just find me or a coach and we’ll get you set up. Mainly these correctives are about lateral movement, which we RARELY do in CF, balance, and body awareness.

IN-HOUSE

NO NEWS FOR THIS WEEK.

MAIN FOCUSES ARE GETTING MEMBERSHIPS SWITCHED OVER TO CHALKIT AND THE 24 HOUR ACCESS PROJECT.

________________________________________________________________________________________

LET’S HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

HERE’S A QUOTE FROM THE SEMINAR:

“THE BIGGER THE SCREEN, THE MORE IMPRESSIVE YOU SEEM.”

LOL

Upper body strength meets nutrition...

YOU CAN CLICK AND LISTEN INSTEAD OF READING. …OR READ ALONG….

TRAINING

This week is our second week of our current cycle for Squat Endurance and Lactic Tolerance. Monday has a SE strength piece, Thursday has an Extra Credit LT piece. If one of those is a lower level of yours, plan accordingly so you don’t miss those assignments.

I’ve said this fairly regularly, but to reiterate, upper body strength is the hardest for us, cumulatively at The Standard. Specifically body weight, so push-ups, pull-ups, and ring dips. Most of us have improvement we’d like to make in one or more of those areas. The ONLY way we are going to realize notable improvements is to do some intentional work on toward those goals. So, if you have Upper Body Pulling goals… pull-ups, you have to be diligent about working on them. How do you know when to work on them? Any day that involves a really firm grip is a day you should work on them. We deadlifted heavy last week, so that would’ve been a perfect opportunity to knock out one or two sets of assisted pull-ups or negatives, or cable pull-downs. The same goes for Upper Body pushing and ring dips. If you struggle with pushups, specifically with depth, exposures are the only way you’re going to realize improvements. Any time we finish a workout that involves pushing away from your body, you can knock out some pushups afterward. This concept: Less volume, more often… is called “Greasing the Groove.” It’s more exposures at higher quality which breeds better adaptations.

The other GIGANTIC CONTRIBUTOR to upper body strength is the overall weight of your body. Losing non-functional weight can ONLY make your numbers go up, which brings me to the next subject…

LIFESTYLE

A couple months back, this egregiously corrupt and erroneous-to-anyone-with-a-brain chart came out:

Yeah… so you’re telling me that CANNED peaches, not a real peach is better than pineapple? You’re saying that Lucky Charms are better than ground beef? Ok, well, we don’t have to take this any further to see that this chart, which took three years and many MILLIONS of dollars to create, is completely corrupt and utterly worthless. So why talk about it? Because “research,” like this is what schools look at for lunchroom meals. It’s what medical professionals (who often don’t have a single course in med school about nutrition) use to make recommendations to patients with dietary challenges. ALL of these problems: corrupt science, uncritical thinking by institutions, and uneducated health care workers, need to be talked about because it’s more important than EVER to understand what good nutrition looks like.

Nutrition is SO EASY to understand. Acting upon that understanding is harder.

Greg Glassman, creator of CrossFit and uber genius if you ask me, said it as succinctly as possible:

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.

Aligning with Greg, I tell people this: “If Jesus could have eaten it, then you can too.” He could’ve eaten meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit, and starches since they all naturally occur in the wild. He couldn’t eat Chick-Fil-A. If you can manage to ONLY eat what Jesus could have, you will live a long, healthy life, and be leaner and stronger than you are right now. If you get that ONE thing right; you’ve gotten almost all of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in one action.

To come full-circle, if you have upper body strength goals, the less you weigh, the easier it gets. Let’s eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar, and keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. We’ll lean out, our accessory work efforts will make us stronger, and we’ll reach our goal even faster.

IN-HOUSE

1) Step 1 for 24 hour access is complete; we installed 2 new cameras that see each person coming in and out.

2) ChalkIt will soon house everything we do and we won’t need the member’s app anymore. I’m currently working on the migration, but eventually we will have tracking, LM categories, class reservations, and billing all in the same place. Hopefully this helps to minimize confusion and makes your experience simpler and better.

3) One of the things I value is the pursuit of improved methods and information, so I’ve been working through a Titleist Golf certification to identify mobility restrictions and fitness solutions to address them. It’s been really good to be a beginning learner again; I think my brain is processing daily information better because I’m challenging it with completely foreign content. Part of that process is a seminar that’s happening THIS WEEK IN FLORIDA, so I’ll be gone from Thursday to Monday afternoon. Please make Tim and Sam’s lives easier since they’re graciously picking up my slack. I’ll bring back goodies for all of you white-ball-hitting dweebs. :)

LET’S HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

HERE’S A QUOTE:

“COMPARISON IS A THIEF OF JOY.”

…compare yourself today only to yourself yesterday.

BLOGS ARE BACK!!

YOU CAN CLICK AND LISTEN INSTEAD OF READING. …OR READ ALONG….

Helloooo everybody! I used to write a weekly blog to talk about what was happening around the gym and to preview the workouts for the week. I stopped doing that because ChalkIt shows you the workouts and I hired a company to help me do some things in 2022— which they did not do— which broke a number of things with the website and my personal routines. Anyway…

They’re back. I’m going to provide as much information/education as possible in these so they’re worth the time and effort to read/watch.

I figure the first one should be a State of The Standard, so to speak.

2022 was a wild year for me personally and professionally. Big lowlights, big highlights, and everything in between. As for the gym, we grew marginally in our membership base, but not even close to as much as I projected or hoped. There are a number of reasons for this, but the biggest one is simply me. I’m going to do better for you all so that we can all do better in 2023.

Here’s what “doing better,” means to me this year:

1) First off, I need to do better about acknowledging new members and level-ups, so let me kick off with that! We had four new people join in January and they’re showing up consistently and busting their butts! Ashli, Bev, and Mike are 6am-goers and Colton will be an afternoon/evening addition. As always, if you see unfamiliar faces, be friendly and try asking how long they’ve been coming instead of if they’re new. :) If someone is wandering aimlessly or looks lost, please help. You all do a phenomenal job at that already, I just want to reiterate because each of our attitudes and actions impacts the experience at The Standard, as a whole.

2) I announced “Fast Track to Fit,” for anyone that needs an all-encompassing program to guide them in their pursuit of better health and fitness. It’s a phenomenal deal for anyone that simply doesn’t know enough to improve their fitness on their own, or someone who needs accountability, or someone who doesn’t know how to move their body in and out of the gym proficiently. It’s Basics + 3 months membership + 3 months nutrition (typically $1077) for just $499. If you know anyone that might need something like this, please let them know; I only have 8 left. If any of those services sound useful to you, come chat with me, I’ll offer you an in-house deal on whatever you might need.

THE DIRECT BENEFIT TO YOU SECTION

3a) I’ve been studying and sampling a lot of methods from a lot of world class innovators and thinkers on a number of different things, like foot function/strength, knee rehab/strengthening, crossover symmetry/shoulder health, golf-specific training, and more. I’m going to start putting some of these concepts into warm-ups and extra credit more often. I would encourage everyone to work through extra credit if at all possible; much of it can be done at home if you simply don’t have the time. You’ll improve faster and prevent injury if you are disciplined enough to do the mundane pieces along with the metcons.

3b) I’m going to formalize an upper body pulling/pushing protocol with a rings slant. The main areas we struggle with as a whole as upper body strength, so I want to see all of you that have first-pull-up goals be able to hit those.

4) NEW MEMBERSHIP OFFERING… I made the decision to end punchcards. The concept that a person only has 10 to spend is like having tickets to use at the carnival… “will this game bring me more enjoyment than the next game?” …then they don’t play ANY games and all of the sudden they haven’t been to the gym in 2 months. That’s not how it goes for everyone, but if it happens for anyone, it feels like a disservice, so now… we have an 8x a month membership for just $99/mo. Hopefully it will motivate people to use their visits before the expire, improving attendance, thus progress. For those of you who simply can’t make it but once a week, you will be able to purchase drop-ins at the drink kiosk the same way you do a FitAid or O2.

5) I’m not completely sure on the timeline, but sometime THIS YEAR, sooner rather than later, I want to offer a 24 hour access service. This will be only available to unlimited members who have been in group training with us for 3 months minimum. It will not be available to outsiders and loners. I think this would help a number of you who tend to get hung up at work or simply want to come in on a Sunday. It’s going to cost me a good chunk of change to install, so it’ll be a premium upgrade, but I’ll be transparent about all of that as I get closer to that goal.

6) We switched to having monthly assessments instead of Assessment Seasons. I would really appreciate any feedback you may have on that.

7) I’m going to build out athlete profiles for everyone that has been with us for 3 months or more. Be aware that I’m going to be taking more pictures of you while you’re working out. :)

8) This is not really relevant to you, but our social media presence is fairly lackluster, so I’m going to set a goal of 200 posts in 2023. I’m really only including this bullet point as accountability.

Those are the things that are top of mind for me right now. As always, if you have feedback of things that would make your experience better; please don’t be shy about telling me or leaving me a note anonymously. I promise you won’t hurt my feelings and I promise to give it adequate consideration.

There are a number of other potentially HUGE things in the works for this year and I’d love to spill about it but I already wrote more than I intended, per my usual. I hope you’re having a great weekend!

Top Golf is booked - Founding Athletes

Top Golf was such a good time last year, we decided to do it again! Thanks to Sean for setting it up, we’re looking forward to a roadtrip and shenanigans and (for some) a night in downtown Cleveland. It’s happening 2/26 from 4p-6p. If you’re interested in coming, you’re a little late and you should make sure you’re in our FB group. That said, let me know and we’ll see if we can make it happen. :)

This past Friday, we recognized a group of 20 people who have been instrumental in the establishing of The Standard. People who have been with us since day one or even before! That’s 3 years of encouraging words, helpful hands, and support in so many other ways. Thank you. Without you and those extra efforts, we wouldn’t exist right now.

Adam & Rachel Marroquin

Josh & Libbe Brossia

Craig Willoughby

Darron Olin

Logan Genson

Sam Woodring

Tim Superczynski 

Tina Beutler

Carl “Poppy” Genson

Babar Stelzer

Celia Le Saux

Sean Timmons

Myron & Nicole Duhart

Jim Moore

David & Elizabeth Olin

Lesley Chovan

We are going to do this every 6 months and slowly include all of you who have been with us for many years. Once you hit 3 years, you’ll be invited and recognized.

IN SIMILAR NEWS… we will be rolling out a “Committed Club,” as well this summer… more info about that incoming.

1 Month Check-in...

Welcome to February! This month kicked off with a cold bang— 16” of snow and lots of inconvenience, but we adapted and survived and we’re back into the groove, right? Right? Are you satisfied with your groove? How did January go for you? Did you re-build your routines to match your priorities or did you lose conviction and lose out on the progress or experiences you could’ve had?

It’s important to make steps in the right direction, consistently… so sustainable and reasonable goals and expectations is what we’re always in pursuit of. Can’t come to the gym and eat perfectly five days a week? Ok; let’s start with ONE. Level it if that helps. White level discipline to red level discipline. :) Here is a PSA I recorded. If you have anyone that needs to hear it, pass it along!

If you’re having a great experience at The Standard, a review that talks about it would be really helpful. :)

New Month, new focuses. You’ll notice a significant change in workouts for the next four-six weeks as we work toward UB pushing and U/L endurance assessments. Let’s get those levels!

Zone of Proximal Development.

I mentioned this in the last one, but I’m assuming you’ll be spending some time working on your physical health at The Standard, so your coaching staff would love to know what you think is the most important thing for you to achieve in 2022. Click this survey! (it’s 3 questions, super short)

Hopefully all of you reading this have experienced how myself, Sam, and all of the trainers at The Standard are endlessly trying to improve their knowledge, communication, and skills. That endless pursuit of improvement is fully fueled by a desire to possess the tools and information necessary to get you to the next milestone in your fitness journey. I tend to talk about this a lot because it’s true; I’m convinced no team in the region wants to do a better job for every person that calls The Standard their home.

As I was learning from a podcast this week, I was introduced to a concept called “Zone of Proximal Development,” for the first time. If you’re an educator, you’re likely very familiar with this, but for me it was a fun rabbit hole to run down that ultimately related back to how we facilitate learning at the gym.

The basic idea is that a person can get themselves to a certain point, but not to a point they perceive as being next. For instance, “I can hang from a bar, but I can’t pull myself up.” That experience is frustrating and discouraging, so to bridge the gap they need an MKO (more knowledgable other). They need a friend who’s been there- someone who knows what they don’t and can provide information and an environment where new skills can be acquired. It ALSO talks about how there are stages of progression (let’s call them LEVELS) on the way to that significant new skill or knowledge. As the person goes from hanging from a bar, can they hold themselves over the bar? No? Ok, then that’s the next thing to acheive. It’s NOT a full pull-up— that is not the success measure. The success measure is the incremental improvement! Once they can hold their chin over the bar, it’s called scaffolding.. we remove the scaffolding to find the skill is standing on it’s own solidly. The MKO and the individual have build something new and there’s no longer a knowledge or a skill gap. We’re ready for the next step, a chin-over-bar slow negative… probably going to have to get that MKO to help out on this one too.

This may seem pretty “well, yeah, duh…” but it was neat to see the concepts we use daily in level method and at The Standard are rooted in sound psychology and the MKOs we have in place (more advanced athletes, friends, trainers) are powerfully equipped to help and advise our community members along the way.

The other reason I’m sharing is to gently remind you that things take time. Consistency over that time will overcome all frustrations and skill gaps. :) You can do it. I’m pumped I get to help. If you know anyone else that needs help, we’d love if you’d refer them to us. 😁

New Month, new focuses. You’ll notice a significant change in workouts for the next four-six weeks as we work toward UB pushing and U/L endurance assessments. Let’s get those levels!

3 Weeks to... reset.

Congrats to everyone that completed the 3 Weeks to Shredded program! I hope you’re suddenly STUPID lean! What’s more likely is you shed a few pounds, realized that you can handle being more disciplined than you typically are, and that prepping meals isn’t as inconvenient as we like to think it is. If you can maintain even 80% of the RIGHT decisions you made over the last few weeks, over time, you’ll see huge body changes. This is the secret sauce to getting leaner AND stronger. Let’s keep those habits in place!

If you’re having trouble with nutrition, let a coach know, we’d be happy to give you some resources and guidance to help you see more success.

I mentioned this in the last one, but I’m assuming you’ll be spending some time working on your physical health at The Standard, so your coaching staff would love to know what you think is the most important thing for you to achieve in 2022. Click this survey! (it’s 3 questions, super short)

Ok, the groove is back...

2022 is here and it feels like everyone has settled into some new routines and has the bustle of the holidays settled. This is a phenomenal time to reflect on last year and extract the best memories and achievements while forgetting about disappointments or missed opportunities. When I’ve done this, I’ve begun to notice a trend: The things that were the most disappointing and frustrating in that moment, are the things I blow off and laugh at when the year ends. The beautiful and exciting moments are the ones I don’t acknowledge well enough as they’re happening, but upon reflection, cherish in a really special way. I think it’s worthwhile to go through that practice. If you need a guide; here’s a great suggestion from Tim Ferris.

This is also the time to prioritize our lives— how we will spend our time and with who. I’m assuming you’ll be spending some time working on your physical health at The Standard, so your coaching staff would love to know what you think is the most important thing for you to achieve in 2022. Click this survey! (it’s 3 questions, super short)

Basics of Nutrition...

Many of you have joined us on the 3 Weeks To Shredded adventure, some of you have not and that’s all good. The regimented program isn’t for everyone, but what IS for everyone is the knowledge of food, it’s value and it’s importance to our overall health. I think the MAIN benefit of 3WTS is learning how to prep for meals you make yourself and how to prioritize earth-grown nutrients. Let’s me talk a little more about that.

If you lived your life with one rule, you would live an exceptionally longer life, filled with better energy, hormone balance, better immunity, and have really balanced body composition.

“If Jesus could’ve eaten it, I can eat it.”

Heck, if you follow that with ANY level of discipline, you likely get the benefits above. That rule makes it easy to decide what foods are preferential and which should be avoided when possible. For example, could Jesus eat M&M’s? No, they didn’t exist. Could he have eaten Hot Pockets? Of course not. Pretty simple, right?

If you want to add one more layer, you add “quality of ingredients,” on top of that. For instance, could Jesus eat bread? Yes. …but… he would’ve been making it himself, from real ingredients. It wouldn’t be Wonder bread that’s been bleached and processed down to fluffy insulin-stimulating loafs of bread. It’d be Ezekiel bread, sprouted grains, or unleavened bread. Would he have eaten french fries? They’re potatoes and potatoes come from the Earth! Potatoes are not naturally boiled in 500* fat. They wouldn’t have had a fryer in Jesus’ time… so… no, that’s not going to pass the 2-layer test.

That means virtually anything enjoyable is unacceptable. That’s true! But that’s not reasonable and no one wants to live that way. No one wants to be the guy who avoids cake and ice cream at a birthday party. You absolutely CAN BE that guy… I’ve been that guy a LOT of times… but that’s because I don’t really care for cake. If you do, or pizza, or White Claws, or girl scout cookies; you can enjoy these. These are a social health benefit activity. Here’s what they aren’t: daily partakings. Allow yourself a 4 hour window every 7 to 10 days in which you can enjoy all of the things you typically don’t, to enjoy your friends and family, to enjoy the excess and pleasure. Then get back on track with your two layers. Immediately.

This is a success strategy that can be maintained for a lifetime. If 3WTS is too much to handle, start smaller. Make more of your meals. Make them with earth-grown nutrients. Use dairy if you like in moderation (cheese is yum, but you don’t need so much of it!). Avoid processed breads, crackers, chips, and candy.

Start small, see BIG progress over time.

A number of you have take me up on the paid-in-full year for 2022. Thanks for that commitment! It’s going to be our best year yet. If you want to take advantage of that, you still can for the next two weeks. You’ll save 10% off the full year if you pay in cash or venmo (or 7% if you use your card). Just let me know if you’re interested in that. 💪

Nutrition focus to start the year... starts tomorrow. Get in!

THIS IS AN ENTIRE CHANNEL OF VIDEO RESOURCES FOR YOU!! Check it out.

Firstly, let me take a moment to thank all of you again for being a part of The Standard. This month is our 3 year anniversary and we’d have never made it without you. Some of you have been here since 1/1/19 and that feels like the best compliment I’ve ever gotten. :) Thanks. We’re going to have a tremendous 4th year— bigger, better, and more fun than ever.

We’re starting our year with a focus on nutrition by following 3 Weeks To Shredded. If you don’t know what this is; it’s a program that I lost 16lbs on last time I did it and I was already 10% body fat and 184 lbs. It teaches you how to prepare appropriate meals and what real food tastes like. It’s worth participating. If you want to participate, but don’t want to pony up the collateral inspiration; let me know. I got you a promo code.

Here’s a recap video for 2021!

We bought some stuff, we broke some records, we had fun, and became better people along the way.

New Year... Inflation... Sign up for 3WTS

Merry Christmas y’all! I hope you enjoyed a few days with loved ones and made memories worth recalling for decades. :)

We’re moving into the New Year and a few things typically come along with that. It’s a week to reassess our lives on many different fronts and with that pondering comes changes we’d like to make and plans to make them happen.

That happens for The Standard as well- I try to look back at what we did and plan changes so that you get the best experience we can cultivate. This year was pretty divisive socially and economically we’re watching inflation happen at rapid paces; things cost significantly more now than at the beginning of the year. Because of that inflation, but also because our athlete numbers have grown, we’re keeping membership rates the same for 2022 (despite our lease costs going up every year for the next two remaining). Thanks for the continued support and belief in what we do. If you know anyone that might also enjoy what we do… please proactively invite them to check us out. That would be incredibly helpful.

IN FACT… if you’d like to save some money, you can purchase your entire year up-front and save 10% (cash/venmo) or 7% (credit cards)! Just shoot me a message and I’ll get it set up for you.

The most common New Year’s resolution centers around losing weight, so we’ve put this event together.

It costs $25 and you should download THE BOOK — but — You can earn your money back in full!

Simply complete 80% of the tasks asked of you and your entry fees come back to you in full or you can donate them or keep them as a credit inside the gym!

Eat breakfast, eat lunch, eat dinner, eat snacks/hit protein #s, intermittent fast, don’t drink alcohol are all daily tasks. Once a week you’ll take a progress pic (private, honor system!) so you can see the results!

Combine this program with regular training at The Standard and you’ll see incredible results and kick-start your 2022! Last year, at 185lbs and 10% BF, I lost 16lbs. You can definitely do it and you may even learn some things along the way. Partner up and keep each other accountable!

Here’s an older video of me talking about 3WTS and what can be expected.

Saturday's Champ v Champ, holiday potluck, and schedule for this week.

Thanks to everyone who came out Saturday for Chaos of Christmas, to participate in the Champ V Champ, or to witness the finale for the Fair Fight Championship! Congrats to our podium finishers, Maddy, Abi, and Ben! Thanks for putting your fitness and grind on display for all of us. :)

We then got to enjoy each other’s company with some Balance, a white elephant bonanza, and Neejybaby read a poem he wrote for me. :) It was humbling to have all of you there and even more so that you choose to let me and your coaching staff help you to attain things you might not otherwise attain on your own. It’s a privilege.

BIG SATURDAY 12/18!!

Last Year’s Friendsgiving… this year we’re doing a Saturday afternoon potluck/white elephant gift exchange.

This weekend I spend a few days with the Level Method team in Colorado and helped them plan their marketing and sales strategy, along with some other really cool tools and features you guys will see roll out in the next year. It was a ton of fun, but it was inspiring and showed me how much better I could be doing for The Standard and you. I’ll be working on those for you.

THE BIGGEST THING TO PAY ATTENTION TO
THE BIGGEST THING TO PAY ATTENTION TO
THE BIGGEST THING TO PAY ATTENTION TO

…is Saturday. THIS SATURDAY the 18th… The Chaos of Christmas workout will be going down at 8am and 10am. Pleaseeeee arrange with a partner who can handle the same barbell as you and then reserve your slot. You should get there a little early to make sure you get a good warmup in. Chaos can take an hour or more in some cases.

Then at 11am, all of the color Champs will be going head to head in an elimination style workout. If you saw last year’s, you know it’s a blast. Champ invites will be going out tomorrow! 🙌

THENNNN when that’s over, we’ll have a potluck lunch. Balance will be catering a bunch of it, but if you’d like to bring something, please do! We’ll have a white elephant gift exchange as well ($10 limit!).

I’m excited to spend the day with you guys, Saturday. :)

Every year on my birthday, I re-test California Club, a games workout from a few years back. I’m going to do it at 7:30a on Wednesday if anyone is feeling froggy. (You can google for the workout description.)

Toy Story delivers the blog...

“Buzz, would you take on this final workout with me?”
We near the end of the 2021 Fair Fight Championship, and you’re going to need a partner for this one. Grab your best gym buddy and reserve your spots NOW (yes, registration is already open so you can coordinate your schedules.)

“Do you know the $7 T-shirt Sale is still going on?”
Any of the shirts on the entry cubby slots are just $7. We bought too many and it’s Christmas time, and everyone wants a good shirt to wear at the gym. :)

“HAAA!! Inflation and yearly rent increases means our gym memberships will get more expensive?!”
Not this year, suckaaaa!! 🙌 You guys have been so supportive and our numbers have sustained really well, so our accountant said we could absorb the rising costs of operation and the rent increases we get every year from our evil landlord (just kidding, I train him, and he’s a stellar human).

THANK YOU for speaking well of our gym, the coaches, the experience, and for allowing us to serve you (and for allowing this to be my profession)! It’s the best compliment any of you can pay me; continuing to be a member and trusting us with your goals and development.

(IF any of you want to pay in-full for 2022, that’s a thing that exists. You can talk to me about it)

“I DID THAT THING LAST YEAR!! THEY DON’T EVEN TELL YOU THE WORKOUT BEFOREHAND!!”
<READ THIS WHOLE THING PLZZZ>

Chaos of Christmas is coming next Saturday December 16th. You can do it at 8, 9, or 10, THEN

Fair Fight Champions will face off against each other at 11a to see who will be the 2021 Champ Champ! THENNNNN

We’re going to have a HOLIDAY POTLUCK at noon. I’m working with Balance to cater some of it, so feel no obligation to bring anything, but if you’d like to make something, please do. Kids are welcome. Dogs are welcome (as long as they get along and you clean up their puke when one of them inevitably does that 😂) This will be great. I’m hoping for snow. :)

“We’re working together on the 3 Weeks To Shredded program!?”

January 3rd we start. You’ll be matched with an accountability partner and you’ll both work to score points daily for diligence and consistency. I’m also putting together a lot of basic nutritional information so you can learn what a sustainable healthy diet consists of and we’ll obviously we watching our bodies shred fat and look bikini ready by February. :)

“Sureeeeee you read all of the captions and understood the information above. Sure. Either way, here’s what you came for: workouts.”

Thanks Woody. I appreciate your sarcasm.

$7 T-shirt Sale!!

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday… psssshhh

Whatever. I have too many shirts sitting around and would rather you guys be wearing them than be in the back room making maneuvering back there harder. So. Everything on the entry shelves is $7.

With any purchase you’ll also get a Community Coalition card that gets you discounts on some of the best brands serving the CrossFit community. Basically a $100 gift card if you use it at all five merchants. :)

Cash or Venmo only (I can’t put it in the store we use credit cards with— sowwwy)

As we go into December, having finished up our weightlifting/rowing cycles and assessments, these are the new focuses.

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday week/weekend! We’re back to tough training, including a new Fair Fight workout this Friday. I personally can’t wait for this one— you can blame Tim and Amanda for suggestions that brought forth this creation in my mind. Hang on tight! :)

Here are the workouts for the week!

Focus on the controllable. ...plus... a fair fight hint.

Tyler working through Fair Fight 21.2… look at that lockout position 🤤

If you haven’t done the workout, you have until Thursday to do it!! Find a friend to count your reps and get ‘er done!

Happy Sunday everyone! Winter is now here since I’m watching snow fall outside my window.

REJOICE!!!

Let me be clear: I don’t like winter. Winter denies me a lot of the things I enjoy most in life (golf, nature, water, general happiness), but I’m working on my mindset and how I approach and respond to things in life. It would be easy to be negative “ughhh, I can’t golf with my Dad, ughhhh I have to shovel, ughhhhh I have to wear pants at all times…” but… what’s the value of that? I can’t change it. No amount of whining and ughhhh will impact the fact that it’s going to be cold, it’s going to snow, it’s going to be a nuisance. So there’s NO benefit at all. But there IS a negative. Not only is it futile emotional output, it’s poisonous to the mind. If we allow things we cannot control to control us, it makes for less happy day to day lives, which makes for less happy interpersonal interactions, which makes for unhealthy relationships between husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, family, and friends. What if we simply put the things we can’t control up on a shelf? We acknowledge them, then put them on the shelf as something that cannot be undone or changed and forget all about it. That frees us up to think about things that we CAN control: being a good father, being a friend, looking for a new job, dreaming about a new adventure, writing a blog that might help change someone’s perspective about how to approach the disappointments we experience in life.

I’m not perfect at this. Politics bother me, culture bothers me, unprofessionalism inside fitness bothers me; but only for mere moments. I think it’s very healthy to acknowledge those times and to think through those topics and why they bother us, but there must be a boundary. There must be a shelving. An acknowledgement of it and a direct denial of control over our emotions or our lives.

The gym is a microcosm of that concept in life: “ughhhh I hate dubs! Why do I suck so bad?!” Those thoughts are not helpful and they don’t relieve you from the experience anyway. You STILL have to work through the reps until you eventually come to the end. You then shelve that and move on to the next movement. Let’s practice shelving all of the things we can’t control in our lives and focus intently on the things we can. If we spend all of our emotional energy on things we CAN impact, the impact is SURELY greater than on things immoveable and unstoppable. That is how we progress as humans, that’s how we achieve, that’s how we leave a lasting impact.

Every month, Level Method takes us through new focuses so our training is well-balanced throughout the year and we get better at a lot of different things… but also so that we have fun and new challenges to overcome. I’ll post posting these in here for those of you who are interested in why we’re suddenly doing so much barbell weightlifting and dumbbell movements.

👀 👀 👀

New workout, new swag, new members, oh my!

Leo Holt came by to witness the Fair Fight Championship first-hand. He also gave a modeling seminar afterward. Behold.

There were a lot of goings-on happening at The Standard this week! Coach Sam picked our 1st Fair Fight workout, we got our pre-ordered swag delivered, and welcomed three new members into the fold. As always, if you don’t recognize someone, be friendly and helpful (as you always are).

Melissa Conduti comes to us from an extensive and impressive athletic background and has a story I cannot tell in just a blog, Diana Patton is a legend in her own right, lawyer/speaker/energizer bunny/all-around-good-time, and Christina Bodi lived in the middle east for many years and now is responsible for literally millions of gallons of gas making it to it’s destination. Welcome to all of you, thanks for trusting us with your fitness journeys, your coaching staff and I are super pumped to contribute to everything you’re about to do. :))

This week’s Fair Fight Championship workout was guided by Ryan Miller who won our BINGO Assessment Season contest. He gave me some broad confines and it’s ready to roll out to you this Thursday evening! Hints: There are no burpees, rowing, or dubs. It’s also not 1 minute intervals, nor is it 6 rounds. :)

If you didn’t do week 1 of the Fair Fight; you have until Thursday night to do so!! Let your coach know and we’ll set you up. We have a great week of training coming up! Let’s get it started!