Sunday Story... Longevity continued.

In the past, we have talked about your marginal decade, in other words, the last ten years of your life. What do you want to be able to do in those last ten years? This is an important exercise. It's an exercise that you should really think about: what it is you really want to be able to do as your time on earth winds down. More important than that, because longevity isn't about how long you live; longevity is how well you live as long as you live. Most of us don't like the prospect of lying in bed for ten years waiting to die. That's not life. The real question is not what you want to do in your last ten years, but:

• What do you want to do this year?
• Next year?
• Five years from now?
• Ten years from now?

What do you want your life to look like activity-wise? What do you want your life to look like relationship-wise? What do you want it to look like career-wise? These are all important facets of who we are as humans. The fact is, I can have a great career and great relationships, and if my physical and mental health are lacking, life isn't going to be much fun. If I must quit my job because I am infirm, or if I have to start taking psychoactive drugs because my mental state isn't good and my relationships are suffering, again, that's not a life. That's an existence, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to just exist. I want to live.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…Birthday

 

As I approach my 70th birthday, I find myself looking backward at the twists and turns, the successes and the failures, the growth and the stunted places, the victories and the defeats that have gotten me here, to this place, writing to you today.

I think about my mother, in her early 90s, having a son about to turn 70, who has children not far from 50, who has at least 1 child not far from 20. We have been fortunate to have lived in a world that has afforded us the luxury of long, healthy, peaceful lives.

As humans, we want to provide meaning to the world. We see this in all the stories, the myths, and the religions. We do this on every level…from the worldview all the way down to our individual experience. What did my life here mean? What have I done other than take up space for the last 25,000 days?

What meaning can I attach to this life I am living? What value am I providing, not just for the immediate people around me but to the world writ large? Is there something, or many things, I have not done yet that will give someone else a glimpse into what’s possible?

Some of the questions I ask myself are: Have I loved enough? What can I do to love more in the time I have? What stories do I have left to tell? Are there mountains (figuratively or literally) left to climb?

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

Sunday Story… More Longevity.

I see a lot of posts on Instagram these days telling me that I should be able to do X, Y, or Z at a certain age. Some of those things may be true. I should be able to do some of them, but the real question is: what do you want to be able to do at any given age? What do you want to be able to do at age 40, 50, 60, 70, and beyond?

I am going to be 70 in a few short months. Do I really need to prove my fitness to anybody but myself? I don't think so. What I need to do is to be as fit as I want to be to do the things that I want to do. That's all there is.

If part of my fitness means I need to pick up something heavy and walk around with it for 100 yards, 200 yards, 3 minutes, or whatever, then that's what I need to do. Same thing with any other measurement. Some of these things I need to be able to do to maintain my health, my bone density, my testosterone, things like that. A lot of the fitness components help with my hormonal responses and my ability to perform certain things.

If I can deadlift double my body weight, what is that going to do for me? How does that move my fitness forward? How does that move my life forward? How does that improve and impact my life? If you don't have the answer to that, chasing that goal is futile. You need to figure out why you're doing that. What is it you want to be able to do? What is deadlifting double your body weight going to do for you? When you can answer that question, the goal becomes real.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday story…Race Day

Or competition day or game day. All your training has led to this point. This is the day when you get to put it on the line. You get to show up and show everybody what you've been working toward. The butterflies are real, the anticipation, the anxiety, all real. Or maybe this is your first time, and your anticipation is over the top.

Whether it's your first time or your tenth time competing, many of the feelings and trepidation are the same:

• Will you do well?
• Will you follow your game plan?
• What about the other competitors?
• Are you good enough?
• Are they too good?
• Have you trained enough?
• Have you worked hard enough to do as well as you'd like to do?

These are all questions that come up the night before, in the middle of the night, and the morning of. They're all valid, and they're all real. The anxiety is real. The anticipation is real, but the bottom line is none of it matters.

What matters is your willingness to put yourself out there and to put your training and abilities on the line for everybody to witness. Whether you end up first or last, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you showed up, did the best that you could do, learned something, and had some fun. That's all that matters. The event will be successful if you can do those things. Your final score, your final placing is irrelevant. It is those other, less obvious things that really matter. It's the journey that you took to get to this moment, to get to this day that matters. And that's why we compete.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…Why a Simulation?

As I mentioned earlier, I participated in the Xenom competition a few weeks ago. I went in cold, not having looked at the workouts, practiced them, or done any sort of strategizing about them. This is one of the things that CrossFit has always preached…knowing the unknowable. If I am faced with a task I have never seen before, can I figure it out and make it work to my advantage in a short time? This requires many different skills, but most importantly, I need an honest assessment of my strengths and weaknesses.

But the truth is, if I want to maximize my performance, I need to practice the things that will make me better at whatever I do. This is why a simulation race is important. The human body will adapt to the stresses put upon it. If I practice properly, I will perform better over time. This is the point of practice. Footballers practice football, swimmers swim, boxers box; it is how we get good at anything.

This is why you should do a simulation race. It is practice for the real thing. I will learn how to pace the run. What is running going to feel like after skiing or rowing? Do I need to adjust my pace up or down after anything due to stress or fatigue? A simulation race is designed for learning. Learning about what it feels like. Learning about what works best for you. Learning what doesn’t work for you. And learning what you need to spend time getting better at. What is the low-hanging fruit? The things you can do easily and get the biggest return on.

Show up on 7/25. Have fun, learn something.

Register her: https://competitioncorner.net/events/21704/register

discount code for members cfo20

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…HYROX Simulation Race

 

I wrote about HYROX in general a few weeks ago. HYROX is a fitness race that includes several thousand meters of running, some sled pushes and pulls, some rowing, some wall balls, just a little bit of everything. It's a very accessible race to participate in. There are no really difficult skills to learn or perfect, and it's a way to test your fitness, or at least some parts of your fitness.

We've started HYROX training classes here. We currently have five a week, and you're welcome to join those. It's part of your CrossFit membership, or if you want, you can bring a friend, and we can make that happen as well.

What we're going to do on the 25th of July is have a full-scale simulation race. We will be hosting the events listed on the website. You'll run 1,000 m, you'll ski 1,000 m, you'll run 1,000 m, you'll push the sled at the prescribed weight, you'll run 1,000 m, and you'll pull the sled at the prescribed weight. All in all, it'll be a race like the one that is going to take place here in Dallas in November, or in any number of other cities. It's always the same race in all the cities.

Now, the difference here is that we will be running outside. Most of the work will be done outside. We may have to make some adjustments, but it's going to be a simulation race. If you would like to participate, we'd love to have you. Below is the code for event registration, as well as a discount code if you're a member here at CrossFit Odyssey. If you're not a member and you still want to participate, we'd love to have you, and of course, we'd love to have you as a member.

https://competitioncorner.net/events/21704/register

discount code for members cfo20

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

Sunday Story…Xenom

 

Last week I competed in a brand-new fitness competition called Xenom, the decathlon of fitness. It was 10 events over 2 days. The duration of each event ranged from 1 to 30 minutes, with most falling in the 5–15-minute range. There were some high-skill events, like bar and ring muscle-ups, and low-skill events, like running a 3k!

The Star was a great venue for this competition. The event was very well run and ran on time throughout the 2 days. The equipment was top-notch (all Rogue). There was plenty of room and equipment for warming up, and the events were well planned, so everyone wasn’t warming up for the same event. The volunteers were helpful and happy. The judges (at least the ones I had) were consistent and fair.

There were 3 levels or divisions in this competition. Compete (the easiest), Rx (as prescribed), and Elite (the pros!). Although age groups were listed, everyone in the RX group did the same weights and exercises. So, for me, being over 12 years older than the next competitor puts me at a distinct disadvantage. But I wanted to test myself without the “scaling down” to see how I would fare.

I wasn’t last. Just next to last! The key questions, like any competition, are always: did you have fun, and did you learn something? Based on those two questions, the answer was a resounding Yes. That makes it a success in my book!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…More Europe

More impressions from the continent!

Probably the biggest impression I got from my visit to Europe is that, in general, society seems more cooperative and collaborative than it is here in the States. By that I mean, and this may be because we spent a lot of time in bigger cities, but people living close together must be more cooperative with each other in terms of resource usage, and things like that.

The public transportation systems were a marvel and heavily used by all kinds of people, not primarily tourists, but mostly people who live there. We traveled by both train and bus. We found that the people on both were helpful and very kind with our questions about the stops and stations. Interestingly, we found that many people spoke very good English, as a matter of fact, way better English than I spoke either French or Italian. When we had questions about which station to go to and what to do there (as in the next connection), it was just amazing to me how helpful and kind people were in general. Most people actually inquired about where we were from, where we were going, and what we were doing there. They seemed genuinely interested in who we were and how we were getting along in their communities.

Overall, I found that whether we were in large cities like Florence and Paris or in very small cities and villages, the people were interesting and interested. Probably the biggest thing I brought home was a greater sense of how I can be kind and helpful to strangers and people who just need a helping hand.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

PS. This photo is of our first meal in Florence: the Florentine steak. It was an amazing meal.

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story... Europe, Part 1

When I initially started writing this, I began it as sort of a travel log: we went here, did this, saw that, and did these other things. Then I realized that that really wasn't an important part of the trip. It was interesting and fun, but it wasn't the important part. It wasn't the part that I really remember.

What we saw and where we went were memorable, and we saw some amazing sites, art, and architecture. We marveled at the ingenuity and abilities of our forebears in building structures that took hundreds of years to assemble. To do so with such beauty and have an amazing structure still standing after hundreds and hundreds of years is just amazing.

What I found most important and memorable about the trip were the people and the experiences we had. One of the most memorable experiences was a cooking class in a couple's home in Pisa, Italy. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and spent the next five hours learning to make homemade pasta, rolling it out, running it through the pasta maker, hearing the stories behind Nona's meatballs, cooking rabbit on the stove, and just generally enjoying the company and stories. There was another couple there from Ireland, a mother and daughter, and we exchanged stories about current cultural things in Ireland as opposed to America. It was as simple as having a community enjoying other humans. The couple running the cooking class were engaging and fun, and they made it a really memorable experience for everybody. We had a couple of teenagers and some adults, and everybody got something out of it. That was the essence of the European trip. That was the part of the trip that I will never ever forget.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story... European Vacation

I just spent two weeks in Europe. We traveled to Nice, France; Pisa and Florence, Italy; and Paris, France. We managed a side trip to Monaco as well. This was my first experience of Europe, and it was truly eye-opening. So many of the things that I've read about and seen pictures of came to life right before my eyes. As a very limited student of art history (thank you, Gonzaga), it was amazing to see so many of the works I studied in class. There is a huge difference between pictures and the real thing. Those things become so much more real and relevant when you're looking at the work of art. I have to say that after four hours in the Louvre, my eyes were completely overwhelmed, almost on fire. It was art and beauty everywhere you looked. Something different to see, something different to imagine, thinking of the artist pouring out his soul as he lay upside down, painting a ceiling in the most vivid and bright colors, with a story or an allegory that he's trying to convey to his audience.

Of course, I have a ton of pictures, none of which do justice to the sights and sounds we experienced.

More next week!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Vacation!

 

   

I’m on a European Vacation! Shades of the Griswolds!! Just dropping a short note to you all to let you know you won’t be getting another Sunday Story until 6/14/26!!

Until then…keep on training!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…When you’re 80

I recently saw a short article outlining what you should be able to do at 60 to be independent by 80. The data on this is consistent. If you can do these 5 things at 60, you will still be doing them at 80. If you can’t do them, it is time to start training them! And if you aren’t 60 and have trouble now, you really need to get to work!

The 5 things:

v  Sit down on the floor and get back up. No hands, no knees, lower yourself down, sit, and get back up.

v  Carry the groceries. Grab half of your body weight in each hand and walk around for 30 seconds. This is functional strength

v  Stand on one leg for 30 seconds. Eyes open, barefoot, lift one leg. If you can do 10 seconds, that’s a mortality predictor. 30 seconds predicts independence.

v  Climb 4 flights of stairs in under a minute. This is roughly 60 steps and indicates cardiovascular health

v  Walk a mile in 16 minutes. Without stopping. This is not a high bar.

Here’s another thought… the body you have at 60 is the body you will bring to 80. The good news is that what you can’t do, you can train to do. At any age. If you are already 80, you can get better and be better at 90! If you’re only 50 and struggle with these, this is your wake-up call.

Ask your physician if getting off your ass is right for you!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…You’ve got to have Goals

For many years, my goal in CrossFit wasn't just to get in great shape but also to compete at the CrossFit Games. I managed to achieve that goal several times, but the goals have shifted a little since then. My primary goal is to maintain a level of fitness that supports my life and longevity, and it appears that striving for a place at the CrossFit Games may not support that goal.

You've got to have goals. We all have them, whether we state them or not. We have some sort of goal. Your goal here shouldn’t be to just show up. Your goal is to show up and move yourself forward in some way. More fitness, more strength, more health, and the work should support your goals. If the work isn't supporting them, I must either change the work or change the goals. One of those things needs to happen for me to maintain congruity in my thought process.

This weekend, when we are looking at people doing the semi-finals, I know the question may come up to me as to why I'm not participating, and the answer is that the goal of striving for a place at the table at the CrossFit Games may not be the goal that I'm striving for any longer. In other words, I'm not sure there's any cheese at the end of that tunnel for me.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

Sunday Story…HYROX Part Three

Should you do HYROX training? We're offering five classes a week, so there are plenty of opportunities for you to give it a shot, but the real question is, why should you?

Because we define fitness broadly and inclusively, you should be able to run well and cover distance. Should you be able to do some powerlifting? Should you be able to do Olympic weightlifting? Yes. Would you be at the top of the game in any of those things? Probably not, but you should be able to show up. If we had a powerlifting meet, you should be able to show up and showcase your skills in a way that benefits you, and that's what it's all about.

Will HYROX work for you and your fitness? Learning and playing new sports is a critical part of your physical preparedness. Being physically prepared for any challenge that comes up in front of you, whether you're going rim to rim in the Grand Canyon, whether you're showing up for a HYROX race for the first time, whether you are running a 10K, or playing some soccer. You should be able to do all those things.

If all I'm doing is HYROX training, I'm going to get good at HYROX. If I'm doing my job and I’m generally physically prepared for any task, for anything that's thrown in front of me, then yes, you should be able to do a HYROX race, and you should be able to do the training. The key is to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, don't do it. It doesn't make any sense. If you hate it, you're not going to keep doing it. If HYROX, is it, then go do that.

See you on the turf!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Hyrox part 2

 

So, what’s different about Hyrox? After all, it looks a lot like CrossFit with more running. And that is true. There is a lot more running in a race…over 8KM.

Here’s the primary difference in my opinion. CrossFit trains you for general physical preparedness. This is a broad and inclusive definition of fitness. You need to be strong, but you don’t need to be a powerlifter or a strongman. You should be able to run, row, or bike well, but you don’t need to beat a world-class marathoner or sprinter. We often say we want to out-run the lifter and out-lift the runner.  The other piece is knowing the unknowable. This simply means you never know what will be thrown at you, and you need to be prepared.

In Hyrox, all variables are removed. There are no terrain problems. There are no new standards or new unknown movements. There is no question of what you will be doing or what is expected of you. When we train for a Hyrox race, we train for a specific, relatively narrow band of fitness. It is broader than just marathon training or strongman training, but it still falls short of general physical preparedness.

Should you do some Hyrox training? Yes, you should. There are movements there that we rarely do in CrossFit (sled pushes and pulls). You will do them more often in Hyrox training. And you will run more in training and probably run farther. In CrossFit, we are going to do more variety and more varied time and modal domains.

So, mix it up a little. Throw a Hyrox class in. And if you want to get ready for a race, then do it more often.  Both things are good and good for you. See you on the turf!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

Sunday Story…Hyrox

 As you've probably noticed by now, we have some new additions to CrossFit Odyssey. We've started to do Hyrox training, so we put turf in the back. We've got new sleds, ropes, and sandbags. You might ask yourself, "What's this all about? What is Hyrox anyway?" Hyrox stands for Hybrid Rockstar. It started in Europe in 2017 as a small niche kind of workout. It’s a fitness race, and you're going to run 8,000 meters total, 1,000 meters at a time. In between your 1,000-meter runs, you'll be doing different tasks:

• 1,000-meter row
• 1,000-meter ski erg
• 80-meter burpee broad jumps
• 100-meter walking lunges carrying a 10kg (w) or 20kg (m) sandbag
• 200-meter farmers carry with 2 kettlebells—16kg (w) 24kg (m)
• 50m sled pushes with 102kg (f) and 152kg (m)
• sled pulls with 78kg (f) 103kg (m)
• 100 wall balls 4kg(w) 6kg(m)

It's the same race every time. It's done indoors, typically at convention centers, which removes weather-related variables. It also removes course variables like hills, trails, or other factors. It allows the race to be run the same way, whether it's in Berlin or Cincinnati. Over 700,000 people participated in a race last year. If you tried to get into the Dallas race last year, you noticed it was sold out almost immediately.

We're starting this training for people who want to run the race or just want a different cardio workout. There'll be some running, as well as other elements. Our program, which we get from Invictus, will usually include some strength work at the end. If you're interested in Hyrox, join us:

• Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings at 6 a.m.
• Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
• Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:30.

We'd love to see you there. For our regular members, there's no extra charge. Sign up and show up for the class as usual. See you on the Turf!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…Beach Season

It's that time of year again. We're getting close to bikini season, or whatever you want to call it, and we start getting worried about how we look in our swimsuits. It's not too late. You can still do what you need to do to look better by the end of May, the first part of June, when you go on vacation.

What do you need to do? It's simple, not easy, just simple:

1. First, cut out the alcohol. This is the easiest, simplest fix. It pulls a ton of calories out of your diet. Your body responds to the toxicity of alcohol in ways that prohibit fat burning and muscle building.
2. Second, start limiting your complex carbs. By complex carbs, we talk about rice, pasta, bread, things like that. Make the shift to simple carbohydrates like sweet potatoes and squash. Then control your portions of those starchy things.
3. Third, work out more. Get on the bike for 20, 30, or 40 minutes a day in zone 2, which for most of us is about 125 beats per minute. Get some sprint work once or twice a week and lift weights 2 or 3 times a week. Go old school with back squats, deadlifts, curls, triceps extensions, and pull-downs.

If you do those three things for the next two months, hit it hard, your beach season will look better than it would if it were right now.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…Pain Cave

At this point, after the last few weeks of intensity, we need to bring that intensity back down to sustain and increase our fitness. The wonderful thing about doing the Open and quarterfinals is that we get to find out where some of the holes in our game are, where we need to increase our fitness, what's lacking, and what needs work. Whether it's a gymnastic skill or the capacity to move longer, faster, or stronger, or to move more weight, we find out where those holes are by going all in on the pain cave. But I can't live in the pain cave. I can't live at 100% intensity; it's not sustainable, and it won't increase my fitness. It does show me what my maximum capacity is or isn't.

Daily, I can't go 100% every time I walk through the door. I can't try to do a 1RM every time I'm lifting; it won't move me forward. What I need to do is:

• do more reps
• increase the weight over time
• work at 70-80-85%

I will increase capacity with less intensity so that when I go and grab that 100% intensity, when I dive into the pain cave and hang out, my fitness will support that activity. You can't do that every day. Your central nervous system can't handle it. It's not good for you. Things will start breaking down, and we don't want breakdowns. It's good to test ourselves. It's good to have that 100% intensity and effort occasionally.

Now it's time to go back to work. Increase our capacity and our fitness by working at a lower intensity.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…Quarter Finals

By the time you read this, David Savage, Ellie McKenzie, I, and Chad Hankins will have completed all the quarter finals, or whichever ones we were able to do.

To reach the quarterfinals, you had to be in the top 25% of your division, whether the division was 18 to 34 or one of the age group divisions above that. Obviously, the more people in the division, the larger the 25% is, but also the harder it is to get into that 25%. It's quite an accomplishment. All of us are very proud to be part of that cohort.

But really, it isn't about being in the quarter finals. Each one of you could join us with these workouts. They're accessible to almost all of us. What it is about is not the workout, but the willingness to do the work to show up, warm up, and throw down to prove to ourselves where our fitness lies and to find the holes in it. There are holes; each one of us has holes. The best in the world has holes; that's why they have coaches to help them plug some of those gaps, and even the best in the world continue to strive and get better.

That's what this whole thing is about. It's not about how you did in the Open; it's not about the quarter finals. It's about being a little bit better today than you were yesterday and not as good as you will be tomorrow if you continue to show up consistently, day in and day out, do the work, find your fitness, and we'll see you on the leaderboard of life.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story...The Open…Final Report.

I want to send a big congratulations to each one of you who did the Open on Fridays with us. Every workout was a challenge. Every workout had you doing things that maybe you didn't think you could do, and you tried them anyway. Big congratulations, you deserve a round of applause for your effort.

I also really want to send congratulations to the 15 people who registered for the Open. Even though not all of you put in every score, you were there, and I know you got here and were judged on all of your workouts, so good on you! Big, big congratulations to David Savage, who finished in 205th place in a field of over 2,500! It's quite an accomplishment to finish above the top 10% of your field.

Now the quarterfinals are coming up for David and me, and we'll be participating in that next weekend, like the Open. The announcement for the workouts shows up on Thursday afternoon. We have until Monday to complete four workouts in five days. David and I will be doing them together. We think on Friday we will do two workouts, 10 and 2, and then the same thing on Saturday. We will have to just see; it depends on what the workouts are and how they shake out.

I know the crew at Invictus will have warm-ups and strategies for us to review and implement. We'd like to invite all of you to come and watch us, cheer us on, and judge us. We would love your energy to help us do our best in the quarterfinals.

Again, congratulations to each and every one of you for completing these workouts. See you on the leaderboard!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

Sunday Story: The Open Week Three

We're in the last week of the Open. Some of us have already done this third workout. Some of you are looking at it with mild trepidation. Let's be honest, it is a burner. It's going to punish some people who decide to go out too hot, but it's going to really punish everybody in the end. This is the beauty of Open workouts in general. We are doing our absolute utmost in the workout.

Most of us won't qualify for any stage of the competition past the Open, and that's fine. We don't need to. If we do well, let's go to the quarterfinals and see what it brings. Maybe it's not because you're going to go to the Games or anything else. Maybe it's just to challenge yourself a little bit further. How hard can you go? Can you go for an extra 10 seconds? Can you go with an extra 5 reps? Can you lay it out there a little bit further? Can you go deeper into that pain cave and stay there? This is part of the challenge of who we are as humans: challenging ourselves to do really hard things, and to do them voluntarily, not because we must.

The fact is that you never know; you don't know how strong you are until strong is the only choice you have. The fact is that when you voluntarily try to do things that are so hard, you are going to move the needle on so many other things in your life, not just your fitness, but your mental toughness, your trust in your capacity, the confidence that comes from knowing you can do hard things. This is where the beauty of the Open lies. See you on the leaderboard.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story... The Open, Week Two

Week one had us box jumping or box stepping and doing a whole bunch of wall balls. It was 12 minutes, and it pointed out to many of us where some of our training has not been what it should have been.

Now here we are in week two, and we've got a very nice triplet of overhead lunges, dumbbell snatches, and a mix of high-level gymnastic skills done under fatigue. If you've been with us following the Invictus programming, you'll notice that we do a lot of fairly high-level gymnastic skills under fatigue. By fatigue, we mean we've done a bunch of stuff, and then we have to step up to the bar or the rings and perform a skill that is difficult to do but even more difficult to do under fatigue, when breath is coming hard and fast, and heart is leaping through my throat. This is one of the beauties of CrossFit: we ask our bodies to do a lot, and then ask it to do something difficult under the best conditions.

You might ask yourself, "Why is that important?" The answer is simple. Sometimes we must do hard things that require thinking and frontal lobe work, even when our bodies and brains rebel against doing so. We don't want to do those things when our hearts are in our throats, our vision is narrowing, and our fine motor skills are under attack. It's at that moment that there's a separation between those of us who train for this sort of thing and those who don't. If we don't train for it, it's going to be really hard to hop up on those rings or hop up on those bars and get that job done.

Every week is a real eye-opener for all of us. But that is one of the reasons to do the Open!

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly to get started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412