Sunday Story…The Open

This is it…the last week of the open. Whether you registered or not if you have come to class, you have done the workouts. By now you know that they were doable. Keep that in mind next year!

Here is a realization that arises when we look at something like this…your fear of the unknown was far greater than the actual occurrence. Looking back, you begin to realize your fear was unreasonable and unfounded. You let an imagined problem spiral out of control until you let it decide for you.

The story you told yourself, all the whys you produced, and all the rationales you used to not do something caused you to miss an opportunity to do something that would move you forward in some way. Fear is often said to be False Evidence Appearing Real. This is one of those cases. All the reasons and evidence you thought were real turned out to be false.

I bet there are many times in your life when you allowed fear to stand between you and what you really wanted. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, and fear of derision can all present obstacles to getting what and going where you really want. But none of those fears are fatal. No one ever died of derision, rejection hurts but it’s not going to kill you.

Next time an opportunity arises, seize it. Don’t reluctantly agree and give it an insipid attempt. Give it a full-throated, full-body yes, and throw yourself into the charge.

Take no prisoners, burn the boats, and go for it.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com 

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Intentionality

 A little detour from the madness that is the CrossFit Open this week.

When we do any workout, we should be aware of what the intention is for the workout. What is the desired stimulus and response?

Often the answer is in the description of the work. “Work to a heavy double,” or “5 sets at a tempo with a slow negative (eccentric).” When we see instructions like that, we know the intention is to build strength. It is obvious, I think.

But often we see instructions that leave us guessing. We could select a weight that would slow us down and tire us out more than a lower weight. We can run or row fast before we get started on the rest of the work. This is where asking the coach would be helpful. But maybe there isn’t a coach there or maybe the coach tells you to choose.

This is where some self-knowledge comes in handy. What have you done already today? What have you done this week or this month? Have you been focused on lifting heavy all week or has it been more sprint-type work or maybe long and slow? You are the final arbiter of what work is best suited for you at this moment.

Only you know how you have recovered. What have you eaten today or yesterday? How much have you slept last night and this week? These are all factors that will determine what your intention is for the work you are about to do.

Intention is important. Without intention, we are just muddling along. Be intentional and then add some mindfulness in to really get the most out of your work!

 John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com     

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412   

 

 

 

Sunday Story…The Open

At the risk of beating a dead horse; here we go with more reasons for you to do the Open even if you are not a competitive athlete!

Primarily, it serves as a check on your fitness. 3 workouts over 3 weeks that are all repeatable. They are all scalable to your current level of fitness. You will get a score that you can look up years down the road. I can see every Open score I have ever posted.

Second, you will be held accountable for your standard of movement and range of motion. Is your squat not low enough? No rep! If you miss the target on your wallball? No Rep! A judge will count your reps. 9 isn’t good enough to be counted as 10. Hopefully, this accountability will motivate you for the rest of the year. You will want to work harder to get the full range of motion every time, every rep until it becomes second nature. Voila! No more no-reps!

Lastly, you get to celebrate with your community. There is the shared suffering part, the commiseration of how bad it was. Cheering on your classmates and watching them get the win when they finish. I had the pleasure of judging an adaptive athlete last Friday. It was an amazing experience that I have never had, and it was even more amazing to see the smile on that athlete’s face when she finished. It was truly inspirational.

So, what are you waiting for? Register now and reach out to us so we can get your 24.1 score in the bank!

Let’s do this!

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…It’s On!

I’ve heard all the excuses for not registering for the Open. And they are all valid…to the person providing them. But I am going to ask you to put all your excuses, rationales, reasons, and complaints aside. Let me bring it to the point for you.

Occasionally, (and in this case once a year) you need to stretch and assess yourself. This is true in every area of your life. It is important to stretch and grow. It is often said that if you aren’t growing you are dying. But the corollary question is how do you know? How do you know if you are growing or shrinking?

Too often we just assume we are getting better. Again, how do you know? The Open is your opportunity to assess your growth. This is a series of workouts specially designed to challenge you in ways you may not have thought of. There will be movements you may or may not be able to do. So what? There will be time domains that challenge you. There will be workouts that you will kill and some that will kill you (figuratively!)

As we age there are fewer opportunities for us to really stretch and go full tilt at something. This is that opportunity. Where you land on the leaderboard is irrelevant. What matters is you gave full effort…you didn’t hold back; you didn’t save anything in reserve. When it’s done the satisfaction lies in the effort not the result.

Register, stand up, and be counted. Join me and your Box-mates in evaluating our fitness!

See you on the Leaderboard and remember…Full Effort is Full victory!

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…I’m In!

The Open is coming, the Open is coming! This will be my 13^th open. I still remember 12.1…as many rounds and reps as possible of…Burpees!!! I can’t remember any of the others, but I will never forget that one!

It was a cold February day in Fernley Nevada. I had been running a belt promotion test for my martial arts students all morning into the early afternoon. The Open was still an “underground” thing. Although I had gotten my Level 1 CrossFit two years earlier this was only the second year of the Open. I would have to do a video submission as I didn’t have access to a box. So, I pulled out a portable mat to cover the ice-cold concrete, set up a target six inches beyond my outstretched reach, got a clock and one of my black belts to count and judge and 3,2,1 Go.

When I finished, I had 88 reps. That placed me at #87 for that workout. In 2012 there were less than five hundred participants in the entire division. To contrast there were over 1500 participants in the 65+ last year!

Your place doesn’t matter, first or 100,000^th. What matters is you showed up, got judged, met the standards, and put a score in. There is an accountability piece, some community involvement, and a way to track your progress over the years. I can look back at every workout over the last 13 years and see my progress (or not). Having benchmarks keeps me focused on the actual data and results, not some vague memory of what might have happened.

My point is this: The Open is important on many levels. We are going to do the workouts every Friday anyway. So go ahead and sign up. There are scaling options that work for anyone.

So, what are you waiting for? I’m in! Join me!

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…The Health Summit

 

Recently, Ellie and I attended the first CrossFit for Health Summit. There were a great many takeaways from all the speakers. But the overarching message we got was the importance of community. Yes, the research showed that taking a hot sauna after exercising increased the efficacy of both the exercise and the sauna. Yes, exercise has been proven to improve mental health issues. Yes, the data shows that the CrossFit methodology has been proven to improve fitness. But repeatedly what came up was the power of community in getting those results.

This should be no surprise to those of you who have been reading this blog for any length of time. We know that one of the main components of healthy aging is having healthy relationships. Getting out of your house, talking to people, having people looking out for you, and knowing you are important and needed all add up to having healthy relationships.

This is what makes CrossFit different. Here at Odyssey, we care about your health and fitness, of course. But we want to see you. We want to participate in your Journey to Extraordinary. We want to celebrate all the big and small victories along the way. We want to hold your hand and commiserate when things aren’t going quite right. All of us here want you to be the best human you can be.

If you receive a call from a 775 number don’t delete the voicemail that got left! It’s me calling you for some reason! Maybe you haven’t been here in a while, maybe it’s your birthday, maybe it’s your CrossFit anniversary!

Get in here! Your friends, coaches, and Clyde, all miss you.

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com     

775-338-2412

 

 

 

Sunday Story…RPE and You

Recently someone asked me how hard they should be training every day. My answer surprised them. They expected me to say something like 10 every day. And honestly? That would have been my answer 15 or 20 years ago. Of course, that was also when I was training under the philosophy that it’s only a good workout if someone is bleeding at the end. Martial artists, what can I say!?

I like to think I am a little smarter than that today! RPE is your rate of perceived exertion. It is completely subjective and is going to vary from day to day and workout to workout as well as task to task. The basic chart is this: 1 is no exertion at all. You got out of the chair, opened the fridge, and sat back down. 10 is all out, nothing left complete and total effort. You are lying on the floor in a puddle of sweat (and maybe tears) unable to do anything but stay in a fetal position and hope someone got the number of the bus that just ran over you!

Your training should only be a 10 once in a great while and then usually in competition. Your usual training sessions should be in the 5.5 -8 range. Once or twice a month you should strive to hit a 9. Once or twice a week you might hit an 8 during a particularly challenging metcon. Your weight training sessions should rarely get above a 7, even when you are near your 1 rep max.

With the Open coming soon you are going to have an opportunity to get close to a 10. If you can get close to an RPE of 10 on an Open wod you will have achieved full effort.

Full Effort is Full Victory!

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412