A Lifetime Of Learning: Fitness
The first gym I ever stepped into was located under the grandstands of Great Bridge Middle School’s track in Chesapeake, VA. I was 13. Steve Sakis was the strength coach and at 5’6” 260, he was the scariest man I had ever encountered. My first day we did legs and I was told to do a 400 meter lunge to finish the day with a barbell on my back. There was no exact science to the method but the message was heard and my training developed a purpose. I needed to get bigger and stronger because I was shipping out as a 14 year old to go play hockey against kids that were 19 and shaving. From day one, lifting weights was about intense training to get me to the next level in sports.
In college, after four years of training for hockey, I started to slack off, became a hyper-local celebrity around the beer pong table and dabbled in the gym because I knew I needed to stay somewhat healthy. My training lacked purpose.
In 2004, Bryan moved in to the house, and we immediately started training together. Bryan was the first person I met that added the depth of knowledge I was looking for to get back in the gym. Banging weights and training was hard but his brain and enthusiasm for the weight room allowed me to regain that purpose. In 2004 my purpose changed from being a washed up high school athlete to a strength athlete that was re-energized, full of knowledge, and in desperate need to get really strong.
Being a strength athlete, chasing PR’s, and grinding out training sessions is a wonderful time. You train with your friends, analyze programs, discuss periodization, form, technique, and obsess over the smallest details. But it is a worm hole that lacks the purpose of training for a sport. And then, in 2006, CrossFit showed up. CrossFit was this perfect blend of strength, conditioning, gymnastics, and most importantly, sport. There could not have been a better package to find me at that time in my life. For eight years, I was a CrossFit athlete, trained, competed at regionals, chased the numbers, jacked my hormones up without the carbs, over trained, and most importantly, I LOVED every single moment of it. CrossFit gave me a purpose by combining training and sport in an effort to represent our gym, our people, and our culture at regionals. Those four years at the Socal Regional really dig up some emotions when I reflect on the hard work and commitment of the people around me to make those dreams a reality.
In 2014, I had just had enough. My body was not digging the weights anymore, the competition at regionals genetically passed me by, and the time commitment to training does not leave much room for balance in your lifestyle. You see, sometimes you grow up, and it is scary because you reflect and analyze yourself. You analyze the purpose of your actions and my purpose was no longer about being the strongest person in the gym. My new purpose was about health, longevity, and understanding how fitness, nutrition, social life, meditation, and self-reflection all create a package of balance. For years, training and playing sports was my only focus. At the time, I did not realize how short term those goals were. A couple nicks and dings later and you start to realize you may not be able to throw a baseball with your kid if a 250# snatch attempt gets weird in the bottom of the hole. There is a real life internal conflict in training and self-reflection is important to understand your purpose.
On July fourth weekend, my good buddy Dave Anderson turned 44, and in the late hours of the night, around 9:30, he asked, “Is surfing a workout?” To which I immediately replied, “No,” and then immediately changed my answer to, “Yes,” and then immediately started fumbling my words. There could not have been a better question to summarize my thoughts on fitness and exercise. This question is my new obsession in the fitness world. I mean, is surfing a workout? Maybe? If you have never surfed it is incredibly difficult, you will definitely be out of breathe, and you will be sore the next day. But, what happens after you learn the skills of surfing? Paddling is easier, you get sort of used to being held under the water and even then you have a pretty good idea you will live. But what is going on below the surface? What is going on with the brain when you are doing very athletic things, even though they are not “snatching 250# level of difficult?” The same question can be asked about lifting weights. Cleaning 225# is a lot of weight, but if that is all you do, and it is 70% of your max, is your body getting a “workout” or is there a much larger purpose to fitness? Will you get out of shape by only doing 70% of your max, forever? I am learning that the weights do not have to be heavy, the conditioning does not have to feel like dying, and that an hour dedicated to having a conversation with your body has benefits well beyond the numbers you write in your workout journal. Stretching health and fitness out over a lifetime opens your eyes to new questions, and in my world, new opportunities.
This stuff is not easy. It is hard to change your self-vision from athlete and move on to the next stage of life that defines you. Being honest and true to one’s self is a skill that must be developed much the same as surfing and snatching. I may never PR again and I am cool with it. I am out of the rat race of chasing the barbell. When I started this fitness journey at 13, I was an athlete; I trained for sport, plain and simple. Now I am a coach and in one month I will be a husband. The purpose of my training is no longer about in season and off season. My timetable is the rest of my life. How do I maximize my knowledge to stay strong and fit for the next 50 years? How am I going to be the old guy that is super shredded and still running sprints on the beach? I spend a lot of time listening to my body and trying to decipher what it is telling me. My purpose is now about coaching, connecting with people, and understanding their purpose so they can live a strong and healthy life, not just a really strong three years.
