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The culmination of something really awesome and rewarding happened the other day—it became obvious that a solid aerobic engine had been built over the course of many years.  Yes, that’s right—YEARS.  I want to be clear that this adaptation did not take place overnight, it just became evident to me as a coach what it started as and what it is today.

Meet Q: a former collegiate football player.  He’s explosive, powerful, and fast-twitch by nature.  Like a lot of guys who come from this type of athletic background, his expertise was NOT long, grinding aerobic engine work.  This is not me suggesting that an aerobic engine is not necessary for repeating power efforts, for the aerobic engine plays a key role in recovering between anaerobic bouts.  But, more times than not, the aerobic engine leaves a lot to be desired in athletes who come from a power/anaerobic background.  But I digress…

When Q first started at CFD his aerobic engine was pretty poor.  His work capacity in a short time domain was solid but quickly dropped off after a certain point.  Again, this is very typical of athletes who come from a powerful or anaerobic sports background.  To begin the process of adaptation to get an athlete like Q to learn to pace, learn to be in tune with his breathing, learn to make previously anaerobic/CP movements more aerobic in nature so that work can be sustained over longer time domains…this process takes YEARS.

Q’s work ethic in the gym was a perfect example, in my opinion, of honoring the process, which I have written about before.  The progress you make while you grind through different time domains and shuffle through energy systems and follow a long-game approach to balancing your fitness seem infinitesimally small at times.  These fractional improvements that seem microscopic (well, in the grand scheme of things, they are!) cumulate, and over time add up to noticeable differences.

Wednesday we did some longer (well, longer for the sport of CrossFit) time domain MAP work; 10 minute aerobic power intervals.  There was 3 minutes of rest and it needed to be repeated 3 times, with the LOWEST score counting as your score that day.  This encouraged everyone to not only learn to pace so as to hypothetically repeat the same score three times, but to do it with as much work output as you can so as to get the best score.  This is textbook aerobic training; interval work that need to be repeatable.

The realization came to me when Q was halfway through his last round and everything about his movement was sustainable and sub-maximal, and everything about his demeanor was stoic and focused.  His pacing never fell off, he maintained his maximal AEROBIC output that he could sustain and repeat, and his scores were very close for all three rounds.  He didn’t get the best score that day, but he was one of the best, and he did NOT come from an endurance background.

Rewind three or so years ago at the infancy of his CrossFit training, he would have declined rapidly after his first set no matter how much he tried to under-pace it.  He simply didn’t have the engine then to utilize oxygen as fuel like he does now.

It’s really rewarding to look back over YEARS of training and notice significant physiological changes in an athlete.  It doesn’t happen by accident, and it doesn’t happen without diligence and a solid plan.  It ONLY happens if a solid plan is in place and the athlete executes it, time after time, session after session, and sticks to it.

Is his job done?  Are his goals met?  Is it time to throw in the towel and just be done training?  Of course not….there is fulfillment in training and there are always new goals to strive for and another horizon to progress toward.  I think his fitness journey is certainly underway, but it’s far from over.

Excellent work, Q!  I really look forward to continuing to work with you over the next many years, and thank you for allowing me to blog about this topic.  It was certainly a fulfilling moment for me as a coach to bear witness to it!

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

Let’s face it:  Most people are not typically fans of delayed gratification.

So many fitness facilities claim as much ‘result’ in as short a time as possible.  But…is it achieving any sort of worthwhile adaptation in the body over time?  Are you able to sustain progress over time?

You can ‘trick’ the body (for lack of a better term) by simply making people work their asses off and restricting their food intake.  It works!…for a little while.

But then what happens?

Your body, as amazing as it is, ADAPTS.  The amount of energy you spend both at rest and at work decreases in order to compensate for this discrepancy.  Why do you think there are so many people who are not happy with their body composition who also eat less food all day than most athlete do in a single meal?  Is it because they need to ‘put the fork down?’

All the while, your quality of movement has never been held to a standard in all your countless hours of work, your training age remains at basically zero, and you never actually develop any real capacity for work.

Does this sound like an acceptable return-on-investment of your spent hours, money, and effort?

Where do you go after you’ve been beating yourself against the walls of more training volume and less food?  At some point, you have nowhere to go.  Enter the endless cycle of dysfunctional eating and mindless exercise that has become the norm in the fitness industry.

Here is my observation:  The industry has been driven by the perceived needs of the–no offense–uneducated masses who want results RIGHT NOW, even at the expense of actual progress and the realization of long-term goals.

As a result, the industry has adapted to these needs and is currently inundated with fitness facilities, workout plans, and cherry, eager ‘coaches’ and trainers who will give people exactly what they want–a product that doesn’t withstand the test of time.

The long-game approach of respecting the process is a much less popular business model–but the major difference is that it actually WORKS.

Personally, I was never interested in the revolving-door business model that has become the norm in the fitness industry.  It’s fluff, it doesn’t produce clients capable of real work, and frankly it’s dishonest, misleading, and lazy.

Your fitness journey is a marathon, not a sprint.

The best decisions you can make to facilitate your success is to get a coach who is worth his or her salt, communicate, follow prescriptions, be patient, diligent, track, grind, and keep your eyes on the horizon, not down at your feet.

I’d put my athletes who have adhered to a plan for years up against any reciprocating boot camper who hasn’t stuck to a consistent program any day of the week, because my way produces results in the form of athletic performance and true, long-term goals.

*For the record, it’s not MY way; I’m talking about principles and methodologies established by people a lot smarter than me…I’m simply standing on the shoulders of giants with what I know today thanks to them.  

In the words of Neal Maxwell, ‘Never give up what you want most for what you want today.’

The process is certainly to be respected, but it is also to be enjoyed.  If you can learn to love the process, meeting your goals can start to become a reality.

RLTW <1>

–Coach Phil

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There’s just something…it’s hard to explain or define…that comes along with pouring yourself into a particularly grueling training session.

You learn something about yourself in there.

I am reminded of living in the US Embassy compound in Baghdad when I first discovered CrossFit.  None of us had a clue, in hindsight, what we were doing.  We were just a bunch of dudes who got together either after we were done with our shift or during our off days who decided throughout the course of the day what we were going to do to smash ourselves.  

We would find some terrible workout, laugh about how awful it was going to be, and occasionally even modify it to make it even shittier.  Then we would laugh some more about it until the moment came to actually do it…and we would just grind it out no matter how long or shitty or terrible of an idea it was.

It was beautiful.  I sincerely miss those days.  They were simpler—before I really knew anything about strength and conditioning.  I’m sure half the time we did more harm than good and we could have been the stars of a CrossFit Fail video a hundred times, but it was the suffering amongst friends and brothers that made it awesome.

Why and how you train, in my opinion, speaks volumes about who you are as a person.

Don’t do it for the attention.

It’s not about posting your workout on social media.  Nobody cares but you—I can promise you that!

Slowly and probably accidentally, we got better.  Not at the rate that we could have or should have if we had proper training and a coach who knew a fraction of what I know now, but we did get better.  I never really started to figure out how to train people right until after I returned to the US, but I digress…

Don’t shy away from the chance to just put yourself through a hell of a workout.  Pour yourself into your training every day.  There’s something beautiful about the process….something honorable about CHOOSING to expose yourself to something difficult so that you can be better and harder to kill tomorrow.  It’s delayed gratification at its finest…the exposure to pain for tomorrow’s gain.  

It’s about YOU.

It’s about your training.

It can be about the person to your left and right.

It can be about your family, your kids, the people you love.

Have a purpose to why you train, and remember that purpose EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

There are few greater feelings than in this world than having a purpose, in my humble opinion.

Train with purpose.

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

Back in 2003 I swam my last race after 17 years of competition. I owe so much to the sport that shaped me from the age of 5 all the way through my college career. I loved competing, setting goals, reaching my goals and then going after bigger and better ones. I worried very little about my body at that time. We trained twice a day and did some basic Olympic lifts but to be honest I never believed I needed strength training. It was never my focus. The more yards the better and strength was always something I just “had” to do on the side. Plus, lifting made female swimmers “bulky.” It was my mentality and I was sticking to it. I also never thought twice about my nutrition. I’ll never forget my freshman year of college when all the athletes had to talk to a nutritionist. Our talk was 5 minutes — “You’re all swimmers? You’re burning so many calories you can eat whatever you want.” And that’s exactly what I did. No macros, no guidance, I just ate and drank what I wanted and it never caught up with me. Until the training stopped.

After college I vowed I wasn’t ever getting back in the water. I joined a gym and would run on the treadmill for an hour while I watched TV to try to numb the boredom. I lifted light weights to “tone” and cut back my food drastically to not gain weight. For the first time in my life I obsessed over the scale. I got more into running and triathlon and did races for several years until my husband Jay and I had our first baby In 2010. Our second baby came along in 2011, a shoulder surgery in 2012 and in 2013 we welcomed baby #3. It was a whirlwind and I no longer had the time or patience to be a crazy cardio queen.

I started CrossFit (or should I say took foundations) in October of 2013 after a good friend of mine raved about it for years and I finally decided to try it.  I did a couple of classes the following month. My shoulder mobility was so horrible I couldn’t hang from the rig without dropping. Lifting a bar over my head terrified me. I could barely squat a PVC. I was intimidated, I was weak, I made excuses and I quit. In July of 2015 I read Hillary Baker‘s athlete spotlight and I cried at my desk. I reached out to her and she encouraged me to start again. I’m so thankful for her that day. She inspired me to not give up. I came back to CrossFit Dubuque that same month and I knew I was in the right place. I remember telling my husband “I just feel like these are the kind of people I want to be around every day.” And it’s so true. Not only are the coaches extremely knowledgable, they push you to be the best version of yourself. All of the athletes build each other up and encourage one another. There is no drama and no negativity. CrossFit is my happy place.

It has been a little over a year since I committed to making CrossFit a priority. I am not the strongest girl at our box but I am stronger than the old me, and that is what motivates me. CrossFit allows me to compete with myself again and to see my work pay off not only physically but also in my own self confidence and worth. I don’t get caught up with the number on the scale anymore. In stronger at 35 than I was at 21 and that puts a huge smile on my face.

My favorite workout is something that would combine deadlifts with rowing. As I’m writing this that actually sounds horrible but those are my two strengths. Misery would be shoulder to overhead paired with the assault bike or pulling a sled of some sort. Sleds should be pulled by a Husky and not me.

My goal is to be able to get strong enough to consistently do pull-ups RX during workouts. Some day I will do a muscle up. Probably just one and then I’ll cry tears of joy and never do it again. I also want to focus this year on my nutrition. Coach Mike crushed my dreams by telling me I had to limit my chocolate chip cookies to one day a week but I am surviving and have already seen my lifts improve as a result of eating MORE.

My advice for those just starting is to remember that everyone started where you are now. You may be intimidated, you may feel overwhelmed and you may feel the urge (like I did) to skip days that involve movements that are your weakest. Those days are the most important days you should be there. I promise you that if you stick with it, you will never regret it. I can’t say thank you enough to Coach Phil, Mike and the rest of the crew at CFD. It’s a special place and I’m humbled to be a part of it.

When I was 19 years old, I attended an Army leadership school called Ranger School.  In it, you learn a little bit about small unit tactics and how to lead others, but you mostly learn how to persevere when you’re cold, tired, and hungry.  You learn a lot about working with people at their best as well as their worst, you learn a lot about yourself, and you mostly learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

One of the things that happens when you get to Ranger school is getting essentially stripped of your rank.  I don’t mean you permanently lose your rank for the rest of your military career, but while you’re a student you are not allowed to wear your rank and aren’t to be addressed by your rank by anyone—cadre or fellow students.  This is initially an interesting situation to find yourself in, being a 19 year old PFC and addressing a Major by his name devoid of rank.  It quickly becomes the norm, and is a very necessary step to take, as the graded leadership positions that inevitably dictate you passing or failing each phase of Ranger school rotate every day.  Some days, you’re in a leadership position, and other days you’re not.

Some students are going to be better leaders than others, which is the whole point of the school.  This rotating, graded leadership method eventually built up a pretty tight cohesive bond within your squad and platoon (or destroyed it altogether, depending on how well you all worked together!).  The good leaders also had to be good followers when they weren’t assigned a leadership position, and it was all about helping each other out regardless of whether or not you were being graded.  If you slacked off during someone else’s graded opportunity and caused the mission to fail, that person remembered you when it was your turn to be graded.  It’s all about cohesiveness and working together.  If you only cared about yourself, you found yourself in a position where you couldn’t count on anyone to have your back, and no mission is successful by yourself.

What I noticed after a few years of owning CrossFit Dubuque is that there is a very similar phenomenon here.  There are doctors, lawyers, students, teachers, laborers, etc. all training together as members of the same community.  Everyone is treated with respect fairly and nobody is above the constructive criticism that comes with being coached.  In fact, being coachable is absolutely imperative in order to succeed at CFD as well as in Ranger School, and not allowing yourself to be coached is literally the only limiting factor that will inhibit your development as an athlete.  There is no such thing as ‘hiding behind your rank’ within the walls of CFD, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  This concept absolutely applies to me as well—I think there is something to be learned from just about everyone, and it is this attitude that has built such a strong community here.

I always look forward to meeting new people come through the doors and try out what we have to offer here at CFD.  Thanks to all of you who have had a part in CFD growing to what it is and continuing to support our training together.  Here’s to many more years of being vulnerable both as a coach as well as an athlete, learning from our successes as well as our failures, and always being hungry!

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

With the Summer drawing to an end and it already feeling like Fall out there, I want to thank you all for giving us such a great 1st part of 2016!  Training has been fantastic, attendance has been up, membership is at an all-time high, the bar continues to be pushed on coaching quality and competence, and it’s just been a fun, fulfilling year so far!  A special thanks goes to the Kuhl family for being such amazing hosts for our CFD Summer Party we had a few weeks back.  It’s always great to be able to enjoy the community we’ve built together here in Dubuque, and we couldn’t have had better hosts for our party.

We will only be hosting a 9:30am class during Labor Day—don’t worry, it’s a fun team workout!

Not only is the website completely updated, but we will be releasing some new apparel very shortly.  New bumper stickers as well as vinyl shield stickers are available now (come on in and grab one to update your stuff!), and customized wrist wraps are on the way.  A new shirt design is in the works and will be available for purchase shortly, and with Fall just around the corner, hoodies are next on the list.

Welcome Jordan Fullan as our newest coach to the team!  She has been shadowing for a handful of months, attending coaching meetings and developing her skills to the point of taking over the Wednesday evening classes (5:30 and 6:30pm).  Jordan has been a great asset to our team and will continue to live by our standard we have created here.  Welcome aboard!

I am also undergoing a bit of a project in one corner of the facility.  The intent is to have it serve as a designated area for personal training and individual program design clients so as to not be stepping on each other’s toes while training, as well as act as a warmup area during event competitions.  Bear with me as we make these changes going forward!

Last but certainly not least, I’d like to thank Eric Peters for being responsible for the creation and design of the website as well as his re-branding ideas.  His vision and talent enabled me to bring CFD up to speed and give it the new, professional, polished look we deserve.  If it wasn’t for him, none of this would have been possible.  Thank you for reinventing the brand and re-inspiring me and my entire community to represent what we have all built here together with pride!

I think that about wraps it up for announcements—stay tuned for more to come!

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil