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69 Plays5 years ago
Agency is your ability to choose from within. K and I discuss how agency can be empowering to optimize your fitness experience, as well as life. We get alot of folks ask us about programming and our approach, so we try to address how it's not just what is programmed but why you doing what you are doing, how you show up, what your approach is to your exercise/training, what you want, etc. This is definitely a topic we can spend a very long time on will likely address in the future. Today we just scratch the surface to get the conversation started.
Homework at the end, so listen all the way through!
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Transcript
Microphone Dynamics
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello. Hello. Why is the microphone closer to you than me? I'm putting in more effort. Um, all
Hosts' Return and Seminar Success
00:00:11
Speaker
righty. So we're back after another week off. Yeah. I think it's a week off. I think it's just,
00:00:19
Speaker
Well, it was not a week off. You're correct. Yeah. Here's another podcast. Period. End of sentence. And yes, last week was a big week because you were in the final push for your seminar, your first BTE seminar, which you
00:00:38
Speaker
hosted this weekend. Yeah. And while I wasn't there for the first half, I was able to watch one watch it on video because you recorded it and had it filmed. Yeah, to I was there for the lead up, listening and learning as you went, kind of in preparation. Three, I was there for the second half. And of course, I'm your wife.
Seminar Insights and Application
00:01:02
Speaker
But it was really valuable. I got a lot of value out of it.
00:01:07
Speaker
Thank you. That's good. What did you get out of it? Um, well, I guess what I found surprising is having heard you talk about all this stuff for the past, I mean, really the past year, there's been a lot of like starting to put the pieces together. And as I described it last night, it was sort of like you were discovering all these little puzzle pieces, but not really sure kind of where they belonged. And then the seminar was like, you finally,
00:01:36
Speaker
put them into the right places and they created like this really awesome picture. And it was like, Oh, that's what I was building. So I took out of it a couple of things. I've heard you talk about the process before. Between it's like a process. Yeah. Like that tool. Yeah. But what's amazing about all this stuff is when you hear it and what place you're in and how you apply it is different every time. Yeah. So listening to that again was like, okay, wow, there's,
00:02:04
Speaker
there was a lot of value I took out of that. Also, I think there was more value for me in understanding like how the brain works. Some of the hardware stuff. Um, not, not to say like, Oh, I'm off the hook. It's just how the body works. You know, but just knowing that there's like a reason for it, not just I'm a mentally weak person, you know? And
00:02:32
Speaker
Yeah. Last night watching the lectures, I thought the really cool, one of the things you did very well, which has come up in the past quite a bit was like defining, well, one defining mindset. Yeah. Because it was funny. You're like, does anybody have a definition? And sure people had ideas, but like nobody really, just like when CrossFit talks about what is fitness, what is the definition? So you did a great job with
00:03:01
Speaker
you know, defining, having, taking a stab at defining some terms. Yeah. And then mental toughness. I hadn't really actually heard you define that. Oh. And when you put the pieces together on that, it was like, wow, that's a really great definition for it, which basically included obviously your definition of mindset, but being able to apply that when there's adversity. And we talk about that a lot, like, Hey, it's easy to,
00:03:31
Speaker
It's easy to practice all the good shit when things are fine. Yeah, of course. Mental toughness is like whatever that mindset is for you, like doing it when there is adversity. And I thought that was awesome. So I think there's probably the re revisiting the seminar is a tough one because it's kind of like, if you want to get all that value, go to a seminar. We're not going to.
00:03:56
Speaker
tell everybody, you know what I mean? Like you need to attend. It's kind of like, well, it's kind of like telling someone like, yeah, like this is what you do at the level one or this is what you do at a event or between the ears, man. It's kind of like you need to go there. Yeah.
00:04:12
Speaker
But it also is worth mentioning, like how there was just so much, there were so many tools and so much to be learned. I think many people probably aren't sure what the seminar entails. Some people thought it was going to be eight hours of working out. The real value is not really in the movement. I mean, sure, that's a
00:04:36
Speaker
That's an application of it. But it was such an awesome day of like people walking away with like, and myself included, like this, this, I don't want to say manual because there was not, there's no manual for this stuff, but some real tools and like, some more structured guidance without it being dogmatic.
Embracing Conceptual Understanding
00:04:56
Speaker
I thought because, you know, and I do, so in the way I viewed the seminar is we talked about,
00:05:04
Speaker
what between the ears is which I didn't really know actually what between the ears is until about a week ago well you didn't know the
00:05:13
Speaker
If someone were to say, Hey, what's between the ears? What does it do? I would always be like, ah, I don't know. Meet me at wherever. People are impacted, but I don't know. Yeah. But some of it, you know, in some of some of it's the elevator pitch stuff, some of it's to this. And I always said, and I like, I throw up in my mouth every time somebody says. What?
00:05:38
Speaker
It turns your stomach be better. No, you need to have the visual. Thank you. I'm like really turned off personally. I'm really turned off by the. What's your elevator pitch thing? And I understand its utility. I also see it all the time. Well, that's what everything's boiled down to now on Instagram. It's a quick pitch. Yeah. And I guess I was very. I still am sort of like anti.
00:06:10
Speaker
just saying it is this. But again, to go back to the essence over form, there does need to be some sort of essence of it in a way that's understandable, digestible and like, oh, okay. Cause the other thing is, is like, if I say that and it's like, wow, yeah, that's what I'm interested in. That makes sense to me. I can relate to that. Or if I say, or don't say something and someone's like, oh cool. And it's really not for them.
00:06:35
Speaker
You know, somebody that just wants to like prove themselves to someone else other than themselves or do some hard shit. And like, there's value to all that stuff, but that's not the meat of what I'm doing. Sure. And the other thing is what you came up with as a definition. It is a good way to kind of allude to like what it entails, but really the lecture, which was an hour long. Yeah. It was, you know, like
00:07:05
Speaker
The the real like it's it takes more than I mean and I it's just an easy example But like work capacity across broad time and modal domains, you know Most people at the seminar when someone says that then you spend the what is fitness lecture is a 45-minute lecture, right? It's not just like well, that's the that's the definition guys Sure, that's but anyway, so I thought it was really I
00:07:31
Speaker
awesome I thought it was like one of the most valuable for me like experiences to date I've had with Between the Ears and of course on the other side it was really awesome to see as I said like like you've been reading books for years of course
00:07:54
Speaker
But some of these things like what you read two years ago and you got like this one little puzzle piece, you've been like collecting these. It's like doing a massive jigsaw puzzle for two years or four years. Like who the frick has the patience for that? It almost makes me concerned that you're a little bit of a psychopath.
00:08:14
Speaker
A little bit. Let me just. Wait a second. So, yeah, like there's something a little. But there's some of this stuff, but it's not. I would actually say like there's some stuff that it's been 15 years ago. Like I learned 15 years ago, a lesson I had no idea I learned. And now I'm like, oh, that's like one of the pieces. Yeah, that's one of the pieces. So that's that's pretty cool. So if you want to go see the the picture.
Seminar Environment and Future Plans
00:08:42
Speaker
Yeah. So, but I think high level went over what is between the years within that is how there's some hardware software, how we experience life.
00:08:57
Speaker
some ways in which we can view ourselves obviously how we navigate then what is mindset did a deep dive into that which really was cool because it was built on understanding some of the hardware that you talk about yeah so everything was layered on top and then we did a workout we went to lunch came back debriefed
00:09:23
Speaker
went into the process as like a, okay, I can implement this. Yeah. Which also, I mean, you've talked about that before, but I do think the value of everything you did in the morning helps helped. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like the other thing is the environment, the learning environment of the seminar is 100% critical. And I would say essential to, um,
00:09:53
Speaker
Just set yourself up for success for that. That's why I'm not going to put it online. Someone actually asked me if I was going to make it like an online spy-able thing. I could probably make more money doing that, but I just feel like it would fall flat and not serve the way I want to serve.
00:10:12
Speaker
To host a seminar. Let me know. I'll come out. I mean, that's really working on getting out there Yeah, so wherever people if you're listening and you're like, oh, yeah, I like what I like what you're doing, you know, we can small person seminar, too Yeah, there's no it's not it's no more than 12 people the other thing about not being in person one of the things that did happen is
00:10:34
Speaker
Which is partly why I think you didn't record the second half of the day. There was very much some real-time coaching with people, with people there. For sure. I didn't want to get that on camera. Right. But that's not going to get captured in an online thing. No, yeah. Anyway. Yeah, so that was good. I was really happy about that. I actually really was. I feel relieved. I feel light. I feel inspired. I'm inspired.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's really impressive. I also feel tired and sort of like hazy because of today's workout. Yes, well, but also like. I was exhausted. You were exhausted. Yeah, like everybody knows that Bill likes to read books. That's right. You do not like to watch TV. No. The fact that you entertained kind of binge watching. Entertained. I didn't entertain it. I laid on my ass. OK, but I mean, that's up on my neck as Nate would say.
00:11:29
Speaker
You did it. And I was like, this is amazing. I've got you for four episodes. I think we watched four episodes of a show, which is unheard of. You took advantage of my weakness. I did. But that's how tired you were. It was like you would like kind of come to and then. I was a Monday because Sunday. Anyway, anyway, we say that to say, yes, there were, you know, next step is
00:11:51
Speaker
expanding the reach of that seminar. And part of it, too, just because I don't know, like it was there was information about obviously between the years, why it works, how it works. Opening up space for real time, like, OK, that's all well and good, but like real time in person coaching, all the inputs that go into it to give you to arm and equip you with tools and strategies and tactics and actionable shit.
Workout Choices and Personal Agency
00:12:20
Speaker
Because the whole premise of it is always what are you going to do about this stuff? And books don't books don't books are great, but they lack action podcast. This podcast is great, but it's it's it's one way. It's an input. So the seminar events, as you've said, one of the challenges is.
00:12:38
Speaker
They did have a tremendous impact, but it's fleeting. It's not so much learning a tool. You might have a, you might have a realization, but that absent of how to carry forward now, what to do with it, as you said, is actions are really so, but today, one of the things we're, we're not talking more about the seminar necessarily, but you know, one of the concepts I think that for sure came up in something that I thought was a powerful point you made.
00:13:08
Speaker
was talking about choice. And that was as related to a couple of things, but I think that concept of agency, which we've talked about on this podcast, but we've had some questions, people asking about that as it relates to workouts, we program fitness, obviously what we've been doing at the gym, our own life. So I think agency and having a choice, that's a really powerful topic. So that's what we're talking about today.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah. An agency is one of those things that it's sort of romantic, I think in that like, Oh, I have a choice and that's great. But like the flip side of that is it's also, it can be, um, it can be overwhelming for people when they have so many choices. And it can also be a little bit of a mirror in terms of you have the choice of looking at something in your life.
00:14:09
Speaker
and you're choosing not to. And when you see that, like when you see that you're not paying attention to what you know within yourself, you need to.
00:14:24
Speaker
Sometimes you don't like what that looks like back. So, you know, agency and choice is a huge topic, is a huge element of experiencing and extracting essence from whatever you're involved in. And sometimes you feel like there's too many choices.
00:14:48
Speaker
And then other times you feel like you have no choice. And both of those you can understand and you can connect to if you just think for a second. When was the last time I was in a situation where I had what seemed to be unlimited choices and somehow couldn't select one?
00:15:05
Speaker
And you've been there 100%. I've been there. Yeah. Yeah. And then, okay. So you're like, all right. Yep. I got that. Yeah. I know what that feels like. You can put yourself back in that. What about when you're in a situation where you feel like you have absolutely no choice? Yeah. You've also been there. Also been there. And that feels very, very different, but it's sort of that same, like let's look at that and we have to look at like, okay,
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah, some of the stuff that leads up to that for sure, but also what's going on within those types of things? Do you really not have a choice? Or do you really have unlimited choices? And so then if you do, then if you have unlimited choices, then frankly, the consequences probably aren't all that.
00:15:57
Speaker
But if you've unlimited that now begs the next or leads to the next thing, which is like the unlimited choices as you say leads to like paralysis by analysis and probably that you're way over on like the rational side and you're just not able to connect to like
00:16:17
Speaker
Maybe like what, what, what's my gut? So to speak saying, yeah, which is a whole other issue, but I think, you know, some of the questions that have come up to start with the low hanging fruit is
Relevance of CrossFit for Individuals
00:16:27
Speaker
like in fitness. Yeah, for sure. So a couple of people asked like, Hey, how do you program the workouts? What do you just, how do you decide what to do that day? And, you know, while we've talked about it before, um, you know,
00:16:41
Speaker
here and there I think regardless of I think one of the pitfalls that we've established is the perception that you don't have a choice in what you're doing you come to the gym and that could be any fitness form it could be
00:16:58
Speaker
in a yoga class. I mean, I've been in yoga classes where it's like, well, this is what the person is telling me to do. It's now it's a do go through a Vinyasa. And there's this feeling of like, well, I don't know what choice that's what I'm being told to do. Which is like, nobody's going to come over and be you if you don't do the Vinyasa. Same thing with CrossFit. You come in today, it says eight rounds, this much on the bike, this many burpees, rest two minutes, you will complete it. But is that really,
00:17:28
Speaker
Like, like kind of to your point, do you have a choice or do you not have a choice? And I think that then is the next question. Like, well, what is the culture of your gym? What is your expectation of it? And how much do you want to have a choice? Cause we know we've provided people choices and they don't always want a choice. And what's that about? Yeah, I think when it comes to fitness, I just always kind of go back to, and like, what is the point?
00:17:57
Speaker
And that's not from a nihilistic perspective, but like, what is the point of this workout? And there's some workouts that I'll just take CrossFit for example. What the fuck is the point of some of these workouts other than like, cause don't tell me it's about athletic performance and endeavors. Like I, I struggle to find the point.
00:18:27
Speaker
Okay. What's an example? Snatch handstand pushup. Tell me what the point of that workout would be. Let's go. Let's go. 12 minute AMRAP, three, six, nine, three snatches, six handstand pushups, nine air squats. What's the point of that workout? What would the point of that workout be? That's like probably a classic workout. Okay. Well, I mean, I would say like, okay, the snatch, there's,
00:18:57
Speaker
you know, there is some coordination there. There's some higher skill. There's explosiveness. You're moving a load from a fairly long distance. So that's going to elicit some intensity. Then you move to a handstand pushup where there's like, okay, now you're giving the lower body a break and you're doing some upper body pressing in addition to this in addition to the snatch. So maybe there is some element of shoulder stamina there. You're pre fatiguing your shoulders and now you have to do why?
00:19:26
Speaker
which maybe work on shoulder stamina. Like, hey, if you, if you get off the snatch and you can't do one handstand pushup, well, maybe your shoulder stamina sucks. So now you have to like maybe lower the weight or make a scaling to the handstand pushup. And then you get sort of a break from all that doing air squats. Yeah. I just don't see the point in that.
00:19:45
Speaker
But what do you mean? You don't see the point in it being like, like, cause it's just blasting your shoulders unnecessarily or what about for like, okay. So say this for a games athlete, do you think there would be a point in that? Of course. Okay. So you're saying, right. Their intent is to prepare for the games where theoretically they need to gain every advantage on like, if, if the workout was one rep max squat snatches and then max reps, handstand pushups.
00:20:13
Speaker
to win the CrossFit games and continue your career as an athlete, then you need to train that fatiguing of the shoulders and blast barbell cycling. Okay. But you're saying for the average person that comes into the gym, the point of destroying your shoulders and potentially risking injury. What's the point? Likewise. Likewise. Uh, back squat barbell back squat. What's the point?
00:20:43
Speaker
Let's say we have a five by five of barbell back squat. If you're going to tell me that the barbell is the only tool to develop athletic potential, but that's not what people are doing it for in a cross-switching. Well, right. Because, and that's, and to be quite honest,
00:21:05
Speaker
But here's the deal. So just like games athlete, if the point of you doing barbell back squat is to focus on powerlifting competition, you generally just want to do it. Perhaps. However, when you look at, but who are you talking about? No, that's exactly the point though. So who are we talking about? Sure. But if we're talking about in a gym setting, which is not games athletes, which is not, most people are not preparing for a powerlifting competition. So the average person.
00:21:34
Speaker
It's coming to a CrossFit gym. And this is one of the things I've had a problem with from the beginning, which is why, to be honest, we don't program five by five because true, like, okay, if you're saying that's like Wendler, that program is to be done absent of anything else because
00:21:57
Speaker
And that's like for people that know, you know, know how to do a five by five to throw five by five back squats with the barbell where people really don't even understand what they're doing. And it's just surviving a movement that's not good for people. Yes, I agree. You've accomplished nothing. What would be good if you're trying to focus on strength for somebody?
00:22:16
Speaker
Can you feel like the contraction of your glutes doing like a hip. Well, you would focus on the person. That's, that's, I guess that's what I'm saying. Like it's not about the movements. Don't the movement. It's just like the movements obviously matter, but they don't matter. They matter to the right person, the needs of somebody that whole, like, oh, the needs of our athletes, you know, different by degree, not kind.
00:22:45
Speaker
that's poetic, but what does that look like? And so if we're saying like, oh, instead of doing a barbell back squat, do a sandbag. Right. Well, now though, that starts to put into question like,
00:23:06
Speaker
But, and back to like, but I'm, but then, um, why can't I do a barbell basketball? What's wrong with me? Why are you telling me that I'm not good enough to do a barbell back squat? And I look at all these other people, they're doing barbell back squat. And there are gyms. Are they though? But that's the thing. But it's not, what's the point of this, but we've challenged people with that.
00:23:29
Speaker
but they do have a, even when people do have a choice in that. So that's the thing though. So that's what it gets back to. That's where it gets back to agency. Why are you choosing to do this? And like, and why would you say in our gym, because we are a gym that give people options and we highly encourage for many people that we know this, that back squad is not safe. It's not effective. It's not really doing jack shit for them other than potentially injuring them. We highly encourage,
00:23:59
Speaker
alternative now why would someone if we're saying hey this would be a safer more effective option this would actually get you stronger fitter better body whatever all those things are why would someone then still pick the barbell
00:24:14
Speaker
because they don't have agency in their experience. They haven't given it the time. They don't know why they're there. They have their awareness is, is essentially absent of what the point of them coming to the gym is. So it's kind of like the photocopy they're coming because like they're a photocopy of their, I know this place will help me get fitter. If I do the things that these people are doing,
00:24:44
Speaker
and follow the steps, I'll get fitter. But they're not at a point where they can make their own, they can have agency in their own choices. They're like, is that what you're saying?
00:24:54
Speaker
Right. What I'm saying is somebody that comes in and says, hey, I want a back squat today. And we're like, all right, cool. Talk to me about why that's important. And they're like, well, I want to learn the skill. I'm not really familiar with the barbell. I heard it's good for muscle development. It's like, yeah, right on. Those are all right answers. Cool.
00:25:18
Speaker
Where are you at now? Have you ever back squat before? Have you ever done anything? How are your shoulders? How are your ankles? How are all of that stuff? It's like great if the back squat is then if the barbell back squat or the snatch or Or the sandbag like any movement really If it has a certain degree of skill associate with it, which the barbell is the highest skill implement
00:25:47
Speaker
then depending on where you're at, we need to look at what it's like to get you to that point. And that might be like looking at some split squats, looking at your ability to lunge, looking at can you actually hinge, looking at all of the things. But we don't really do that. Let's be honest. You don't do that in CrossFit. It's just not part of the thing. The back squat is often one of the fundamental movements that get taught.
00:26:17
Speaker
in people when they do foundations, it's a foundational movement. I mean, that's really the reality. There's, you know, we are putting people like my mother under a bar and we're reducing the load, but then that too, like, but then how is that getting her fitter? Her putting a 15 pound bar on her back and learning the skill of a movement like that.
00:26:42
Speaker
How, you know, yeah. Is that in line? And maybe it is. But that's the thing. Maybe it is. Right. Maybe it is. And for your mom, I would say no. Like, doesn't. Sure. Whatever. But why is somebody working out?
Aligning Workouts with Personal Goals
00:27:00
Speaker
Do you view yourself as trading? And not to get into the whole training versus working out thing, but like, why are you going to the gym? Yeah. What are you looking to get out of it? And for some people who are like, I'm looking to get out of it,
00:27:14
Speaker
high level physical performance? Okay, great. We can have that conversation. And like, please have a reason. If someone's coming like, yeah, honestly, I just wanna, I wanna move. I know it's healthy for me. I'm interested in longevity. I wanna feel better. But here's the problem. People generally, when they come in, if we ask them, what are you looking for?
00:27:38
Speaker
Sure. This was like a really great way to get fit. I'm looking to lose a few pounds. I want to feel good. Yeah. Okay. Very few people come to us saying they want to be high level performing athletes. We have a very few amount of people that. Yeah. The problem though is even the people that are saying, Hey, listen, I just want to get fit. Whatever. Just want to move. They still are attached to, they have a very hard time with that.
00:28:05
Speaker
I think for a lot of people, agency or choice, they view it as, like, I can't trust myself to know what's right for me. So for us in the gym, how we structure things is we say, okay, hey, like, so let's take today as an example. Today's workout. And one of the
00:28:26
Speaker
flaws in the model, as we've said is by way of saying Monday is this workout, Tuesday is that workout. And we program for the week, but we also yesterday, you know, before 9 a.m., what did we say? There were 45 people that came through the gym. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Those 43 people, are we really saying that they all are coming in on a Tuesday ready to have the same experience? They're all in the same kind of place.
00:28:56
Speaker
It's highly unlikely. Right. It's highly unlikely based on how they slept, how they're eating, where they're at, all these things. But we're saying, nope, today is this kind of workout. Yeah. So now we're saying, hey, you as an individual, based on why you're here, what you need, where you're at today, you should have some choice in how you approach this workout. Yesterday was a 30 minute, every minute on the minute, one minute of step ups, one minute of rowing, one minute of kettlebell swings.
00:29:25
Speaker
Mm-hmm. That can go so many ways. It could be a straight through super kind of steady state flow. You do a light swing. You're moving the whole time. Nose breathing. Mm-hmm. You could have gone for another 30 minutes, really. It could be you work out like a maniac for 30 seconds and you rest. You could turn into a sprint. Mm-hmm. You could turn the step ups into like, hey, I'm going to really focus on the step up and get some connection with the glutes there. And then I'm going to go easy.
00:29:53
Speaker
But what's keeping people then from making that choice? Well, is one question versus just like, I don't know, just tell me what to do. The second question is not every workout in CrossFit can be, you know, changed. I mean, Diane, it's very hard to make Diane a different workout. So there's like two things going on. One is people being able to say like, yes, I'm going to be,
00:30:22
Speaker
I'm going to like have agency in like what I need today. How do I even know what that is? Make a choice. And two, for what about all the other workouts that aren't as easy to like change and adapt. Yeah. So, I mean, you're right. I think again, though, it comes, it does come back and down to why
00:30:48
Speaker
Are you coming into the gym? Why are you, why are you training? Why are you exercising? Diane to slam a barbell against the ground to do a deadlift 45 deadlifts, 45 handstand pushups in less than three minutes. Like what is the purpose of that workout? Now, if it's a test, great. But like when we then look at how were those deadlifts performed?
00:31:17
Speaker
people that are doing it in less than three minutes, that weight is super, super light and they're just slamming, they're just bending forward. Right.
00:31:26
Speaker
I'm sorry, for a games athlete, yeah, you need to be able to do that. For a normal person who doesn't come in, even for some of these fitness or for some of these weekend competitors, it's like, that's fine. If you're willing to say that your weekend's gonna be dedicated to competing at local competitions and whatever, then write on. And then look at that. So what's- Sure, well, and you might also have to recognize that
00:31:52
Speaker
that longevity piece might not actually be in your future. Yes. Because there's a price to pay. And so where I'm interested in looking at with agency though, and I think that the fitness stuff is it can get a little bit, there's a million schools of thought, you know, I don't like fast deadlifts. Like by that, I mean, high rep deadlifts. I like the, I like a fast, aggressive pull deadlift there.
00:32:20
Speaker
Right. And yeah, it's, but I like it all to be controlled back to the ground reset max reps. Deadlifts is where you're just bending over and picking the bar up. It's really not, there's not a place for me. I'm not interested in that. And it's like, I also.
00:32:38
Speaker
I also, um, it's the same way. I'm also not interested in the whole highlight reel peacocking kind of look at me stuff. So that's going to be some of that. And so there are feats of athleticism that are expressed via competition that are great that you can do that with, if that's what you want to be. I think the thing is, is that there are so few people who
00:33:09
Speaker
There are so few people who are willing to look at themselves and say, I am not that person. I am not a person. I am not Matt Frazier. I am not Rich Froning. I am not Tia. I am not this person. And that's obvious because like, there's a, like, you know,
00:33:29
Speaker
But then there's also that of like, okay, bifurcating where you can still be influenced by them. What are you influenced by with a games athlete? Because their commitment, their dedication, there's a lot of, there's a lot of positive traits that we know. So almost like all of them and they're good people. Like we like them, they're friends. But like, what are you really influenced by by them? Why are you, why is it, why is Matt Frazier rich phoning? Why are they so inspiring?
00:33:58
Speaker
by extracting that. And if it's the fact that they can do 225 grace in three minutes, we're missing the point here. And then how can then, how can that inspiration influence you? And it's like, well, they're really dedicated. They work really hard. They focus on that. Great. Now apply that to the stuff that you need. And if what you need is to learn how to actually do an air squat or how to actually
00:34:20
Speaker
Actually do a presser to actually use something then let's do that but like mimicking and that's where it gets back to photocopying the photocopying Mimicking what someone else is doing is a is a voluntary Relinquishing of your own agency right and well went back to the The example of the deadlifts in a class setting being able to say, you know, hey for me like
00:34:46
Speaker
this I know this isn't good for me. I know that it's not good for my back. I can't do that. And very few people people have a very hard time with that choice. Yeah. And the in the influence and so then you add and of course, in our gym, like we really don't I hope one of the things we pride ourselves on is
00:35:08
Speaker
not adding any of that pressure by coaches, but there are gyms where people, the coaches actually try to bully people into, hey, our ex is to go harder. So we're kind of the exception in that. And there's enough pressure from the other people from inside that person's head. But certainly that's one of the roles of the coach to kind of help have that person empower them to make their own choice and things. But so to get back to the workout question,
00:35:37
Speaker
you know, simple things like, hey, I know my shoulder, like, has been a problem for me. So today, like my choice should probably not be butterfly pull ups, or maybe it just should be strict pull ups or ring rows. Same thing with like, hey, I know my back, like that's an issue. So having some agency and choice and those things, how you approach the workout. And then the other things that definitely get a little bit more challenging is,
00:36:06
Speaker
you know, connecting with like your brain and how you actually feel to say like, yeah, like we all figuring out like maybe I just don't have it today to like really go there.
00:36:22
Speaker
and just kind of making those choices as well. Now that's a little bit harder to navigate. And especially if all you've known is just going there, going there, go hard, go hard, go hard every single day. Right. And that's what I think that we have to look at and be like, why?
Questioning Workout Purpose
00:36:35
Speaker
And not in a like, why am I doing this kind of annoying little kid way? But like, hey, one, why are you exercising?
00:36:44
Speaker
Why are you training? Why are you thinking that well, and if it's like well because someone said okay Who said is there a different way people think people the the current state of fitness is More intensity is better
00:37:00
Speaker
A 14 minute AMRAP and a 20 minute AMRAP are pretty much the same thing. Now look, I get it. You can go harder in a 14 minute thing. 20 minutes. You got to pace a little bit more. But if you just stop, if you just like stop doing math for a second and say, well, 20 is greater than 14.
00:37:19
Speaker
your system, your body is pretty much, especially with the, all the movements where you're not actually continually working for that long. You're taking breaths, you're taking breaks depending upon the skill. There's this, there's that it's the same thing. So what I think that's frustrating is like, when we don't look at the why and the purpose of the workout or the training or the programming from a general
00:37:47
Speaker
population sort of like, yep, you wanna feel good, you wanna move well, you wanna exercise, like you wanna have this, like a good mental, physical, emotional kind of a thing here.
00:38:02
Speaker
just saying like, oh, I did a 14 minutes and a 20 minutes. You did the same thing. You did the same thing. And so that's where like the variance comes in to within CrossFit. And it's like, right. So you did the same thing there. Today is going to be, you have five minutes at most. You're worried it's going to be five minutes at most. Now sure, you're going to warm up and do whatever, but it's going to be five minutes.
00:38:24
Speaker
you know and then another day it's gonna be like a 45 that you're gonna barely warm up because it's 45 minutes you can only go there and so like looking at that stuff but because the because of the constant variance I think people buy into thinking I'm doing something differently just because the movements are changing and there's like a seven instead of an eight after the one in terms of how long you're going for that doesn't necessarily
00:38:51
Speaker
No, your body, your system, how you work, how you operate and, you know, ask someone, Hey, what's the purpose of this workout? And if you're at a normal CrossFit gym,
00:39:05
Speaker
you're going to get an answer that is steeped in surface level explanation and not in actual like this is the workout in the assumption that it's for a games athlete. Just like I answered your question with the snatch that is that is rooted in like for a competitive purpose and an athletic like I'm training for something. But I think for people as a takeaway having in the course of a week being able to choose
00:39:36
Speaker
and say like, okay, a general variety looks something like, yeah, like today, today was a higher intensity day. There were intervals of like bikes and burpee, no skill, just all out. Obviously there were rounds. So that kind of depends on the person. Like someone could choose to just destroy themselves in three rounds and then be done. And arguably like, yes, that would be more intense than if that person paced a little bit and did eight rounds. So clearly there's a choice there, but
00:40:05
Speaker
Generally speaking, having a choice for like, yes, today I'm going to go really hard, crazy. One day I'm just going to kind of be middle of the road. One day I'm going to take it easy. Like being able to navigate through what you need, not just like fitting into the hole that's been created. And that's all you got for that day. So when we program as per one of the questions is like, I do the programming.
00:40:31
Speaker
It is highly influenced by many things. Everything we've learned from strong fit, everything you've been doing cross fit, cross fit. It's a Murad of like things that go into one. Yes. Having some variants of what's like, what, what, to your point, like, is it a 40 minute workout is a five minute workout, having very different energy systems, not just 14 minute AMRAP 20 minute AMRAP.
00:41:00
Speaker
It does look a lot like aligning on the really intense days, those being aligned with low skill, because we know the lower the skill, the higher the intensity can go. It does look like programming at least a handful of workouts that could go one of two ways.
00:41:19
Speaker
could kind of go in a sprint way, could kind of go on a steady state so that there is an opportunity for people to come in and have a little choice. And then there's days where it's really focused on like, generally speaking, muscular contraction. Like that's good for everybody. Like you can kind of be in different places on that day and have still connect to muscles. And it's not the same as like the difference of like going really easy or going like balls to the wall. So.
00:41:48
Speaker
That's kind of how we program. It's not as simple as like down the checklist of like, well, we did snatches. I mean, that is at one point how we did like, just do all the movements. We've evolved past that, like.
00:42:02
Speaker
It's beyond just like making sure. Now, we do look over the course of a couple weeks to make sure we are getting different movements in there. It would be remiss to just only program. Because people are coming in to get fit and also enjoy what they're doing, it might be effective to have a month of like, hey, we're really focusing on burpees and box jumps. People would be
00:42:24
Speaker
After a week, you're like, oh my God, I don't want to do any more purpose. They're not training. But that's the thing. They're not training. Right. They're not training. You want to have fun and exercise. So so that's kind of how we program. Generally, I do the programming. You take a look at it and then we get in a fight and then. And then it's better. You've gotten better at just. Yeah. Taking a look. Sometimes. But I did the programming for a long time. Well, you did it and I did it and you did it. But now you do it because I'm.
00:42:55
Speaker
Yeah, because you're not as involved. So I do feel like it's always helpful with anything to have somebody take a glance at it. Yeah, for sure. You know, there's times where it's like, how did I miss that I programmed two days back? The challenge is always that you're guessing.
00:43:13
Speaker
Sure. At the end of the day, it's a guess. And so when we put the programming up, we program for seven days, we look at that week, but we have no idea when you're coming.
Programming Strategies
00:43:26
Speaker
We have no idea how you're coming.
00:43:29
Speaker
So the program, and that's why we always say like, look, we write it up on the whiteboard, which gets erased at the end of the night. In fact, I can change the workout. We have the power of God, an expo. It's a dry erase marker. It can change. So like it is just a starting point for a conversation. But that's so hard for people to get.
00:43:48
Speaker
But I understand that. But I'm just saying, but that's the thing. But you know what, then what else are you choosing not to have agency with in your life? And I, oh, OK, whatever. Don't go all, you know, philosophical on me. But OK, thousands of athletes we've seen, hundreds of people we work with and more so now on an individual level. Like, don't tell me that, like, we've worked with a lot of people and see. And if you start to just kind of check it out, if you're having a hard time coming up with what you need today,
00:44:18
Speaker
Does that happen anywhere else in life? Well, but here's the thing. People want to play both sides. The old thing used to be who you are in CrossFit is who you are in life. So then if we're saying like, okay, yeah, that's an indicator. So you're not having a choice and you're just being told what to do. It's like, oh, yeah, well, well, not that. It's like, well, yes, that too. Like,
00:44:38
Speaker
how many other things I think it comes down to the compartmentalization of it. So like if you just compartmentalize your workout and it's just like, Oh, that's just like what I do with my body over here. And like, yeah, just tell me what to do. It's like, okay. Same thing with food. Just tell me, like, just tell me what to eat. Just tell me how much to eat. Like after many, many years, what I can certainly say is that does not work. Okay.
00:45:06
Speaker
So, but, you know, that, that's part of it. People just tell me what to do at work. At some point, I think that will fail people. It might, you might be able to ride it out for a while, but at some point it is going to seep into like.
00:45:24
Speaker
feeling like you're just being told what to do all the time. Well, if you're always being told what to do also and what drives me nuts. So and there's a real world story. So I'm not going to use any names. There was a friendly fire incident, which means one of our own killed our own and took took fire from a ridge top. It's not like in the movies. So you have no idea where anything is coming from.
00:45:53
Speaker
Young kid on a gun, machine gun. Squad leader comes over, team leader comes over, who's basically the judge and jury in regular life, back in base and everything. Yeah, this dude is going to crush your life, so you do what is told. Tells the guy, look, send rounds up there. All right, right on. Just send rounds up there. Now, here's the deal. It is not a good idea.
00:46:20
Speaker
to engage a target that you don't know what the target is. Well, what's the kid gonna do? He's gonna do what he's told. And it wound up being a friendly. And that happens so often. That happens more than we want to admit. And so the point is if, and that's obviously an extreme example where hopefully, thankfully, nobody really has to confront that.
00:46:46
Speaker
But like just doing what you are told, you're going to miss out on possibly the most important reason for the action that you're going to do in the first place. And so that's what we mean with agency. And if that is so hard,
00:47:02
Speaker
All right, that's okay. Practice it in an environment like the gym. How great a place to start. What a beautiful thing. It's okay if you suck at something. If you expect to be great at something when you've never done it, we have to talk about our expectations. The fact that you can identify, I'm kind of uncomfortable with this. I don't know. I feel a little bit lost. Good. Now we're learning something because otherwise it's just you're just doing what you're told and then you're subject to
00:47:27
Speaker
what's this person's deal telling you kind of your point in the beginning about like the awareness of part one is having the awareness like wow I
00:47:37
Speaker
I'm choosing not to look at something because then it's like, hmm. Okay. Step one. I want to, I want to figure this thing out. Like tell me how to figure out like what I need today. Okay. So we're going to look at like, how do you feel? Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. A lot of people have no idea how they feel, meaning emotionally, physically, what are the physical sensations? You know, you asked people at the seminar to identify like,
00:48:02
Speaker
How do you physically feel and it was really interesting to see that people really struggle to just say currently like yeah currently I feel Like my stomach is a little not sure if I'm hungry.
Mindful Choices and Emotions
00:48:13
Speaker
There's a little bit like discomfort there I don't know what it is like they're saying like I feel good I feel like I worked out yesterday like not like I feel itchy my face is itchy. Mm-hmm
00:48:25
Speaker
And that takes practice. And then emotionally, where I feel tired. But then a lot of people get uncomfortable with that. And now they're making a choice to just, I don't want to go there. I think we've talked about kids, and people have asked about, that's come up, or parenting, or we're in a town where there's been
00:48:48
Speaker
In the past year, in the surrounding towns, I mean, 10 suicides, kids that are in the 15 to 17 age range. And, you know, one of the things that I really value in like your parenting with the kids is the agency piece. Okay. Great. Like just regurgitating what you're learning in school or.
00:49:10
Speaker
why are we telling you to put your shoes away or why are we talking about this is like really important not just just do what we're saying yeah and i'm not saying that there's like this leads to that but i think the more agency and the more understanding and and the why for kids not just just memorize and regurgitate and you know that's that's valuable for everybody and you can start that you know someone else about food
00:49:38
Speaker
Step one with like the kids and food is like, and it's not an immediate thing. Like you tell your kids, this is healthy for you. This is not healthy. And they're like, okay, got it. Like I won't want to eat ice cream anymore, but it's a process to involve and have them make choices and the why. And, but it is way easier.
00:49:58
Speaker
Just have it be like just because I said so yeah, I would rather have someone myself included temporarily suck at something and that temporary nature could be years that I am choosing to do because it matters to me and I can Identify something within it that's like important in my life. Yeah, I would rather suck at that Then be really good at something. I have no idea really no idea about I
00:50:28
Speaker
Sure well you're describing like not to but I do think we have a lot of people in that space of how we view coaches, how we view CrossFit, how we view food. I mean I wasn't Tia Claire to me. I was good though good generally speaking at CrossFit. I'd not say there was all like and I didn't even know why I was doing it but like
00:50:52
Speaker
today, I'm still sucking at making choices for myself. Yeah. But it does feel better than just what it felt like to realize like shit for 10 years, I just did what was on the paper or did whatever because I don't know, just do it. And so I'm practicing that. But the days that you're like, but that's where two people, a really good coach and isn't
00:51:17
Speaker
You know, I think sometimes people are like, well, if you're not telling me what to do, then maybe you don't know. You don't know what you're talking about. It's like, no, no, no. The people that are telling you precisely what to do. All they're telling you is their projection of them. It's hard to be a client where you have to do the work, but.
00:51:36
Speaker
It's you who wants to get where you're going. How the hell am I going to tell you how you feel today? But it's much easier for your trainer to say, do three sets of 12. I mean, sure. Structure is good. But if your trainer, your coach is telling you. Yeah. But there's also that thing. If you're like, Hey, look, I don't know. I don't have decades.
00:52:02
Speaker
of athletic performance and coaching. As a client. Yeah, as a client. I don't have that. Sure. You do. Can you be my coach? Yes, of course. Of course. It's like, yeah, hey, look, you're gonna, you can't just be like, hey man, do it, do it. Your heart desires. Here's the guidelines. So there's that balance between like, look, there needs to be this. And then it's always a thing too, like how, and this is someone everybody can ask themselves, how interested are you in actually learning? Right. And if you're not interested in learning, okay.
00:52:29
Speaker
But let's just have an honest conversation about it. And so if you're interested in learning and you're in a non-learning environment where it's just pointy talky, do this, do that, follow orders.
00:52:45
Speaker
At a certain point, that's probably going to run its course. Can you get fitter as a result of it? Yeah, of course. You can get fitter as a result of a lot of stuff, which is amazing about that when you're like, no, this is the way to get fit. It's like, really? How about these other ways? So I think the thing with agency really is that it's not an absolute.
Agency in Life and Arguments
00:53:08
Speaker
There's not a right answer.
00:53:12
Speaker
but you have to start asking the question about like, where, what do I want to get out of this? And you know, this goes, we, we, we talked about the gym and fitness, obviously, cause that's pretty much what we're in, but good Lord, this applies to relationships so much. And that's a scary one when you start brushing up against limiting beliefs, interpretations, um, pressures, the way things always were like, I guess,
00:53:42
Speaker
You have a choice too. And I mean, to your point about yesterday's, your post yesterday, like I'm going to be right. Like when you're having a shitty day and you're pissed off at everybody, like, okay, you're going to be right. Like you have a choice in that. Great. Okay. I mean, if you want to choose to do that, then.
00:53:59
Speaker
And that's sometimes really frustrating. So sometimes it doesn't feel like that. It's like, no, my body right now, every ounce of me is telling me like, you're just going to be fucking pissed off. Well, the thing about that, and I wasn't sure how to articulate this in a, in an Instagram post. Um, you actually don't want to be right. Like you want the fight more than you want them to be right. Like that. Sorry. You want the fight more than you actually want the solution. Right.
00:54:24
Speaker
And I've been, I mean, I've been there a hundred, like, no, I just want to be entrenched and just fight. I don't give a fuck about the solution. Sure. I just want to fight. Right. And it's like, holy crap. What if you were just be like, yep, hey, you're right.
00:54:39
Speaker
And it's like, can you, can you breathe now? Can you, can you holster your stuff? Can you like stop gritting your teeth and you know, unclenching your fist? Can you please just do that? You're right. And it's like looking at that and being like, if you're told, if you just say to yourself, yes, you are right. Or if you envision someone else saying you are right with everything you're saying, do you, are you going to keep going on? Well, but that's like, even if it's not with yourself, you've been in, we've been in arguments before where it's like, okay, you're right. And, but you still somehow want to,
00:55:09
Speaker
keep going. And it's like, but okay. Like I already said, like, you're right. I was wrong. And it's like, why are you continuing? But yeah, but it's also, um, yeah. Well, anyway, that's, that's a different time. But do we answer though, the questions that were relative to this? Cause there was one about new programs. When programming, do you program for the whole week or each individual workout? Uh, both. Yeah.
00:55:33
Speaker
Um, when we do one on one programming with people, we change it. So it's not just on Monday, do this Tuesday, do that. It's there's programmed into it is agency, uh, high level overview of the seminar. Key takeaways for you as a coach. Yeah. I kind of talked about that. How do you and Karyana decide what to program week to week? Do you take turns? I think we kind of addressed that. Um,
00:56:00
Speaker
There was one other one in here. Why can't I find it? Are you still offering one on one coaching? Yes, I am. Not that many. Yeah, I am actually. So I think that was good. And what do we have coming up? I feel like I just had this weird thing of like, we were sitting here in December talking about the seminar February 8th, but now that's done. But, um,
00:56:32
Speaker
Yeah. Ending my women's group. Yeah. Last week. Talk about having agency. They will have agency in their last workout. And then we do still have some thing kind of rather you have something kind of big coming up in the summer, but still holding off on that. Let the suspense build a bit, but I'm hopefully going to have another.
00:56:56
Speaker
um, between the air seminar somewhere else coming up. There's a couple that were having the works. Um, but that's it. Should I do another practice? I don't know. Someone asked me about someone reached out. You had said you weren't going to do another group, but for sure. I think there's people looking for another group and you still have 2.0 to 2.0 is actually further along than I thought, cause it's not going to be three months.
00:57:24
Speaker
Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be two months. Yeah, it'll be two months. So 2.0, but that'll only be available to people who graduated from 1.0 people who have done 1.0. Yeah So yeah, that's it. So I guess maybe if we give it a little bit of a homework or a takeaway Let's go obviously like consider
00:57:46
Speaker
consider how much agents can just consider agency in your life. And also, you know, we didn't really get into the control thing, but there is so much you can't control really. Like there really is so much you can't control. It would be who of us to control the things we can, but yet we relinquish that. And it's kind of silly. And so control, look at that. So look at, look at agency.
00:58:15
Speaker
And then from a workout standpoint, I challenge you to over the course of the next week. There's going to be barking dots. Over the course of the next week, ask yourself, what do I want to get out of this workout? And when you identify that, step into it and own it. Don't like half-ass it. Like hit it aggressively. And if it's 30 minutes on the bike, listening to your favorite music, great. If it's you're going to go like a maniac, awesome. But just see what comes up there.
00:58:44
Speaker
See what comes up there and then you can look for patterns and you do that after you do that. If you do a month of that, you'll learn so much. And so I think that's a good one. Um, apparently our male lady was afraid of the dogs at the door. So I think she just put it on our patio. Smart, smart move. Cool.
00:59:03
Speaker
Alrighty. Well, that's it. We'll talk next time. If you guys do have questions in between now and then, uh, just message. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be cool. That'd be cool. Let us know. What do you got? Would you learn and have some agency in life? All right. Cool.