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Episode 5: Mark Campbell. Overcoming injuries and exploring the mind body connection.
7 Plays7 months ago
I sit down with Mark and talk about his journey from Northern Ontario to Windsor and how CrossFit has become more than just a way to stay fit. For Mark it's a way to connect, to develop resiliency and to push himself.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Levels, the show where we explore our CrossFit community here at All Level CrossFit and some of the awesome stories and people that make our community so special.
00:00:09
Speaker
Today I have with me Mark Campbell as my guest.
00:00:12
Speaker
Mark, you've been a member at All Level for...
00:00:15
Speaker
Five years?
00:00:16
Speaker
Five years, yeah, it seems about right.
00:00:17
Speaker
And in those five years, you've become a pretty big part of some of the classes you attend, morning classes, weekend classes, adaptive class, you're there.
00:00:27
Speaker
My favorites.
00:00:27
Speaker
And that's awesome.
00:00:29
Speaker
We appreciate that.
00:00:30
Speaker
So tell me a little bit about yourself, Mark.
00:00:32
Speaker
Where did you grow?
00:00:34
Speaker
I grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, right on top of Lake Superior.
00:00:37
Speaker
And I
00:00:38
Speaker
I was there till I was about 18 years old, went to University of Manitoba and Winnipeg for a couple of years.
00:00:43
Speaker
Then I decided I was going to go into nursing and then came down to Windsor.
00:00:49
Speaker
The decision that locked it was the ability to play football down here.
00:00:53
Speaker
So I played for the Lancers for four years and I've been in Windsor ever since 1988.
00:00:59
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but Northern born and raised.
00:01:01
Speaker
Awesome.
00:01:01
Speaker
So I didn't know that you attended University of Winnipeg for a couple of years.
00:01:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:06
Speaker
What did you take there?
00:01:07
Speaker
I was taking general science there.
00:01:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:09
Speaker
Did you play football there?
00:01:10
Speaker
I did.
00:01:11
Speaker
I played.
00:01:11
Speaker
So interesting story, the Windsor AKO Fratman were a powerhouse down here and I played for the St.
00:01:17
Speaker
Mattel Mustangs and incidentally we got put into the East Conference.
00:01:21
Speaker
So we won our conference and we were to play the OJFL.
00:01:27
Speaker
which was the Windsor Fratnacht.
00:01:29
Speaker
So I played against a lot of the guys that when I came down here to the University of Windsor, I ended up knowing at least names.
00:01:37
Speaker
And it was kind of an interesting lead into my football career for the Lancers.
00:01:43
Speaker
Awesome.
Football Career and Northern Ontario Memories
00:01:44
Speaker
So you played four years for the Lancers.
00:01:46
Speaker
And what position did you play?
00:01:47
Speaker
I played inside linebacker.
00:01:48
Speaker
Nice.
00:01:49
Speaker
I didn't know that.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:50
Speaker
This whole time I thought you were an O-lineman.
00:01:53
Speaker
I thought you were an O-lineman.
00:01:55
Speaker
You're the inside.
00:01:56
Speaker
I guess that's in a 4-3, right?
00:01:58
Speaker
So you're one of the inside linebackers.
00:02:01
Speaker
3-4.
00:02:01
Speaker
We were a little more in the era of Lawrence Taylor-ish.
00:02:05
Speaker
So 3-4.
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, I played weak side linebacker.
00:02:09
Speaker
with a few great linebackers.
00:02:12
Speaker
Mike O'Neill was one of them, who's a first or second team All-Canadian, who's just a beast.
00:02:17
Speaker
Great player.
00:02:18
Speaker
Awesome.
00:02:19
Speaker
Awesome.
00:02:19
Speaker
So I know that you still go back to Thunder Bay fairly regularly, obviously, to this family, and that kind of like
00:02:27
Speaker
We have this, I know that in Southern Ontario, we kind of have this kind of vision of what Northern Ontario is like, you know, sparse, cold, unforgiving, brutal.
00:02:36
Speaker
But tell me a little bit, what were some of your favorite things about growing up?
00:02:40
Speaker
North, definitely, especially now reflecting back is the nature.
00:02:44
Speaker
I don't think you, as a young person, you were, uh,
00:02:47
Speaker
appreciate it when you're there.
00:02:49
Speaker
Now looking back, just the beauty of it all, looking out into the harbor, we have a large island called the Sleeping Giant.
00:02:56
Speaker
I know you've been to Thunder Bay and you've seen that going out.
00:02:59
Speaker
A lot of people there, instead of vacationing down south, they have
00:03:03
Speaker
We call them camps, the cottages.
00:03:05
Speaker
So there's tons of lakes for 30 minutes outside of the town going to the camp or cottage in the summertime for the weekends.
00:03:13
Speaker
Those were some of the things I really enjoyed.
00:03:14
Speaker
And through doing that, just doing a lot of outdoor things, summertime, swimming, jumping in the sauna,
00:03:21
Speaker
into the lake riding motorbikes.
00:03:22
Speaker
Being a northern climate in the winter, it was awesome.
00:03:25
Speaker
There was tons of outdoor rinks.
00:03:27
Speaker
We would go out, skate, play hockey.
00:03:30
Speaker
There's ski hills around, downhill ski, cross-country ski, toboggan, all of those things.
00:03:35
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You dress for it, you get used to it, and you really learn to appreciate that northern climate.
00:03:40
Speaker
So I think tying all that into the nature is one of the things I really miss.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that's, we're kind of stuck in limbo here in Windsor because we don't get a real
00:03:49
Speaker
winter or it doesn't stay cold long enough that we can actually do some of those outdoor things.
00:03:54
Speaker
Like we do, you know, Hey, let's go tobogganing and stuff, but you don't, no one's ever really prepared for it because it's kind of like winter is there, but it's not quite there.
00:04:03
Speaker
But I, I know that from Northern and as well as stuff like Quebec, like,
00:04:08
Speaker
they know how to enjoy the winter season.
00:04:10
Speaker
Here it seems like we just tolerate it rather than enjoy it.
00:04:14
Speaker
It's so sporadic down here.
00:04:15
Speaker
It's kind of slushy.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:17
Speaker
Slushy mud.
00:04:17
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Yeah.
00:04:18
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Right.
00:04:18
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Yeah.
00:04:19
Speaker
Not so fun to toboggan on.
00:04:21
Speaker
No, no, but the summers, those are, those are beastly down here, the humidity and the heat.
00:04:26
Speaker
So that like, you know, flip it on its head.
00:04:28
Speaker
That's something got to get used to as well.
00:04:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:30
Speaker
I, I, you know, my wife's English and I, I,
00:04:33
Speaker
I've always told her and she, I think, agrees now that there's nothing like a Canadian summer.
00:04:37
Speaker
Like, Canadian summers for me are the best because they're so long and the days are beautiful.
00:04:42
Speaker
And then if you can get to enjoy a cottage or a camp or something like that, that's phenomenal.
00:04:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:04:48
Speaker
So you played some sports.
00:04:50
Speaker
What do you do for work?
Nursing Career and Specialization
00:04:51
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I'm what's called a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
00:04:54
Speaker
So I am a master's trained nurse specifically in anesthesia.
00:05:00
Speaker
So I went, I graduated from the university of Windsor with my bachelor's and much like a lot of nurses, my generation did just weren't a lot of jobs here in Detroit.
00:05:09
Speaker
As a lot of people down in the area know, is always begging for nurses to come over there and work.
00:05:15
Speaker
And through something called the Trade Naftabies, I was able to secure employment in downtown Detroit.
00:05:21
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I worked at Detroit Receiving Hospital, which is a trauma hospital.
00:05:25
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and gained a lot of experience.
00:05:27
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I started out in the neurotrauma unit.
00:05:30
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We'd see closed head injuries.
00:05:32
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We would see post-surgical patients specific to neuroinjury.
00:05:36
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Did that for a couple of years, then decided I wanted to learn the rest of the body.
00:05:39
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And I went to the medical intensive care unit.
00:05:42
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I'm dealing with things like severe emphysema, diabetes, infections or sepsis.
00:05:48
Speaker
And when I was up there,
00:05:50
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A patient that was returning from the operating room had one of the anesthesia providers there and he was a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
00:05:57
Speaker
So we got to talking and said, do you know what I do?
00:06:00
Speaker
I said, no, I have no idea what you do because they don't have that in Canada.
00:06:05
Speaker
So we got to talking and he says, why don't you come on down and you can shadow and see what we do.
00:06:10
Speaker
So I actually ended up going up to Beaumont and shadowing up there.
00:06:15
Speaker
to see what it was.
00:06:16
Speaker
And I was like, this is amazing.
00:06:19
Speaker
And by that time in my nursing career, I had seen a lot, been involved in a lot, things like codes, invasive lines, drips, all of the things that require
00:06:32
Speaker
certain skill set as far as being able to manipulate vital signs and just kind of what's going on if you will the offense is or the body's doing offense you're playing defense to that so with anesthesia it's that much faster plus there was a lot of technical skills that were really cool if that's the right word right so i really enjoyed seeing that eventually got into school at oakland university through beaumont and it was 28 months straight
00:07:02
Speaker
Through my education, I was able to rotate down to Children's Hospital in Michigan, and I really found that I really liked taking care of kids.
00:07:10
Speaker
And what really fascinated me was hearts, so pediatric hearts.
00:07:14
Speaker
So the way that we're formed sometimes, we're not formed absolutely correct.
00:07:19
Speaker
So we have these variants of heart defects, and that absolutely fascinated me, the physiology, what they were doing surgically, and I was hooked.
00:07:28
Speaker
So I did a pediatric anesthesia fellowship.
00:07:31
Speaker
after 28 months, graduated from that.
00:07:33
Speaker
And I've been working at Children's Hospital for the past 24 and change years and still love what I do, love taking care of kids.
00:07:42
Speaker
That's an amazing story.
00:07:44
Speaker
Again, like most of the stuff, I knew kind of what you did, but I didn't know exactly what you did.
00:07:48
Speaker
Obviously, when you wear the shirts in, you've got some special shirts that you like to wear to work with the kids at ease.
00:07:54
Speaker
So, I mean, we got talking about that, but the whole journey through that, that's amazing.
00:07:58
Speaker
Now, in Canada,
00:08:00
Speaker
they don't have designated nurses anesthesiologists?
00:08:04
Speaker
They do not.
00:08:05
Speaker
So here it is anesthesiologists and they've been training respiratory therapists to sit in the room and kind of monitor things.
00:08:16
Speaker
I won't speak more to that professionally because just because I think it's that's kind of more their deal.
00:08:23
Speaker
I do think it's unfortunate that with
00:08:27
Speaker
With the OR weights and lack of anesthesia people, it's very unfortunate that they have not embraced the nurse anesthetist.
00:08:37
Speaker
68% of the anesthetics in the United States are given by nurse anesthetists.
00:08:41
Speaker
And it's a tremendous amount of workforce and the ability to really drop OR times and the quality of care is absolutely extremely high.
00:08:51
Speaker
The outcomes are excellent for the care that
00:08:55
Speaker
Amazing.
00:08:56
Speaker
Another thing I did not
Discovering CrossFit and Overcoming Injuries
00:08:57
Speaker
know.
00:08:57
Speaker
All right.
00:08:59
Speaker
So how long have you, I know you've been with us for five years, but how long have you been doing CrossFit?
00:09:03
Speaker
CrossFit about eight years.
00:09:04
Speaker
I started at Windsor CrossFit when it was over, just off of EC Row.
00:09:09
Speaker
And I was really looking for something that had the intensity of football, as far as training, as far as the competitiveness.
00:09:18
Speaker
And I'd been to the big box gyms, and it just stall and you stall and you stall.
00:09:24
Speaker
So I was looking for something more than that.
00:09:26
Speaker
So I walked in, I saw all these...
00:09:29
Speaker
movements there was weights being thrown there's boxes being jumped and more importantly i saw the community people cheering each other on and that intensity and that community was something that really drew me in so a shout out for it signed up and i really haven't looked back i just absolutely love coming here as stressful as my job can be this is just me releasing my stress and it's just for me it throws me into a a great high for the rest of the day or week yeah it's a beautiful like
00:09:59
Speaker
For high stress jobs like yourself, I've seen people definitely blow off steam in non-productive manners and I've seen people blow off steam in productive manners.
00:10:08
Speaker
And I think this hopefully checks the box for productive, but I've seen you work out and I see you've got some of that football in you when you work out.
00:10:15
Speaker
And I think that anyone who's played sports kind of feels the same way about the style of training that we do.
00:10:21
Speaker
You know, there's high fives, you get to know people, you've got your group.
00:10:24
Speaker
There is an intensity piece to it that does kind of lend itself.
00:10:29
Speaker
or borrow from sports, right?
00:10:31
Speaker
Like you can always see when someone's like got a sense of urgency, right?
00:10:36
Speaker
And sometimes we have things we do and they're urgent and sports has the same sort of urgency, right?
00:10:41
Speaker
You've got to get something done in a certain amount of time or there's a clock or a buzzer and we've got clocks and buzzers here too.
00:10:46
Speaker
So I think it's a really...
00:10:49
Speaker
it does bring back those memories and that transition makes it a little easier.
00:10:53
Speaker
And that's one of the things that drew me into.
00:10:54
Speaker
I love sports and I love teams and I love, you know, kind of the locker room stuff.
00:11:00
Speaker
And so all that,
00:11:01
Speaker
kind of fits in to what we do here.
00:11:04
Speaker
I think the skills portion of it too is there's always something to improve on.
00:11:08
Speaker
As basic as you start out, the learning curve just goes very quickly and it's just very, very stimulating, especially if you look across and see the better athletes going.
00:11:18
Speaker
It's like, yeah, I'd like to do that.
00:11:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:20
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:11:20
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:11:21
Speaker
There's never a shortage of things to get better at, right?
00:11:24
Speaker
That's what they say is once you've kind of got one thing and you feel good about it, well, there's the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.
00:11:31
Speaker
There's no, that's what I love about CrossFit is there's just no ceiling, right?
00:11:35
Speaker
There's no ceiling.
00:11:37
Speaker
Like you're not ever going to reach that peak.
00:11:39
Speaker
Even the people that have reached the pinnacle of CrossFit success, they probably feel like they've still got a lot to improve on.
00:11:45
Speaker
Most definitely.
00:11:45
Speaker
And, you know, back down to us regular everyday athletes, like,
00:11:48
Speaker
That's tenfold.
00:11:49
Speaker
We've always got stuff we can work on.
00:11:50
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:11:51
Speaker
It's the shortage of time.
00:11:52
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:53
Speaker
Did anything prompt you to start though?
00:11:54
Speaker
Was there anything?
00:11:57
Speaker
I was fat and I didn't feel good about myself.
00:12:02
Speaker
I didn't have that stuff to look forward to.
00:12:04
Speaker
I needed something.
00:12:05
Speaker
I needed that.
00:12:07
Speaker
It was mindset, body image, all of the above.
00:12:11
Speaker
It's funny because that's pretty much the exact same reason that I started.
00:12:17
Speaker
I was in a pretty unhealthy lifestyle for a bit.
00:12:21
Speaker
I came back to Windsor.
00:12:22
Speaker
I was living in the Caribbean.
00:12:23
Speaker
I came back to Windsor for a wedding.
00:12:25
Speaker
Someone made a comment on how I looked physically.
00:12:28
Speaker
They said, oh my God, John Mack, you got fat.
00:12:32
Speaker
I was like, I did?
00:12:35
Speaker
I think that you just accept who you are at that point.
00:12:38
Speaker
Maybe I wasn't super motivated, but that triggered it.
00:12:42
Speaker
I ended up getting into a gym in the Caribbean and
00:12:45
Speaker
absolutely loving it and ended up working my schedule there so that I could make sure I made the gym every day.
00:12:51
Speaker
Right.
00:12:51
Speaker
So it became that big part of my life.
00:12:53
Speaker
And that was kind of the turning point.
00:12:54
Speaker
It's just like, I, I felt unhealthy.
00:12:56
Speaker
I looked unhealthy.
00:12:57
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:12:58
Speaker
And this kind of pulled me back into a healthier place.
00:13:01
Speaker
And it's, you know, that was 15 years ago, maybe.
00:13:04
Speaker
That's amazing.
00:13:05
Speaker
So yeah.
00:13:06
Speaker
And that's kind of the transformative power CrossFit and why we kind of have these conversations because, you know,
00:13:13
Speaker
There's so many people in the gym that have these amazing stories that, you know, why they started, how it's helped them.
00:13:19
Speaker
And they just kind of can float by if you don't grab onto them and kind of like, hey, this is a cool story and I want to hear why and how it's affected you because I know how it's affected me.
00:13:29
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:13:30
Speaker
But I think for a majority of people in here, they have a story like that.
00:13:33
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:34
Speaker
Do you remember your first class?
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:41
Speaker
We were doing bench press.
00:13:43
Speaker
I think deadlifts, there was another barbell movement.
00:13:48
Speaker
I was told to take it easy and stuff.
00:13:53
Speaker
Me being me, I wanted to tear somebody's head off.
00:13:58
Speaker
You're close to throwing up.
00:14:00
Speaker
It was like, okay.
00:14:02
Speaker
I get it the old linebacker mentality came back and what now I've made a mistake what more of a perfect workout for a football player than let's bench press and deadlift oh for sure can someone make this workout for me right but it's not sets of eight and then you can take 15 minutes rest right in sets of stuff it's like okay let's let's go yeah it's like why why is my heart beating so fast why do I feel like throwing up yeah you know lesson learned I think we all go through that yeah and watching new guys come in and say hey
00:14:31
Speaker
Don't rip one off, pace yourself, pace yourself.
00:14:35
Speaker
Lesson learned.
00:14:36
Speaker
I think that almost everybody I've ever seen come in here, regardless of their level of fitness, super strong people, super fit people, super whatever, the type of training we do always exposes some sort of weakness in your overall fitness, whether it's the cardio aspect, whether it's the strength aspect, flexibility, gymnastics, all that stuff.
00:14:57
Speaker
you know, it gets people and then there's kind of almost two types of people.
00:15:01
Speaker
There's the type that's like, man, that was too hard.
00:15:04
Speaker
I don't know if I want to do that again.
00:15:05
Speaker
And those people that are like, wow, that was awesome.
00:15:08
Speaker
I was terrible, but that was awesome.
00:15:10
Speaker
And I want to do it again.
00:15:11
Speaker
And I think for myself, I was the latter.
00:15:13
Speaker
I went in there and I thought that I did really well in the workout that they've
00:15:16
Speaker
first put me through.
00:15:17
Speaker
And I thought, being my cocky self, I thought, oh, wow, I crushed that.
00:15:20
Speaker
And they're like, no, you did not.
00:15:22
Speaker
That was not very good.
00:15:23
Speaker
I'm like, are you sure?
00:15:24
Speaker
Sure.
00:15:24
Speaker
You know, and I, it's funny you say that.
00:15:27
Speaker
I like football to CrossFit.
00:15:29
Speaker
The reason why I love football so much is
00:15:33
Speaker
The skinny kid can play it.
00:15:34
Speaker
The fat kid can play it.
00:15:35
Speaker
The short kid can play it.
00:15:36
Speaker
The tall kid can play it.
00:15:37
Speaker
The athletic kid can play it.
00:15:38
Speaker
You can all play it.
00:15:39
Speaker
So you come into CrossFit here.
00:15:41
Speaker
A guy like me, I'm stronger.
00:15:42
Speaker
So I will excel in the barbell movement.
00:15:44
Speaker
Right.
00:15:44
Speaker
You throw me up in a bar and it's just, it's not good.
00:15:47
Speaker
My daughter actually
00:15:48
Speaker
shout out to Ashley.
00:15:49
Speaker
She'll come in and she'll go up on the bar and do all of these movements and stuff.
00:15:54
Speaker
So that's a really cool part.
00:15:56
Speaker
And that goes back to there's always something to work on, which for me is very stimulating.
00:16:01
Speaker
I like that component of making a weakness of strength.
00:16:06
Speaker
100%.
00:16:06
Speaker
And shout out to Ashley.
00:16:09
Speaker
I've never seen someone do strict handstand push-ups.
00:16:11
Speaker
like Ashley can be strict.
00:16:12
Speaker
A lot of anger in that.
00:16:13
Speaker
A lot of anger.
00:16:15
Speaker
She's still doing those over there in the U.S. because I don't want to see that go to waste.
00:16:19
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:16:19
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:20
Speaker
Do you have any PRs or accomplishments in the gym that you're most proud of?
00:16:24
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:16:25
Speaker
So the older I get now, I focus less on how much I'm lifting.
00:16:31
Speaker
So my PRs now are coming back from injury and that has helped
00:16:36
Speaker
To me, that's been more than dead lifting 400 pounds, you know, cleaning whatever amount of weight.
00:16:42
Speaker
I've torn meniscus in both of my knees.
00:16:46
Speaker
I've come back from them non-surgically.
00:16:48
Speaker
I've had shoulder issues, some back issues, all of that.
00:16:54
Speaker
learning to dial it back learning how not to be you know just get out there and rip it football mentality really learning how to listen to your body and uh scale things you know we talk about scale scale scale i absolutely take that to heart so as far as an accomplishment i've learned to listen to my body i've learned how to come back from injury be patient with it and and um
00:17:19
Speaker
John, you and I talk a lot about mind-body connection, being positive with yourself, really looking at anything that you've done that is a small accomplishment and taking satisfaction in that.
00:17:32
Speaker
from a mental standpoint, I think that's really most recently been my biggest accomplishment in the gym is really learning how to come back from adversity.
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's such an awesome lesson for people because you can see people get discouraged when they have an injury or a setback or things aren't going the way they want.
00:17:53
Speaker
And then it's really easy to get in your head and, you know, think about quitting or wanting to
00:17:58
Speaker
not do the things anymore or I can't do that.
00:18:00
Speaker
And like you said, we've chatted a lot about mind-body connection and just the power of positive thinking like, okay, there's a lot of things I can't do right now, but there's so many things I can do.
00:18:13
Speaker
So what can I do?
00:18:14
Speaker
And how can I keep moving the needle forward?
00:18:17
Speaker
And a lot of times what I find, I've been injured plenty of times or my CrossFit career, my athletic career, and
00:18:25
Speaker
it's a really good time to focus on stuff that maybe you don't pay a lot of attention to because you're somewhat limited in the movements you could choose, but there's a lot of stuff like whether it's static holds and core strength or, or whatever it might be, you're doing some of this stuff that's not as, as fun and, you know, as sexy as some of the movements, but are very, very important.
00:18:43
Speaker
You have more time to focus on that.
00:18:45
Speaker
And I find that then you can come back and almost be an improved version of the person who got injured previously because you're,
00:18:52
Speaker
You have the experience.
00:18:54
Speaker
You know what you need to do.
00:18:55
Speaker
You're focusing a little bit more on it.
00:18:56
Speaker
And I think that that definitely comes with some perspective and some maturity as an athlete.
00:19:02
Speaker
And I think that that's an incredible lesson for people.
00:19:05
Speaker
Like, you don't have to stop doing what you're doing because you've got an injury.
00:19:08
Speaker
You can always find a way.
00:19:10
Speaker
Like, I say that to everybody.
00:19:11
Speaker
We've got people in the gym that are doing things, you know, with one arm, that are doing things that are in a wheelchair.
00:19:18
Speaker
Yes, yes.
00:19:19
Speaker
You know, and it's like, if they can find a way...
00:19:22
Speaker
to continue to work out.
00:19:24
Speaker
If you have a sprained ankle or you've got a knee that's, you know, got some torn miscus or cartilage in it, we can figure out a way.
00:19:31
Speaker
And you can keep moving the needle forward.
00:19:33
Speaker
It doesn't have to be, you know, so you can't squat.
00:19:36
Speaker
Cool.
00:19:36
Speaker
We've got a hundred other things we can do.
00:19:38
Speaker
So I think that's, that's really, really important as an athlete and as a person to be able to face that adversity and figure out a way around it.
00:19:46
Speaker
Like we talk about sometimes the obstacle is the way, right?
00:19:49
Speaker
So the obstacle is the injury.
00:19:51
Speaker
So
00:19:52
Speaker
What am I going to do?
00:19:53
Speaker
I'm going to find a way to continue moving forward.
00:19:55
Speaker
Another point to that is the body will heal.
00:19:59
Speaker
Your body is absolutely amazing at healing and it will absolutely heal.
00:20:03
Speaker
So fear not.
00:20:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:04
Speaker
And I mean, who better to say that than a healthcare professional, right?
00:20:07
Speaker
So I love it.
00:20:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:20:10
Speaker
If you could give your day one CrossFit self.
00:20:12
Speaker
Some advice, what would it be?
00:20:13
Speaker
Be patient.
00:20:14
Speaker
Be patient.
00:20:15
Speaker
I think, you know, especially the older I get, be patient.
00:20:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny because that's the exact same answer that Steph Dufour gave too, right?
00:20:23
Speaker
And she's a younger athlete.
00:20:25
Speaker
She's a very high level athlete.
00:20:26
Speaker
She puts a lot of time in, but same thing.
00:20:29
Speaker
Whether it's being patient for getting your first full depth squat or being patient, you know, getting into the top 100 in the world, it's the patience.
00:20:37
Speaker
We want everything now.
00:20:38
Speaker
And that's, I think, part of that.
00:20:41
Speaker
mindset, that athlete mindset as well too.
00:20:43
Speaker
We want it all now.
00:20:44
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:20:45
Speaker
A little patience goes a long way.
00:20:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:20:49
Speaker
How has CrossFit helped you in your daily life?
CrossFit's Impact on Handling Adversity
00:20:52
Speaker
When adverse situations come, knowing how to deal with them really
00:20:57
Speaker
Really putting the blinders on and focusing on the task at hand, much like it's like I have 20 burpees to do.
00:21:06
Speaker
Well, I can do one burpee, then I'll do another burpee.
00:21:09
Speaker
So looking at each tree as opposed to the forest, I'm chopping that tree down.
00:21:13
Speaker
So in doing these very difficult workouts, it absolutely has helped me when I'm in difficult situations at work.
00:21:21
Speaker
And giving me that ability to focus and take one moment at a time and just kind of get through things and just get getting better and better at doing that.
00:21:31
Speaker
Love that.
00:21:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:32
Speaker
One foot in front of the other.
00:21:33
Speaker
I think people underestimate the power of doing hard things, whether it's in the gym and how that.
00:21:39
Speaker
I've done a hundred burpees in a row so I can do this.
00:21:42
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:21:43
Speaker
I've, I've run this far.
00:21:44
Speaker
I can do this thing.
00:21:45
Speaker
And I think that's, it's an underrated part of the community as well too.
00:21:50
Speaker
And I've had, I've had people that someone that told us that, you know, if I hadn't come to the gym and kind of learned that I could do hard things, I would have never done my MBA in Paris and gone over and done all this stuff.
00:22:02
Speaker
And I was like,
00:22:03
Speaker
That blew me away.
00:22:03
Speaker
I was like, really?
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:22:05
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:22:05
Speaker
But you, again, those are things that maybe you take for granted and you don't see those kind of stories.
00:22:10
Speaker
So, very, very cool.
00:22:11
Speaker
Okay.
00:22:14
Speaker
Do you have a morning routine?
00:22:15
Speaker
Now, I know you've got some strange hours sometimes.
00:22:18
Speaker
So,
00:22:19
Speaker
Do I have a morning routine?
00:22:21
Speaker
Yeah, I will get up.
00:22:23
Speaker
And so recently, probably in the past year and change, I've started getting into fasting quite a bit.
00:22:29
Speaker
So on days that I'm fasting, I'll get up, have a cup of espresso and then start drinking water just to kind of catch up on the news.
00:22:39
Speaker
Beyond that, if it's a day off.
00:22:41
Speaker
typically come into the gym, mobility's become a very big part of my life.
00:22:45
Speaker
I've been using Wazram WOD, it's called Mobility WOD, that's what it's called, at any rate.
00:22:50
Speaker
Plyab, not Plyab.
00:22:52
Speaker
Plyab, okay, that's it.
00:22:54
Speaker
I've been using that, so that's coming into it more.
00:22:59
Speaker
But as far as that goes, I'm going to say strict morning routine.
00:23:05
Speaker
No, what's been more important is my nighttime routine.
00:23:08
Speaker
that's become very important going to bed at a decent consistent time not eating within hours before and interestingly enough my sleep is much deeper when i fasted like fasted at length you know 60 hours or something like that i find i really get a big depth of that so consistency of time the room's totally blacked out i'm doing screen time um i use the the aura ring
00:23:34
Speaker
for sleep, looking at my sleep cycles.
00:23:38
Speaker
It's not an obsessive looking at it.
00:23:40
Speaker
It's just kind of like, okay, where am I at with my sleep?
00:23:45
Speaker
Those types of things I think are very consistent.
00:23:47
Speaker
I wear earplugs as well to block out noise as much as possible.
00:23:53
Speaker
I think routine is more to my sleep.
00:23:58
Speaker
That's something I've started prioritizing a while back too.
00:24:03
Speaker
You know, sometimes I get up really early.
00:24:05
Speaker
For sure.
00:24:05
Speaker
So going to bed early enough can be a struggle, but it's something that I try to prioritize.
00:24:11
Speaker
I just know the feeling.
00:24:12
Speaker
Like we can survive, but survival is not the goal, right?
00:24:15
Speaker
So it's trying to thrive a little bit.
00:24:16
Speaker
So I love that night routine.
Quick-fire CrossFit Preferences
00:24:18
Speaker
Okay, we're going to go rapid fire.
00:24:20
Speaker
Favorite movement in the gym?
00:24:22
Speaker
Oh, squat clean.
00:24:23
Speaker
Squat clean.
00:24:24
Speaker
Oh, I love it.
00:24:24
Speaker
Nice.
00:24:25
Speaker
All right.
00:24:26
Speaker
Least favorite?
00:24:27
Speaker
Burpee.
00:24:27
Speaker
Burpee?
00:24:28
Speaker
No, everybody.
00:24:29
Speaker
This body's not made for burpee.
00:24:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:24:32
Speaker
Morning, afternoon, or evening class?
00:24:34
Speaker
My schedule's so varied.
00:24:36
Speaker
Morning if I can, but God bless the 5.30 and 6.30, that's way too early.
00:24:40
Speaker
9.30?
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah, 9.30.
00:24:42
Speaker
9.30's sweet.
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's a sweet spot for sure.
00:24:44
Speaker
Long endurance workout or short and intense workout?
00:24:47
Speaker
Both.
00:24:48
Speaker
Both.
00:24:48
Speaker
I like both.
00:24:49
Speaker
I like the strategizing of both.
00:24:52
Speaker
So forcing myself to sprint for the shorter ones and then really holding myself back and pacing and strategically breaking things up and making a little more cerebral for the longer ones.
00:25:02
Speaker
I love it.
00:25:03
Speaker
I think that it's flipped.
00:25:05
Speaker
I think if I was young, younger, young John would definitely be like, let's sprint.
00:25:10
Speaker
But older John's like, eh, sprinting hurts a little bit too much now.
00:25:14
Speaker
So let's back off and go long.
00:25:15
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:16
Speaker
What's your favorite indulgent food?
00:25:18
Speaker
Pizza.
00:25:18
Speaker
Pizza.
00:25:19
Speaker
What's your favorite pizza place?
00:25:21
Speaker
In town, it's a toss-up between Oven 360 and recently.
00:25:24
Speaker
It used to be Naples in Tecumseh.
00:25:27
Speaker
It's called Capital City.
00:25:28
Speaker
I really like their pizza.
00:25:29
Speaker
I've just had that over the past year.
00:25:32
Speaker
Nice.
00:25:32
Speaker
I really like it.
00:25:33
Speaker
All right.
00:25:33
Speaker
Good old Windsor pizza.
00:25:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:35
Speaker
Favorite healthy food?
00:25:38
Speaker
Fresh vegetables or meat.
00:25:40
Speaker
Just like a steak or something.
00:25:43
Speaker
I really like that.
00:25:44
Speaker
It's healthy.
00:25:45
Speaker
All right.
00:25:46
Speaker
Favorite pre or post workout snack?
00:25:49
Speaker
I'll have a smoothie with some berries, some R&F protein and creatine.
00:25:55
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:25:55
Speaker
The R&F, always the R&F shout out.
00:25:58
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:58
Speaker
Favorite way to relax?
00:26:00
Speaker
Throw some country music on John and sit in the backyard and just kind of.
00:26:05
Speaker
look around and just enjoy, enjoy being outside in the sun and having some good music playing.
00:26:12
Speaker
I love it.
00:26:12
Speaker
All right.
00:26:12
Speaker
I know you go, you tend to drop in on boxes when you go home to Thunder Bay or go to Thunder Bay when you travel.
Favorite Places and Personal Interests
00:26:20
Speaker
Give me a couple of places that you really enjoy boxes.
00:26:22
Speaker
Give a couple of shout outs.
00:26:23
Speaker
Sure.
00:26:23
Speaker
Shout out to Superior CrossFit.
00:26:25
Speaker
Uh,
00:26:26
Speaker
Ron Rooster has been there for many years.
00:26:31
Speaker
Great community.
00:26:32
Speaker
The facility is fantastic.
00:26:33
Speaker
He takes care of his equipment.
00:26:35
Speaker
Very engaged coach.
00:26:36
Speaker
If you're ever up in Thunder Bay, Superior CrossFit, absolutely go to.
00:26:41
Speaker
In Tennessee, we've been going to a couple now.
00:26:44
Speaker
CrossFit Incandescent is in Franklin, Tennessee.
00:26:47
Speaker
Great spot.
00:26:49
Speaker
If you're going in the summer, it's wicked humid.
00:26:51
Speaker
So like bring a lot of water with you, but coaching was excellent.
00:26:54
Speaker
Space was great.
00:26:55
Speaker
I just recently started going to CrossFit Spring Hill, which is just outside of Nashville as well.
00:27:00
Speaker
Air conditioned much like this, which to me in the summertime is a big plus, but the coaching was fantastic.
00:27:07
Speaker
Everything was well kept, well organized and well run.
00:27:10
Speaker
So those three.
00:27:11
Speaker
Awesome.
00:27:12
Speaker
Now tell me, I know you're a big Nashville aficionado.
00:27:15
Speaker
Aficionado.
00:27:16
Speaker
What's your favorite spot in Nashville?
00:27:18
Speaker
My favorite spot in Nashville, let's see, I have a couple.
00:27:21
Speaker
There's a country music band John, I call Brooks and Dunn.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yes, I've heard of them.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah, it picks Brooks.
00:27:28
Speaker
He has a vineyard just outside of Franklin, Tennessee called Arrington Vineyards.
00:27:32
Speaker
Oh, cool.
00:27:33
Speaker
And it's in the rolling hills of Tennessee.
00:27:35
Speaker
They have grapes.
00:27:36
Speaker
They have two big barns that are at distance from one another.
00:27:39
Speaker
One plays live bluegrass.
00:27:41
Speaker
The other one plays live jazz.
00:27:43
Speaker
Glass of wine, some live music.
00:27:45
Speaker
They have charcuterie board.
00:27:46
Speaker
You look at the nature.
00:27:47
Speaker
That's really up there.
00:27:49
Speaker
Sounds amazing.
00:27:50
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:27:51
Speaker
It is absolutely beautiful.
00:27:53
Speaker
So getting back to the Thunder Bay nature and stuff, it certainly rings true for me.
00:27:57
Speaker
That's definitely up there.
00:27:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's the theme that's running through this is your appreciation for nature.
00:28:02
Speaker
Love it.
00:28:03
Speaker
Hey, Mark, thank you so much for taking the time.
00:28:05
Speaker
Awesome.
00:28:06
Speaker
And we'll see you out on the floor there.
00:28:07
Speaker
We can rage over a couple of squat wings.
00:28:11
Speaker
Thanks, dude.
00:28:11
Speaker
All right, brother.
00:28:14
Speaker
Let me just grab that mic off.
00:28:15
Speaker
Yes.
00:28:16
Speaker
Got it.
00:28:17
Speaker
Perfect.