Workout of the Day
A.
Four sets of:
Weighted Supinated-Grip Pull-Ups x 2-3 reps @ 2110
Rest 10 seconds
Unweighted Supinated-Grip Pull-Ups x Max reps @ 2110 (no kipping!)
Rest 3 minutes
B.
Three rounds for time of:
Barbell Ground to Overhead x 10 reps
300 Meter Run
Go as heavy as you can on the Barbell while making sure you can get through the first round unbroken touch and go. It should be a challenge, it should force you to be tight and efficient, and you should have to really focus to have a chance at getting through rounds 2 and 3.
The reason you aren’t in shape isn’t because your gym isn’t cheap enough, maybe it isn’t expensive enough
Have you noticed how cheap a gym membership is? I am seeing a proliferation of the big box gyms driving membership pricing lower and lower. You can get a gym membership in Scottsdale for less than $10, and the Village is offering free yoga all summer.
But one thing strikes me. With gym memberships so inexpensive, why is our society so physically unhealthy? So obese, so inflexible, so weak. For the entire time I’ve lived in Scottsdale, gym memberships to facilities with lots of great equipment (though no bumper plates, naturally) beautiful locker rooms and showers, and pretty people to look at could be had for $20/month.
I’m guessing that moving that cost to $10/month didn’t make a whole lot of people say, “You know, I couldn’t afford $20/month, but at $10/month I will finally carve out 5 hours a week to consistently go to the gym and get on a program.
So the reason that collectively we are physically sick is not because our gym was too expensive. No, the reason is our gym is too cheap.
No matter the price, the bathroom quality, how pretty the girl at the front desk is, or how many mirrors there are, the ‘globo gym’ business model is a simple one. Finance equipment, pay labor as cheaply as possible, and sign up as many customers as they can during those customers moments of best intentions (New Years Resolutions?) and sit back when they stop coming (but keep paying) because, from a fitness perspective, globo gyms don’t work.
Why doesn’t the conventional gym membership deliver results to their clients?
1. What do I do?
Most people who go to a gym don’t have any idea what to do. Inevitably, they bounce between what they read in magazines or online, move through a line of machines, or hamster their way along on a cardio machine. This drives the fitness magazine industry, the personal training industry, and the ice cream industry when you quit going and feeling like a fool walking around the gym endlessly.
2. How do I do it?
Even when you read something online or in a magazine, the vast majority of people aren’t going to be able to correctly execute many weightlifting movements unless they already have a weightlifting background. (If you are thinking “no problem, I don’t strength train,” or “I keep weights low and basic movements” you are missing out. Strength training is the secret sauce to body composition changes)
3. BORING
Good Lord, working out conventionally is boring. By yourself, the same thing week after week. I know. I did it for three years after college. Try to find a partner to workout with, but that is tough between schedules, philosophies, and fitness levels. Most flare out quickly.
4. Why am I doing this?
Results usually come slowly, or you are in a ‘maintenance phase’. Typically this is maintaining substandard levels of strength, power, and endurance. But it is where you were in school, so it must be the peak of your powers.
5. So cheap, it’s easier to not show up than to show up, easier to keep paying then to go through the hassle of canceling.
You ever see the Friends episode when Chandler tries to quit the gym? Better to keep paying $10/month than go through that hassle right?
Enter CrossFit
Hey, we are not cheap. Here’s why:
1. We tell you what to do. You’ll do our program. You want to do your own program, no problem. There’s a $10/month gym you passed on the way over here. This way, you can outsource at least one decision in your life, leaving cognitive will power for more important things.
2. We teach you how to do it. Every day. We introduce movements in your private intro sessions, and review and polish movements EVERY. DAY. This can take a while. Don’t worry. You didn’t learn how to walk in one hour either.
3. Fun!
Every day is like high school sports tryouts. Every workout is scored. You MAY compete every day to improve yourself, and try to do better than those around you. Hey, it’s not for everyone, but it is for lots of people! If you enjoyed participating in sports, you may sneakily enjoy CrossFit.
4. Your performance results can be tracked every day
I know. You are in a maintenance phase. A phase you are hoping lasts the rest of your life. In CrossFit, you will see your performance in workouts get better every day. Or at least, you will have that opportunity.
As you track your workouts over your initial few months, you will see strength numbers go up, workout times go down, and feel your skills improve in various movements.
5. So expensive you’ll actually, GASP!, keep coming!
Look, we want you to understand what you are getting into at CrossFit. Nothing makes us more frustrated than our athletes who sign up and don’t come to class. If you just come, consistently, you will get results. We will help you.
No, you cannot sign up for one month. We can’t teach you fast enough in a group format to get you the results we can deliver in just a few weeks. This is a process. We want you to know that. And when you sign up, we want you to be committed to the process for at least a few months, so that you can see what all the fuss is about.
The financial cost of a CrossFit membership is a tangible statement of that commitment. If it were less expensive, you could afford to not come. We want to hit that sweet spot where you can afford to train, but you can’t afford to just throw the money away and not come. After all, that’s how you get results and that’s what you wanted right? Not just to say you workout.
So if you aren’t getting results, if you are getting sicker each year (heavier, weaker, less flexible) maybe the problem is HOW you are going about your fitness. And you have to ask yourself, at the gym you want to join, if you are going to actually get results this time, would you be the exception, or the rule.
At most gyms, most ‘members’ pay but don’t go, workout but don’t improve. The rule is quitting, or not improving your fitness. That’s the business model. At Cactus CrossFit, our athletes who show up, get results. ALWAYS. That is the rule. The exception is the person who trains hard consistently and doesn’t get results. Then we get to talk about sleep and nutrition. Good times!
