My Lifelong Fitness Pursuits… and yours!
I just signed up for the 2013 CrossFit Games OPEN. What is it? An online based competition with 70,000 participants last year, I would guess closer to 150,000 this year. Meaning my chances of getting anywhere keep getting slimmer and slimmer. But it is worth the attempt.
Getting anywhere? The OPEN is a qualifier for the regionals, which then get you qualified for the CrossFit Games, seeking the Fittest on Earth each year. As a 40 year old, i fall into the first division of Masters Competitors, which would be cool to get to, but I actually have too many issues with my shoulder injuries to get there. But I am hoping to fix these issues this year.
With some very personalized and specific work on my shoulder flexibility, led by the team of instructors at EMBER Yoga, I plan on fixing some issues that I have had for years. Is it possible? Maybe not, but I know the pursuit will only improve me along the way. And that is what I choose to write about tonight, the pursuit of excellence, physical youth, and potential.
This is why I choose to do this, because there is great value in the health that comes from a competitive pursuit. How many of you have randomly signed up for a 5 or 10k, to find some guy in his 70’s or 80’s beat you? It happened to me a couple years ago. I ran along with my brother who is not in the same shape as me, so it wasn’t my best pace, but it was a pretty good pace, and after during the awards some guy in his 80’s wins the division of 65+. He ran the 5k in about 21 minutes. At the time my best 5k was a 20:30, he was right behind my best. WOW.
Where are you? And what holds you? Running 5k’s would never hold my attention. I have converted so many runners to CrossFitters for the same reason. Interest. But the point isn’t to come do CrossFit, the point is to pursue health with a passion, and realize that fitness is part of that. I tell you, working out, its pretty boring. I did it with great commitment and conviction for the greater part of my life. First, to be better at hockey, then… to be better at teaching the value of health, and finally, to be better at the sport of fitness (CrossFit) and now in the last six years, to be better at adventure racing too.
Could you come up with one goal for your fitness on the spot. Right now, a goal that matters? Don’t just spout out “run a marathon” unless you have really considered it. I have never run a marathon on a course. But I have run more than two marathons continuously in the woods on an adventure. I carried that 40# pack 30 miles in 12 hours this past November on the Appalachian Trail. That was cool, and awful.
But what about you? Does that interest you? “I want to take a nice hike” doesn’t count as fitness. It could, but without a time demand, or distance, it really means little. Quantification of your goals is crucial to lifetime success in fitness. After running the Garage Games 1, a HUGE CrossFit event that we have built up over the last 4 years. with nearly 900 competitors from all over the country and Canada. It was the largest competitor base in any CrossFit event ever. And it was awesome.
The thing that made it awesome, was simply a room full of people (7 basketball courts large of a room), who all share this on common ground. Fitness goals. Some were beginners, with little fitness at all, and minimal skill or strength. Some were ridiculously fit, like women knocking out 15 pull-ups in a row in the middle of a very intense workout, and they would keep coming back to those pull-ups and do 15 straight without stop. But no matter where they were with their fitness, they have a goal.
I have been educating on goals for longer than the 7 years I have been educating on CrossFit. Goals should be ever present, as without them, you linger, and the longer you linger, the more stale your fitness becomes. I want nothing but the best for you and your family. PERIOD. So take this advice that comes from experience, you need a fitness goal, and you need to update it regularly, from now until you die.
If you want to go further and do more, you can reach out to me, or my gym managers. But like I said, you don’t need to do what I do, but you definitely need to do something.
Be well and be blessed – Dr. E