Concrete

Today was the most affirming day I have had in my two years as a coach. Since moving to Dallas and coaching at CFWR, I have been constantly encouraged and thanked by my members for coaching them. It has meant so incredibly much to me, but I am a man who values concrete evidence rather than just subjective complements. Today, I got that.

For the month of July, Kyle and I decided to try programming a 4 week cycle focusing on the squat and olympic lifts. It was a simple linear progression, with members completing the lifts on a weekly basis at an increased intensity. We had a one week deload, then tested today. The results were amazing. I saw well over 30 PRs, some of which were 20-40# PRs. People were going crazy, people were surprising themselves, it was an electric environment. To add icing on the cake, I had many people get their first ever bar muscle up. Two of my favorite moments of the day were captured on video:

As good as it feels when people tell me how thankful they are I am their coach, it feels just as good to see them PR and share in that knowing that you played a small roll in helping them achieve their goals. Sometimes its easy to wonder if you really are a good coach. On a day like today, I had 30+ pieces of concrete evidence.

Maybe I'm stubborn, but it seems that coaching isn't the only thing that I need evidence for. Living in Bible Belt Texas, we hear the phrase "God loves you" often. The phrase has been tossed around so often in Christian circles that I feel it may have lost some of its depth and beauty. I hear it, and it doesn't even faze me. "God loves me." Cool. But how do I know that it is more than just a phrase, that it's actually real?

"In this the Love of God was made manifest among us; He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." - 1 John 4:9-10

Thats some crazy, unbelievable, amazing love. Love I certainly don't deserve, but Love given freely to me. How do I know that He loves me? He gave himself for me. What greater Love is there than that!? And knowing that I am loved and accepted by Him frees me up to love others with that same love. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19)

Concrete evidence is sweet.

Blessings

Focus

Grand Central Station

Lady Liberty

Empire State of Mind

 Manhattan by day

Manhattan by night

These pictures have absolutely nothing to do with my post, but I just returned home from a trip to NYC and thought I would add some of my favorites from the week.

Focus is something that is important in life. Far to often in crossfit, I see missed lifts or poor technique not because of a lack of skill, but rather because of a lack of focus. Focus is being able to zone in on the specific task at hand, blocking out all other potential distractions. If you are doing a snatch, you have to focus on your setup, sweeping the bar back, scooping to get the bar back to the hips, extending with the shoulders slightly back, pulling yourself under, catching right behind the ears, getting secure in the hole, and standing. Forget any one of those things, and it is a missed lift. If you are in the middle of a WOD, you can't allow yourself to focus on the pain, but must instead focus on each single rep. Taking it one rep at a time is key. I have found this to be true lately in my squats. We are in the midst of a pretty intense (and miserable) hypertrophy phase that involves a lot of sets of 10, 8, and 6, which I hate. If I see that I have 5x8, I get disheartened quickly if I think of the sheer volume ahead of me. But if I get under the bar, and focus on completing one rep at a time, is more manageable. We have to learn to shift our focus from the negative to the positive (what I did wrong vs. what I need to do right)- from the things we cannot control to the things we can (how much this hurts vs. my form/effort).

Where we place our focus determines a lot about our life. I find myself seeking to be my own savior far too often. There are times I put a lot of focus into not doing some certain sin, rather than focusing on Christ. In placing my focus on not doing something, I am giving that something power in my life, as well as attention. The gospel holds out for us a more beautiful reality though- that by "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12:2) we come to see Him as more worthy of our affections than the vices we cling to. We can never let not sinning become our savior in place of our actual Savior. You don't get over your anger problem by trying to not be angry- you get over your anger problem by fixing your eyes on Christ, and seeing that if anyone had reason to be angry it was Him, yet He willingly loved the Church and gave Himself for her to make her holy (Ephesians 5). You don't get over your insecurity problem by trying to be less insecure- you get over your insecurity problem by fixing your eyes on Christ and seeing that you are fully accepted in Him, that He loves you and gave himself for you while you were still a sinner (Romans 5:8). You don't get over your addiction problem by trying to not be addicted- you get over your addiction problem by fixing your eyes on Christ, seeing that only He can satisfy the deepest desires of your heart, and trusting Him when He says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that you may have LIFE and have it to the FULL (John 10:10). 

St. Augustine of Hippo said it most beautifully:

"How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose and now was glad to reject! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honour though not in the eyes of men who see all honour in themselves. O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and Salvation."

Focus up! Blessings

Slow Down!

"Be still and know that I am God." 

-Psalm 46:10

Our world moves far to fast. We are constantly plugged in to everyone and everything- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, YouTube, Vimeo, Netflix, text messaging, snap chat.... the list goes on and on. We get in the car, and immediately turn on the radio, iPod, Pandora, Spotify, or CD. The noise never stops. I have found that rarely is there a time where I am truly unplugged, disconnected from the world.

It's good to slow down. To breathe. To smell the mountain air. It's hard to do that in the middle of Dallas though. I did something really refreshing the other day. I went on a walk, leaving my phone behind at home. I just walked through the trails that surround our apartment, with no set destination or agenda. I watched the turtles, squirrels, and ducks. I listened to the crickets. I just spent time talking with the Lord. It was great. I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Unplug. Relax. Slow down!

Blessings

Try, Try Again!

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

One of my favorite things about Crossfit is that it teaches people how to handle their failures appropriately. Too many of us are afraid of failure, and because of this we don't risk, and therefore miss out on opportunities for joy. It is fun to set a PR, but if I am so afraid of missing that I don't even attempt it, I will never grow as an athlete. So many times I will have an athlete (most of the times it's a female) who misses a weight and then is afraid to try again. After a little encouragement, I can usually coax them into giving it one more shot, and many times the second time is a success.

We have to be okay with failing sometimes. I also think we have to reconsider what we qualify as failing. To fail is to not try again, or to dwell on the past. A good friend and mentor of mine once wrote me a letter, in which he stated "there is no failure in the eyes of our Maker if you have not forsaken Him in the midst of it." This statement, when taken as truth, evokes a sense of freedom in me. We have to be able to put things behind us when we are not perfect. The apostle Paul hints at this in Philippians 3 when he says "not that I already have obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Whether it is missing a weight, letting your boss/family/friends down, or feeling like you are failing in your journey to know Christ more, we have to put our shortcomings behind us and move forward. I have noticed that when brothers of mine fall into sin, I am quick to remind them of the grace afforded to them in the cross, but when I fall into sin I have a much harder time believing that the same grace is available to me. The way I see it, if God is willing to look past my failures, I'd better be willing to also. If I don't, I am holding on to something that Christ has already paid for and saying that my sin was more powerful than the atoning work of Christ on the cross.. To me, the bigger failure would not getting back on the horse, staying down when I fall.

Get back under the bar. Keep striving to grow into oneness with Christ.

Blessings

Trust

This past month I have been thinking a lot about trust, particularly in regards to programming. A program is simply an organized scheme of exercises, sets, reps, and intensities that have been systematically put together by a coach in hopes to maximize an athlete's potential. Coaches have goals in mind when they write a program, and any coach worth his salt programs certain things for a reason.

For the longest time, I programmed for myself, but recently I have switched to following The Outlaw Way for several reasons. First of all, it is just one less thing I have to worry about, and makes it easier to differentiate between me as an athlete and me as a coach. More importantly though, I tend to not program as hard for myself as I would for another, but going off of another coaches program pushes me to work harder and do things I would not normally do.

For a program to work, it must be adhered to strictly. Days skipped are days wasted, and conversely tacking on extra work leads to diminishing returns. I have observed this far to often in our gym: an athlete things he or she is doing something positive by going the extra mile (literally- I have seen people go run a mile after an Outlaw workout. Idiots) but instead they are taking away from what the program has to offer. By doing extra, they are not only reducing the overall intensity, but are creating a cumulative stress that cannot be compensated for by the body. Rest days are programmed for a reason! REST! Ok, I am stepping off my soap box.

The point I am getting at is that there is a level of trust that is required between a coach and an athlete. For the athlete to succeed, they must trust that not only does the coach have their best interest in mind, but that they are capable of programming an appropriate workload to induce overload but not overtraining. When you think about it, our spiritual lives are not much different.

As followers of Christ, we are called to trust. We see this multiple times throughout the gospel accounts. Take Simon Peter for example. In Matthew 4, as he is sitting by the sea of Galilee, Jesus walks by and simply says "come, follow me." Peter put his trust in Jesus, and was left with a life forever changed. Some time later, in Matthew 14, the disciples are out at sea when they are approached by what appears to be a ghost. The figure claims to be Jesus, so Peter replies "Lord if it is you, tell me to come out on the water" (v.28). Jesus invites Peter out, and Peter again puts his trust in the Lord and steps out on to the water, a substance that has no business holding up a human being.


Trust is something required not just of biblical characters, but of us. What we who are in Christ struggle with most foundationally is that we are who God says we are: perfect, holy, and blameless not because of what we have done, but because of Christ atoning for our sins. I came across something that I found beautiful. If I do nothing else in this life, I hope I believe this fully-


My Son,

You may not know me,
but I know everything about you.
(Psalm 139:1)

I know when you sit down and when you rise up.
(Psalm 139:2)

I am familiar with all your ways.
(Psalm 139:3)

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered.
(Matthew 10:29-31)

For you were made in my image.
(Genesis 1:27)

In me you live and move and have your being.
(Acts 17:28)

For you are my offspring.
(Acts 17:28)

I knew you even before you were conceived.
(Jeremiah 1:4-5)

I chose you when I planned creation.
(Ephesians 1:11-12)

You were not a mistake,
for all your days are written in my book.
(Psalm 139:15-16)

I determined the exact time of your birth
and where you would live.
(Acts 17:26)

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
(Psalm 139:14)

I knit you together in your mother's womb.
(Psalm 139:13)

And brought you forth on the day you were born.
(Psalm 71:6)

I have been misrepresented
by those who don't know me.
(John 8:41-44)

I am not distant and angry,
but am the complete expression of love.
(1 John 4:16)

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you.
(1 John 3:1)

Simply because you are my child
and I am your Father.
(1 John 3:1)

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could.
(Matthew 7:11)

For I am the perfect father.
(Matthew 5:48)

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.
(James 1:17)

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.
(Matthew 6:31-33)

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11)

Because I love you with an everlasting love.
(Jeremiah 31:3)

My thoughts toward you are countless
as the sand on the seashore.
(Psalms 139:17-18)

And I rejoice over you with singing.
(Zephaniah 3:17)

I will never stop doing good to you.
(Jeremiah 32:40)

For you are my treasured possession.
(Exodus 19:5)

I desire to establish you
with all my heart and all my soul.
(Jeremiah 32:41)

And I want to show you great and marvelous things.
(Jeremiah 33:3)

If you seek me with all your heart,
you will find me.
(Deuteronomy 4:29)

Delight in me and I will give you
the desires of your heart.
(Psalm 37:4)

For it is I who gave you those desires.
(Philippians 2:13)

I am able to do more for you
than you could possibly imagine.
(Ephesians 3:20)

For I am your greatest encourager.
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

I am also the Father who comforts you
in all your troubles.
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

When you are brokenhearted,
I am close to you.
(Psalm 34:18)

As a shepherd carries a lamb,
I have carried you close to my heart.
(Isaiah 40:11)

One day I will wipe away
every tear from your eyes.
(Revelation 21:3-4)

And I'll take away all the pain
you have suffered on this earth.
(Revelation 21:3-4)

I am your Father, and I love you
even as I love my son, Jesus.
(John 17:23)

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.
(John 17:26)

He is the exact representation of my being.
(Hebrews 1:3)

He came to demonstrate that I am for you,
not against you.
(Romans 8:31)

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.
(2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.
(2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

His death was the ultimate expression
of my love for you.
(1 John 4:10)

I gave up everything I loved
that I might gain your love.
(Romans 8:31-32)

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus,
you receive me.
(1 John 2:23)

And nothing will ever separate you
from my love again.
(Romans 8:38-39)

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party
heaven has ever seen.
(Luke 15:7)

I have always been Father,
and will always be Father.
(Ephesians 3:14-15)

-God

I have a hard time believing this on a daily basis, but I pray that with the help of the Spirit I will put my trust in these promises and in the goodness of the Lord.

Trust your coaches, trust the Lord, step out of the boat.

Blessings