When This Passing World Is Done

When this passing world is done,

When has sunk yon glaring sun,

When we stand with Christ in glory,

Looking o'er life's finished story,

Then, Lord, shall I fully know,

Not till then, how much I owe.

When I stand before the throne, 

Dressed in beauty not my own,

When I see thee as thou art,

Love thee with unpinning heart,

Then, Lord, shall I fully know,

Not till then, how much I owe.

When the praise of heav'n I hear,

Loud as thunders to the ear,

Loud as many waters' noise,

Sweet as harp's melodious voice,

Then, Lord, shall I fully know,

Not till then, how much I owe.

Chosen not for good in me,

Wakened up from wrath to flee,

Hiddin in the Savior's side,

By the Spirit sanctified,

Teach me, Lord, on earth to show,

By my love, how much I owe.

-Robert Murray McCheyne, 1837

Why I don't do CrossFit, but still love it

I read an article today titled "Why I don't do CrossFit" that I thought I would address here. In the article, Erin Simmons speaks to the dangers of CrossFit. By and large, some of what she says is correct. There are some fundamental holes in her assessment of the CrossFit methodology though, and I will attempt to provide an alternative perspective throughout the course of this article. Before we start, let me be clear by stating that I used to do CrossFit, but have since decided to specialize in the olympic lifts. My specialization has not detracted from my love for the sport though.

Let me begin where Miss Simmons ends- "There is a sort of 'brainwashing' that occurs from the first time a person steps into a box that creates an 'us vs. them' mentality. Boxes have attempted to combat the bad reputation of CrossFit  by saying that other gyms do bad stuff but their gym is different, their coaches know good form, and their gym focuses on safety. This is simply not true, and every single thing that I've posted in this article refers to every single gym that follows CrossFit. There are no exceptions, if you're following the WODs, it's not good for you, it's not safe, and you're putting your health in danger. Take it for what it's worth, but please believe that your box is not different, no matter what your coach says."

Well, there are several things wrong with this. I won't speak for other boxes, because I am not a coach of another box. I have a Bachelor's of Science in Applied Exercise Physiology from Texas A&M University, I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the N.S.C.A, I am a certified USAW Club coach, and soon will be a Level 2 Senior National Coach. I spent a year coaching at the University of Houston, where I worked with primarily the football and track team. During that year, I had the privilege of coaching several high-level athletes, including a first round draft pick, the 2012 National Indoor 400m dash champion, and over a dozen all-americans. If all that were not enough, I sought to further my education of the CrossFit methodology by taking the Crossfit Level 1 course and CrossFit gymnastics course. I'd like to think that qualifies me to teach a few folks how to move. At my box, we run 12 week strength cycles (we've done the Hatch Cycle before) designed to increase overall strength, layered with progressive conditioning pieces (WOD's). All of our programming is online and made available to the public.

Are there gyms that do not promote safety and have no sense of programming? Absolutely! I've been to them! But to say that all gyms are bad is not only naive, but outright foolish and disrespectful of the men and women who have devoted their lives to the assessment of movement. Don't believe me? Read this article that I posted for our box back in January, after attending the CrossFit gymnastics course.

I am no fool, and I fully believe that CrossFit HQ has some issues they need to address to better the CrossFit name. Anyone who watched or participated in Open Workout 14.3 knows what I'm talking about. Here are a few.

1. High volume olympic lifts and plyometric work- these movements are high skill, and should be treated with more respect rather than bastardized "for time". Yes, they fulfill the principle of moving "large loads long distances in short times," but there is more than one way to skin a cat. Keep these movements in the skill department, not conditioning.

2. Kipping/butterfly movements- these allow athletes who do not have a requisite level of strength, scapular mobility and control, and body awareness to perform high skill movements that often put them in a compromised position where the likelihood of injury is increased.

3. Lack of programming knowledge- "random" and "constantly varied" are two very different things. Random leads to initial gains, and not much more. Constantly varied is deliberate, planned, and trackable. Think conjugate method...

4. Hero WODs- a terribly stupid idea for a terribly good cause. Can't we think of another way to remember the fallen? Something that doesn't involve destroying your body?

The list could go on, but you get the point. It seems to me that Miss Simmons got a bad taste in her mouth from her first few CrossFit experiences, which were valid, but tainted by red flag after red flag.

Red Flag #1- "... I got there and there were people attempting muscle-ups. No one was succeeding..."- 

Probably because they were not strong enough/coordinated enough to do a muscle up! Duh! They should not be attempting a high-skill, dynamic movement on a dynamic plane without first demonstrating a high level of body-control, skill, and strength. This should have been stopped and addressed by a coach.

Red Flag #2- "The workout was going to do deadlifts, which I had never done... I got less than five minutes worth of instruction before weight was piled on. Afterward, I got five minutes of instruction on 'kipping pull ups' and kettle bell swings before I was given a 35# bell..."

Well, you probably should have been a grown-up and said "no" or walked out the door. Clearly, this was not a smart, professional, well run gym. At most gyms, potential clients must first complete a 2 week on-ramp program of some sort, in which they are instructed, corrected, and required to demonstrate skills before moving on to more advanced skills. The box you visited apparently did not. After spending time in the world of collegiate athletics, I know that form was often compromised. I watched athletes use atrocious form on the olympic lifts, squats, and really everything they could get away with, and it always made me cringe. When I asked coaches why they didn't back off the weight and allow their athletes to develop proper movement mechanics, I was told "they didn't have time to teach them" and "as long as they kept getting stronger and winning ballgames it didn't matter."

As a side note, I wonder how anyone who spent 4 years in collegiate athletics, and another 4 years in high school athletics, had never done a dead-lift. As one of the core and fundamental strength building exercises, it is a staple in many strength programs. Perhaps Miss Simmons should first inquire about her previous programming before ridiculing the programming of others.

Red Flag #3- "Then the timer started. I was constantly yelled at to go faster, to take shortcuts, and to do movements from which previous injuries precluded me..."

I feel like I don't need to say much about this one. Clearly, this coach/box was below standards. The sad thing is, many are. Coaches, be knowledgable about what you are coaching, and safe in your implementation of prescribed movements.

Throughout the rest of the article, Miss Simmons continues to speak to the lowliness of CrossFit and its coaches, as well as the sophistication of the strength and conditioning world. She reminds us that CrossFit coaches can get certified in a weekend, yet I would remind you that certification does not a coach make. Coaching is an art. It is the ability to look at an individual, assess their movement, and communicate to them in a way that gets them to move their body the way you want it to move. Every collegiate strength and conditioning coach that I've ever met thinks that they know how to teach the olympic lifts because they got their USAW L1 one weekend. Seriously? The most technical movement in all of sport, and you're going to learn how to teach it in 2 days? It's laughable. Yet they teach hundreds of incoming freshmen each year, often wrongly. What's sad is that many of the coaches cannot properly perform an olympic lift themselves. The point is that all coaches, both S&C and CrossFit, are called to a high standard of knowing what they are talking about before subjecting their athletes to certain movements.

Miss Simmons reminds us that "not a single [collegiate strength and conditioning coach] recommends CrossFit. Not a single one of them has ever given me workouts that look like CrossFit WODs..." To this, I say yes, and amen. You are an athlete at the end of the spectrum. You are at the top of your respective sport, and to that end your needs are different than that of the average Joe. For you to do a CrossFit workout would likely detract from your sport-specific gains. What you must remember is that the vast majority of CrossFit clients are not collegiate athletes. They are soccer moms, bankers, lawyers, doctors, students, teachers, regular old 9-5ers looking to increase their GPP (general physical preparedness.) They don't need the specification of an elite athlete. They just want to shed a few pounds of fat, and gain a few pounds of muscle. To the client who has been a couch potato since 1995 when he graduated high school, CrossFit is a way of introducing basic strength, gymnastic, and conditioning. The result? Leaner bodies, lower blood pressures, increased VO2 maxes, and (oh my gosh) a new group of like-minded friends.

The debate about the efficacy of CrossFit has raged on for years now, and I truly do see both sides of it. The numbers don't lie: shoulder injuries have gone up, as well as (I would assume) backs and other joints. I don't deny that many of these are attributed to CrossFit, or rather an under-prepared client attempting a high-skill/high-weight maneuver under the supervision of an under-prepared coach. Here's my beef with people saying that CrossFit is dangerous, and and therefore people shouldn't do it: it is based upon the premise that anything worth doing must be safe. Truthfully, I find it a bit humorous that we spend so much time talking about rhabdo, torn shoulders, and slipped disks from CrossFit. Why? Because how many concussions does football produce each year? Yet little kids keep strapping the helmets on! How many torn ACLs does soccer produce each year? Yet people don't hesitate to strap on the shin guards. How many deaths do cars produce each year? Yet I bet you don't hesitate to get behind the wheel. Why? Because we determine that the risk is worth the reward. I'm not going to sit here and lie, my whole body hurts right now. My shoulder is tweaky, my lower back is pumped up, my knees hurt, and my shins are all torn up. And I love it. I realize that not everyone does, but I do. I would rather be banged up, bruised, limping, achy, and borderline miserable than a couch potato. When I lift, I feel alive. I have fun! The pain is worth it to me. To some, it's not, and that's okay- you don't have to spend 2 hours in the gym pounding your body each day! CrossFit is unendingly scaleable! But each individual has to decide for themselves where the line is. When someone walks in a CrossFit gym and does 21-15-9 of pull ups and thrusters, they are assuming a risk. What they are also doing is saying "hey, I know my hands are going to tear, my shoulders are going to hurt, and I may puke, but it's worth it."

To some, the risk is not worth the reward, and to the athlete who is not as gung-ho about it, I say scale! Do lighter weight, lower reps, different movements, ect. Athletes need to remember that their coach is not a dictator- they can say no. Coaches should always have an athletes safety and best interest at heart. My athletes with previous injuries do different movements! My friend Steve, who herniated a disk several years ago, does walking dumbbell lunges on days where we squat. You learn to adapt, and to work around things!

What would be best, and most beneficial, would be for both sides to glean from one another. Rather than ridiculing CrossFit and it's coaches, what if the S&C community taught boxes how to properly program and implement? What if, rather than ridicule collegiate athletes for not squatting to proper depth, knowledgeable CrossFit coaches engaged in healthy dialogue with S&C coaches about the benefits and utility of the Olympic Style Squat? The most foolish man of all is the man that thinks he has it all figured out, and everyone else is wrong. If both sides would put down their swords, they might just learn a thing or two from each other.

Blessings.

Adaptation and Progressive Overload

By now, most of you are a week deep into this program, and likely you aren't feeling too hot. I have had several of you mention to me that you feel "sore, tired, lethargic, overwhelmed, ect..." I'm sure you are beginning to wonder if you are cut out for this, or if it is too much for you. Let me assure you that you are, and that this is exactly how you are supposed to be feeling right now!

What you are experiencing is the first stage of the general adaptation syndrome. In this stage, your body is freaking out trying to figure out what this new stress (a good stress, but a stressor nonetheless) is, and it is rapidly trying to keep up. You should feel fatigued, sore, and slow. We are trying to put on muscle mass right now, so the volume is high! I know it is tempting to "take a day off so you can recover" but that is exactly what we do not want! Right now, I don't want you to be recovered when you enter the gym! If you are, you aren't training hard enough to progressively overload your body. We need to get you to the point where your body enters stage 2 of the GAS, where you start to not only survive, but thrive. This is where real gains are made!

I am a believer that there is no such thing as overtraining. "Overtraining" is simply under-recovering. You should be eating a lot- protein and carbs are your two new best friends. Learn to love them. Again, give your body a reason to grow (eat a lot!) and it will! Hydrate! Sleep!

Dig in deep. It will take a few weeks for you body to get used to. Think of it this way- when you first started crossfit, you did 10 air squats, 10 burpees, 10 pull ups, and the next day you thought you were going to die because you were so sore. In time though, your body adjusted to a point where this no longer served as a good workout, but rather a good warmup. So now you can do 10 front squats with 135, 10 burpee box jumps, and 10 bar muscle ups. Adaptation. Give the body a reason to grow, and it will.

"Absent a new stress, the body has no reason to change. You can't do the same cardio routine for 2 years and expect changes. You can't lift the same 10lb dumbbells for 5 years and expect any changes."

Strong Enough

There is an old rule of thumb in the world of weightlifting that states "if you can front squat it for 3, you can clean and jerk it." Of course, this is just a rule of thumb, and will vary from lifter to lifter depending on how efficiently they lift. I even know a few folks whose max front squat and max clean are the same. More often than not though, it is the other way around, especially in newer and less confident lifters. What I tend to see out of them is a 3RM front squat that far exceeds their max clean, and even further exceeds their max clean and jerk. So why is this?

The issue is not their strength, but rather their confidence in their strength. If they would simply trust that they are strong enough to stand it up if they would just drop under it, they would likely clean it no problem. Because of their fundamental lack of trust, which is rooted in fear, they don't drop under, and attempt to muscle it up by over-pulling. In many cases, all they need to do is put a little more faith into their legs, and let the rest work itself out.

Though I got over that fear long ago, there is another area of my life where I continue to lack faith from time to time. In placing my trust in Christ, I have made a declaration that His blood and His cross were powerful enough to cover the cost of the sins I have committed. What I have a harder time believing is that that same blood and cross are strong enough to break the chains of current sins. For me personally (and many others, I'm sure), one of the main ways this manifests itself is through addiction.

Let's face it- we're all addicted to something. For each of us it may be something different- alcohol, drugs, an adrenaline rush, acquisition of trinkets and toys, money, food, lovers, and any number of other things that brings us temporary satisfaction. But as we all know, in time the "high" that our idol brings us slowly starts to fade, leading to an ever increasing pursuit of an ever fleeting joy. Addiction is simply misplaced worship; attributing ultimate value to something that will ultimately fail you. So often, it starts by dipping your toe in the whirlpool, and before you know it you are spiraling downward, doing everything you can just to keep your head above water. Try as you might, you just can't seem to make your way back to shore. This leads to shame, depression, anxiety, and a feeling of being trapped.

In the midst of the darkness, it is easy to start believing that "this is just how it is now" and that "there's no way out." Satan, in his craftiness, wants us to believe that this is the truth, and to resign ourselves to the trappings of addiction. We must be quick to remember that the cross was not just strong enough to wash away our former sins, but to save us out of our current entanglements. We must cling to the promise that "our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin" (Romans 6:6).  We must hope in his declaration that "if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you" (Romans 8:11). We must believe his promise that "the grace of God... teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age... while we wait for... Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good" (Titus 2:11-14). 

The God who created the heavens and the earth is powerful enough to save us out of whatever addiction we may find ourselves in. "Surely the arm of the Lord is not to short to save, nor his ear to dull to hear (Isaiah 59:1). He is good, he cares deeply for his people, and he is strong enough. We simply need to place our confidence in His strength.

Listen to how David calls out to the Lord in his time of need (excerpt from Psalm 18):

I love you, O Lord, my strength

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death encompassed me;

the torrents of destruction assailed me;

the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple, he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

He sent from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of many waters.

He rescued me from my strong enemy

and from those who hated me,

for they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support. 

He brought me out into a broad place;

he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

For you save a humble people,

but the haughty eyes you bring down.

For it is you who light my lamp;

the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

This God- his way is perfect;

the word of the Lord proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

For who is God, but the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?-

the god who equipped me with strength

and made my way blameless.

He made my feet like the feet of a deer

and set me secure on the heights.

For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,

and sing to your name.

Blessings

Not Enough

It's been a few weeks since I have posted, and in those few weeks a lot has happened. My programming is finally all coming together, and thats party because I now have a training partner that is doing the same program and is about my same strength. The extra push that we give one another has taken us both to new heights, and we have already seen several PRs.

120 kilos. It's a number that I had been chasing for over 2 years. I finally hit it, and immediately put on 125. 120 wasn't enough. I didn't end up getting 125, and though I was happy about finally getting 120, I was also a bit disappointed that I missed 125. It's funny how that works. No matter how big of a PR we hit, the joy is always short lived because of our perpetual discontent and need for more. This idea permeates every facet of our lives, especially in modern American culture.

How much is enough? This is a question that many of us must ponder as we decide what it looks like to follow Christ in today's world. Take money for example. We think that if we just got that raise, we could finally pay off those loans or get out of debt or provide for our family better. So we get the raise, and then all of a sudden we need a new car, a new house, a new suit, to go on a vacation, ect. ect. I have found that making more money only leads to spending more money. It's never enough.

This is not a new concept, but rather one that the Lord told us about thousands of years ago through Solomon:

"Whoever loves money never has enough;

whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

This too is meaningless.

As goods increase, 

so do those who consume them.

And what benefit are they to the owners

except to feast their eyes on them?

-Ecclesiastes 5:10-11

It doesn't just happen with money though. Our pursuit for more, better, bigger, fancier, shinier, more expensive, more prestigious is not confined to the financial world. Solomon elaborates on this more in Ecclesiastes 1:

"The eye is not satisfied with seeing, 

nor the ear filled with hearing."

-Ecclesiastes 1:8

In the end, nothing of this world will satisfy us. That is because "the Lord has set eternity in the human heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We were not made for this world, but for the presence of the Lord, and so the things of this world- as great as they may be- will always be left wanting. They are simply "shadows of things to come; the reality is found in Christ" (Colossians 2:17). He alone will satisfy the deepest desires and wants of our hearts, and he alone will never be found lacking. In him alone is fullness of joy, freedom, and life. All the money, all the fame, all the glory in the world still is not enough to satisfy our longing hearts. My friend Brett showed me this song the other day, and it embodies this perfectly.

Blessings

See it First

I have always been a visual learner. You can talk to me about something, but until I see it, I have a hard time grasping it. This became apparent to me when I was first trying to learn the olympic lifts. I read all the articles on "how to snatch and clean" but it just made no sense to me. Then, I got on youtube and my world was changed.

It wasn't until I started watching other people lift, people who were better than me, that I understood the speed, precision, strength, and passion necessary to become a weightlifter. Sometimes it takes seeing somebody else do something before we can really understand it. Donald Miller speaks of this phenomenon:

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that, I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way."

If we're honest, the love of God is a hard thing to grasp. We hear it preached from the pulpit every Sunday morning, and we are engrained with phrases such as "God is love". That's great and all, but for those of us who are visual learners, it sometimes takes something more physical and tangible for us to truly begin to understand the depth of His unconditional, unfailing love. For me, one such moment happened the other night as I unfolded the story of my life to my best friend. All my shortcomings, all my failures, all my trials and mistakes were laid on the table. It was a vulnerable place, one- if I'm honest- I was not to thrilled to be in. She could have walked out, and she could have told me what a screw-up and failure I was, but instead she offered grace, love, support, and forgiveness to me. It was humbling to think how undeserving I was of that kind of love- a love that is not based on condition or merit, but a love that stands by you even when you are at your worst. In her love for me, I was given the clearest of pictures of the Lord's unending, unfailing, unquenchable love for his people. It is a love that is redemptive. It is a love that brings freedom and joy. It is a love that you can be thankful for on the good days, and a love you can cling to when your life seems to be falling a part. It's a love that I had heard about plenty of times, but until I experienced it firsthand, I couldn't get my mind around it.

Sometimes we have to see it first before we can grasp it. Maybe you will be the one to show someone else. In either case, it brings me joy knowing that the Lord's love is real, steadfast, and pure.

"This is how God showed his love 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. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us... And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." -1 John 4:9-12, 16-19

Blessings.

Move On

Sometimes, things don't all go according to plan. You can put in all the time, work, discipline, and effort, and things still don't pan out like you want them to. Failure is a perpetual occurrence in the world of weightlifting and CrossFit. In these moments, we have a choice- to get frustrated and quit, or to roll with the punches, learn from failure, and move on. For me, I seem to be able to do this pretty well in the gym (maybe it's because I fail so often that I have learned to move on quickly). What is much more difficult is releasing myself from failure and moving on when I fail in life.

Failure is something we all must deal with. Maybe it's failing a test. Maybe it's missing a deadline. Maybe it's feeling like we are failing in a relationship. Perhaps we feel like failures with our job, or our kids, or worst of all our pursuit of Christ. A friend of mine once wrote in a letter to me something that stuck with me:

"There is no failure in the eyes of our Maker as long as we do not forsake Him in the midst of it." -J. Smith

It is in these moments of failure that we are refined, that we are sharpened, and that we are humbly reminded of our imperfections and need for someone greater to justify us. How glorious it is that we have such a man- Jesus, the Christ, our King. In Him, all my failures- past, present, and future- are washed away by His blood (Revelation 1:5). In Him, I have freedom (Galatians 5:1). In Him, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1). When we hold on to our failures, and when we fixate our eyes on them rather than releasing them and moving on, we are holding on to something that Christ has already paid for, and in doing so revealing a lack of trust in the fact that His payment on the cross was enough. But thanks be to God that it was enough! Trust His promise- that when He said "it is finished," He meant it.

Hold fast brothers and sisters. Blessings.