S01E10 - 7 Tips for Constant Progress in Fitness

Our next episode is a discussion about constant progress in fitness. Back in 2017, Coach Dave posted 7 ways to achieve this. We go back and see if those 7 points still hold true today.

---⁠

@crossfit #crossfit #fitness #sports #exercise #health #movement #crossfitcoach #agoq #crossfitgames #crossfitgames #clean #fitness #crossfit

TRANSCRIPT
S01E10 - 7 Tips for Constant Progress in Fitness
[00:00:00] David Syvertsen: Welcome back to the HerdFIt podcast. We have Dr. Sam Rhee and myself coach Dave Syvertsen from CrossFit Bison. We're in our podcast room that is obviously not done yet, but you know, big part of fitness is before and after pictures. So you guys are getting the before, before we do this room up a little bit, 
 In 2017, I made a CrossFit Bison Instagram post about the seven ways to constant progress in CrossFit.
And. I was looking at it for whatever reason, a few weeks ago. And it's amazing to me, how, if I had to write them over, nothing would have changed. And, you know, four years is a pretty long time in cross it language because we're still pretty early into this big picture. I think that I would love to touch on these things.
And I actually have not told Sam what these are and we're going to get his feedback. We'll discuss each one for just a couple of minutes. And they're not really in any particular order. I actually think the most important one is last, but the first one, and you'll hear some of these things that we talk about.
They're a little echoed of what we've said in previous [00:01:00] podcasts, whether it was the HerdFit podcast or Botox and Burpees, but I do want to steer this towards people, two groups of people, a you've kind of been in CrossFit for just a couple months or less than a year, I should say. And you're trying to figure out if this is for you, you're looking around the room, here at CrossFit Bison. And especially you have so many good athletes that, how do I get to that point, if that's your goal. Right. But I also want to steer this towards people that have been in this for a few years and they've come up with this false plateau feeling like I'm never going to get better. Why am I not getting better?
And I've heard that over. I'd even say with the past few months, I've heard some from some people, they don't feel like they're getting better anymore. And you know, there's always a reason behind it. And we're big on it's, it's probably you, you, that needs to change a little bit. And, you know, coaches will always take a responsibility, always take that as a responsibility to help people get better.
But in most cases, and this comes to myself as well as an athlete. Like I got to change a few things if I'm treated with progress. So number one, [00:02:00] obsess over quality movement, not how fast or how heavy. 
Sam Rhee: Now, this is a key to constant progress, right? So the only thing I had to go on before this was that phrase, and so I had to think about what constant and progress was. So obsess over quality movement. 
David Syvertsen: It's not how fast or how heavy we did a podcast. 
Sam Rhee: So I will say this. The person who I think about when you say that is Adam Hawkinson. So the reason being was I came in earlier, I was doing a beginner and so I saw the the WOD beforehand and there were a bunch of bar muscle ups and, you know, Adam.
Really good at bar muscle up. Very good at body weight movement. He's really good at that movement. And I watched him and he did very big sets in that movement. And so I was able to watch him progress from, super fresh to super tired in [00:03:00] the space of how many rounds of whatever they were doing. And I was watching how his cause I am really learning a lot about BMUs I have them, but I can always be better at them.
Right. And I watched him and as he got tired, I saw how his movement changed a little bit. And so I, I asked him afterwards, I said, but he didn't chicken wing. Yep. He did not put his shoulders in any compromising positions. But the movement did change. And so I asked him like, what was it that you were doing before and that you were doing at the end?
And he said, well, when I'm fresh, it's really not hard for me to just pull to my hips. But when I get tired, I really have to use my legs and kind of drive them. And when I do that, I, when I'm tired, I can't just kind of keep them straight. I kind of have to bend and use my knees a little bit more to kind of 
David Syvertsen: get that breaks, breaks.
Like he breaks like that straight line. Yeah, 
Sam Rhee: exactly. Right. And so I saw that and, and he was [00:04:00] describing how he's focusing on that as he's doing it. And this is a guy who's probably one of the best. If not one of the best bar muscle up guys in the gym, for sure. And so when he did that, I thought about it.
And then I was thinking about that. Cause you know, obviously I fatigue about 500 times faster than him, but then I was thinking about, okay, so what if I do that? And that helped me. So it wasn't. Yeah. How many bar muscle ups could I do? How fast could I do them? It was, how do I maintain a good movement pattern from the beginning to the end?
David Syvertsen: Yeah, that's a, that's a great example. And we could probably bring up some examples of people that lift like this. Right. I'm trying to think about you know, we got like. Yeah, I guess when we're pumping people up, we should give their names when we're not, we shouldn't say their names, but we have people that are on the barbell.
They always get to this like 90 to 95% of their one rep max weight and the movement pattern change. And it's because, you know, like we'll use a squawk thing. For example, the bar feels like really heavy when you're coming off the ground. So I think [00:05:00] things neurologically, and especially if you've programmed yourself to move like this, when things get really heavy, I'm guilty of this.
So I'll use myself as an example. We did a heavy power thing workout. I think it was two weeks ago. And once I get past 90, 95%, I have a tendency to catch the bar with wider feet and my knee will be inside my, my toes, my feet. And that's really not a safe position when you're catching a barbell, right.
And you're just kind of programmed to get to this point where like, why is my movement pattern changing when it gets heavy. Why am I obsessing over going over a super high weight, rather than just taking 30 pounds off the bar, it's still freaking heavy. It's still strength training. It's still going to make me better.
And I think that was probably a moment where I was like, Hey, I really want to get that number on the board. You know, like I haven't hit a 300 pound power clean in a while. I feel really good right now. Let's go for it and you go for it. You get it. But in your head, like I even like Liz, it kind of gave me a look.
It wasn't a good clean, and so that's something that like I can look back on and be like, you know what? I [00:06:00] was obsessing over how heavy I was lifting, not my quality movement. And I'll tell you what my knee hurt after. 
Sam Rhee: I will say one of the people that I like watching for progressively heavier loads is Tim R because he like, I starfish when it, after a certain point on those cleans, he will never, I've never seen that guy starfish.
He just goes deeper and deeper into his 
David Syvertsen: one thing we talked about with cleans and snatches to Olympic lifting your power lifts, the power slash power clean is no different than your squat, clean or squat snatch, as you're just catching it a little higher. That's something you have to tell yourself over and over. You forget sometimes. 
Sam Rhee: It's hard though, because it doesn't feel it's, you know, it taxes you to squat and that's part of it. If you are not used to a quarter or two thirds type of squat motion. 
David Syvertsen: Yeah. Yeah. Tim, Tim could squat a house, so it's like, sure, I'll go squat. And that's like, but the 
Sam Rhee: fact that he could even squat heavier, but he just basically just goes deeper into that squat just speaks to how long he's been CrossFitting [00:07:00] and how he's worked on it. Because if you don't work yeah. It's easier to starfish. 
David Syvertsen: You should be aware of it. You know, that's why I'm big proponent of videoing yourself. When you work out, sometimes you really don't know what your, what your body's doing.
You might, ah, that felt a little different, but when you watch yourself, And when it gets to that point, it's like, well, well. 
Sam Rhee: Listen I know. And I know when I have to do 185 pounds and I want to get through quickly, I will starfish because it's easier for me and I can get faster, and I'm not as fatigued after hearing myself talk about this right now. Yeah. I'm going to probably the 
David Syvertsen: biggest piece of advice I'd give you or anyone that's listening is. Get better at lifting between 80 to 90% of your one rep max, because that will, it's light enough that you can go into it saying, I know I can do picture perfect form, but it will still feel heavy, right?
Like sometimes if I told you to go work on your cleans at 95 pounds, it's like, dude, it's probably not gonna help that much. You know, but if I told you to go clean 165, 175, 20 times before you go home, And, but every single one of them has got to be picture [00:08:00] perfect. You would get a lot out of that. So I think a lot of people listening that 80 to 90%, whether it's effort and conditioning or the reps that you can do on the rig on the handstand pushups, don't go to your max.
Don't even go near it, but get up to that challenging point and challenge yourself to move perfectly because that will translate. 
Sam Rhee: Even the new, I just on-ramp someone, and I watched them working out with their cleans. Yeah. They were ripping through it. I'm going to go back to her and talk to her a little bit just because I, it wasn't bad, but there's a few points that I knew she could do, at 55 or 45 that we're starting to break down and the weight that she was doing it like 75. Cool. So I'll, I'll, you know, for everyone and the level. 
David Syvertsen: I like this one. All right. Number two. I actually, obviously I wrote these in 2017, but I don't know what's coming after when I swipe. So number two. Don't cherry pick your workouts.
Sam Rhee: Oh yeah. I am so guilty of that. Most of the time I've really know since we've done this [00:09:00] podcast. I, you know why we do these podcasts because they help me. Yes. 
David Syvertsen: Oh, they help. We talked about this. 
Sam Rhee: They help us help me more than they probably help.
David Syvertsen:  If you're going to put yourself out there the way we are. You have to try really hard to make sure you're doing 
Sam Rhee: Last year. I was the worst at cherry picked, it's I loved, you know, certain barbells and I know everyone loves Bart. A lot of people, a lot of guys love barbell, but this year I made a concerted effort to start coming to Wednesday WODs, even if they include a lot of running 
David Syvertsen: Wednesday WODs by the way, we've from day one, 2014, we don't do any weightlifting on Wednesdays.
We every now and then we use a kettlebell or dumbbell snatch but or dumbbell movement, but we don't move weight. 
Sam Rhee: Right. So I don't care if it's a, I mean, box jumps, you know, stuff that I really stink at. I now look at it as I'm just getting better at these movements. 
David Syvertsen: This Wednesday is mass this whole week.
I see what he 
Sam Rhee: talking about. And Thursday, Thursday. Yeah. So this is where are not cherry picking. So I looked at this week's workout and I was like, [00:10:00] okay, Thursday, super important. You said so yourself? Yes. Friday had some lighter barbell, but stuff that I liked and which I'm pretty good at. Like a, that ascending ladder stuff.
Yep. And so then I was like, all right. So what do I do with Tuesday and Wednesday? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Yeah. And so, so I'm not going to cherry pick, but I will probably look at volume balancing a little bit, yes. 
David Syvertsen: There is there is a component of cherry picking that people should do, which is. If, you know, your body doesn't respond well to certain movements.
Like a lot of like Monday has jumping and running a lot of double, and there's a lot of running. Like if you know, that's going to like impact you physically for the next two, three days, it might be a day that if you need to take a day off and that might be the day now don't run away from those workouts.
Try to figure out why that's happening and try to fix that problem. Right. Right. Like I know Monday is working on if I went after it like tomorrow. Right. If I went after that bison, some really hard, it probably would stick to me like Tuesday, Wednesday. Right. Right. So [00:11:00] there that, that could be considered cherry picking, but it's not.
I don't like that word. Like I don't like those movements, like, yeah.
Sam Rhee:  So what I thought I was going to do is probably, and we've talked about this before is pick one or two days a week to really chase it. Right. And the other days I'm going to dial it back. And it's not that I'm not going to try, but it's never going to happen, but you're not going to try it.
I'm going to not worry about what I write up on the whiteboard, because a lot of times I will pick a WOD because I know I will have a really good score on the whiteboard. And that's how I live my life on for years in CrossFit. And now it's like, 
David Syvertsen: That we'll call it. Yeah. And that will cause a plateau. Yeah. Because at some point you're going to have your name next to a number on an open workout and you chose to ignore those movements, those style workouts for years. And then you're going to come home saying this CrossFit stuff is not working. I'm plateauing. And it's like, well, no, you cherry pick for two years.
Sam Rhee: Unfortunately I know a lot of people like myself who do that. Yeah. And they love putting the great [00:12:00] numbers up and they don't show up for the bad number of days. Right. And I almost now take a perverse pleasure in putting a bad number. 
David Syvertsen: Yeah. Yes. Honestly, I completely agree. And I think that's just like, I think that's probably partially what this promotes you being on a podcast and putting out thoughts, but also coaching a little bit and just realizing that after a few years, We just saw the numbers, your numbers on a whiteboard in relation to other people on a day-to-day basis, they don't really matter.
And I think it takes a long time for people to really understand 
Sam Rhee: it. It still affects me though. Like for example, on Friday you put up a number. On the, behind the neck jerk? No, the first part of that part. 
David Syvertsen: Oh yeah. All the workout. Yeah. And got crushed. 
Sam Rhee: I was close to your number actually. 
David Syvertsen: And you're saying that you were, that you were happy about it?
Yeah. Well, I won't tell you that. It took it easy. 
Sam Rhee: I know you did. I was like, there's no way. I was like, he probably had to work. 
David Syvertsen: I won't tell you that it's strict poles instead of kipping.
Sam Rhee:  So, yeah, so that's where I knew like take, trying to take pleasure in my number of versus your number means [00:13:00] nothing because yeah.
David Syvertsen: Friday was a different day for me, but yeah, you just don't know, but that's the thing we've talked about. This don't obsess over other people's scores on the whiteboard because you don't know what they were doing in the workout. 
Sam Rhee: I have seen you where there was workouts where you through to like literally an 11 foot target instead of the 10, right. Where your weights were heavier and you didn't write anything different on the friggin whiteboard. So when I saw that, I was like, okay. Yeah, I can't. Yeah. 
David Syvertsen: Something was different. Yeah. So don't worry about it. Cool. All right. So sorry to burst your bubble. All right. Number three, seven ways to constant progress in CrossFit. Patience matched with consistency. 
Sam Rhee: That's a tough one. It is both are very difficult. I would say patience is probably not a CrossFitters strengths, no natural strength. Nope. And I would say it's most of us have urgency in our lives and to be able to sit there and play the patient aspect of things is extremely [00:14:00] difficult.
So I'm not going to say, be patient patient, but you have to balance all of your urgencies with under patients. I would say understanding, right? So patience really means, taking the long view. Right. Okay. So yeah, that's really what it is. Yeah. It's not just like waiting for an egg to boil. Yeah. Right. That, you know, if you're waiting for the egg to boil, you go do some other stuff, you come back to it. Right. Like patients doesn't mean just sitting and doing nothing. Exactly. Understanding how long a process might take 
David Syvertsen: Short-term girl goals, first long-term goals. 
Sam Rhee: And you can divide up your long-term goals into mini short-term should, and that's patients, if you're still urgent and you're still moving, you're just not sitting around doing nothing.
Right. And then consistency is also, I'm good with flexibility. So I think when I have started to look at stuff, it's not about monotony and it's not about It's about and not being [00:15:00] rigid. Right? Consistency does not mean rigidity. It means working towards a goal, but sometimes swirling around to get to that goal. 
David Syvertsen: Especially when you're talking about like physical training.
Every high-end coach. Every I, an athlete will tell you they are designed and expected and experienced peaks and valleys. Like you just don't like, we've talked about this. You don't go as hard as you can every day. You don't do that. I just got done talking to Sue, who competed in the Bison Bowl yesterday, we had a few tough weeks with bison and next level in combination.
And we sat, I was like, Hey, this would probably be a good time for a little bit of a de-load. Oh yeah. So like her output will be less this week, next week and probably the week after. And then we'll start to amp it back up in August, because I think she said she's going to be doing the legends qualifiers.
So we'll amp. That is, so her consistency might not be that she's going to come in and go crazy every single day. But th the consistency comes from, I have a long-term [00:16:00] goal. I want to be there next year, two years from now, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right? Where that's, where consistency is really found. I 
Sam Rhee: want consistency also in joy and happiness. Right? So if you take extreme pleasure in certain things and other things and CrossFit or in life really sort of push you down in the dumps, not so great. Yeah. I, I think consistency in your perspective, enjoy the good stuff. Yeah. You know, no that the bad stuff is going to bring you down, but if you try to keep it sort of, 
David Syvertsen: you 
Sam Rhee: stay even keel more, even killed, right.
That's where consistency, I think can play a role. If, if the only thing motivating you is the high highs, right. The wins that's tough. And if the dough like the low lows really puts you in a bad funk for a while, right. That's also a tough, so I, I would say mine. In term, you know, enjoy taking joy in things, you know, being consistent in that as super helpful.
Cool. All right. 
[00:17:00] David Syvertsen: Number four, attention to detail. 
Sam Rhee: Absolutely. I think I'm probably underrated in most things, especially for, again, I, we were just talking about my symbol. Yeah. Gender related. And maybe it's just the women that I know. Right. But attention to detail. Makes all the difference in the world for a lot of stuff.
If I re if, think about it this way, if you really cared about, I always tell people like, you know, they're like, oh, I'm sorry, I'm late for blah, blah, blah. Listen, dude, if a million dollars was on the line, would you be late for that appointment? Right? Of course not. And would you a double and triple check everything to make sure, you know, you were there on time, like you had to pay attention to every detail.
Yep. Yes. Yes. Attention to detail depends on how much you care about something. Yes. So listen, if you don't care about how you dress, you don't have to pay any attention to it. Detail wise. Yeah. However, if you [00:18:00] care about your fitness, your performance in the gym, how you're going to do in the workout that day, you spend as much attention to detail as you think it warrants, right.
And the more important you think it is, the more attention to detail you have when I first started coaching and I, and I still don't coach as nearly as many co classes as 99% of all the other coaches here. Right. So I still do this, but when I when I coach classes, I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at others people's warmups looking online about this specific movements or a combination of movements, more importantly. Right, right, right, right. And, and injury avoidance. And then, and then I also take the workout beforehand to try to make sure that I'm not missing anything. It always helps. And so preparation in general.
And that made me better because um a really good coach, it doesn't have to do that. It's like, if you if you're experienced at anything, you don't have to spend that much attention [00:19:00] as you would if you're starting out. Right. So if you're starting out in CrossFit, it behooves you to pay an inordinate amount of detail for everything that you're doing.
Yeah. Because you can't watch other people who have been doing it for years and be like, oh, see Dave Bo, he can do that. I look, he doesn't even like chalk up or anything. He just like sits there and he just rips it off. Yeah. No, that's not what you should be doing. That's not what I should be doing. Right.
So don't look at what you do and say, oh, well, if Dave does this, then I don't have to pay attention in that way. Like, you need to get as much perspective. You need to pay as much detail, attention to your own details as your split situation specifies. Okay. And I see that all the time in my career, like whether you started out in training or whether you're farther along, you know, as a surgeon or whatever it is, But you never will go wrong paying too much attention to detail.
David Syvertsen: Yeah. And like, I, I've not criticized more like constructive criticism from, [00:20:00] from a few people in terms of like, dude, you're, you're caring too much about that. It's at the grand scheme of things. It's not that big of a deal. Like it's not that big of a deal. If the 6:00 AM class is done at 6 54, And the 7:00 AM and that's full on the 7:00 AM class is full on. They're already starting to get into the parking lot. Like these little details that get the class done at six 50, make an enormous difference when you're coaching and 
Sam Rhee: it's an athlete. Yes. 
David Syvertsen: And yes. And if you have like, if someone needs to go to the bathroom right before the WOD starts, like my first thought is crap, we're going to be done at 6 52 instead of six 50. And like, that will like, I'll get worked up about that. Where from the outside perspective, someone's like chill dude, chill. But I think because I'm like, Right. And because we have, you know, coaches that try to be like that. When, when you have those big classes, it makes a big difference for person a person's experience, especially for those that need to get out.
Sam Rhee: Right. Well, because what happens is if you let that go every time to 6 [00:21:00] 52, right? Guess what happens? 6 34, and then 
David Syvertsen: so these six, right. And all of a sudden you're that coach that can't get it free class on an hour. 
Sam Rhee: Right. So, so all of these details in, in life especially as an athlete, right? It's weird and listen, you don't have to always spend that much attention to detail, focus as much detail as it warrants.
And when you feel comfortable with it, it comes out. 
David Syvertsen: When you say, what do you care about? Then let it go a little. And a lot of people here care about their fitness or, and then you have a lot of people that eventually comes out at some point, right? They're upset about plateauing and not getting, not, not seeing progress within CrossFit.
Sam Rhee: That's when you, if you care, you will, I can look at the details and you will often find the answer in that point, if you haven't been paying attention to the details in that case, it's worth looking at.
David Syvertsen:  I think the last thing I'll say on this is if you need help, right? A lot of people need help on like the details, right? Because we're around this stuff all the time, especially me, I eat, sleep and breathe this right. So like sometimes I'll even get insecure when I coach a class. When I'm talking about the finest little details about where to put [00:22:00] pressure on the pull-up bar, right. To make sure you're squeezing the pool bar at the outside of your hand.
And I can read a room pretty well. Now I've been doing this a long time. Like there's a lot of people when I start going that deep into something, they're just like, dude, shut up. Like, I just want to work out. I'm just here to sweat, but yeah. Attention to that detail is for that person. That's usually looking up at the ceiling, getting rolling their eyes.
Right. And I want to make sure that we care so much about the people. Well, here and there, constant progress, right? Whether it's a year or 10 years, that if you do the longer you do this, the more. Find the details will be for you to get to another level.
Sam Rhee:  Absolutely. Remember that day, last week I was in a crappy mood in the morning and it was the lift one. It was a lift behind the back jerk thing. So Friday, yeah, Friday. So I was the crappy mood wasn't the point? The point was I was doing the clean and I failed a heavy one. Right. And then I was thinking of what you say a lot about knuckles this [00:23:00] down and. Yeah. And it was, you wouldn't have seen it if you were watching me.
Right. But just turning like a 
David Syvertsen: tiny amount of like doing your hair for our YouTube offers. All right. With your hand being here. As opposed to here is often the difference between someone failing. 
Sam Rhee: And it's literally like, almost like you don't even have to do it. You just have to think about it. Like, and if you're just thinking that concept. Yeah. It makes a difference. So it's weird, not weird. It's validation to me that those little details, details. Help. 
David Syvertsen: Yeah. All right. Number five. I understand that you spend on there 5% of your week exercising and over 95% of your time in recovery mode. 
Sam Rhee: That's we hammer this all the time, right? For our new athletes, our athletes who want to get better experience like this is the goal for consistency for long-term success in CrossFit or in everything [00:24:00] is what are you doing outside the gym. Right. And probably the biggest changes I've made in my life over the past X number of years as a CrossFitter is focusing on my outside life. Right. The problem is, and I understand this is most people are not in situations in which they are under control. Yeah. Outside their lives. Absolutely. And if you have family, if you have three kids, you knew, like, I don't know how some of these athletes do it. They have like, like the Riglers have like what three or four kids under the age of like three or four. Yeah. Like how do you even find it?
David Syvertsen:  I find it's hard and I have one, I keep my mouth shut about that because I'm like, I'm talking to people that have three and four 
Sam Rhee: runs.
And so, so my first thought is I admire everyone, that are in challenging situations 
David Syvertsen: and that they haven't given up that they're trying 
Sam Rhee: and they are real, and they are doing an amazing effort about caring about the stuff that's important to them, which includes their body and fitness. 
[00:25:00] David Syvertsen: And it's commendable because most people don't do that.
Sam Rhee: Right. So if you are, so if you're in situations where there are a lot of factors outside your control, you can only control what you can control. Right. And so for those things that you can do, if you still work like a dog, and then you, you spend the rest of your free time at home, watching Netflix really got a sword or you're, you're letting yourself go. Like I did for a while. A long time is eat crappy food because it's your release. 
David Syvertsen: Yes. That's. And I'll say one thing. That I think most of us are guilty of. We think that coming to the gym and doing a hard workout makes up for something. Right. Like how a man, like I ate really bad last night. I'm going to go hard at the gym today.
It, it, it doesn't work sort of the opposite. Yeah. It could be the opposite. You know, like I actually, I was just away last week on vacation. We were gone for three days with a one-year-old [00:26:00] and so I'll, we'll just call it time away. But. When I go away, I'm usually very, like, not like, everyone's like, oh, where'd you work out?
I'm like, I don't work out once. No. I probably had more, like I drank a few beers, had a burrito, we had some fries. We had a random bag of peanut M and M's in our apartment that we housed I house. Anyway. I don't know why I love it. I was like it. Wasn't 
Sam Rhee: your cheat meal. It's a random bag of peanut butter.
David Syvertsen: But I knew that coming back into training the next week, I did not come into the dunk. All right, man, I'm going to go really crazy this week because I had a really bad week. If anything, I was like, I almost have to chill a little bit because my body is probably has some inflammation might be three or four pounds heavier OMG.
Right. But I did, I felt like crap all week. It was probably one of the worst weeks I've had in, since I've, you know, kind of dial it up in may and But I knew that that was a product of what happened last week. And I think as we get older, like things stick to a little bit longer. Like if you have a bad week of eating and drinking, it's going to bother you for seven, eight days.
Right? And today, this morning I had probably a re my [00:27:00] best session I've had since before that little trip to away. And it took a long a week of just like vegetables, vegetables, vegetables, water, water, water, and had a couple of good nights of sleep in a row. And that's where. I think that you need to know your time in the gym.
Well, one workout in the gym is not going to make up for your bad meal, your cheat meal. It's not like we need to stop thinking like that. It needs to be the, your bad cheat meal. Fine. Have it good for you? Never going to tell you not to do that. What are, what are you doing outside of the gym to try to get yourself back on track?
Because what you did in the gym is such a small amount of time. The other time is more important. You know, I, you know what it is, it's these stupid gimmicks that people wear on their, like, they post about it on social media all the time. Like I'd burn 800 calories in today's workout, like shut up. Like that doesn't matter.
Right. Sorry. It just doesn't. I think so many fitness programs are like, they trick people into thinking that like, okay, so I ate [00:28:00] 1200 calories today. I burned 805 burned, 400 more. I'm going to lose weight. Like. Like, what are you doing the rest of the day that will help you burn more calories? What your resting heart rate, your sleep patterns, like how your body retains water.
That is a huge deal. And that that's, that's something that just pisses me off. 
Sam Rhee: Sometimes I think universally we're all converging on quality of food, quality of sleep, quality of your life in general is really going to determine it. What you do athletically, not what you do athletically is going to determine all these other things.
Right. And you know, I do see our members at, at our gym for example, and a lot of them, you know, there's a bunch of business guys. And I remember talking to Jim Harrington one morning. He had some business thing the night before he was like out till 2:00 AM or something. And he just like, how can you not, you know, if that's part of your business response.
Yeah. And he dialed it back [00:29:00] way down that day, just move your body. And he just got, yeah. He and I was really proud of him just for making it in that day. And the fact also that he was mature enough, not to be like, like you said, I need to be like, I need to sweat it out or yeah. 
David Syvertsen: Newsflash, you're not going to sweat it out. Not gonna happen.
Sam Rhee:  So, yeah, I mean, we, we hammer this message all the time. 
David Syvertsen: Yep. All right. Number six, we got. You know what this could tie into number five. So we didn't spend that much time talking about, but you are what you eat. Geez. We just talked about it. We did talk about it. I will say one further thing is I want people and I, I'm not, I really have not decided to go into the nutrition field because for a few reasons, but I will say that I want people to think a long time, like throughout the week, what you're eating, what you're not eating, you know?
Act like what, what are like when it comes to processed foods versus natural foods, whole foods that is, what's going to make you feel good or bad at the gym. It's [00:30:00] not, you know, the wad that goes your way. It's not your favorite movements. It, what if your food is filled with like process and chemicals and stuff, you can't pronounce on the bag, right?
That is going to determine how you are at the gym. Right. I don't want to get into, like, when I say you are what you eat, it's really what I'm talking about when you feel like you're performing and 
Sam Rhee: yeah, I will say this I also realize it's really difficult to eat optimally for a couple of reasons. One is eating really well is expensive. Yeah, it is like really expensive. Yeah. Like for example, and just so that I don't feel we're hypocritical. Yeah. So we had the bison bowl us. We, what did we order for food? Did we order like free range organic chicken with kale or, you know, like, you know, and You know, keenwah or something.
No, because that's, stuff's really expensive. And if you had to feed like 200 people, if you bought that much, like, you know of [00:31:00] that, it's really expensive food that like Dallas used to get shipped in. Like it'd 
David Syvertsen: be thousands of dollars by some, if he would be 
30 
Sam Rhee: bucks. So. Sandwiches at Parkwood deli, which were fine. I mean, not every day, all the time. No, but if you're, and you know, and listen, we sat and we, you know had trulys and beer and all that. So, you know, because B, because it's cheap. Yeah. It's easy. It's accessible. And the other thing is it tastes pretty good. Yeah. Eating really well is an uphill battle on about three or four different fronts.
And it's a fight. It's a fight all the time. It's a fight that gets easier if you, if you keep fighting it all the time. Right. And I knew no, a lot of athletes at the gym who count macros for years who are really careful with what they eat. And they are super disciplined. I think. Well, I just saw Carly Finan yesterday and she's been doing it forever [00:32:00] and she looks amazing and she continues to look amazing.
She looks like she has an age of the day. There are a couple other guys who do the same thing. Yep. Matt Milone also is super careful. 
David Syvertsen: Yeah. And I've been Matt Malone. I've been out with Matt Malone several times socially and like he wills and same thing just like yesterday. Like he'll go crazy every now and then you have to have a big cheat meal.
That's I'm Tonya right now. Like those big, crazy cheat meals. That's never the issue. Right? It's like the day after day after day, binge trust, emotionally what? Consistency. Doesn't see. That's right. Yeah. So yeah, I would just say like really dive into what you're eating on a day-to-day basis. And if you know, it's filled with crap, you are going to feel like crap.
You know, if you know, if it's clean, you'll feel clean. We're not telling you not to have cheat meals. We're not telling you to have not, never have processed food, but if the majority of what you're eating is crap, you will be crap physically. All right. Last one. Leave your ego at home. 
Sam Rhee: That's also really tough. Yeah. I think honestly, one of the big hold backs for some of our [00:33:00] really long-term or good ma you know, athletes is the ego part. Yeah. I can think of a couple people in the 5, 6, 7 am class who if they drop some of their ego issues would take that plateau. Yeah. And go a couple of levels, right?
David Syvertsen: Yeah. They would get to where they actually want to be. Yeah. It just wouldn't be the route that they want to get there. 
Sam Rhee: Oh. Cause it's a, it's a awful route to actually do, because it really impacts your self-esteem right. You go backwards. Oh my God. Yeah. Cause I mean, listen, we cling to, and we were just talking about this with some other athletes complaining about.
You know, either judging or the events or whatever, it's like you cling on to who you think you are. Right. And if you think, you know, something it's super hard to change that. Right. And at its core and we have it. I know I have it. I know you have it. Absolutely. There are certain core fundamental things about us that 
David Syvertsen: we said this in the [00:34:00] past, we all have egos.
It's not, we're saying don't have an ego.
Sam Rhee:  Right. And so, The more, you can sort of let some of those aspects go. It might be harder in life, but it actually might be easier in the gym, hopefully. Especially here. Yeah. Hopefully I don't know, because honestly, a lot, I mean, listen, my ego is bound up on, you know, what I wrote down on the whiteboard every day.
Right. A lot. And it's and, and going back and sort of figuring out what, what what I suck at and what I can do better at and not worrying about what other people think of me. Right. I still, I wrestle with that every day. I still think about that. 
David Syvertsen: Yeah. It's like, we've talked about this in the past. I don't think it's something that we have the answer to. Like we don't have, we don't tell you. We're never going to be able to tell you how to always complete your ego to always keep your ego completely out of the situation. I don't think we have the answer for that. And I don't think we do that all the time.
So again, we have to make sure we're not coming across that way. But I would say that from a coaching perspective, the people [00:35:00] that like, I get to see a lot of people work out day after day, week after week, month, month after month. And in some cases, years after year, and to gear this towards someone that wants to make constant progress and CrossFit, I'm telling you this right now, the people that are less obsessed with their scores are the ones that don't plateau.
They're obsessed over other little things. They're paced. They're they're quality movements keeping care of their body. Not pushing through certain pain, just so that they can get that certain number. Right. Those are the people that keep getting better, 
Sam Rhee: you know, who I really would like to put up as example of who has very little ego in the sense of the gym is yeah. Is Nick Squire. Okay. Because he could take an inordinate, like he could be really proud of how good his lift technique is. He's one of the cleanest lifters I can see for his size, 
David Syvertsen: the endeavor work. We're watching him lift the other day and we're like, I could watch him lift all day. Right. 
Sam Rhee: And I have seen, and he is a great athlete, but he doesn't care. He [00:36:00] literally does not care what number he puts up on the cereal and his number one priority is moving well, being injury free. Yep. And you know, that was actually a bunch of lessons he learned along the way. Yeah. 
David Syvertsen: Cause he was on the voice for the hard way, 
Sam Rhee: the hard way. Like he was just like, you know, I was just along with him, we come up working really out. We did some comps, we were, and he started you know, picked up a couple of injuries. It took, it, 
David Syvertsen: took a few 
Sam Rhee: steps back and he, and now he is so careful and deliberate. He listen. Does he take pride? Yeah. His performance and what he does. He trash talks as much as anyone. Absolutely. But it's not that his ego is bound up to it.
David Syvertsen: That's a great example. Both someone that does care how they do, but it's not their ego. Right. It's just like, they want to do well. Right. And very few people will admit that they have an ego issue. So if you're kind of, if this is kind of speaking to you, I think it's something you've put, put all the thought into.
I have a female example. Yeah. And it's actually Liz, and this is kind of like Liz from I'm [00:37:00] Elizabeth been through so much here over the past seven, eight years. I remember, you know, watching her work out for the first couple of years, I'm like, all right, you've got something, you got a lot of talent. And she works hard too.
She's listening. She was very coachable, but I remember she had a couple of injuries early on one was her back. And what was her knee? And she immediately like took guidance from, I think it was Hartman. Marnie, myself. No more kipping for six months. Every single time you see a pull-up and a workout, you're doing them strict.
You're not allowed to go above 60% of your list for a long time. And you could tell there were times it was eating at her, especially if it's a workout that she knew. She'd had fun with Judy Whelan. And I remember. I, the strict pole of sick with me, I think it was like six months of strict pull-ups and that was related to her back more than anything.
And that is when it has got really good at what she's at. Like that's when she became a monster with muscle-ups and it was only because of the pull-ups and you know, that was a [00:38:00] humbling experience for her. And she'd had an ego issue. She would have done what a lot of people here do. She'd be like, it hurts, but I'm going to keep going.
It hurts, but I'm going to keep going. It hurts, but I'm going to keep going because I want that score. I want that score. I want that daily fulfillment. And that's what it is. It's a daily fulfillment validation. Yes. Like, oh, like I, I have to go work for the day now, but Hey, at least I crushed that. Well, I'm a good person.
Right. And like, I'm going to limp around the rest of the day. Right. So is it worth it? And again, we've both done this again. We have to keep saying this because we want to come across the wrong way. But Liz is a good example of someone and I, she got a lot of benefit from this. We're not telling you to keep your ego at home so that we don't have to deal with your ego.
We're telling you to keep your ego at home because it's going to help you constantly get better at CrossFit. 
Sam Rhee: I don't know if the people that I feel could benefit most will actually understand that it's a lesson that we all learned the hard way. Right? If someone told me this stuff, couple of years ago, I'd be like, you're [00:39:00] full.
Yeah, I don't, I don't let my ego get in front of me. Right. I'm just doing the best that I can do. And it just took hard knocks, just, just like Liz, just, and it's funny how a lot of these people had to go through their own difficulties to get there. So I'm not saying, and I'm not never wishing difficulties on anyone, but I think what it means is if you do have difficulties, use it as fuel learning, right.
To make yourself. Better because everyone that I know who you like had difficulties, they all use it different ways. And if you can use it to, to adjust how you think about yourself and your ego. Yep. Awesome. Yep.