CROSSFIT SUFFOLK: Powered By SPARTAN PERFORMANCE

21
Mar

CROSSFIT SUFFOLK: Powered By SPARTAN PERFORMANCE

One of the positives….spending time with your children and getting them to work out with you…

Lauren S. and her Man-Child
Cathy and her High-Performance Athlete!

11 TIPS TO BOLSTER YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM AGAINST ILLNESS

FIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR GET-UP (WITHOUT DOING GET-UPS)

IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

I’m extremely happy to report that the home workouts are going well and we’re getting lots of good feedback! Thank you to those of you who have texted me to offer feedback and send pics like the ones above. I love it!

Motivation, or lack of it, was a main topic in the comments section yesterday. Not being motivated right now is completely understandable and completely normal. Getting feedback from various CF Suffolk athletes I see a common theme: the athletes who have kept to a similar time to work out as before the days of “social distancing” or those who schedule a work out time for themselves seem to do the best as it pertains to getting the workout in.

In the days, perhaps weeks, following 9/11/2001 I found it hard to be motivated to train. My world was just turned upside down and my schedule was completely different than what I was used to. I had to report to a new “building”. (The “building” was the ship/museum docked on the West Side of Manhattan, The Intrepid) I suddenly had no office, no cubicle and my tours (shifts) were not only different they were extended in length, every day. The last thing on my mind was working out. I was concerned about my wife. Concerned about my kids. Concerned about New York. Concerned about America. And concerned about the world. And I was angry. I had to keep it together for the sake of my family and for the sake of my partners. But I was so angry. MY city was just attacked.

The last thing on my mind was working out. Looking back, working out should have been a priority. My physical and mental health would have been much better. My anger would have been dissipated. It would have been better for me all around. Fortunately, I snapped out of it. I began working out again even if it was just for 15 or 20 minutes a day.

I don’t have the same intense feelings with the CoronaVirus, although in some ways it’s similar. I do get why some are finding it hard to feel motivated. I will tell you that you’re going to be alright and your motivation or inspiration will return. You’re just in the adjustment mode right now. It will pass and you’ll look forward to training.

Pay attention to the feeling of not feeling like training. This is what happens to many adults at some point in their life. This leads to not wanting to engage in physical exertion. This is what leads to moving beyond sedentary into not moving that much at all. That’s what leads to old-age. I’m not suggesting this is what is happening to you because you don’t feel motivated for a few days. I’m saying this is a good thing to observe and be aware of so it doesn’t happen to you, for a long period of time, later in life. Use this lack of motivation as a “positive” for future awareness.

Worst-case scenario, do some form of working out at least for 10 minutes. Getting started is the hardest part. You know this already.

Remember, in the words of strength coach Mark Rippetoe, “Stronger people are harder to kill and generally more useful. Work out. Stay strong. Be harder to kill.


Lisa and I went to the ShopRite and the Home Depot in Patchogue yesterday. Both were packed. Both had very nice people with a good sense of humor and both had people that were visibly scared. On the verge of panic scared. People were literally jumping out of the way of people they felt were too close. Lisa approached a Home Depot employee to ask a question and the woman stepped back, thrust her arms out and said, “Whoa, whoa, 6 feet”. Lisa told her she just wanted to ask where an item might be and assured the woman she wasn’t going to cough or sneeze on her.

The lines at ShopRite were extremely long and both stores were, of course, out of any serious cleaning supplies. ShopRite had chicken. It was the first sign of chicken I’ve seen in a few days. In fact, we found most things we wanted.

We then went to our local liquor store. I saw 3 women outside the store talking and thought nothing of it. As I approached the door one of the women said, “There’s a line.” I made my typical “I’m confused” face. A line in the liquor store is not unheard of so I was wondering why she felt the need to inform me. A second later I realized she meant the line was outside the store. It was a line to get in. It wasn’t especially crowded but in order to do their part for social distancing the liquor store managers limited the customers to 3 in the store at a time and you had 3 minutes to shop. How did they come up with the number 3? We waited about 3 minutes to get our turn at 3 minutes of shopping and left with 3 bottles of 2 different products that amounted to much more than 3 dollars and were home 3 minutes later. Probably less.

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Things around the house. Entertaining Finn. Leftovers for dinner. Catching up on news from around the world. Mindless television. Discussing theories, both factual and conspiracy with the lovely Lisa. Workout programming. Texting. Website. Bed…soon.


I thought about not coaching the Spartan Kids session tomorrow. That’s going to be strange. I only teach the kids once a week and I look forward to it. The only time I have not coached the kids was because I couldn’t be there on a Saturday because I was somewhere else. Today will be the first time that I’m home on Saturday and not coaching the kids. Weird.


72LISA DEMETRIOU United States Age 534564th (290 reps)131st (65 reps)126th (234 reps).52nd (10:37)105th (135 lb)Weight lifted: 135 lbs
Bodyweight: 112 lbs
38th (11:47)

Congratulations to Lisa! She came in 72nd out of 200 Women, CrossFit athletes from around the world in the 50-54 year-old age group! The top 10 move on so this is the end of the road for Lisa for this year, regarding the CrossFit Games, but she did amazingly well considering all she’s been through in the last few months and how her training time was impacted. Just making it to the Master Qualifier is an accomplishment. Beating 128 other competitive athletes from around the world that also made Master Qualifier is fantastic! Way to go Lisa!


I mentioned the use of ZOOM in the comments yesterday. This is another tool to help us with the motivation issue. With ZOOM we can connect via the internet and see each other on-screen as we train in real-time. Or we can use it to go over movements, discuss issues or just talk. Check it out and get back to me. The most basic of packages is FREE and I believe it’s all we need. The only “sticking” point is coordinating when we can “meet”.


Pandemic

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
 
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
 
Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

 
Lynn Ungar 3/11/20

For today’s get-ups
Keep your shoulders back and don’t shrug or “scrunch-up”. Think about keeping your shoulder blades down & back, like you’re trying to “put them into your back pockets”. If you can keep your fingers pointed outward, not forward, it will help you keep your shoulders externally rotated and not pointed inward (internally rotated).
This is in the warm-up today

15 Responses

  1. Bevin

    Hi everyone! Thank you for the workouts George! I’ll text you later about adding some strength training too. I will say at 4 yesterday I did work out. And it felt great. I found for me, my secret was to wear workout clothes all day, an option now that I am working remotely, and at my quitting time of 4 I jumped on the rower. 4 rounds of 400m row, 20 KB swings and 20 lunges. I was shooting for five but instead of the last round I went for a walk. And then I had pizza. Jumped off my clean eating train this week. But I am getting back on it today.
    The one thing yesterday that made me sad – my baby brother is an infectious disease dr. And I sent him masks that Eric had for work because they don’t have them. Think about that. Our healthcare workers don’t have enough gear. Not going to lie, I teared up as I drove to the post office to mail them. So if you know someone in the medical field, we have some at our Crossfit, think of them. Say a prayer, send positive vibes for them. See if they need anything.
    Have a great day everyone and workout!!!

    1. Spartan

      Thank you for sharing Bevin! I’m truly sorry to hear about the conditions your brother has to work in. Some things should just never happen…like an infectious disease doctor not having the proper equipment to do his job effectively. Hopefully that gets fixed real soon.

  2. Amie

    George thank you for these posts I look forward to reading them with my morning coffee. On a positive note I get to live in leggings and don’t have to wear make up! Lisa congrats you are a bad ass and definitely make it harder to be killed! I’m on my peloton,taking walks,jogs,working out with my daughter which she is excited about and starting to get into it,also strength training and using this time for some much needed rehab on my shoulder! Stay well all and thank you to all my fellow Spartans in the medical field,Law enforcement,military,food industry stay strong be harder to kill!!

  3. John M.

    Strange times we live in, but on the plus side I’ve got a nice little gym set up in my driveway. Squat stands, a barbell and bumper plates that I had in storage. 365 lbs of total weight so it’s safe to say that I’m taking things light. I did 4 rounds of 400 meter run / 10 back squats @ 225# as my neighbors watched on with a sense of astonishment… I’m assuming. While the commute to my new “gym” was nice, it definitely is harder to get motivated. Especially with a house full of food and booze. Well, time to eat eggs then throw around some weight!

    1. Spartan

      I’ll have to post the photo of your “spartan”, outdoor gym. It looks like what I imagine a prison yard gym would look like…at a nice prison. Glad to see you’re taking it easy. And that look your neighbor gave you was, “look at this asshole”, it wasn’t astonishment. LOL He probably will not want to fight with you any time soon though.:)

      Thank you for sharing what you’ve been doing!

  4. JaneM

    Lisa, you never cease to amaze me. Awesome job. And what a great picture – strength and grace all wrapped in one.

    Once again I am making the mistake that the workout looks easy. If you hear whimpering later today it will be me.

    Have a fabulous day Spartans!!!

    And thank you to all on the front lines fighting the good fight!!!!!!!!
    (Is that enough ! ?)

  5. Ben

    Once again, I tricked myself into not working out. But I occupied my time fiddling with broken electronics and semi sort of cleaning things around the house. I also took apart a broken wheel barrow that I found broken on the curb. Going to give it to a friend once the new handles come in the mail. Also put a GFCI outlet in my basement so I can use a grounded plug for my computer equipment. Had a couple of shocks, then I got smart and cut the power ? 120v shocks are like an unpleasant buzzing, not too bad, but better to avoid them.

    But to end the night I had some beers and watched the stupid funny movie “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” on Amazon. If you ever enjoyed their movies you will enjoy this one. It’s like Taco Bell, same ingredients, just mixed up a little different.

    That’s all from me.

    Congrats Lisa! I know you wish you had trained more, but you still kicked butt and showed your base level of fitness is still world class!

    1. Spartan

      You crack me up Ben! Thanks for your comments. I literally laughed out loud over the thought of you electrocuting yourself. I know, I know…I’m slightly disturbed. LOL On Behalf of Lisa, thank you for the kind words!

      Thank you for sharing!!

  6. Spartan

    NOT a single comment about the ZOOM issue today and only 2 responses about it yesterday. I can only assume: (1) Nobody read that section today, (2) Not too many people read the website today, (3) there is a communication disconnect somewhere or (4) most people aren’t that interested. I’ll run it by the group over the weekend and on Monday and evaluate.

    1. Ben

      Personally I’m not that interested in the zoom thing. But I hate FaceTime and Skype calls so it’s probably a personal preference thing for me.

      I’d be down for meeting at a park though!

      1. Spartan

        I’m with you Ben but I’m willing to step out of my annoyance-zone for the members. LOL I appreciate the input. I like the park or track idea much more!

  7. Livia

    Felicitaciones Lisa!!
    George, I am interested in using ZOOM. I am still learning how to use that app but it will be nice to workout together virtually.

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