Shiny Object Syndrome: Purposeless Workouts Impede Goal Achievement

I enjoy exercising, working out, training, weightlifting, etc.  My enthusiasm comes from the endorphins that pump mid- and post-workout, from the goal setting and goal achievement aspect, from the love of the barbell and how “200 lbs. is always 200 lbs.” [quote by Henry Rollins*].  Unfortunately this love of movement and personal challenge has gotten in the way of achieving various goals I’ve set for myself.  I often find myself doing things at the gym that I want to do instead of following a plan set forth before stepping foot in the arena.  It’s the whole “Look! Shiny object!” effect that distracts me from a program or calculated workout plan.  Sure I squatted yesterday and yes my hips are tight and sore, but look! – no one’s in the squat rack and man I’m so close to adding on those 10 lbs. to my squat.  Maybe I’ll just rep out a few and see how 75% feels…

Next thing I know I’m pissed off that my 75% feels heavy and how I’ve already blown the precious 30 minutes I had to dedicate to training today - and now it’s too late to switch to deadlifts and now I definitely can’t squat for another few days and now I’m even more upset at how an impulsive workout screwed my whole week of programming.

Does this sound familiar?  Do you find yourself veering off a training plan and doing things because you thought they sounded fun in the moment when in fact they push you off track from your goals?

Editorial: The State of Judging at Local Competitions

I’ve been involved with a number of CrossFit competitions of different sizes – from small, in-house events to massive, dub-step-dominated Throwdowns.  Regardless of the size or the success of the event, one complaint always arises after the competition dust settles: judging.

The topic of judging is hardly unique to our sport.  Referees in professional and collegiate sports are consistently blamed for poor game calling, ignorant decisions, and ethical violations.  As the sport of CrossFit grows, we’re seeing an increase in local and regional competitions, so much so that my Saturdays have been hi-jacked by the CrossFit community for the past 12 weeks now.  With more competitions comes a greater need for judges, and as the intensity of the sport increases so does the focus on judging standards and performance.  So how do we remedy the community’s complaints about bad judging?

The issue of judging is a difficult issue to resolve in part because most of the staffing of competitions is by volunteers.  While it can be difficult to secure enough volunteers for an event, it’s even more difficult to wrangle enough judges - let alone judges who are Level 1 certified and/or have judged before.  Often times judges are snagged last-minute and are people who initially said they’d volunteer to help, thinking they’d be checking-off athletes at registration or handing-out t-shirts.

What is Aggressively Modified?

So what’s this blog all about?  It’s about whatever I want it to be about…but  I’ll primarily focus the posts on information and insights about all things fitness, coaching, nutrition, and that famous functional fitness/high intensity interval training (HIIT) sport that I can’t always reference by name due to legal ramifications (but you know what I mean and I’ll often refer to it here as “Functional HIIT”).

But isn’t there already enough (too much) information out there?  Yes and no.  Yes, there are tons of resources available on the internet of which I myself have only scratched the surface.  But what’s not out there is one unified, unbiased, fact-based website dedicated to the community of fitness that includes local competition news and is resource-rich in content.

We’ll see how this blog evolves as content is added and readers express their opinions.  What will help me in this journey is your candid feedback.  Please feel free to comment on posts, share them with others, and as always, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I welcome any and all thoughts – even if they go against what I’ve posted. 

Oh, and what, or who, you may ask, is Aggressively Modified?  It’s you.  It’s me.  It’s everyone who doesn’t do everything perfectly.  Remove the top 5-10% of Functional HIIT athletes and it’s everyone else that’s left.  It’s a concept that embraces the differences between athletes, between workouts, between the natural ebbs and flows of training.  It’s a phrase that revolts against the elitism that has infiltrated our boxes, the elitism that casts a dark shadow on a once-pure sport .  It’s great that certain weights, certain reps, certain range-of-motions are set as a bar for athletes try to achieve.  But at what cost? 

Aggressively Modified is a concept which I hope will counter the elitist attitude stinking up our gyms.  Oh you went heavy as prescribed by the workout gods?  Good for you.  Too bad you didn’t see how shitty your form was and talk to me tomorrow when you can’t walk and can’t workout for X number of days due to injury.  Aggressively Modified aims to support strong foundations with fitness, encouraging people to do what’s best for them.  Yes I want you to still push yourself.  Like really push yourself.  But not past the limits of what’s just plain stupid.  Go heavy.  Go hard.  But don’t go full-retard. 

Instead, do what I do: aggressively modify the shit out of your workouts.  Tailor the suggested workouts to your own individual needs.  Have a shoulder injury?  Don’t keep jerking or doing excessive pull-ups.  Modify.  Or switch the reps to squats or box jumps or lunges or sprints.  Yes the workouts were designed with specific “push-and-pull” corporeal needs – but they weren’t designed with your specific situation in mind.  So don’t succumb to the pressures of the gym ego and shirtless RX freaks that have genetic abilities or training regimens different than yours.  Be smart.  Take ownership of your own training.  Feel free to modify and take pride in knowing you’re doing what’s best for yourself.

Now go forth and modify…aggressively!