I like mens style, grooming, and chivalrous techniques. I also love a good laugh and perfect comedic timing. This video has both.

The team over at Dollar Shave Club can expect to start shipping razors to my door with the way they set themselves up. A no bs [...]]]>

I like mens style, grooming, and chivalrous techniques. I also love a good laugh and perfect comedic timing. This video has both.

The team over at Dollar Shave Club can expect to start shipping razors to my door with the way they set themselves up. A no bs company that just makes good razors without any frills.

I love when I have the time to give myself a straight razor shave, but let’s be honest I don’t have that much time every day to go through the ritual. So on the days between those shaves I use my expensive disposable blade razors. They do a great job, but now that the Dollar Shave guys have offered a solution to the ridiculousness of paying as much as we do for replacement razors, I’m in.

I’m ordering my first razor and we’ll see how it goes. Gentlemen, I’ll fill you in on the nuances of their razors soon. And as enlightened customer #167 on their website states, “I save $100/yr on shaving now. I’m basically a genius.” If these blades turn out to be as good as the video makes them out to be, I’ll be Einstein by the end of the March.

Update:

3/8/12: Placed an order for their 4 blade/$6 a month razors. They report it should ship within 3 – 4 days. More to come soon. In the meantime, you may want to try it for yourself.

3/16/12: 6 business days after I placed my order (2 days late from the promised shipment date) I received this email:

My first response: “Bummer, I was depending on those razors for my next shave. At least they’re good enough to admit what happened.”

My second response: I checked their website to look at the statement I’m sure they’ve released to let people know that they won’t be getting what they’re buying in the 3 – 4 days but I didn’t find anything. So the way it looks right now, they’re not letting you know until you’ve already purchased which I think is a bit of a mistake. So if you were excited to pick up your new Dollar Shave Club membership soon, I’d be waiting till the end of May to ensure you get what you’re paying for.

Let me guess, you see rowing as a confused movement that doesn’t make sense to anyone. It feels impossibly inefficient and whenever you get off the machine you’re pretty sure satan himself had a hand in helping to produce the thing.

You’re not alone. Thousands of CrossFitters everywhere claim rowing as their [...]]]>

Let me guess, you see rowing as a confused movement that doesn’t make sense to anyone. It feels impossibly inefficient and whenever you get off the machine you’re pretty sure satan himself had a hand in helping to produce the thing.

You’re not alone. Thousands of CrossFitters everywhere claim rowing as their primary goat. The one movement that they’ve accepted as the most torturous of all movements in the sport of CrossFit.

Unfortunately, that mentality is leading to lost WOD’s everywhere. So let’s accept that this movement deserves as much focus as olympic lifting or gymnastics and move on to taming this goat for you so you can take this sport seriously either as an athlete or as a coach.

You’re being robbed of energy

An erg can only be muscled for so long before it fights back and makes you wish you didn’t exist. It’s a beautiful machine and it deserves to be treated as such. That means you need to finesse the erg to really get the most out of it. That feeling of not being able to connect to the machine and wasting yourself is a product of inefficient movement. Much like Kelly Starrett’s One Joint Rule  we need to create connected progressions of movement so you’re not spending unnecessary energy to accomplish an end result.

Fighting back, a true story

Let’s do something about it. The effort to tame this machine is mostly focus. You’re all strong athletes and coaches with lots of potential, so we’re going to take that potential and turn it into efficient movement. Work your strength in your training and let us help with the efficiency. One day is more than enough to learn strategy, movement, error identification, and crush factor on the erg. JJ Christopher from Atlas CrossFit in Chicago, IL found a lot of ways to improve his own rowing and how to become a better coach because of the course as well.

It’s time you fight back against the erg, because when rowing shows up at regionals or the games you don’t want to be caught watching others fly by feeling stronger, with more energy, and ready to hit the rest of the workout.

Details, details, details…

Join us at CrossFit Invictus on Sunday, March 18th from 9 – 5 for this one day Certificate Course at a reasonably low cost of $395

• You’ll learn the secret strategy that helps some of the world top CrossFitters including Aja Barto, Matt Barnett, Camille Leblanc, and Elyse Umeda take on rowing workouts.
• Improve your coaching eye as you gain insight into how to look for and correct common errors
• Spend less energy to get the same scores you’re already getting, leaving you more ready for whatever comes next

A good athlete rests on the talents they’re given, a great athlete takes their weaknesses and turns them into talents. See you all on March, 18th.

It’s important to understand that nobody but you is responsible for your happiness and the opportunities you find [...]]]> One of my all-time favorite movies. It seems off from my usual rhetoric but this poster made me think about the ability to take advantage of opportunities even when everything seems to be pouring rain around you.

It’s important to understand that nobody but you is responsible for your happiness and the opportunities you find in life. When it seems like everything may be hitting the fan, that’s when it’s time to open your eyes and look for opportunity instead of grazing with the rest of the sheep. Be unique, take advantage, look life in the eyes a little differently. If you spend a year doing things that others won’t, you’ll be able to spend a lifetime doing the things others can’t.

Created by Brazilian Graphic Designer Niege Borges Alves | Via bitrebels

Your mental state has one of the greatest impacts on your every day performance. Whether it’s at work or in the gym, the wrong mindset or focus can be the only thing between you and your goal. Correcting your mentality can be a challenging task if only because stopping to take the time [...]]]>  

Your mental state has one of the greatest impacts on your every day performance. Whether it’s at work or in the gym, the wrong mindset or focus can be the only thing between you and your goal. Correcting your mentality can be a challenging task if only because stopping to take the time to change it often seems daunting.

It doesn’t have to be tough though, just a little focus and time can make a difference for you. Take advantage and improve your day in five minutes. We’re going to set you in the right direction together.

1. Start by finding quiet anyway you can. If it’s putting in headphones with lyrics less music to drown out the office, do it.
2. Take one minute and only one minute to decide what you want to accomplish in the next hour.
3. Write down on a piece of paper only those tasks that will move you closer to that goal.
4. Picture yourself executing each of those tasks without distraction and doing them perfectly. Breath deeply and smile as you do this.
5. Remove your headphones and go back to your desk. Keep your list in front of you and cross off each item until your goal is completed.

That’s it. A simple, easy way to get your mind back on track and put you in the right mindset. You’ll find that your tasks will move seamlessly and effortlessly as you finish exactly what you were hoping. You’ll be jumping for joy in no time!

At the CrossFit Endurance Expo a couple years ago where Crossfit Story was making their in person debut, [...]]]> As an intro: Let it be known that the links to Moxie Crunch here are affiliate links so I do have an interest in your clicking on them. Now that we have that out of the way…

At the CrossFit Endurance Expo a couple years ago where Crossfit Story was making their in person debut, we had the opportunity to be boothed (yes I made up a word) next to a delicious company that was setting out on their paleo snack creation journey.

The company is Savanna Orchards (not a solely paleo company) and the resulting offspring of their Paleo meets snacking goodness meetup is Moxie Crunch.

Recently I got my hands on a couple bags of their product to try for myself and see what all the hoopla was about.

Now, most of the snacks geared towards the paleo lifestyle you’ve seen are small and portioned sizes according to zone restrictions. The front runner in this category currently goes to Steve’s Original.  While I do think there is a place for zone and paleo to make sweet sweet music together, sometimes it’s just tedious. In my own training and just plain personal preference I like to be able to have a healthy portion (in case I’m feeling particularly hungry which I usually am) and not worry about weighing out my options. Luckily, Moxie Crunch comes in 1lb bags. I had the opportunity to take it on a road trip to see how long that sucker lasted. Well, about 8 hours of driving time and fairly continuous snacking later I hadn’t even finished the bag. Not bad, especially when the eating options in a car can get pretty sketchy.

Now what do you get in a pack? To start you get one big bag that houses the whole mix which is separated in to two smaller bags. One bag contains your almonds, walnuts, pecans, blueberries, cherries, & cranberries while the other keeps your cherry & applewood smoked organic beef jerky safe from premature berry & nut contamination. At this point I opened each bag & mixed them in the big bag for a splendid meeting of the flavor minds. All in all, the combination has great flavor to it.

The Jerky has a mild pepper flavor with some sweet undertones although at times it can be a shade dry (If I’m talking like a sommelier it’s because I’m trying to make this sound classy). The fruits are juicy, very sweet, and somehow not sticky like a lot of preserved fruits tend to be. The one downside is the use of sunflower oil in preserving all of their fruits. With a relatively high Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio putting down a pound of the mix will definitely be sending your Omega balance towards the 6′s. Finally, the nuts come in raw form and well, they taste like nuts. What else can you say.

Together they make for a good combination of flavors  & textures with nothing too overwhelming. Overall, I think it’s a great selection for athlete’s and paleoites on the go who are looking for a substantial snack to toss in their bag and aren’t overly critical of their zone tendencies. It also allows you to avoid convenience store jerky on trips and take quality with you wherever you go.

Finally, the price. A 1 lb bag goes for $27.50 while 3 lbs are $58.49. So if it ends up being something you like, it makes sense to pony up for the 3 lbs since you’re basically getting the 3rd pound for $3.50. Not a bad deal if you’re in the market for this kind of thing.

Get Moxie Crunch here

Once an Olympic champion, I could now barely get out of bed and go for a walk, let alone get to the Pocock Rowing Center or Crossfit Bellevue. I knew something crazy was happening inside mybody.  For the first time in my life, I felt [...]]]> By Guest Columnist Anna Cummins, 2008 Olympic Champion Rower

Once an Olympic champion, I could now barely get out of bed and go for a walk, let alone get to the Pocock Rowing Center or Crossfit Bellevue. I knew something crazy was happening inside mybody.  For the first time in my life, I felt like the anti-athlete.  As an athlete my whole life and an elite rower for ten years, any form of working out always made me feel like a million bucks, maybe not during, but for sure after each workout.  In my first trimester with my first baby, the thought of any form of exercise was like thinking about rowing an Olympic final with no prior training.  I did not want to go there.  Not only did I avoid getting a rush from a little workout, I also wasn’t very hungry.  Hmmm, who is this new person in my body and where did I go?

Pregnancy is a time to learn a lot about your body and that of what it takes to create a new body in the form of a little baby.  Every woman has a different journey and the most important thing I have learned so far is to listen to what my body is telling me about the race ahead.  In my first trimester, the message my body kept sending me was to take it down a notch or ten.  As US Olympic coxswain Mary Whipple would say when we were out for a swing row in the eight, “let’s let the boat glide out and cruise at two beats down on this one.”

That said, my best workouts were walks around the neighborhood, getting to Crossfit once a week, and doing aslow swing row.  When rowing, I could make it about 20 minutes at the slowest pace ever (for me:).  Let’s say I was impressed at rowing 2:12.  (Pre-pregnancy, I’d feel great at 2:02).  In my first trimester, 3 out of 4 mornings, I hit my snooze button to just keep sleeping and I never felt rested!  I felt so out of it that the only thing I could rally around was to simply show up and move.

We all know that exercise makes for healthier babies and for healthier moms.  As much as I’d like to sleep in every day and not take that walk or trip to the Box, I knew I needed to try.  I take the time to get adjusted by my chiropractor (that’s Dr. Bob Cummins) each week because I know it’s good for me and the health of our baby.  Why don’t I get my body up and moving with the exercise I also know is awesome for my health?  Hence, the only thing that will be different in my second trimester compared to the first is to have an exercise plan and to try to be disciplined.

It’s never too late to change a race plan, so don’t worry, my “plan” is now in full effect for the second trimester.  January 1^st and a New Years’ resolution couldn’t have come at a better time.  However, my focus on exercise while pregnant is not competitive, it’s health.  I still remember to listen to my body, take rest, scale the weights down, and cut out a round or two if my body is telling me.

Hang in there all you Pregger-Rowers, Crossfitters and anyone trying to make a change! Know you have a fellow pregnant friend who is just as unmotivated as you are.  Keep trying to get your body moving and keep listening!

Comfort is an easy place to live. We know what to expect, exactly what we can handle, and we have control over it. We can tuck comfort in our pocket and when things start to get tough, we just tap our hand on that pocket and we’re reminded we can take a step back [...]]]>  

Comfort is an easy place to live. We know what to expect, exactly what we can handle, and we have control over it. We can tuck comfort in our pocket and when things start to get tough, we just tap our hand on that pocket and we’re reminded we can take a step back to our comfort zone.

This place is where many of us choose to live our lives. After all, who doesn’t want to be guaranteed a life free from failure? Where every day may not be the greatest day you’ve ever had but it certainly isn’t the worst. If you never fail then you’ve got to be doing something right…right?

As a coach and an athlete I encounter this decision making on a frequent basis. In my own training I spend a lot of time under stress. WIth multiple workouts a day I have to decide whether I’m going to be comfortable with the workout, or if I’m willing to risk discomfort on a major scale on the chance that I could succeed in a big way.

With clients we face the same challenges.  As a coach it’s my job to figure out what they’re comfortable doing and what I can do to challenge their very being and elicit a decision that makes them uncomfortable. Whether or not they step through that door is a day to day decision for them as well.

The weight behind taking action often falls silent though when confronted with non-life threatening actions like workouts. It seems that as humans we easily get lost in day to day monotony, the “little” things if you will. Is it really going to be that big a deal if i don’t take a risk today? Probably not. The question remains though, does that become your autopilot response to every question? If so, we’re not just talking one decision at a time, we’re aggregating all those decisions and weighting them over a lifetime.

It starts when we’re young and we realize not everything goes our way. We learn that life isn’t necessarily fair and sometimes we get the short end of the stick. It’s understandable then that we as people would start to develop an aversion to the negative. That when an opportunity to fail presents itself we quietly tap our pocket of comfort by not taking the potential step and all feels better.

The problem with doing this is over time, those pocket taps start to become the definition of your life. The pain never prevails, the road most traveled become more heavily rutted, and things run smoothly.

Let’s talk about the alternative though. The road LESS traveled. Let’s find out how we can make those decisions. Because if you understand the weight of a lifetime of safe decisions, a lifetime of challenging yourself will become that much greater.

1. Start small
• If you quit your job, pack your bag, and hitch your thumb for destination unknown, you may recoil quickly when it all sets in. Instead, take a decision you’re faced with on a regular basis and ask yourself why you do what you do. If you normally stop with 5 seconds left in a workout, try going 5 seconds past the finish line. It’s a small decision that will have a listing impact on your training.
2. Be confident
• Have faith in yourself. The greatest barrier to taking risks is self confidence. Once you trust in yourself and believe that you have the ability to succeed you’ll be much more likely to try something that may be challenging. Often the mind is the only thing standing in the way of where you are now, and success in the future.
3. Follow through
• If you start, don’t second guess yourself. Continue on. Whether you get exactly what you were going for or end up with a different outcome than you were expecting, the greatest achievements happen because of perseverance and execution.
4. Embrace failure
• Failure can be the greatest teaching tool you never knew about. Because the outcome was different than what you may have had in mind, the knowledge you gain will be greater than you could have imagined. Some of my biggest successes have happened because I failed enough to find the secret to that puzzle.
5. Make it a habit
• Once you try it, become addicted. As your life rolls on, it will be the collection of choices you have made that move you to a place of success. You’ll find that your world can become wider and brighter when you realize that many of the things you experience from day to day are within your power to change.

It’s for many of these reasons that as a coach I take great pride in my clients when I ask them to do more than they may think they’re capable of. When they succeed it’s a celebration of more than just fitness. It’s often that they’ve blown through a mental wall they never knew was there and they’re slowly reshaping their lives just the way they want.

Take some risks, resist the urge to tap that pocket, and enjoy the ride. Small steps equal giant distances covered when you put them together. And keep this favorite quote in mind; “Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anybody else.”