Why I love CrossFit

I joined CrossFit three months ago and since joining I haven’t been able to shut up about it. People tell me it sounds like I joined a cult, and in a way it is sort of like that. CrossFit isn’t just a workout it quickly becomes a way of life and its members become somewhat like family. Its members are bound together by pain and held there by their own determination. So what makes CrossFit so special? Isn’t this just another workout?

First off for those who don’t already know CrossFit is a strength and conditioning fitness methodology that promotes broad and general overall physical fitness. CrossFit combines weightlifting, sprinting, and gymnastics. CrossFit says that proficiency is required in each of ten fitness domains: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. It defines fitness as increased work capacity across all these domains and says its program achieves this by provoking neurologic and hormonal adaptations across all metabolic pathways. CrossFit athletes run, row, skip, climb rope and carry odd objects. They frequently move large loads long distances quickly, using powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting techniques. CrossFit athletes also use dumbells, gymnastics rings, pull-up bars, and many body weight exercises.

For me I’ve noticed two specific factors that make CrossFit stand out amongst all other works/gyms. Community and realistic attainable goals that provide visual results.

Stepping stones: CrossFit is a different work out every day. One day you may be doing pull-ups and burpees the next dead lifts and a mile sprint. Regardless of what the workout is it is a full body experience every time. Many athletes will tell you after a WOD (workout of the day) Laying on the floor is its own reward. Many of the workouts we do have a name. For example CHEALSEA is 5 pull-ups 10 pushups and 15 squats every minute on the minute for 30 minutes for a total of 150 pull-ups, 300 pushups, and 450 squats. I personally couldn’t get a perfect score on my first try, but I most likely will not be doing this specific workout again for a few months. I kept a record of how I did and then the next time we do this workout I will hopefully do better. Each day I tend to do some work out or at least a portion of a work out that I had previously done and then surpassed my previous score/weight/time. This provides a sense of satisfaction and proof that your hard work is paying off in real visible ways. Each week I see improvement. More pull-ups in a row, more reps in a workout, a faster time. Each week I seem to get a new PR “personal record” for something, and each PR is proof that the program is working. Constant results are an incredible motivator, and provide a sense of self satisfaction and pride that most people don’t get on a day to day basis. Either from their jobs and or relationships. This is all then reinforced by what I think is the more important aspect of CrossFit.

Community: When someone gets a new PR everyone congratulates them. If one person finishes a workout ahead of a teammate or even if a teammate is struggling the other members cheer them on pushing them to the limits of their potential. When the workout is done everyone compares their scores and times to see how they stacked up. CrossFit is group fitness at its best. Each member becomes somewhat accountable to the next, and as one gets stronger so does the entire community. Each person’s success motivates the next to push harder. We are both competing against each other and at the same time supporting each other. Everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. Ideas are not held as secrets but shared openly with the community, and in doing so provide a place to commiserate in each other’s pain and celebrate each other’s victories. The members of this gym don’t just work out together they are friends, they are family. They are bound by their mutual determination to be healthy, fit, and strong. CrossFit accommodates men and women of all ages and abilities and excludes only those who are unwilling try and better themselves. And it should be noted that CrossFits boarders are not limited to your individual gym. The community is alive on the internet, and you can go to any CrossFit gym across the country and seamlessly fit into the culture.

CrossFit a perfect storm of fitness, and has turned the drudgery of working out into something I look forward to on a daily basis. Since joining CrossFit I have quickly gotten into the best shape of my entire life. The price may seem to great when compared to your normal gym, but then again CrossFit is more than just a workout and well worth the price of admission.

http://www.crossfit.com/
http://www.valleycrossfit.com/

Binge drinking and horror movies.

Recently I’ve realized that I have a love hate relationship with a certain type of horror movie. Any movie that deals with possession and demons. I liken my relationship with this genre of film to my relationship with binge drinking. Its fun during the experience, but at the end of the night I never sleep well.

During these movies I’m at the edge of my seat, I enjoy every jump and appreciate the filmmaker’s ability to induce that sense of unease that I so rarely get in my real life. Much like drinking, I always having fun, lots of, but when the show/party is over its time to go home. Then after both I always find myself lying in my bed unable to fall asleep till 3-4 AM. The next morning I always wake up and say I’ll never do that again, but somehow a few months later there I am at 3 in the morning unable to sleep. (which coincidentally is the witching hour)

Thankfully I don't drink to this point very often anymore. I've mostly learned my lesson on that front, but I can't say the same for horror movies. Now I should be clear here, I love a lot of horror films. Monster movies being my favorite. This is mostly because most horror movies are not designed to truly scare you. Monster movies are usually more thriller than scary. They startle you at best. There is a monster out in the dark trying to hunt the hero down and eat him/her, but it’s very real physical presence. All of the characters have a fighting chance to beat back the beast, and they almost always do. The strong / smart survive. JAWS, ALIENS, THE DECENT, any zombie, or any serial killer movie are all examples of monster movies. These movies illicit a response because we are not so much scared of the beast but worried for our heroes. It’s not really fear, but tension. I love these movies because they delve into that deep part of our psyche tapping into that fight or flight survival instinct.

In recent years gore movies have been big. They show us disturbing images in order to make you nauseous. They are not so much scary as they are disturbing. A few examples: SAW, HOSTEL, SILENT HILL…Personally I find this type of horror movie cheap. These movies often mask their story flaws and inability to manifest tension in an audience by showing them images that will act as a short cut to the effect. Frankly, I mostly avoid these movies. If I wanted to be grossed out I would just go to www.gross.com (don’t go here, seriously), and see some gruesome images and be done with it. These movies have been aptly nicknamed torture porn. Because like real porn these movies are a quick easy way to get your fix then move on, but are never really all that fulfilling. Unless of course its really high quality porn. PIRATES. Cheap internet porn (5 min) VS good sex (1 hour). Good horror movie (90 minutes) VS image of cutting someone’s optic nerve with a scissors (2 seconds).

Lastly there are the movies that keep me up at night. Demons / exorcism movies. These movies scare the bejezus out of me. They terrify me in the movie theater and almost always linger with me for a few days. I recently watched PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, actually I watched it about 6 hours ago, and still haven’t been able to fall asleep yet. Which is why I’m writing this at 4:30 in the morning. Anyway...I watched this movie and here I am unable to fall asleep, cursing myself for going to see yet another possession movie. To be fair though I didn’t know it was a possession movie till about half way through. Point is this movie and all others like it usually leave me very unsettled. A few other examples of movies that I won’t watch anymore. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, THE RING, THE EXORCIST, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, see a trend here????

It wasn’t until recently that I realized why these movies scare the shit out of me. I’m a logical person, and I tend to think that most intelligent beings rational beings. All actions are taken with purpose wither it be subconscious or otherwise. So most malicious actions that people take in life are usually done to fulfill some personal need or gain. I’m hurting you so I can get money. So I can get revenge. So I can take power. So I can punish. There are real world exceptions to this, (malice for pleasure), but they are few and far between. Their actions are rarely if ever random, and even if you are their target there is almost always some resource you can take to save yourself. The strong/smart still survive. But things are different when dealing with the devil.

Movies that deal with demonic possession typically have a protagonist who has done nothing to stand out from the crowd, but still is chosen. Chosen to be haunted, disturbed, taunted for amusement, and ultimately killed in some horrific manner. The demon wants nothing but to cause pain and suffering. There can be no negotiation. There can be no discussion. It takes without asking and reviles in others anguish. These movies come into your home, make no place safe, and they leave you no quiet assurances that you’ll make it through this. Because in the stories no one ever does.

Indiscriminate, random, unavoidable, non-negotiable, acts of malice... Pure evil. This is what scares me. This is what keeps me up at night. This is what makes me wish I just stayed home and watched stupid feel good comedy. Maybe next time I'll just spend my 15 bucks on a six pack and stay home. (probably not)

Informational Apathy

This last year’s presidential election had the highest voter turnout in over a quarter century, and was the best example of democracy in action that this country has seen in a long time. This was mostly due to this last election’s hot button issues fanning the political flame. While the turn out for this election was amazing and a great first step towards an effective democracy we have run into a different hurdle. Over the last 8 years Americans have become more and more susceptible to sensationalism. We have become lazy and instead of taking the time to do the research to make an informed decision. We are allowing a few media outlets to make the decision for us. This is true of both the left and the right. Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh revolution are just as bad as their Rachel Maddow / Keith Olbermann counter parts. The problem is all these people are all sensationalist whose chief job is not to inform the public, but to make money by entertaining. This is unfortunate because Americans would rather take the advice of one of these self described patriots/protectors than go and do the research themselves. Consequently our public is becoming more and more polarized and uninformed. I find that this stems from a single issue. Our country suffers from a lack of leaders. No one wants to invest the time or take the risk associated with having an informed opinion because then you are culpable. If your opinion leads to rune you are to blame. BUT if you were just following someone else advice you have deniability. We are a nation of sheep being lead by sensationalist who do not have your best interest in mind. Only YOU have your best interest in mind. If you take the time to do your research you may find that your beliefs are not actually republican ideals, but you may in actuality be a libertarian. Or if you are a democrat you may discover you are really more of a Progressive or Social democrat. You have more than two options. You don’t have to decide between fox news and MSNBC. You don’t have to be all or nothing. This political duality is forcing the public to believe that one side is right while the other is wrong, and that there is no gray area in-between. But there is. It’s not all or nothing and you don’t have to let someone else dictate your decisions. Having different opinions doesn’t make either of us wrong so long as we can have a civil educated discussion. Today our political arena’s weapons are hyperbole, name calling, fear mongering, and lies. No decision can or should be made with these devices as evidence. We the public are responsible for allowing this to happen and the only way we can remove this crap from the political arena by educating ourselves. Listen to arguments from all sides. Read source material as well as second hand interpretations. Talk to people with different viewpoints and actually listen to what they have to say. Take your education into your own hands.

World Population

In the last few days I’ve noticed a number of articles from around the world discussing population in various ways. State side proud Arkansas Dugger family has just welcomed their 19^th child into the world. Internationally the BBC world news reported that the global population should reach about 8 Billion by 2020. Population is a touchy subject and the Duggers seem to have riled a few feathers. Is it wrong to have that many children? Many would say that so long as the children are taken care of there is nothing wrong with it, but while that seems fair on
the surface it sets a poor precedent.

The Dugger Family

The world population is set to increase by nearly 20% in the next 10 years. Ironically the population’s boom is happening mostly in Africa and other third world nations. These nations currently do not have the means to support their populations without help from outside aid. The people having children are more often than naught poor and uneducated. It is interesting to note that while the world population is rising most of the industrialized nations are experiencing a decline in growth, and some even a shrinkage. Many European countries are having less and less children. It is a common trend that the more educated a nation the lower the average birth rate. With education wealth usually accompanies that as well. So the smartest and the richest people in the world are the ones having the fewest children.

Often poverty is a result of not being educated. And the uneducated are more likely to: not be informed about proper safe sex techniques, have sex more often because sex is a cheap form of entertainment. If you put a bunch of people in a room with nothing to do for long enough they will find a way to entertain themselves and sex is one of the easiest and most gratifying. Poorer countries have more sex and use less prevention leading to high rates of STDs as well is a high birth rate.

Well educated wealthier individuals find other things to keep them preoccupied with so they have sex less often, but when they do they are far more likely to take safety measures. All this makes for less STDs and a lower birth rate.

Ok so what? A bunch of babies are born in Africa, the world has the ability to supply the necessary resources to keep them alive. But I ask at what quality of life? The majority of the population of the world is hanging on by a thin thread. If we elevated them up to even half the standard of living we enjoy in the United States the world would be devoid of natural resources in a short period of time.

Now I know that I will be hated for this next comment, but I think to a certain degree Darwin needs to take his course. The reason poor impoverished people have more babies is to increase the likelihood that some will survive. And the reason more well off families have fewer children is because the likelihood that they will die is slim. This can be seen all throughout nature. By giving so much aid to these nations that have a population so great that they could never be able to sustain themselves without assistance is just delaying the inevitable. We are building a population bubble that will eventually have to burst. If Africa can only produce enough food to feed 1 billion people we shouldn’t be allowing their population to balloon to 3 billion by supplying them with aid. What happens if in just one year there is a food shortage? Starvation will be rampant. Billions will die. More will die in a year than if we just kept our numbers at a sustainable level. Is it fair to those who are not yet born to doom them to starvation?

What people don’t often see in this equation is the reason why our populations are always being pushed to grow. Simply put its pure economics.

1) The more people there are the more money there is to be made because there are more consumers.

2) Older individuals require more resources to take care of. Insurance companies, SS, Medicare and any other risk spreading programs work on the basic principle that population will continue to grow so that there will always be more young/healthy people than older in order to foot the bill.

In Eastern Europe many countries are having to dole out tax cuts to incentives people to have children, because in a few short years their social programs will not be able to sustain themselves. There will be more old people than young.

So what can we do? We need to always have more young healthy people than old, yet we don’t want so many people that we eventually set ourselves up for a mass rationing of resources that causes a huge chunk of the population to starve and die. What we need is to promote a sustainable population. If the same number of children were born every year the population would slowly come to a level. Since there are always some people who don’t make it to old age there would always be a higher number of young and healthy individuals to support the older. How do we accomplish this?

1) Support marital unions and a culture of monogamy.

- Marriage and monogamous relationships are more likely to have healthier and better educated children.

2) Educate the public on safe sex practices.

- Abstinence only education is almost as bad as no education. This is the most practical and reasonable way to stop unwanted pregnancy, the spread of disease.

3) Adopt

- There are millions of children out there with families. Take these children in gives them a better chance of being a productive member of society, and lowers the population by reducing the need to have babies.

4) Support Roe VS Wade.

- This shouldn’t be an issue if education was up to standards as abortion is most often a result of not being educated on safe sex practices.

Some more radical ways that may be necessary if we don’t act soon.

5) Limit the number of children a family can have to 2.

- If every woman was limited to 2 children the world’s population would slowly decrease.

6) Discontinue supplying foreign aid to nations that cannot sustain their population on their own.

- This would cause a large number of people to starve, but in the end would allow for a sustainable population to be built. In the end it would save billions from suffering instead of millions.

Our growing population is the root of all of our problems. Our growing need for energy, food, space, and resources can all be traced back to our growing population. If we don’t start to make some serious choices we are going to face some serious consequences. You think its hard to say no to 3 children try saying no to 10, then 20. I’ll be way worse later, but I guess that is something someone in the future will have to worry about. Not us. Not me.

Amendment - This article was used to site a contradiction between my belief in national health care and my somewhat Darwinistic utilitarian beliefs displayed in the above article. I would like to address this. If one takes the time to really consider the arguement you can see they are not related. First off health care in our country is not in short supply. We have the means to supply everyone with healthcare, but you method of delivery is defunked. We have the ability to be completely self sustaining if we would manage our resources properly. Currently we have a unsustainable system that needs to be put down. I would advocate that healthcare reform is pushing us towards sustainability which is ultimately what my point for population control.

Imagination Lost?

So a little while ago I went to watch Pixar’s new movie “UP”.
It was a great movie and I completely recommend seeing it, but alas this is not a review of the movie. After watching the film I had a realization. During “UP” there are a number of events and scenes that are beyond the scope of reality. The movie jumps very blatantly into fantasy at points. While the movie is obviously fantasy, the story is set in a semi real world. Yes, a house floating with balloons is not possible, but it felt natural in the world of the film, but a pack of dogs flying airplanes is a little to unrealistic to believe. I’m not criticizing the dogs. The dogs flying airplanes worked within the story. I accepted them without a thought, but only after did I realize that as an adult my mind wouldn’t jump to the option of having dogs flying fighter planes.

As a child you are so new to the world that you are not sure how things actually work. Anything is possible because you don’t know what isn’t possible. The idea of what is possible and impossible or what exists and what doesn’t hasn’t sunk in yet. Kids spout off crazy stories of Dogs flying planes and rocks in the center of the earth that can cure aids that we as adults would have a hard time coming up with because our minds our so rooted in the realm of reality that we limit ourselves. Most of us tend to think logically, and our thoughts conform to our understanding of the world and how it works. Our departures into fantasy are weak at best compared to a child’s, and even when we do venture off into a fantasy land we have to justify these departures from the reality. We are not able to just blindly accept that people have magic powers. We’ll see someone flying and then ask ourselves “well how can they fly, do they have magic powers, is this a mutation in their DNA, did God grant them a gift…” Science Fiction is the most shining example. It’s fantasy that is logically justified. It is difficult for adults to blindly accept departures from reality, while a child wouldn’t give it a passing thought.

Are our imaginations slowly being stunted as we learned more about the world we live in. Are we incapable of thinking as freely as a child unrestricted by the bonds of reality and previous experiences, or does our understanding of the world work as restriction that in the end foster creativity?

THE AMERICAN UNDERSTANDING OF WAR

America hasn’t had a war fought on her soil since 1865. Our homes and cities haven’t been destroyed by attack and our people haven’t been subject to the perils of being occupied by an enemy force. We are one of the few nations in the world fortunate enough to have been able to experience such peace. But because of this peace we as a nation have been slowly becoming more apathetic to war, and the suffering of the world.

There has been only a small percentage of the US population that has truly felt the burden of war. Those who lost friends/relatives in the military and or the 9/11 attacks. I personally haven’t been affected by either. In fact I remember thinking in the days after the 9/11 attacks how little my life had changed. Then again in 2003 when we went into Iraq I remember thinking “everything is gonna change”, but it didn’t. My life went on pretty much the same way it would have regardless of the war. I still think Iraq has affected only a small percentage of the US population. There have been around 4,500 casualties, and 55,000 wounded. That means even if 100 people were affected for every injured or killed soldier that would still only be 16% of the population affected. The other 84% of the population’s lives haven’t been drastically altered in any way.

To most Americans war is an abstract concept. We understand what it is and that people die, but for some reason it’s not completely real to us. The suffering that happens just seems like a story that we’re watching but not experiencing. We as a nation seem so much more willing to sign off on fighting instead of diplomacy because we as a populous don’t truly understand what is actually happening. Only a 20% of us have actually felt the cost of war.

In WWII Germany saw 7 million of its citizens died. The Soviet Union saw 23 million. All of Europe witnessed their cities crumble. But America only witnessed this devastation through news reels and in the eyes of its returning soldiers. The country as a whole was relatively unscathed. The Vietnam and Korean wars were much the same. American’s have forgotten what war and suffering looks like. Even though we think we know we don’t because it’s completely different when it’s on your door step. It’s more personal when you see it firsthand. When you can smell and taste it. With the exception of maybe New York we as a nation don’t understand suffering.

And what does all this do? Because the last few generations haven’t suffered we now take our freedom for granted. We have forgotten the fact that the rights and privileges that we enjoy were earned in blood. The first 100 years of our countries existence was spent fighting to preserve the freedom that we had won, and now most of the country doesn’t even vote. Most of my fellows Americans have never even read the document that guarantees their freedom, the Constitution. All this has built up to a nation of people who feel that they should automatically be entitled success and to be able to do whatever they want.

I’m not saying that we should be bombed or suffer like many other places have, but what I am saying is that we as a country should feel the consequences of our actions more often. We might be less apt to run off head long into combat if we all had to bear the burden of war more equally. During WWII our country rallied together and rationed their supplies in order to fight a war. Everyone was affected. During Vietnam the draft took men from all walks of life wither they wanted to fight or not. In either situation I don’t think that the current population would stand for these actions. The public would cry out for isolationism so long as it meant they could still get their morning latte.

Something needs to change. When US WEEKLY, PEREZ HILTON, and TMZ have more viewers than any major new publication there is a probblem. When Iran is in a state of riot over the results of its recent free election, and only 1 in 20 American's knows about it much less cares about it, there is a probblem.

Sex after 40

A saw this posted today on Craigslist. It was quickly removed, but I thought it was to amazing not to share. Girls remember this.

Dear: women of the world,
I'm so f'ing tired of women who complain about sex! First off, as a guy, we've so much pressure on us to perform it's unreal! Can I get a hard on? How long can I last? Can I make her orgasm SEVERAL times? Can I stay awake afterward? WTF! Do you women realize the enormous amount of work needed to have sex, much less sex after 40?!

Let's go back to our teen yrs WHEN I COULDN'T KEEP MY HANDS OFF OF YOU! Recall when I wanted to have sex in the stairway, at the bus stop, during gym under the bleachers, after school before your parents got home, in the parked car, & I even climbed through your window at night while your family was asleep?! & THAT WAS ALL IN 1 DAY! Hell, I could last for hours, shoot my load, & be ready to go again in 15 mins! But what did I hear from you, a young, demure, selfish, cock tease?! "No, wait till tomorrow.", "Let's just cuddle.", "The cat is watching.", & the classic "Is that all you think I'm good for"!

Well, the shoe's on the other foot now & guess what? I'm tired from sheer exhaustion of chasing your cock teasing ass for the last 25 yrs! Constantly leaving me w/ "blue balls" & "whacking off" because you want me to "respect you in the morning"! Well guess what years of cock abuse has done to my sex drive?


Yes, it's your fault I've no interest in sex! Not getting any & whacking off to porn for 25 yrs has desensitized my nerve endings to the point that I feel nothing from my navel to my knees! Fantasizing about every possible way of f'ing your brains out has distorted reality for me! You walking in w/ nothing on under a fur coat pales in comparison to me fantasizing about you rimming my ass while I do you best friend in front of 18 thousand fans at the Staples Center!



It's your fault for teasing away the most potent yrs of my life. You should've taken advantage of my erections from your cat jumping on my crotch when you had the chance, but no! You wanted to just cuddle WTF?

Now, in the height of your sex drive, you want ME to pin your legs behind your ears after a long day at work, & give it to your for more than 10 times a day?! PUH-LEASE! Nope! You see, now you'll suffer the same inglorious defeat I experienced many moons ago. So go get yourself a multi-speed, gyrating, flesh feeling, thingamabob, a handful of Peter North dvds, & come up with some creative ways to sneak around the house & have yourself a little "Par-tay"! Otherwise, be prepared to wine me, dine me, take me golfing, & stroke my little ego until I'M IN THE MOOD!


And don't give me that crap about getting some "young, dumb, & full of cum" kid. I'll divorce your ass so fast your fallopians will get twisted! And afterward, I'll get the chance to re-live those glory years with some young, nubile, tight bodied, coed looking for a sugar daddy! Even if it is once a month!

So, the next time you're thinking about making some smart ass remark like, "Mr. 5 min. man", just remember that 25yrs of neglect is the reason why Mr. Willie doesn't get excited 2 see your ass anymore!