Posts Tagged ‘Drive Time’

Drive Time with Smashby: I Feel Like I’m Taking Crazy Pills

Posted: July 6, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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One of my favorite parts of being a coach/personal trainer is being able to see your athletes improve through their hard work!

A really funny part of coaching is when you give an athlete a cue on how to improve a particular skill, and then a few days or weeks later having them share “this brand new cue they heard” from somewhere else …. that is the exact same cue you gave them previously. It happens more often than you might think.

There are so many factors that explain why moments like this happen (information overload or ineffective cuing from the coach, athlete physical and mental fatigue, the list goes on), but they can each be used as a learning experience if you let them!

What do you think about what I have to say on the topic? I’d love to know!

Drive Time with Smashby: Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe

Posted: June 22, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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A lot of friends have been venting to me lately about things that are frustrating them. You know what? I love it. I love that people feel comfortable opening up to me, and sharing what’s going on in their lives. These are friends from all over the country, too. Some I’ve known for most of my adult life, others I’ve met through CrossFit or from them following my blog.

After a second person shared a story about how a friend has let them down time and time again, a third person talked about how they felt competitiveness between “friends” had been taken to an unhealthy level in the gym, and yet another person would tell me how they wish they’d get more coaching at their gym, I started to notice a pattern in the advice I was giving.

In the video below I summarize the advice I gave to most of these friends. Here’s the gist:

“Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe” is a quote I heard from a friend about a year and a half ago. I absolutely fell in love with that sentence.

What it means to me is that most (not all, but most) of the time, we have the ability to make changes to our environment based on our own actions and reactions. Meaning, if someone or something is stressing you out, there are likely steps you can take to either change that scenario or remove yourself from it.

Take a watch and let me know what you think, please. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Drive Time with Smashby: Gym Dogs

Posted: June 13, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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I love dogs.

No, I mean I REALLY love dogs.

To prove it to you, I’m about to show you pictures that my wife sent me while I was coaching last week to brighten my day.

Yep, those are our babies. 😍

Even though I work in gyms, I can’t take my fur babies to work with me, and there are a few reasons why. While most people love them, I’m sure not everyone would. Besides, the Corgi’s “SUPERBARK” would echo through the gym so much that a few members would probably go deaf. I don’t want that to happen.

In the video below, I share a bit of my perspective on “gym dogs” and the different policies I’ve seen used at the many gyms I’ve visited/worked in a decade of CrossFit. This is not an exhaustive list. I don’t even touch on things like people who are simply scared of dogs, or those who may have allergies to dogs, for example.

Instead, this post is simply create constructive dialogue over a topic that gets a lot of people really fired up on both sides of the issue.

My stance is that everyone involved should be hyper-aware that the worst case scenario of something going wrong is a pretty bad scenario. So whatever you do as an owner or an athlete/member, just be careful. No one wants a human or dog to get hurt, or to have any property damaged.

What are your thoughts on gyms allowing dogs? Let’s discuss!

Drive Time with Smashby: Yes You Should

Posted: June 5, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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Believe it or not, sometimes I just don’t feel like working out. I typically spend all day trying to motivate others to improve their lives through fitness, so when the gym clears out and it’s my turn, I can struggle to get inspired to do it myself. Today was one of those days. I was sore, I convinced myself there were too many other things I needed to do instead, and I was a few minutes away from throwing in the towel.

At that moment I stopped and asked myself what I would tell one of my athletes if they told me they didn’t feel like working out. The first thing that popped into my head was, “the only bad workout is the one that didn’t happen.” While that’s SO cheesy, and definitely in line with things I say every day, I also think it’s true!

As long as you’re not injured and your body isn’t begging for a rest day because of over-training, I feel that we can almost always be productive with our time in the gym. Scale back weight or reps! Focus on technique if the assigned percentages feel too heavy! Spend that hour stretching and mobilizing if you’re too wrecked!

But if you have the time to go to the gym, and it doesn’t get in the way of anything else…. Go! Go and be productive, have some fun, say hi to some friends, and realize that you’re likely better off for having gone.

Should you still go to the gym if motivation is low or if you’re sore? Most of the time, yes.

Yes, you should.

What do you think about that advice? Do you agree or not? Let’s talk!

Drive Time with Smashby: Bouncing Back

Posted: May 26, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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An athlete asked for my advice to help them plan their “return to sport” after some time out of the gym. Whether your training stops due to injury, illness, surgery, or just vacation, it can be really unsafe to push too hard after you’ve been out for several weeks or more.

My advice for most athletes in this context is fairly simple and consistent, regardless of the circumstances: “Build back slower than you think you should.”

A lot of us are Type-A, chargers, achievers, and go-getters. Lifting lighter weight, scaling back reps or rounds in a workout, and taking more rest days can feel like torture. But at the end of the day, I think the big picture needs to be taken into account. If you “Rx” a workout before your body is ready, the recovery time can be extended exponentially, and old injury could be aggravated or made even worse, or new imbalances could be introduced due to overcompensating. Give yourself time to recover fully. Reestablish healthier and safer movement patterns. See and feel how your body reacts to training at 50% for a few days, then 55%, then 60%, and so on. In many cases, slowing down more than you want can lead to a strengthening of movement that actually will help you come back even stronger than before.

As always, I’ve got a lot more to say on the subject, but I tried to keep the video to around four minutes. If anyone would like to continue this conversation, leave a comment and let’s keep it going.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, friends!

Drive Time with Smashby: Jealousy

Posted: May 9, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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The day has finally arrived! Drive Time with Smashby is BACK!!

Today’s topic: Jealousy in the gym

How can you be less jealous of others around them, and how can you allow jealous people around you to effect you less?

I’d love it if you could take a few minutes to watch my video below, and let me know your thoughts in the comments. Agree with me? Great. Why? Disagree? Let’s talk about it!

Happy Hump Day, everyone!

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