Posts Tagged ‘Goals’

Smashby Speaks: My 2020 Roadmap!

Posted: January 2, 2020 in CrossFit, Training
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As we enter a new year (and decade!), I have been thinking to identify a few key guiding principals that can help me set clear and effective goals for myself; as a person, a coach and trainer, and an athlete.

Here are the four that I came up with:

1- Judge Less

2- Collaborate More

3- Prioritize Recovery

4- Have Fun!

In the video below, I go into a bit more detail for each.

It’s important to note that these are not THE four pillars I think one should follow, they’re just four OF the pillars I think one CAN follow! They’re the ones I’m using to start guiding my goals for the next year.

Like with most things, I’m sure they’ll grow and change with time.

What are your thoughts?

How are you going about setting yourself up for a successful year? I’d love to hear!

And if there’s anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Happy New Year!

Sunday Status Update 4/1/18

Posted: April 1, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week.

Last week:

  • Fitness
    • The 2018 CrossFit Games Open is over!!! We did ittttt!!!
    • For workout 18.5, I retested and got ten more reps. This was a big deal for me because I was a little bummed that “in six years I only improved three reps” (from my first attempt.) I paced the second go-round better, was a little bit more fearless, and trusted that I’d have enough juice in the tank to hang on. I’m happy with how this Open season ended, and I’m really proud of so many of the athletes I got to watch compete. Great job, friends!
  • Health
    • Another good week of meal prep in the books. I don’t think I went out to eat for lunch (due to lack of planning) a single day, and always had food relatively closeby.
    • Since I wasn’t staying up super late to record the Open workout strategy videos, I got quite a bit more sleep, too! I won’t tell you how much “quite a bit more” is, but hey… celebrate the small victories. I promise I’m working on sleeping more!

This week:

  • Need to fine-tune things on completing taxes, so when that’s done, I can breathe a little bit easier. Can’t wait!
  • Some of you might remember the speech I gave at the Annual Conference of Urologists in Florida last year. I was asked to speak at another event of theirs here in town, and the big day is this Saturday. I’m really excited, and flattered to have been invited back. It’s going to be a big weekend of work-related things, but at least I enjoy the work I do, right?

Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?

Pic of the week is of the newest addition to our home gym… our very own Concept2 Rower! I still haven’t even touched it yet, but it’s here! Excited to hopefully get in a bit more cardio when life slows down a little bit.

Monthly Recap: March 2018

Posted: March 31, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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I’m convinced that time is just going to just keep moving faster for the rest of my life. HOW is March already over?! While a large portion of my energy was focused around the CrossFit Open, and helping athletes prepare for it more effectively, it still felt like 31 days went by in a flash. But, we’ve got some recapping to do, so let’s get to it!

March 2018

Fitness- The 2018 CrossFit Games Open is OVER! We did it! After five long weeks of competing, personally redoing every workout once (and doing better each time), I ended up in 278th place in the South West Region out of 9,236 men. That places me in the top 96th percentile in the region, for those of you keeping track at home. Oh, none of you are keeping track? Ok, cool. Another fun stat, is that I finished as the 99th fittest male in Colorado! Top 100, baby! Check out my rankings, by year, since the Open started. I wish they’d show how many people were in each category for scale. This is fun.

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Last month I felt I had a lot of success with snatching. That’s weird because I don’t remember snatching much at all this month. The Open ruled my training mentality, and that’s fine because I knew that would happen going in. Now, it’s time to get back on track and set some goals!

My “First Ever” class this month was YET ANOTHER another Yoga class with Em. January was just a regular yoga class. February was partner yoga. This month, it was my first time doing yoga with approximately one million other people! I’ve always seen pictures of yoga mats laid out, side by side, as far as the eye can see. I didn’t understand how that could be soothing, or comfortable… and now that I’ve taken a class in that setting, I still don’t! There was a cool “Deep House Yoga” practice that took place inside a night club that I had been to many times… which is inside of what used to be an old church. Yes, weird on so many levels, I agree. But, I’m three months into 2018, and have done yoga three times. Go, me!

House- The garage is done! Check out this beauty. I’m actually really proud of this project. Now, to organize! We also bought a new tent for summer camping adventures (correct, there will likely never be any winter camping chosen by this household!) and set it up to “waterproof” it before our first big weekend trip in a few months! It’s awesome.

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Other- My “baby” brother turned 18 years old in the middle of the month, and my dad randomly messaged me in a Saturday asking if I wanted to meet up with them the following weekend in Tuscon. We had a blast! I also got to try an old Stupid Human Trick during the few hours of down time I had with my bro. Here’s my pool jump!

What’s going on with all of you? I’d love to hear some of your accomplishments in March, or goals for April!

Sunday Status Update 3/4/18

Posted: March 4, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week.

Last week:

  • Fitness
    • The 2018 CrossFit Games Open is under way, so that means the next few weeks of training won’t be too productive. Unless my soul gets absolutely crushed, I’ll likely redo most of the workouts. It’s not because I think I’m going to Regionals, but because it’s always fun for me to see if I can beat my first score.
    • For workout 18.1, I retested and got 22 more reps the second time, so that was fun.
    • This week, I paced the first part of 18.2 too much, and got buried under the clean. I’m fairly confident I can go faster on 18.2, but literally don’t think my legs are strong enough to stand up with any more weight. Let’s just hope I don’t go faster on the first, and then crash and burn on the clean. I know quite a few people who had that happen!
  • Drywall in the garage is done! It only took 6 hours on Sunday, but we did it!

This week:

  • I plan to record my strategy video for the third workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open. People are still responding well to them, so yay!
  • This coming weekend, it would be great to start mounting the pegboard in the garage.

Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?

The pic of the week comes from a little walk we took on Saturday. It may just look like a sunset over mall parking lot, but it’s more than that. In this moment, Em and I were having an incredible conversation about work, family, and life. The older I get, the more I cherish moments like these. I hope you all had a great weekend, too!

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Monthly Recap: February 2018

Posted: March 1, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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For a month of January that dragged on for so many people, February was gone in the blink of an eye! Wow, where did the time go? For those of you new to the blog, my Monthly Recap post is more for my own records than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I love sharing what’s going on in my life with all of you. What I like more than that, though, is the ability to look back throughout the year and have documented evidence of things I’ve done! Sometimes we get so caught in the weeds of our day to day lives that we forget how much we’ve accomplished. You should try it!

February 2018

Fitness- Unless work got in the way, I took the noon classes on Mondays! That means there were other humans around when I trained, I actually had a coach to watch me, and I started the week off with a workout! Those are all good things!

In terms of actual numbers, I had the most success with Snatches this month. Hitting 185lb Powers is becoming much more consistent, I’m getting more confident hitting full snatches up to 200lbs, and when pulling from the “blocks” at the knee for the first time in years, I hit 230lbs (5lbs under my goal). A complex of Power Clean, Hang Squat Clean, and Front Squat at 260lbs got me pretty fired up, too. After a 2-second pause Front Squat at 275lbs I thought I’d feel stronger, but heaviest Clean and Jerk for the month was only 280lbs, also 5lbs under my goal. It’s alright, though, I’m working on it.

I was bummed the other day when I realized I didn’t hit A SINGLE goal I set for myself in the gym in February, so when I got the gym today (the 28th) and had a 30 minutes before class, I decided to take a shot at the mile run. After a 15 minute warm-up, and running for the first time in a month, I ran a 5:54! I’m pretty sure that’s my fastest mile in a few years, too. So… yay for hitting ONE goal I set! AND I also started a 1000 Calorie per Week Challenge, aiming to hit 4,000 total on a rower or an air bike over the course of the month. Got that one, too!

My “First Ever” class this month was another Yoga class with Em. Don’t tell me that another Yoga class doesn’t count, because it sure does…. it was Partner Yoga this time. There were a few Acro poses thrown in, AND I didn’t drop her once!

House- With a short month, me working nearly every weekend day, the weather being bad, AND going out of town one weekend, not a ton of house progress was made. We did drywall another third of the garage, but for March, I’d like to finish putting up drywall in the garage, AND installing our Pegboard.

Other- A weekend in Breckenridge was a nice little getaway, and we checked out the Ice Castles in Dillon. The weather got really cold and snowy for a good chunk of the month, so not a ton of activities went down. We did go see one of our favorite Dj’s (Defunk) in Boulder, so that was great. Also, the Pod Save America Podcast came to town, and we went to see them record a live show with some friends

For March, since I’m realizing how unrealistic it has been for me to go to the gym JUST to “test” certain things, my Fitness goals for March will basically remain the same. IF the chance arises to max my Olympic lifts, I’d like to Clean and Jerk 285lbs and Snatch 235lbs.

Setting the goal of reading a book per month has been a giant failure thus far, and it’s just because I’m out of the house and running around for so many hours per day. So I won’t set a goal there, other than TO READ in the month of March. The thing is, I’d LOVE to read the two books I have on my nightstand, it’s just so hard to prioritize that. I promise to keep trying.

What’s going on with all of you? I’d love to hear some of your accomplishments in February, or goals for March!

Sunday Status Update 2/25/18

Posted: February 25, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week. Not a particularly successful week by “bullet point” standards, but it happens.

Last week:

  • Fitness
    • It wasn’t a particularly great week of training for me as I was “forced” to take an extra rest day because of an insane work schedule, but it’s alright. I moved when I could, and sometimes that needs to be good enough!
    • If I had to pick one thing, it’d be not missing a snatch up to 200lbs on Wednesday, but that’s really it.
    • The first workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open is in the books! I don’t think I could have done much better, and the energy around the internets will be crazy for the next four weeks. Good luck to everyone competing!
  • Sleep was alright, but certainly not great. I need to be more consistent.
  • My busy weekend of training clients didn’t allow me to get to the drywall in the garage. But due to a really successful Saturday of coaching, I added a class to train junior athletes to my weekly schedule, so that’s really positive!

This week:

  • I plan to record my strategy video for the second workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open. I got some really positive feedback from people on the one last week, and that always makes me happy!
  • I reflected on the goals that I set for February earlier today, and believe I hit NONE of them! It’s so crazy to realize how quickly time flies. Since this is the last week of the month, I plan to spend some time thinking about how to set more realistic short term goals for myself. Long term goals are important, but in the few days and weeks in front of my face, I think it’s possible to set mini milestones to help keep encouraging progress.

Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?

The pic of the week comes from a concert we saw at the Fox Theater in Boulder, CO. The DJ’s name is Defunk, and if you’ve never heard him before, you should check out his Defunk Presents “The Funk Trunk Mixes” on Soundcloud. They’re great!

Why Are You Here?

Posted: February 19, 2018 in Coach's Corner, Training
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Fitness is awesome! Seriously. There are literally thousands of ways that we can improve our health and wellness, increase our ability to survive and thrive, and enhance our skills in order to perform particular tasks. It truly is all around us, and so many things impact our level of fitness at any given moment. It’s not just about lifting weights or going for a run. Nutrition, rest and recovery, and our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being are also critical pieces of the pie that can make us not only happier, but more effective and powerful beings.

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While at any given moment, each one of us might be on a separate fitness path, I have found that asking my athletes one question can make a profound difference in their training: “Why are you here?” A lot of people don’t immediately know what to say, but spending some time reflecting on the answer can help in a lot of ways.

Some athletes want to get stronger, others are looking to gain flexibility, and some just want to be able to eat and drink whatever they want. To some, spending time in the gym allows them to improve their health markers, potentially reduce the amount of prescription medicines they need to take. If an athlete is just in the gym to have fun, that’s completely fine. Usually, however, I’ve found there’s more to it than that. Even if they don’t aspire to compete in a local CrossFit event, people usually at least have the goal to get that first pull-up or muscle-up, or they strive to hit that 100- or 200-pound clean and jerk! By identifying a few specific goals, a training plan can be adjusted to accomplish them much faster!

For me, personally, NOT having a specific goal is a cop-out. It relieves me from needing to commit additional time to get better at any one thing. If my goal was just to “look better naked” that would be fine. But honestly, it’s been too long since I’ve TRAINED with a purpose in mind. The more I’m asked if I’ll compete in CrossFit again, the more I struggle with deciding what I want do for my next challenge. Individual or team comp? Power lifting or Olympic Weightlifting meet? Masters swim meet? A running race like a 5k or 10k? Who knows?! The point is nothing has me fired up enough to throw down. I’m hoping I find something soon, though.

It’s completely normal and very common for motivation to change from year to year, month to month, or even minute to minute. I just want to challenge you to be more deliberate in your training, and not just go through the motions. Moving with purpose, as I said in a post last week, is critical, but moving with A PURPOSE can be a game changer. That said, what is your action item? It’s time to pick something to focus on for the next few days, weeks, months.

Figure out what fitness means to you, and why you’re choosing to spend time in the gym each week. Are you registered for the Open? Is that your focus? If yes, what is your plan to attack each week as effectively as possible? Are you training for an event this spring? What can you do today, this week, and next, to better prepare yourself to succeed? Want to get that six-pack for summer? How much additional core work will you do each week? Feel free to share your goal(s) with me in the comments. As many of you know, once you write something down, it typically helps us remain more accountable!

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Sunday Status Update 2/11/18

Posted: February 11, 2018 in CrossFit, Training
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Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week.

Last week:

  • Fitness- The more time passes this year, the more appreciative I am of the little things that go well in my training. My expectation used to be that I had to hit big numbers in strength, and push hard on workouts. Both things had to be there, every day. Now, I look back on training and am excited to see that a few things go well every week. That’s been more than enough to keep me going lately.
    • Metcons:
      • 5 Rounds: 20/15 Calorie Row/Bike and 10 Thrusters (115/80) – 9:53rx
      • For Time:
        – 40/30 Cal Bike or Row
        – 100′ Front Rack Walking Lunge (DB 50/35)(KB 53/35)
        – 25/20 Cal Bike or Row
        – 100′ DB Walking Lunge
        – 15/10 Cal Bike or Row – 7:39rx
      • For Time:
        – 2k Row (or 1 mile run)
        – 200 Double Unders (300 singles)
        – 10 Rounds of Cindy (C2B Cindy) – 22:21c (chest to bar)
    • Barbell work:
    • Calorie Total:
      • The challenge this month was to accumulate 2,018 calories on a rower or bike. My goal last week was to complete an additional 1,000 calories, and I did it. I’m currently sitting at 2,300 for February.
  • Progress still continues slowly on my first book of the year (Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jacko Willink). I knew that it would be hard to prioritize sitting down and making time to read instead of doing some sort of work, but not this tough! I’m always so convinced that there are other things I need to be doing until the second I close my eyes to go to sleep, but at least I’m plugging away.

This week:

  • Write one “The 2018 Open is Coming” post
  • More progress on the book (Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jacko Willink)
  • Complete one thousand more calories on the bike and/or rower before next Sunday. Feeling good about the extra cardio I’m doing, I just need to MAKE time to get it in! Another 1,000 would put me at 3,300 by next weekend.
  • Swimming Post is basically done, just working on fine-tuning details on the graphic/poster! Booked another 2 new swim clients this week for later in the month, too.

Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?

Have a great week!

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