I worked up to an easy set of 5 today with 585lbs. It felt good but my knee has been sore so I stopped there.

Here is the video:

Now onto one of the greatest conversations I've ever had with my sister Krista. She has been getting into training lately and although she is friends with me on Facebook, hears me rant at family functions and generally knows I hate everything the mass media puts out in regards to fitness: Here was the real conversation she had with me yesterday. I honestly forget that this is how the general public perceives training. We joke about it as a staff but after this conversation it made me realize how much better of a job I have to do at educating the general public on training.

Krista: "Now, remember, there are no stupid questions." (I knew it was gonna be bad with this as a conversation starter.)

Krista: "I'm confused, what is Crossfit, I went today and it was just squats and stuff that I know you have been doing forever"

Me: "Crossfit is a sport. It's kinda like how people have always ran since they stood up straight and got chased by a predator. But the first guy to mark off 100 meters and declare a winner, invented the sport of track. That guy didn't invent running, he just put it in a format where it was timed so someone could win. Crossfit just takes exercises people have done forever and puts them in a format you time so there is a winner, basically it made exercise a sport."

Krista: "Well I don't want to compete, I just want to be stronger and toned"

ME: "Then you should find a facility that does group training that is geared towards individual needs and goals, like mine. I don't know of any in Lansing, but I can check."

Krista: "Well, my friend goes to this gym and she likes it (thus showing that people choose gyms not based on quality coaching or programming but where there friends go), but I didn't think the workout was that hard today, I liked my bootcamps better. I need to feel like I moved the whole time and we did squats and rested for the first part of the workout."

Me: "Yes, Krista, this is how you get stronger and toned. You lift heavy weights and must have rest in between your sets to be able to give 100%. Also, to stay healthy you must do mobility work, which isn't super hard in cardiovascular terms."

Krista: "But I don't want to lift heavy weights because I don't want to look like a man and gain a lot of muscle."

Me: "And I won't walk in Victoria Secret cause I don't want to grow huge titties and become a super model."

Krista: "that's ridiculous"

Me: "And so is what you just said. 1. You don't have the testosterone to put on muscle, and even if you did, you would have to put on 3lbs. of muscle to take up the same space as every 1lb. of fat you lose. Unless you are taking testosterone injections, then it is impossible for you to look like a man or to put on enough muscle to take up the space of all the extra fat you are carrying. People work their whole lives to put on quality muscle and struggle but amazingly you are just gonna be different than every other human. 2. Lifting heavy is what makes you toned. Without heavy weights and following your bootcamp only plan, you will look flabby and like you have no tone. It's funny but you have been doing that and don't like the way you look. Maybe it's because you haven't been training with heavy weights? and lastly: The only reason you have that thought about looking like a man is because every time the media puts a pic up of a woman that lifts it's a testosterone fueled bodybuilder chick who is gigantic. The only reason they look like that is because they are taking more testosterone than your husband has in his body.  It is impossible for a woman to look like that.  Look at all the woman who are sponsored by Elitefts.com. None look like men and quite a few are pretty little people, especially for how much they lift.

Krista: "Well, that makes sense but I like to feel like I'm got killed every workout and I didn't feel like that today."

Me: "It was your first day, trust me, if you keep going to a crossfit gym, you will get crushed, and eventually probably hurt yourself if they don't progress you properly. The thing is any bum off the street could crush you. That's like saying I want the lawyer that yells the loudest in court, no you want the lawyer that is the smartest and wins for you. Same thing with a coach, you don't want the trainer that crushes you every workout, you want the one that gets results for you week after week, month after month, without hurting you. Charlie (my 9yr old son) could crush you with a workout he comes up with, but is your judge of a good workout really at the level that a 9yr old could accomplish?

Krista: "Well, no, I guess I do want some one who follows a plan and just doesn't crush me, but I like that feeling."

ME: "I bet you would like the feeling of actually being toned and stronger a lot more though wouldn't you?"

Krista: "Yes"

Me: "Well then I guess you need to choose whether you actually want results or just the feeling that you did something hard."

Krista: "But you train really hard, don't you feel like you got crushed every workout."

Me: "hell no, some days my training is walking, foam rolling and getting a massage. There has to be a bigger plan than just show up and get crushed. This is why so many people get hurt and don't see results."

Krista: "Oh"

I know that most of you have heard these things before but for it to come from my sister was really startling. She has access to all the information in the world and yet still has the same myths and fallacies that 90% of our population has. It is no wonder we are the fattest country in the world.

Another thing that was telling from the conversation was that she picked her new gym based on 1. Location first 2. what her friends said about it. The quality of coaching didn't matter, the program didn't really matter, other than she wanted it to "feel hard". What she did say was that the guy who ran it seemed "nice". So this shows you how people choose their gyms. I like to focus on our education, quality of coaching and accomplishments but really I need to re-access how I market because apparently none of those matter to the general public.