life

"If boys don't learn, men won't know" - Douglas Wilson

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Competition: The driving force of human development



I believe that the development of CrossFit had a lot to do with Greg Glassman’s observations when he started scheduling his personal training clients into group training sessions to open up more training slots. He saw exponential improvements not only in their work output, but also customer retention, results, and ultimately community development,. These same observations can be seen in any good CrossFit box today. This means that competition is the Keystone of our program. When Coach Glassman developed CrossFit he knew it was the best way to develop GPP (General Physical Preparedness). He did not develop it so someday it would be a premier competition for people to test their fitness; he saw it simply as a way of developing the true fitness for his clients. The coaches of Flatland CrossFit understand this and don’t write this as a selling point for everyone to try to be the fittest in the world, but to the same respect why competition will make you the fittest you that you can possibly be. Through everyday competition every workout is a competition between you and the last time you did that wod, or you and your best friend, or the biggest challenge between you and yourself (those days when everything hurts and you don’t want to even come to the box).  Victory is easily obtainable

I’ve always been fascinated with competition, maybe it’s because I watched a lot of Football and boxing with my dad growing up. But I’ve always had a focus on measuring my self against others, that's not always a healthy obsession but when that passion is focused in the right direction it can lead to untold success. It wasn’t until later in life that I realized you don’t have to receive the first place trophy to have achieved a victory. Competition is something that is hardwired into our system; it's the root of things like jealousy and lust, in the way that you’re jealous of others successes or lusting for the successes that others have found. These emotions have to be actively combatted against in society, but in the gym let those feelings run wild. You should strive to be better than you were and if you reference the people that have the PR’s that you want, great! I’m sure they would be more than happy to help you develop the (skills, strength, technique, stamina) to achieve those goals.

My coach in junior high Matt Heider was constantly trying to get all of us 7th graders comfortable going full speed in pads and hitting each other, this was imperative so that we would be ready for full game speed. But everyone was so terrified of making a mistake that we were paralyzed by fear. Some of our fear stemmed from hitting each other, others of us were scared of messing up our newly learned plays. This was when our quarterback kept the football on an option even though he was forced to keep it because he turned left “the wrong way” for this particular option right. But he ran over a linebacker and scored on the play and coach praised him, because even though he made a mistake he did it at 100% and made something out of nothing from sheer force of will and I’ve always remembered that when I’m faced with a new challenge. Similar to what Benjamin Franklin said “When someone asks you if you know how to do something say Yes!, and then get to work figuring out how to do what you were asked to do.” Remember that you can’t be scared of making mistakes, as long as you do everything you can do there’s no failure you gave it all you had, and that is success. Don’t fear failure!!!


But I’d like to add that if you have interest in competing in the sport aspect of CrossFit or any other sport for that matter. Let us know everyone has a goal you have one whether you’ve ever actually said it out loud. Some of us it’s to got to the CrossFit Games, but for most of us its simply lose weight, look better naked. It is also acceptable to just simply wish make your crush admire your hard work. Whatever floats your boat, but I truly believe that competition at higher levels helps us conquer our fears. When your brain is distracted by competition you can step into a cage to fight another person, when the brain is captivated by competition you can step into an arena in front of thousands of people and not think twice about it because the task at hand is so important to you that your fears of public speaking or large crowds are the least of your worries when attempting to Overhead Squat 285lbs, you must push fear to the side and remember to keep armpits forward and squeeze your abs and glutes tight or you will not make that lift and you will lose to someone else who was able to push their fear away and maintain main line stability. Remember, “Behind every fear is the person you want to be. Fear is self-imposed, which means it doesn't exist. You create it, and you can destroy it. You can face your fears and become the person you want to be.”


Monday, April 28, 2014

New Kid On The Block

Hello blogosphere,

This is the first post on what is the official blog of Double T CrossFit. We will share what we see happening in the community, whats happening in crossfit, and what we determine is important and vital to our members and readers. This could be a place for rants and discussions or it might be a place for elite level programming only time will tell and i'm excited to share in this journey with you. 

First off I'd like to introduce myself I'm Joseph Robert Guesnier, 

Birthdate: July 16, 1990

South Plains All Star football team 2008
U.S National Sanshou team 2009 75Kg
CrossFit South Central Regional competitor 2013
CrossFit South Central Regional competitor 2014
3 - individual crossfit competition 1st place finishes

I played football, and baseball growing up but gave up baseball before I started high school to concentrate on football. When I didn't get any offers to play college ball I started fighting so I could keep competing and keep testing my self. I soon lost interest in being small enough to fight, so I began lifting heavy again and tried to walk on to Texas Tech's football team. I didn't make the team, but soon found Crossfit competitions and began training I started on my own at the Tech rec room and at Bodyworks. I also started going to 3.2.1. Go which affiliated and became Flatland CrossFit. This is where I've honed my skills and found a love for the sport and community. I will be opening my own gym Double T CrossFit soon. I'm also married to the love of my life Taylor, and we have two dogs Roux, and Bane.

I hope this answers any questions you may have and I hope you'll stay tuned in to what this blog grows feel free to comment or criticize.