Steve's Club Camden

Body Image

Sumo DL 4x4

Metcon:

20 min amrap

Teams of 2

20 db power snatch

20 box jumps

20 pullups

I'm all for loving yourself.

Hating yourself is a lonely and bitter route to a dark pond where the water smells and the sun never shines.

Don't go there. Nobody needs to give or receive shame. It's not a good thing.

But, in our quest to not use shame as a motivational tool, we may have gone a little too far. Yup, I'm talking about the body positivity movement.

"Wait, Steve! Don't say another word! Those folks are going to kill you!"

I know. But hear me out. I'm not against anybody or any body type.

I just want people to be healthy. That's it. Healthy.

I want folks to live good lives, eat good food, and do good things. I hope everyone has the privilege of living a long life and dying in their sleep, a smile tugging at the corners of their mouth.

But to live a long life, that means you need to pay attention to what you're eating, and how you're working out. Because sitting around, clogging your arteries, packing on the pounds, and heading to obesity is not a good path to longevity. Obesity kills, and I don't want you dead.

So, let's talk about body positivity. There's a face-off going on in the fitness world between people who say any size is okay and the folks who say fat is unhealthy.

What's the answer? Neither. Both.

See, a couple extra pounds isn't going to kill you, but 200 extra pounds might. And an extra 50 pounds around your waist can contribute to you having a heart attack.

I'm not saying these things to scare you, but just to put some perspective on the situation. We are talking about health. Your health. My health. The health of us and our families. And obesity is not healthy.

So, all I 'm saying is live and let live, but keep an eye on your body, too. Love yourself but keep working to be healthier, live healthier, and help others to live healthier. Make solid food choices, and educate your kids on how to make solid food choices.

We sell real food made from real food for many reasons, but one of them being that adding sugar is a way to pack on the pounds, and we don't want that for anyone.

Good luck out there. Move your body. Be healthy. Eat healthy. We're here if you need us.

BY: Lisbeth Darsh

How to Reclaim the Art of Listening

Strength:  12 Min to establish 1 full snatch +1 power snatch

Metcon:

800 m run

4rds

Ps 10 (95 lbs)

25 sit-ups

400 m run

Listen up! We seem to have lost the skill of listening.

Look around you – everyone is talking and consuming and there's a flood of information everywhere (too much information, some say) but who's listening?

• The birds.
• Little kids who can't talk yet.
• Old people, maybe, if they have batteries in their hearing aids.

But the rest of us are (mostly) talking like first graders high on cake at a birthday party. "Didyouseethereallycoolthingoverthere? Omgthepunchissooooogood.Youhavetotrysome!"

Yeah, that has to stop.

But what's the answer in a high-volume, over-amped society? Talk louder? Talk more than the others?

Nope. The best thing is to actually get good at listening. It's not hard, and it can change your relationships with so many people in your life – your spouse, your kids, your co-workers, even your pet. (Well, maybe not your cat but we're not going to get into that.)

Krista Tippett of "On Being" says, "Listening is an everyday art … listening is not something that we do all the time. It's work. It's a commitment."

But that's okay. We're not afraid of work or commitment, right? So here's your super-quick, no-skills-required, crash course on (easy) listening:

1. Stop talking
2. Wait.
3. Look at the other person in the conversation.
4. Don't speak, don't speak, don't speak. (No matter how much your brain is itching to vomit all over and no matter how twitchy your lips are. Pinch yourself on the leg if you have to, but DO NOT SPEAK.)
5. Hear their words. Focus on the meaning of those words. Read the body language of the speaker. Are they happy? Sad? Angry at you? What are their hands doing? Their legs? Their eyebrows?
6. Still don't speak. Not even when they stop talking. Pause. Breathe.
7. If they start to speak again to further explain their thoughts, let them. Don't drift off in your own mind. Pay attention. This is the hard part, but you're tough, you can do this.
8. Okay … now … speak. Pay attention to the physical and verbal responses to what you are saying.
9. Pause.
10. Repeat this sequence.

That's it. Doesn't seem so bad, does it? And if you find yourself stuck, remember how fantastic it feels when someone really hears you, really gets what you're saying. Great, right?

Well, you have the power to work that magic on others, to understand, to make people feel special. Because there's one more big secret I'm going to let you in on: "Understanding doesn't mean agreeing." (Pádraig Ó Tuama said that.)

You can understand someone without agreeing. So go listen, understand, and listen some more. If you're lucky, people will do the same for you. Good luck!

BY: Lisbeth Darsh

9/11

Strength :

1 power clean +1 squat clean thruster  every 90 sec for 5 sets

Metcon:

12 min amrap

9 hand release pushups

11 wall balls

21 Dubs

September 11. A day permanently etched into the minds and hearts of Americans.

As the nation pauses to remember all of the lives lost on this fateful day thirteen years ago, we want to take a moment to honor all our service men and women for their unyielding commitment to our protection. We continue to offer our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones, and will continuously keep them in our prayers.

Helping others.

Strength:

1 power clean + 3 push press

Metcon:

20 min AMRAP

*alt. Every rd

100 m run

10dl(225/135)

10 box jumps(24/20)

Today I asked all of the Steve's Club athletes to make a minimum of a $5 donation so we can put our money together to help those who were affected by Hurricane Harvey. It was a great opportunity for the kids to pay it forward and think of others in need. 

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

How to Get Back On (After You've Fallen Off)

Strength: 4 sets to establish heavy triple fs

First rep of each set @55x1 tempo

Metcon:

12 min amrap

250 m row

7 FS (135/95)

7 ring dips

It happens to all of us. We're going along all great:

• getting our required sleep
• doing our workouts
• eating clean
• nailing every single aspect of our lives

Work, love, life: Boom! We are flying ... until we're not.

Something happens—injury, illness, death in the family—and we're not where we were before. We are cast adrift and nothing is the same and we feel fat and old and horribly out of shape, even though it's only been five days since we last trained.

Okay, we might have high standards.

But the shock is real! The feeling out-of-sorts is real. The depression and the "Oh man, what do I do now?" attitude are factors to be handled, no matter if your lay-off was 14 days or 14 weeks. (Don't tell me it's been 14 years. That's an entirely different topic.)

But no matter how long your break was, you need to plan your return. Other folks have hangover cures and detox plans, well we've got a Get Your Butt in Gear Recovery Plan.

Step 1: Toss the Junk

Whatever garbage you've been eating, just stop eating it. No more fast food, no more take-out, no more sugary baked goods. Toss it. Sure you paid money for it, but is it worth more than your health? No. Donate what you can and toss the rest. You can't get anywhere fast if you're still loading the car with rocks.

Order some jerky, get yourself some healthy protein bites, start collecting Paleo recipes. You can do this.

Step 2: Get Up

Get off the couch, get out of the chair, get away from the house.

Go out the front door, the back door, the kitchen window—whatever you have to do, do it.

Nobody ever got fit by doing nothing, so you need to stop doing nothing. A walk, a run, push-ups, burpees, squats—get some movement in and get it now. Plus, once you can breathe again, you're going to feel a lot better. You know it, so you just need to get started.

Step 3: Consider Your Company

If your crowd doesn't exercise, you might want to get a new crowd. Study after study (as well as anecdotal evidence) shows us that our peer group has a significant effect on our activities and our aspirations, so don't dally with duds if you want to fly with angels. Look right now at the five people you spend the most time with—and realize that you're looking at your future.

If you don't like what you see, then it might be time to make some adjustments. Sorry. That doesn't mean you have to get rid of all your friends, but just that you consider what impact they are having on your life and your goals, and maybe make some adjustments.

Step 4: Don't Expect Miracles

If you've been off for a while, then it will take you a while to get back in the groove. If you've been off for a short time, it might take a short time to get back. The problem many people run into is when their expectations do not meet their outcomes.

• They expect it will be easy … and it's hard.
• They expect the weight will just "fall off" … and it doesn't.
• They expect they will look the same as they did ten years ago … and they won't.

Remember that whatever plan you start—Paleo or Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater—it's going to take time to see results again. Have patience. Keep working your program and getting your house in order, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Focus on the work, not the the results, and one day you'll look up and big old beautiful Mr. Change will be standing there, grinning at you.

So, the next time you find yourself staring at the floor instead of staring in the mirror at your muscles, think about the Get Your Butt in Gear Recovery Plan. It works if you work it. Good luck!

Future Leaders

Strength:

DL 5-3-1

Metcon:

21-15-9

Kb

Box

Pullups

"Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders" -Tom Peters