By Robert Selders, Jr.

Sport has a special role in fitness.  CrossFit acknowledges this fact by prominently featuring it in the top tier of its hierarchy of development pyramid.  Sport is recognized by CrossFit as an important component for the development of any athlete.

It is through sport that we are given the opportunity to compete by demonstrating our mastery of the ten general physical skills.   Sport does much in terms of developing our physical and mental health.  As Ben Franklin once so rightly said, “Games lubricate the body and the mind.”

CrossFit encourages all its members to participate in sport because of the development and expression it affords us; both crucial components of our fitness.  Sport allows us to express ourselves and to test our true fitness.  Because once we can demonstrate our mastery, through sport, of cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy, we have achieved optimum physical competence.

Unlike training, sport is able to more closely mimic the demands of nature.  By extension, an analogy can also be made to life. I believe that life is a sport, and you always have to have your A-game on if you are going to play, and play well.  What do I mean by A-game? I mean your ability to be physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally prepared, so that you have the best chance possible of succeeding in any endeavor you undertake.   Your ability to achieve your goals in life, whatever they may be, will largely depend on you, and your commitment, level of personal discipline, proper training, and coaching received.

To ensure that you can bring your A-game consistently, and over any length of time (regardless of the situation), you need to ensure that you have access to the right tools, systems, and mentoring/coaching, and that all these pieces are working in harmony on your behalf.  Like the greatest athletes, you too can climb to the top in life with the proper motivation, preparation, training and coaching.

I see the approach to fitness that CrossFit has as a wonderful crossover vehicle for anyone who wants to excel and succeed in life.  CrossFit gives you the right approach, game plan, tools, and coaching necessary to succeed in obtaining your fitness goals.  CrossFit and its community of members and coaches stand firmly behind you, coaching and encouraging you every step of the way.  We are confident that CrossFit can help you to always bring your A-game, whether in fitness or in life.

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX.  Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

When I start talking about weightlifting, and the importance of incorporating it into a workout routine, I get mixed responses.  Men start talking about how much they can bench press, and women start protesting that they don’t want to end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger in drag.  Not surprising that it takes me a while to power past many of these initial reactions to weightlifting before we are able to get down to the business of weightlifting.

Weightlifting has numerous benefits, and is an important component of CrossFit’s approach to athletic development.  Not only does weightlifting provide strength, speed, power and flexibility, but it also offers an opportunity to:

o      Build more muscle, which in turn burns fat more efficiently creating a leaner more defined body,

o      Increase energy and functional strength, useful for accomplishing everyday activities,

o      Develop greater joint strength, which allows for greater ease of movement,

o      Improve bone strength, a great defense against osteoporosis, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and

o      Build on upper and lower body strength, which will also reduce back strain.

Contrary to the misinformation out there, women that lift weights are not going to bulk up like men.  It is simply not physically possible.  Women cannot naturally produce the amount of testosterone needed to increase muscle size by that much.  If you are still skeptical, thinking about those female bodybuilders seen on television, just remember that many use oftentimes use “other” things to achieve those results.  It is not the norm by any means.  If you plan on steering clear of those “other” things, then you have nothing to worry about and can start enjoying the same benefits of weightlifting as your male counterparts do.

Weightlifting is not about lifting massive amounts of weight.  The type of weightlifting CrossFit advocates is more in line with Olympic weightlifting.  In CrossFit, we train movements and not just muscles, so we don’t focus on exercises like curls, lateral raises, leg extensions, and chest flyes.

CrossFit focuses more on weightlifting exercises that have the most impact on your hormones and neurological system (neuroendocrine).  Exercises like the deadlift, clean, squat and jerk are great multi-joint exercises that have a profound effect on your neuroendocrine response.  This in turn influences your physical fitness and athletic development.

Learning to perfect these types of weightlifting and power lifting exercises takes time.  There is no question that these exercises are demanding, and require a high level of athleticism.   However, weightlifting is dynamic and engaging, with many men and women rapidly mastering the basics and then progressing on to the more challenging “clean and jerk” and “snatch”.

CrossFit’s weight training program effectively combines weightlifting, power lifting, and throwing to provide its members with a solid foundation of physical training, general movement practice, and external object control that works.  Start today and see for yourself what a difference weightlifting and throwing can do for you.

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX.  Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

Ever watch the gymnastic portion of the Olympics and marvel at the well-toned and defined muscles both the male and female gymnasts sport?  Considering they are among some of the world’s strongest and best trained athletes, it is not surprising that they draw so much attention (and envy).  However, it may surprise you to learn that the majority did not get those well-defined biceps and muscular legs from lifting weights.  Instead, their physiques are largely a product of the endless bodyweight exercises inherent to gymnastics.

What are bodyweight exercises?  Bodyweight exercises are strength-training exercises that do not require free weights.  Your own weight provides the resistance.  Examples of bodyweight exercises include push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, handstands, planches, chin-ups, and squats.  These types of exercises are great for teaching you body control, a key signature of gymnastics.

Body control is also an important component in CrossFit’s theoretical hierarchy of development of an athlete, and CrossFit believes that gymnastics is one of the best ways to achieve great body control.  Before your eyes glaze over and you start imagining you will have to master the balance beam like Nadia Comaneci or the rings like Jordan Jovtchev, that’s not what I’m talking about here.  I am referring to activities such as climbing, yoga, calisthenics, and dance.

CrossFit’s gymnastics training incorporates skills and drills that are geared to helping you develop extraordinary strength, flexibility, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.  Through our gymnastic conditioning movements and progression exercises, you will develop strong muscular coordination and neuromuscular control.  You will be amazed at the level of suppleness, elasticity, flexibility and litheness you will gain while enjoying a full range of body movement and control.

With the use of short parallel bars, mats, still rings, pull-up and dip bars, and climbing ropes, CrossFit is able to create a gymnastic training routine that will challenge your abilities while building your endurance, flexibility and accuracy.  Furthermore, in keeping with CrossFit’s overall approach, the intensity of the workout can be scaled to fit your current abilities, offering a variety of exercises that range from the relatively easy for beginners, to drills that are so difficult, only the best gymnasts can do.

When you are able to master the types of drills and skills found in gymnastics training, your ability to perform complex movements is greatly improved.  More importantly, you will have gained the additional skills needed to progress to the next level of weightlifting, and ultimately sport in CrossFit’s hierarchy of development.

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX.  Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

Metabolic conditioning, more commonly known as aerobic activity is often recommended for its health benefits.   Jogging, Pilates, step and kick boxing classes, and time spent on the treadmill, stationary bicycle, ski machine and air gliders, are all examples of aerobic activities that do a good job of improving cardiovascular and circulatory health while also assisting in weight loss.

For many non-competitive, non-athletic people who want to lose weight and/or “get healthy”, aerobic activity is a great first step to achieving these wellness goals.  However, if you want to go beyond just being health, and are aiming for true fitness, you will need more.  Specifically, you will need to integrate anaerobic activity into your fitness plan.

What is anaerobic activity?  Anaerobic activity refers to exercises that are usually intense, short burst type exercises.  Examples of these types of exercise include interval training, weightlifting, all types of sprints (running, biking, etc.), jumping rope, hill climbing, and isometrics.

Why do you need anaerobic AND aerobic?

Every movement we make requires energy.  Three metabolic pathways in our bodies provide that energy.  CrossFit’s third fitness standard outlines these three pathways in more detail, but simply put, they are the phosphagen, glycolytic and oxidative pathways.    The phosphagen and glycolytic pathways are anaerobic.  They depend upon the body’s ability to create energy from the naturally occurring chemicals found in our body, instead of from oxygen.  This differs from the oxidative pathway, which is aerobic, and requires oxygen to create energy.  Oxygen is needed because it breaks down glucose, which in turn creates energy.  All three pathways are essential to achieving total fitness.  If you were to focus on only one or two, at the exclusion of the other would prove detrimental to your fitness goals.

Anaerobic and aerobic are essential components of proper conditioning even though they share some of the same potential benefits.  Both effectively improve cardiovascular function and decrease body fat.  You might even be surprised to learn that anaerobic activity can actually burn more energy (calories) than aerobic.   Researchers have found that while aerobic activity burns, on average 25 percent muscle and 75 percent fat, anaerobic exercises burns 100 percent fat.  Overall, anaerobic exercise can burn, on average, between five and seven times more than aerobic.

However before you trade in your treadmill for a set of dumbbells or track shoes, remember what I said before, your body needs both.   The anaerobic exercise helps you to build muscle and bone while dramatically improving your overall power, speed, and strength; and the aerobic improves your cardiovascular and circulatory health.  Effectively combining the two, as CrossFit does, provides the greatest fitness benefits.

CrossFit’s answer to effectively combining both of these components is interval training.  Through a properly structured interval training program, CrossFit members are able to enjoy varied training programs that emphasize anaerobic activity, which coincidentally also develops a very high level of aerobic fitness without the usual downside of muscle loss.  By incorporating the right level of endurance work in its interval training program, CrossFit is able to provide its members with tremendous cardiovascular benefits without experiencing any of the loss of strength, speed and power.   It is definitely a win-win situation for those wanting to achieve true fitness.

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX.  Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

Nutrition is an important component of wellness, and a critical element of fitness.  The right kind of nutritional mix, not only ensures that your body has the needed energy to function, but that it can perform at its peak.  That is why choosing the right combination of foods is so important, as they will have a tremendous impact on the state of your mental and physical health.

All too often, we make the wrong choices when it comes to food.   Americans are not only eating more – an average of 18.2 pounds of food per week, up 1.8 pounds from the 1970s – but it is more of the wrong types of foods.  Our fat intake has increased by an extra half pound a week.  We are ingesting a quarter pound more of meat, and one-third more sugars.  This may also explain how we have become a society of overweight, couch potatoes.

Obesity is rampant in the U.S. and not just with adults, but among children as well.  According to data collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), obesity has dramatically increased over the last twenty years.  Over 32 percent of adult men and 35 percent of women were considered obese.   For children aged 2 to 5 years, over 12.4% were obese, as were 17% of 6 to 11 year olds, and 17.5% of 12 to 19 year olds.

Obesity raises so many health consequences; I cannot even begin to list them all.   Obesity can increase your chances of developing coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, endometrial, breast, and colon cancers, hypertension, stroke, liver and gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, infertility, sleep apnea, and respiratory problems.  Fortunately, proper nutrition and exercise can effectively combat obesity and its resulting health consequences.

Do not underestimate the important role of nutrition in any fitness plan. Proper nutrition and exercise deserve equal attention.   To succeed in meeting your fitness goals, you will need to find the right balance of both.  In CrossFit’s theoretical hierarchy of development, nutrition is the foundation upon which all else is built (i.e. metabolic conditioning, gymnastics, weightlifting and throwing, and sport).  Without proper nutrition, your training efforts will falter and your chances of succeeding diminish.  Therefore, I cannot stress enough just how important it is to fuel your body with the right mix of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and water.

Much has been written on what the right mix of carbs, fats, and proteins should be.  Current health guidelines suggest a diet comprised of 50 percent carbs, 35 percent protein and 15 percent fat.  However, I believe a better nutrient balance would be 40 percent carbs, 30 percent protein and 30 percent fat.  This approach is explained by Dr. Barry Sears in The Zone Diet and is supported by CrossFit.  The Zone Diet’s 40:30:30 ratio provides one the greatest precision, efficacy, and health benefits of any defined nutrition plan currently out there.

The program does a good job of addressing the three pillars of sound nutrition:  glucose (blood sugar) control, proper macronutrient proportion, and caloric restriction.  All essential components not just for achieving top athletic performance, but for also preventing disease and fostering a health weight and long life.

Another nutrition program that ties in well with the CrossFit approach to nutrition and fitness is The Paleo Diet by Dr. Loren Cordain.  The Paleo Diet follows the diet of our early ancestors when they were hunter-gatherers, before the advent of technology.  It stresses eating foods that were available to early man such as meat, chicken, fish, eggs, fruit and berries, vegetables (especially fibrous and root vegetables), and nuts (except for peanuts and cashews). People on this program avoid grains, beans, potatoes, dairy products, sugar and salt.

The Paleo Diet focuses on a higher intake of protein, which helps reduce appetite and increase metabolism.  More protein consumption also assists in the prevention of lean muscle loss.  This nutritional approach also has been found to reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and concern.  Both the Zone and Paleo Diets are good programs that complement CrossFit’s approach and warrant a closer look.

You only have one body in your lifetime.  Abuse it and you will undoubtedly suffer in terms of your health and well-being.  It may not happen overnight, and likely take several years before you start to see the results of eating a poor diet filled with heavy fat sand empty carbs, but it will eventually catch up with you.  Then what will you do?  Will you have the financial, emotional, and physical resources available to do something about it then?

Average life expectancy today is around 78 years.  If you can effectively incorporate the right nutrition and fitness program into your life today, you may well live a long and independent life.  Failure to do so will definitely impact your longevity, and likely leave you dependent on others for your basic care.

Do not make the mistake of putting off tomorrow what you need to start doing today.  Start building that foundation of fitness by putting together a proper nutrition plan today.  The long-term benefits will make your efforts well worthwhile.

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX.  Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

There is a definitive link between physical fitness and good health.  Extensive research has shown that there are measurable physical and mental health benefits to engaging in regular physical or fitness activity.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), regular physical activity can help millions of Americans suffering from a variety of illness.  That would include the nearly:

• 60 million overweight Americans,
• 50 million individuals suffering from high blood pressure,
• 13.5 million people fighting coronary disease, and
• 8 million adults struggling with the onset of diabetes.

For individuals struggling with diseases or chronic conditions such as these, regular exercise can have a tremendous positive effect on alleviating many of their symptoms.  However, the fact remains that more than 60 percent of US adults do not even engage in the recommended amount of physical activity, and almost 25 percent are not active at all.

At first glance, you may shrug it off and say “not my problem”, but it is.  It’s everyone’s problem…because we will eventually all pay for the complacency and inactivity of those who refuse to get up and start moving.  How?  Think health-care spending, lost wages, and productivity.

In 2008, obese Americans cost the country about $147 billion in weight-related medical bills; an amount that has doubled in just a decade.  Assuming obesity continues to increase at the current rate, it is projected that in 10 years, 43 percent of all Americans will be obese (defined as someone weighing 30 or more pounds over the established healthy weight).  Worse, medical-related expenses will also jump by 2018 to $344 billion.  That equals more than 21 percent of all health care spending in this country; an expense that insurance companies will likely pass on to all of us.

While we have little control over what others do in terms of physical fitness.  We do have control over our own health and well-being.  At CrossFit, we see the clear connection between health and wellness and fitness.  Supporters of the CrossFit approach support the idea that every measurable value of health can be placed on a continuum that ranges from sickness to wellness to fitness.  In fact, we believe that fitness, if done correctly, can provide a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease.   That is why I, like CrossFit, believe that fitness is the ultimate in wellness.

Is there a difference between wellness and fitness?  Absolutely!  Fitness is you in top physical condition.  It goes beyond wellness.  Most people I encounter in the gym tell me they are fit because they are eating the right foods, drinking plenty of water, and doing their cardio three times a week.  That is not fit.  Granted, it is healthy, but it is not fit.  If they were truly fit, a nasty flu bug, stress, or some other ailment, wouldn’t so easily knock them out.  People that are truly fit don’t get knocked down so easily because they are on the extreme opposite end of sickness, with wellness acting as the buffer.

That is why it is important to focus on achieving true fitness and not settling simply for wellness.  Can you picture yourself living to age 100?  What do you see?  Someone living independently and enjoying life, or bed-ridden in a nursing home where you’ve lived for the last 25 years while someone else spoon feeds you and changes your Depends?

The difference between these two scenarios is settling for wellness instead of striving for true fitness.  Obtaining true fitness is one of the closest things you are going to have to guarantee a long, productive, and independent life.  Don’t end up as a casualty of inactivity and poor health.  Pursue fitness to help protect yourself against the ravages of time and disease and so you can live life on your own terms, not someone else’s.

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX.  Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

I have often heard life described as a marathon, although it does sometimes feels like a sprint!  If it is true that life is a marathon, then having endurance is essential. Developing endurance is not easy, but the reward great.  As Buddha was once to have said, “Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.”

Endurance is just one characteristic shared by many athletes.  Other attributes often admired include dedication, competitive spirit, planning and goal setting, discipline, leadership, perseverance, and teamwork.  Surprisingly, many of these skills can assist us in our everyday lives in terms of overcoming the constant challenges and obstacles that life seems to throw at us.    It may also explain why athletes often inspire so many people because they have fine-tuned these skills to succeed in their respective sport.

No question, life is demanding, and we all want to thrive and succeed, regardless of our goals.  Like an athlete, we understand the importance of getting back up and continuing on to the end, even if we suffer a setback or a defeat.  We strive to remain ever focused on our goals and on our ability to push forward to the finish line.  Perseverance, hard work and dedication are the mantra of an athlete, and for that matter, probably anyone driven to succeed.

Like athletes, we all face challenges in life.  Either we can allow those obstacles to block our path and stop us in our tracks, or we can find a way to use those obstacles as stepping-stones to achieving success.  It may take time, and likely lots of hard work and discipline to find a way around or over those obstacles, but it can be done, if we persevere.

We all have the ability to be athletes in life, and if we see ourselves as athletes we can often create a more positive self-image and change previous destructive behaviors.  With the right foundation and skills, we can achieve anything, and I believe CrossFit can help.    The CrossFit theoretical hierarchy of development can assist us in developing the very skill set envied of athletes by developing the fundamental components of athletic performance and teaching us what influences those components.

By learning how to master nutrition, metabolic conditioning, control of our body (through gymnastics), and our ability to control external objects (through weightlifting and throwing), we are able to achieve and reap the rewards of the highest expression of all these components (sport).

Each stage builds on the foundation of the previous level thus requiring a strong understanding of each level in order to move forward.  It takes perseverance and endurance to move through these levels, but the rewards are great, and I am not just talking in terms of your health and fitness.

When you succeed in your CrossFit training, you know you are also succeeding in uncovering your true potential and in developing the skills needed to play and excel in the greatest game of all….LIFE!

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX.  Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

Understanding how the body’s energy system works is an important part of fitness. Unfortunately, I have noticed that on more than one occasion when talking to someone about ATP, metabolic systems, or the body’s need for producing energy, their eyes have glazed over and they have taken off running. I can’t blame them. The science behind the body’s energy systems is often confusing and misunderstood. However, if you want to get the most out of your workouts, and achieve true fitness you have to have a basic knowledge of how your body’s energy system works. So, here it goes.

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is a form of chemical energy needed for muscular activity. This energy rich compound stored in all cells is used in abundance and is in constant need of being restored in order to maintain muscular activity. ATP concentrations are replaced through three metabolic pathways: phosphagen, glycolytic and oxidative. Each of these pathways can be challenged through the type, intensity, and duration of an exercise to produce ATP. The demand for ATP (energy) dictates which of these pathways will be challenged.

The phosphagen and glycolytic pathways are anaerobic (meaning without oxygen) systems while the oxidative is an aerobic (meaning with oxygen) system. I mention this because the nature and interaction of anaerobic and aerobic exercise is key to understanding conditioning. For example, the highest-powered physical activities that typically last less than ten seconds challenge the anaerobic phosphagen pathway to produce ATP. Moderate-powered activities that last several minutes prompt the glycolytic pathway (also anaerobic) to rev up. On the other hand, lower-powered activities, lasting in excess of several minutes push the oxidative pathway (an aerobic system) to produce ATP. Most fitness regimes tend to favor physical activities that focus on one (maybe two) of these pathways to the exclusion of the other(s), and that is a major shortcoming.

CrossFit understands the importance of balancing the role of all three pathways in producing energy and that is reflected in our fitness standards. Because we have a handle on the capabilities and limitations of the energy system, we are able to design the broadest and most effective general fitness program possible. The men and women who participate in our program become some of the fittest, well-rounded athletes equally comfortable embracing the role of a gymnast, weightlifter or sprinter.

CrossFit is a fitness program that anyone can do, and that is not an exaggeration. Whether you are a beginner or a world-class athlete, the program functions the same, varying only in the degree not the kind of activity. In other words, everyone can expect to perform the same routines, with only the scale load and intensity changing to match your current level of fitness.

We do not change our programs or our high standards, but chances are high that CrossFit will change you and your ideas about what you can accomplish on your quest to achieving true fitness.

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX. Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.

By Robert Selders, Jr.

Life is random, unscripted, and often chaotic. How many times have you woken up in the morning with a plan of what you were going to do that day, only to end the day wondering what the heck happened because you didn’t get half of what you expected to accomplish done? Obstacles, unforeseen circumstances, and unplanned events intervened sending your day into yet another hectic tailspin.

That, my friend, is life! No matter how well you plan or how routine or ordinary you think your life is, something always seems to crop up. Unfortunately, many of those unplanned or unforeseen events tend to be both mentally and physically stressful and draining. If you are out of shape, they can sometimes feel catastrophic, quickly knocking you on your butt.

How we handle the unexpected changes in our daily lives really depends on how well prepared we are, mentally and physically to deal with those events. You cannot completely plan for what you do not know is going to come up, but you can anticipate and create a plan that ensures you are in the best physical and mental shape possible to deal with whatever life throws at you.

There is no question in my mind that healthy and fit people stand a far better chance of being able to handle whatever life dishes out. I also firmly believe that the CrossFit (CF) approach to attaining fitness can assist in developing the right physical skill set to do just that.

The CrossFit approach is, by design, deliberately broad, general and inclusive. Its three fitness standards were created to ensure that true fitness is achieved. While the first standard evaluates a range of general physical skills, everyone should be able to perform, and the third measures our energy systems and capacity to perform, it is the second approach, which is the most intriguing.

The second fitness standard focuses on performance. More specifically, how well we can perform any and every imaginable random task thrown at us. Does that sound familiar?

CrossFit encourages its members to rid themselves of preconceived notions and ideas when it comes to true fitness. Forget about obsessing over doing the right number of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, and periodizations. Fight the urge to fall into an exercise rut, obsessing over which day you should schedule your cardio or strength training. Instead, focus on performing a wide-range of random physical activities to the best of your abilities.

The CrossFit approach to fitness can definitely help you to better prepare to physically and mentally handle those daily curve balls life delivers, and to live life to its fullest potential. I’ve seen how effective its proven to be in my own life, and I remain committed to showing my clients how beneficial it can be to improving the quality of their own lives.

After all, as the Ancient Roman Poet Horace said, “Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.”

Robert Selders, Jr. is a certified personal trainer, author, speaker, and the owner of 3Q Fitness: Powered By CrossFit Garland located in the historic downtown square of Garland, TX. Learn more about how you can receive a free comprehensive consultation and no obligations CrossFit training trial; and get guaranteed results with his exercise and nutrition programs at www.3QFitness.com.