January 2026 - Trust the Process

It sounds cliche, but we really have no choice. The only other option is to quit and give up on a healthy capable future, and I don't wish that on my worst enemies. I suppose what I really am asking is that you to trust me with your one hour of gym fitness. Trust that EVERYTHING I do is in your best interest as far as research is directing me. I only get one hour with you, there is a lot to get done for a complete training program and I am working hard to build the best hour for you each day to accomplish as much as we can. 

As we start this new year, I use the knowledge I have gained in 2025 to move us toward healthier versions of ourselves. I refuse to be so stubborn and stuck on what was said/thought in the past that I hold all of us back from progress. Each of us has a different picture of progress for ourselves... the one area that I am ultimately dialed into and yet have very little control over because I only get one hour with you each day, is our body composition. Not our weight in pounds but how much of our body is fat v. muscle. Remember when we went through the phase as a society that told us fat was bad for us to eat? So food producers started making everything low fat and fat free (and adding a shit ton of sugar to make it all taste good). And then science and research does their thing and changes the narrative to "Fat is not the enemy", and surely not as evil as all the sugar food producers have us eating. Fat has many good qualities, and like ALL things, should be consumed in moderation. In fact FAT is source of energy when all that sugar and carbs get used up. So we need it. 

Now back to our training... there are similar historic trends with fitness that have us hesitant and less willing to dive into the most effective ways to change our body composition. Things we think work better, and in fact MAY work well for the short term, but are unsustainable for us to maintain or increase as our brilliant bodies adapt to just one style of training. This is what I fell into for my first 11 years of CrossFit... 5-6 days a week of the same style of training... soul crushing WOD's everyday. My body adujusted and I stayed ... supple. I was strong, I was fit, but my body composition did not change. It wasn't until I added that silly WALKING thing to my regime that I started to see some changes in the right direction... and now I have been walking for 3 years and I need other adaptations to my training to keep myself moving in the right direction. This is the same for all of us. Will I stop walking? Absolutely not. It is movement and the more movement I get the better for my body/health. So if you have the opportunity to move outside of the gym, I beg you to use it. It will only help your process of changing your body composition. But don't fool yourself into thinking that this is all you need - you MUST build muscle and to change your body composition. Don't  confuse skinny with healthy or lean. Skinny-fat is in fact a thing... and these folks will struggle just as much as their overweight counter-parts in their senior years. 

Why all the stories? What does this mean for you/us? What can you expect?

Like I said above I am asking you to trust me. Here is what your training will look like at the gym... 

    1. 3-4 Strength days/Week - these could look like straight up strength, they could look like accessory work, they could be Zone 2 lower heart rate conditioning pieces. These days we MUST focus on the weights we use to challenge our bodies to get stronger. 

    2. 2-3 SIT (Sprint Interval Training)days/Week - these are full send heart rate busters. The sprint does not necessarily mean running but it does mean short bursts of work at your absolute maximum effort. They are followed by bigger sets of rest so you can complete anywhere from 3-5 sets of them. These short workouts are our body composition changers. They increase lean muscle mass and reduce fat mass in a relatively short amount of time. These workouts require a lot of carbohydrates and pulls glucose from our bloodstream. Our bodies will replenish our muscles with carbohyrate stores and use our FAT stores while we are at rest, because it knows we will need the carbs in our muscles to perform these high intensity bouts again. These will only be effective if you give the very best you have that day. These are completely ineffective if you come in with a "show up" attitude. There is a reason they are short. They should be VERY HARD. 

    3. 2-3 days of steady state, moderate weight, conditioning - basically our grinding workouts. These will be anywhere from 20-30 minutes of that even paced movement. 

I will speak daily about our RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion), how hard you believe yourself to be working. This scale goes from 1-10... 

1-2 is basically resting, barely above normal breathing rate. 

3-4 is our Zone 2 breathing rate, deep, steady relaxed breathing. 

5-6 is slightly labored, tempo pace where you are working just above your comfort zone. How you would be breathing if you were working with someone who is slightly fitter/faster than you.

7-8 is short quick rhythimc breathing. Hitting your sustainable upper limits of breathing. Also, known as "race pace". 

9-10 is hard heavy breathing. VO2 max training zone. Top of your limits, as hard as you can go. 

I have a plan for you inside the gym... now it is on you to have a plan for outside the gym. A plan that assists all the work you are putting forth inside the gym. Steps are no longer a part of the Fully Committed Club, this does not change how passionately I feel about them. They are the easiest form of movement for us to do, and movement is life. So take your kids/dog/friend/spouse/SO out for a walk. Fully Committed Club is focused on workouts... intentional, productive, purposeful workouts. Training. That is what we are doing. We are training for life. I'm here for you. You may not like what I have to say, but I give you my word I am doing everything in my position to get you to a healthier version of yourself. Happy 2026 Y'all!!!