***Editor’s Note – Thank you all for the kind words and birthday wishes. I had believed that my parents stopped paying people to be nice to me years ago, but I am starting to second guess that now. I appreciate every one of you, and am blessed to call you my friends. – cj***
Workout of the Day:
In three minutes, complete or come as close as possible to completing, the following:
15 Pull-Ups
25 Push-Ups
35 Anchored Sit-Ups
45 Squats
Rest one minute immediately following each three minute cycle, whether you finished the movements or not. If you do not finish the movements in three minutes, start the next round where you left off. Repeat for a total of five cycles. The entire workout will take 19 minutes. Record the number of rounds completed.
A CrossFit Dad’s Perspective on Functional Fitness
Written by Nick Hawkes
Today I took my 10 year old son Oakley for a hike up a canyon on Salt Lake City’s East bench. The 4-mile hike was not a technical one, but it did have a steep incline the entire distance with a place to play in the creek at the top. There has to be some sort of pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or “reward” at the end of the hike. For a 10 year old, the beauty of the hike and the sense of accomplishment of getting out and hiking is pointless, but playing in the creek proved to be a goal worthy of a journey. When we set off in the morning I was just expecting a hike, what I got was a whole different view of Oakley and his fitness level.
I need to explain a little something about my little guy, besides his video game thumbs, he does not have a competitive bone in his body. When I had him in football playing on the D-line, his job was to get past the O-line and get to the quarterback, I kindly advised him to run the other kid over. His response, “Oh no Dad, I don’t want to hurt him.” Or, after the months of Jiu Jitsu, he lets me in on the fact that he doesn’t like it because “it feels like I am in a fight.” I have stories similar to those stated, pretty much with every endeavor that we supported him in trying. Oakley, more or less, just wants to let you know he loves you and play video games, which is hard for me to grasp, because if there was a competition for being competitive, I would enter it.
Even though Oakley is not going to be the next Peyton Manning, and there is no sport at the moment that can hold his attention like Mario or Sonic, it is still important that he stays active. So, 2 or 3 times a week I give him a WOD at home that consists of stair jumps, mailbox sprints or some other random activity. Sometimes I take him down to the 801 box with me and we work out together, nothing crazy, just enough to get him breathing hard and keep him moving. He never complains, just says “OK, what am I doing?”, puts his head down and knocks it out, only to finish, catch his breath and proceed to ask to play games on my phone. But, is that 2 or 3 times enough to to consider him fit? Stay tuned Snax fans!
We started the hike with me at the point and him bouncing along in step right behind me. After a couple of minutes, I begin to pick up the pace, my heart rate goes up and I have to start to mouth breath to increase the amount of oxygen. But the entire time I can hear Oakley, right behind me, never missing a step, breathing slightly less hard than myself. We take a break every 15 min or so, to catch our breath and our legs. About half way up I encourage him to take the point, and this is where my realization happened. Not only did he take the lead, he was pulling away, with some sort of hopping, galloping combination that only a child can pull off. We still stopped every so often to rest, but he never relinquished the lead until we reached the top and it was time to play in the water.
Not all kids are made for team sports, but that does not mean that it is OK for them to be sedentary. Oakley is not constantly in the gym, its not a huge burden for him, nor does it take a lot of his time. It’s just a couple of times a week, for an hour at a time. But when given a random task, he crushed it! And that is what CrossFit is all about.
I don’t chime in too frequently in the blog, but I feel particularly moved and compelled to express my joy and graditude towards crossfit and what it has done for me and my pops. My dad has been an athlete his whole life and when I was younger my sentiments towards his running discipline was less than enthusiastic, especially when he’d wake me up at 5am to ride my bike along side of him for his daily 10 mile run when I was in 2nd grade. Thank God our wods don’t run that long! He has applied his own obsessive discipline to become a well versed crossfitter and it has been an extremely bonding experience to be able to speak “our” lingo and talk about our defieciencies. I love to work out with him and again I am grateful that crossfit has given us an arena to continue our solid bond. Nice post Nick!
Nick– Thank you for sharing your perspective. It was very insightful. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the common ground between what’s best for our kids/what we want for them and what they want. Looks like you have! And p.s. glad you’re back:)
CJ–Happy Birthday yesterday! CFI is a wonderful place because of your leadership. I’m thankful everyday that I am a member of this family. Hope your day was fabulous!
Nice blog, Nicky! Miss having you around…..
Ari, nice words about your dad. I talked to him a couple of times at the Games, and he is really proud of you. (Despite your juvenile delinquent past!)
If anybody is interested in doing something fun with your dog this Saturday, check out CardiffDogDaysofSummer.com for a fun day of doggy activities (best dressed, cutest puppy, obstacle course, etc.) I’ll be there with the SD Humane Society from 10-2 (hopefully with lots of puppies to adopt!)
Snax, Great post. Great perspective. Too often I see parents especially fathers who are trying to live vicariously through their kids only to turn them off to being active or enjoying being active. Sounds like you have a great balance.
WOD: 5 rounds. Keep it virtuous everyone.
Good words, Nick.
Good class tonight with the 6:30 bunch. Sure am enjoying getting my butt kicked again. I haven’t worked out this hard since I had my son, Tom in May of 2007. Feels great to grease the skids again.
Tuesday night I felt like I kicked the workout’s ass. Tonight, it kicked mine. My pushups are horrendous.
Stick with it Carla, you’re doing great, and your push-ups will come back to you in no time.
I realize it is late and this response may not even be read. But, Nick this is for you. Beautiful post!!! I love your words and the message. You are an amazing dad and Oakley is very lucky (as are you). Thank you for sharing this story. I think it is a good reminder of the real reason we CrossFit.
I will never be an all-star performer. But, I am strong enough to thruster one of the kiddies over the gate into the children’s area if necessary, lug my work bag and 3 bags of groceries into the house and just about any other task you throw my way. And for that, I am so grateful for CrossFit.
I miss you my friend and can’t wait for you to come home.
And, is it true…Carla Mac is Crossfitting at CFI. I can’t wait to see you!
Hi Nick,
Your story resonated with me as I just returned from a few days in Yosemite with my family. My wife and I and two of our four kids (14 year old Stanley and 12 year old Luke) hiked with us up Vernal Falls. My wife turned back at the half way point to meet up with our daughters who were uninterested in going (actually our 19 year old loves hiking/climbing but was in a funk, the 17 year old detests hiking but loves sports). At about 5 % bodyfat, and active lifestyles including lots of “irregular’ exercise, the boys bounded up the trail very similar to Oakley. My 53 year old 6′, 210 pound frame is more well suited to heavy deadlifts but I do my share of metcons and can keep up although my musculature requires more oxygen to move the “engine” and generates more heat in the process. I did point out to the boys the number of totally out of shape individuals who did the hike but suffer accordingly and the ones who are older but have enjoyed the outdoors more because they have valued their fitness and health to a reasonable degree. They both agreed that it was fun to be able to do and not suffer while doing it nor feel sore the next day. I told them that’s the reason I do Crossfit; so I can enjoy the trips and I can do it with them. Also, I’ve needed to work for a long time on taming my competitiveness (still working on it!) Of course, one of my favorite quotes is “Smoke you like cheap crack”! Rock on!