What Does YOUR Reflection Look Like?

Welcome to week 7 of the whole life challenge! We have 2 more weeks left, the end of the tunnel is in sight. This week we take a deeper look at reflections, and no I'm not talking about mirrors.

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Starting Saturday, you will spend 10 minutes each day writing in a personal journal

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I have never been a big fan of writing my entire life, even as a young kid I can remember HATING writing assignments. I think most of my dislike came from being a pretty terrible writer and finding frustration when I would read things that my peers wrote and comparing it with things that I wrote. This dislike stuck with me for a majority of my high school and college years and even into post grad life. I never seemed to be getting any better at writing, but then again, I wasn't writing very often.

Journaling is a practice that doesn't have a particularly profound effect on your physical life but I know from experience, it sure does help with your ability to communicate effectively with others. This might seem unimportant or irrelevant but concise communication is a skill (yes, it must be practiced) that is often overlooked and makes others stop and listen. If having your voice (not literally a quite voice) heard is something that you have struggled with then writing in a journal is a practice that could end up improving the way that you communicate with others and communicate with yourself. 

For those of you who pride yourself on your writing skills, you might already keep a journal, but if you don't, give this practice a try for a week and see if it is a practice that adds value to your life. 

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Beach Body Yoga Studio 

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This past weekend I got to have a really awesome experience helping out a friend of mine Ted McDonald owner of 5 Point Yoga here in Malibu. He has recently joined the Beach Body Online team and has been creating yoga routines to share with hundreds of thousands of users around the world. This routines are rehearsed to perfection and have an entire production team come together to shoot the routine almost like they would a movie. 

I got to be a part of his yoga team to shoot yoga for runners, yoga for cyclists, and yoga for the weekend warrior, that's right! I am going to be in a couple of the videos that will be released in April! This day was a total blast. I have never been on an official "set" like this one. we were treated with breakfast and lunch, and have outfit changes for each of the shoots and even "hair and makeup" between each of the sessions. The yoga routines were fairly straight forward but were definitely still challenging. If you would consider yourself a yogi, I challenge you to check out the Beach Body Studio online and take a class or two from your living room! Here is the link: Beach Body On Demand

DISCLAIMER, NO I DON'T MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THESE VIDEOS SO THIS ISN'T A SALES PITCH

Here are some photos of my time in the Beach Body Yoga Studio

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

The raffle requirement for the Whole Life Challenge this week is a lead into the lifestyle practice for next week! Pictures! Sometimes life IS better with when a few pics are snapped. 

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Starting Saturday February 25th YOU will take between 3-5 pictures each day

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That's right! pictures. Some of you might be saying, "I don't need to take pictures to remember things, I am really good at taking mental pictures." I am the same way, trust me.

However, over the recent past I have been more and more diligent about taking pictures of fun things that I see, do, or experience and have been finding myself looking back. When I have actual pictures to look at I find myself creating stories around those pictures and those stories are fun to share with friends and family. Creating stories around photos may sound silly but can be powerful down the road. If you have Facebook (I am not normally a big social media advocate) but I do like the "memories" feature that comes up on the time line, it's fun to recall events and people, and places that are brought up in those images. 

So for 7 days practice taking 3-5 photos of fun things that you do, places you go, or maybe even food you make. Anything that you think is cool, snap a photo of it. Maybe even share a photo or two on Facebook/WLC site/ or even this blog! lets see what you are doing!

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This picture is from last weekend When I was out sailing with friends. We raced in Redondo Beach with some bouy racing after a really big storm on Friday with heavy winds and rain. Saturday seemed to be better and conditions seemed to hold until we finished racing and were headed back into Kings Harbor (in Redondo Beach) when the surf starting picking up and the wind picked up a bit as well. After waves crashing directly over the breakwater, and no slips being available, we decided to sail back to Marina Del Rey as the sun set. An experience I'll never forget and one of the most exhilarating feelings I've ever had. I wish I had more photos to explain the trip back the Marina but you can use your imagination. We were climbing 15' open water swells with a reefed main and #4 jib sail (smallest sails) and going 7.5 knots upwind (very fast) while the sun set and after. Soaking wet when we arrived in the marina from water washing over the boat, we were ready to head to bed as quickly as possible. 

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Wound up for winding down

Saturday marks the half way point for the Whole Life Challenge, Congrats on making it this far! It is something to be proud of, the road to better health isn't always the easiest road to be on. You might be starting to notice changes in your habits, in your cravings and maybe even some changes in your body. Now is about the time that we start to see changes start to happen, and unfortunately it is also the time that we all start to get a little weary about the challenge. We might have had a couple days that you didn't get any nutrition points, or didn't exercise for a few days. I am right there with you. 

I took some "points" over the weekend in almost all of the categories. . . I had In'n'out, Panda Express, lots of sugary snacks, a hand full of beers and a couple glasses of wine, not to mention the lack of sleep and poor water consumption. 

So I had to log quite a few 0's on my scores the last few days. . . 

It had me thinking that I could take one of a couple roads from there (see what I did there?)

I could say, "screw it" and go back to how I was eating pre-whole life challenge (if you read my blog post about donuts, you know they are my weakness), or I could get back on the road to better health.

And I really want to get back on track, because I feel awesome when I'm on the right road. My body feels so much stronger when I treat it right. 

So I wanted to share some ways that I get back on the road after missing a day or five of one of the habits. Check them out and hopefully you can find them useful when you're eating the rocky road ice cream.

One Perfect Day:

This is super simple, wake up in the morning (or night before) and make it the days goal to have a full points day, 100% in EVERYTHING for 24hrs. Eat, sleep, drinking water, working out, stretching, lifestyle practice, and writing my reflection.

I find this super helpful for several reasons. First, I've cut my "rocky road" behavior right off and gotten back on the right road. Second, when I am doing everything well, I am more motivated to keep doing well. Third, it keeps me focus on just one day at a time. I stop worrying about the long road and just take one step at a time. 

Remember Why:

When we started the challenge, we were asked why and to put it in writing (even if you didn't write anything down, you did have a reason for doing this challenge.) Remembering this reason and actually writing it down can be a powerful tool to re-dedicate yourself to the challenge. 

My goal for this challenge is one that I have wanted to do for the last couple challenges but never remembered by the start of the next challenge. I want to stack the lifestyle practices each week starting with 1 challenge and ending with 8 challenges. ( I have even gotten off track this challenge ) so here is to me re-dedicating this goal in writing for everyone to see. 

This goal is important to me and everyday I can move closer and closer to achieving this goal. Maybe you write out what your goal is and make it public to have others help keep you accountable, or keep it private and put it somewhere where YOU will see it everyday and be reminded (mirror or computer screen) 

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I hope these techniques for getting back on the road to better health are helpful to you- and if you have one that I didn't share, I'm sure that everyone else would love to hear! 

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Winding Down Before Bedtime 

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This weeks lifestyle challenge is to spend 5-10 minutes purposefully and intentionally winding and calming down before bed. Often times we go all day and stay busy through the evening and go to bed in a rush with a ton of things still on our mind. This can create some anxiety before bed and even cause you to lay awake, taking away from a restful nights sleep. 

Try reading a book for pleasure or doing 10 minutes of meditation, or maybe it is a great time to spend 10 minutes stretching on the floor. Whatever you do, the intention is to wind down. Post some ways you used that were helpful for YOU to wind down before bed!

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Remember me talking about falling off the health wagon and getting a few 0's on nutrition, yeah well here is a little video I took over the weekend of our trip. 

No Media Meals

This week the lifestyle challenge is particularly challenging and eye opening. Take a deep breath and get ready to underestimate the amount of time that you spend on social media. Remember, you are on that road to better health.

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Commit to not using social media of any kind during any of your meals

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For the next week, Saturday February 11th to Saturday February 18th, you will commit to not using social media of any kind during any of your meals whether you are with friends or are alone. This includes things like: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pintrist, LinkedIn,  email, texting, or games on your phone. 

For me, this lifestyle challenge really threw a huge brick in my face when I realized that I passively scroll through social media on several occasions each day. Especially when I eat meals by myself, I find that I immediately pull out my phone to check some things and end up finishing my meal without even noticing it. 

The intention of this weeks challenge is to create more of a relationship with you and the food you are putting in your body. Taking a little extra time and making meal time something that you do undistributed. You become a little more aware of the food you are eating and you might even start tasting your food differently and maybe even eating different quantities of your food too. Post your thoughts to comments and let me know if I am the only one who thinks this will be difficult. 

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Making a plan

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Often times I find that making a plan for my exercise each week increases the amount of training I actually do and allows me time to get outside and play too. I wanted to share a typical week of training for me and how I balance training and playing. My schedule changes EVERY week so this is just an example. (mostly dependent on the waves, I love surfing)

Monday:
AM CrossFit @ CrossFit Malibu
Tuesday:
PM CrossFit @ CrossFit Malibu
PM Yin Yoga @ 5 Point Yoga
Wednesday:
Play day or
PM CrossFit @ CrossFit Malibu
Thursday:
AM Yoga @ 5 Point Yoga
Friday:
PM CrossFit @ CrossFit Malibu
Saturday:
Play day or
Beach workout
Sunday: 
Play day or
Rest day
 

Hope this is helpful as you try to plan your future weeks. As a general rule of thumb, if you sign up for a class beforehand, you are more likely to follow through and go. If you decide to workout at home, having the tv on is a sure way to distract your self from actually getting meaningful movement in. 

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Had the privilege of driving the the beautiful valley of Ojai, CA just north of where I live where there are some beautiful ranches and walnut farms. Below are a couple photos of Black Mountain Ranch.

Center yourself: Body, Mind, and Spirit

We spend a lot of time as humans going, going, and going. We hurry to this, rush to that. We start a project before we even finish the last project. So often we are in a state of perpetual motion. We forget to stop, we forget to breathe, and we forget to live. The small things pass us by unnoticed and loved ones don't get the attention they deserve. However, we can and should learn to be present and still through much of our lives. A practice that will change the way you live in the moment: Meditation.

One of the local waterfalls here in Malibu that has started flowing again after the rains: Escondido Falls. Go Outside and Play.

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Spend a minimum of 10 minutes each day in some form of meditation

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This is your challenge for the next week starting this Saturday: spend at least 10 minutes each day focusing on your breath, thoughts, or any inward focus on self. This can be very difficult, especially when we first start. Like learning a new skill it takes time before you get any competency at it. Be patient with yourself, keep trying. Here's a list of apps that might help you with some guided meditation:

1. Calm                                        2. Headspace                                  3. The Mindfullness App

“The goal of meditation is to go beyond the mind and experience our essential nature—which is described as peace, happiness, and bliss. But as anyone who has tried to meditate knows, the mind itself is the biggest obstacle standing between ourselves and this awareness. The mind is undisciplined and unruly, and it resists any attempts to discipline it or to guide it on a particular path. The mind has a mind of its own. That is why many people sit for meditation and experience only fantasies, daydreams, or hallucinations. They never attain the stillness that distinguishes the genuine experience of deep meditation.”

— Yoga International

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Whole Life Challenge Raffle Winner

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January 21st was the start of the first period raffle prize for a $40 REI gift card. You could enter into the raffle if you recorded your scores online for an entire week. We have 37 people on our team right now and of those 37, 16 of you entered yourselves into the raffle. 

Before I announce the winner of this raffle I want to give you info about the next raffle! The Prize will be: 2 boxes of Almond Butter Perfect Bars. I know it's hard to find a good snack bar that you feel good about eating and I really like Perfect Bars. Although it's not 100% compliant with the Whole Life Challenge lifestyle and performance standards, I still stand behind it as a pretty solid bar. 

Starting this Saturday FEB 4th, in order to get entered into the raffle you must get all 5 points for exercise and mobility until Saturday FEB 11th. That means you spend at least 10 minutes exercising each day and 10 minutes stretching each day. Then you will have 2 days to email me that you want to be entered in the raffle. GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN.

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Without further ado, The winner of the $40 REI gift card IS: MADI GRAHAM Congrats Madi, I will be in contact with you in next day or two to explain how to redeem your gift card.

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You could be winning two boxes of these bad boys, Perfect Bar Almond. Read the blog for details on how to enter.

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We want to see ways that your getting your exercise in! Send pictures to kolby@waterwodtraining.com to get featured in the blog.

Stronger in Numbers

This week I want to talk about the lifestyle challenge for week two: Supporting your teammates on their reflections. The actual requirement is quite simple, comment on 3 different players' reflections each day. What can come out of the act is far more than a little bit of social interaction. 

This lifestyle challenge starts on Saturday Jan 28 and goes until Saturday Feb 4th. For those of you not doing the Whole Life Challenge, I still encourage you to compliment 1-3 people a day for the next 7 days. 

When you dive in and read some of your teammates' reflections, you create a stronger connection to each of them and can understand how the challenge is going for them. This can ultimately help you better understand how the challenge is going for YOU.

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COMMENT ON 3 PLAYERS' REFLECTIONS EACH DAY 

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I heard a story the other day about teamwork. It really stuck with me and I wanted to share it as soon as I heard it. The story goes like this: a Belgian work horse can drag 8,000 pounds by itself. That is a massive work horse. Now if you put two of those horses side by side and test their ability to pull, you might assume that it is double the dragging power, or 16,000 pounds. I assumed the same thing, two of these horses, never trained together before, never even seen each other before, when put together, can actually pull 24,000 pounds THREE times what one horse could do on its own. The even cooler part about this story is if you train two of these Belgian horses together for a time and really get them figuring out how to work together they can pull a staggering 32,000 pounds between the two of them. FOUR times the pulling power of one horse with just two horses that learn to compliment and work with one another. I think this knowledge can be applied to us and those we surround ourselves with.

I want to challenge you with creating your comments to others on the team to be thoughtful, encouraging, and uplifting. When we play like a team more of us can win, more of us can benefit, and I think that you will find that your own pulling power will be increased.   

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What is CrossFit?

On a separate note, for those of you who don't know what I do for a living, here is a video of me explaining what CrossFit is. I believe in what I do! Is this different than what you thought CrossFit was? 

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One Goal From The End of The Game

Welcome to the start of The Whole Life Challenge! Each week we focus on a new lifestyle challenge and this week is GOALS! Do you practice writing your goals? or are they just some mystical dream that you think of every once in a while, then they wisp away just as quick as they came up. 

Goals are a health practice that is often overlooked as something that seems nice to do but doesn't really make an impact in the caziness of daily life. I see goals fitting under the realm of personal development, and personal development is a key to a happier, healthier life. 

Starting on week one (Saturday Jan 21st) you will WRITE DOWN a short term goal (up to 1 year), a middle term goal (1-3 years), and a long term goal (3-5 years) and you will RE-WRITE these goals everyday over the next week. 

The idea here is to create a vision for yourself here. They say when you write something down on paper, it changes the way you see it. Think about learning. As crazy as it may seem, when learning new skills or material, writing the material you are trying to learn down on a piece of paper actually improves your retention. Really want to nail it down, try writing it down everyday for a week. I can almost guarantee that that material is going to be on your mind a lot more often. 

Now translate that idea to your goals as you're thinking about them on Saturday. Spend a solid 15-30 minutes (maybe more) writing down these 3 goals. If you have more than 3 that you would like to write down, then more power to you! (but lets try to keep it under 5 to keep your focus pretty solid, and not overwhelmed) 

After you have your Short, Mid, and Long term goals, you will re-write those goals every morning for the next 7 days! I will check back in with you next week to see how this exercise worked for you. Did you find that your goals changed slightly over the week, were your goals getting easier to remember, were you starting to think about steps to achieving each of your goals, did they inspire any change in your actions? Can't wait to hear from you. 

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On top of the weekly lifestyle challenge, remember to complete the other areas that you can get points throughout this next 8 weeks, nutrition, exercise, stretching, water intake, sleep, and reflections. be sure to check in with the Whole Life Challenge website if you are confused on how you score each of these categories. 

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Whole Life Challenge pre-workout explaniation video

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Donut Even Think About It

This weeks blog is a little longer but has lots of great info that I am sharing with you! Stick around to see the sweet pictures at the end.

On Lint of 2016, I decided to give up Donuts for the rest of the year. I know, for some people, this is  not that big of a deal, you don't even like donuts. But if you know me, you know how much I LOVE donuts. They are my pleasure food, they can be my happy food, they can give me joy along with a massive sugar crash. When I ate donuts, I would eat a box of donuts, not one or two, it was more like eight or ten. Clearly this is super unhealthy and I needed to change that habit. I could feel my body ache after I would devour donuts and I would have terrible energy levels and sometimes even headaches after eating them. But I always came back to my excuse of, "Where else can you eat 4,000 calories for 99cents!?" I clearly have some issues there haha. I can say that I successfully finished off 2016 donut free. I did have a couple donuts on New Years Day but have been away from them since and am hoping to stay away and/or enjoy in very conservative moderation for all of 2017 and beyond!

You probably don't have the same problem with donuts that I do, but I think it is a pretty safe bet that we ALL have a food that is our go to comfort food, and the likely-hood that your comfort food is amazing for your health is probably pretty slim.(get it? ha) I want to challenge you to overcome that food, I want you to be able to eat it in moderation, or maybe not at all depending on what it is. My challenge is this:

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Donut even think about it. I want to challenge you to go WITHOUT your comfort food for 56 days. Completely forget about it for a whole 2 months.

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More and more research is showing the scary effects sugar has on our bodies, young and old and some are even calling it a "drug" to which I would say isn't so far fetched after I read this article below. Check it out and Let me know your thoughts on Sugar. 

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Reminder that The Whole Life Challenge starts January 21st

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Just for a minute consider something…

Consider who you want to be on March 18th.

If you were at the very top of your health and well-being, what would you feel like? What would your family members and friends say about you? How much energy would you have?

So fast-forward and paint yourself a picture: What do you look like on March 18th?

That’s what the Whole Life Challenge will do for you when you join my team and make a commitment to replace a few bad lifestyle habits with good lifestyle habits. (You can learn more about the Whole Life Challenge by watching the video here.)

Once you watch the videos, you can join my team here: http://www.whole.lc/wlc1701/pt/kolbychallenge. For eight weeks, starting on January 21st and ending on March 18th, we’ll work on all the areas of our well-being—like nutrition, stretching,and exercise, for starters.

The Whole Life Challenge is basically a game that challenges us to “try on” a whole life of health and fitness for eight weeks. As a team, we can win points and lose points (hopefully we’ll win more than we lose). And the prize is … Well, it’s who you are on March 18th.

I will be doing little raffles throughout the challenge as well, fun little prizes never hurt anybody :)

I hope you’ll watch the videos and join my team. In fact, I WANT you on my team!

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbicemIo-Sk

To join my team: http://www.whole.lc/wlc1701/pt/kolbychallenge

Our Team’s name: WaterWODTraining

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Sailing on Saturdays

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This past weekend I got to participate in a sailing race from Marina Del Rey to the Malibu pier and back again. Conditions started off great with a little bit of sun and wind although we were expecting rain and cold. Coming in hot at the Malibu pier, the wind died and our race turned into a struggle to stay moving. In the end we had to retire from the race because we would not finish in the allotted time. When we retired, it was dark and there was no wind. Still having fun, we ended up towing another sailboat, who's engine went out, the 40 minute ride back to the marina under engine (with the motor running) Thankful that I get to continue to learn, and be awed by all the awesomeness that sailing is. Check out a few go pro photos below  

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Listen to Your Body

I got hit this New Year with a little bit of reality. The reality that I am not invincible. Even though I am 24 and am always physically active and having fun and of course, never sick, I came down with a fever on new years day and had it for 48 hours. I am still recovering today(2 days later. . . ) but am feeling much better. A good reminder to listen to your body. 

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About a week ago I woke up with a pretty big head ache and brushed it off, trying to figure out why I was so achy, I went to work, worked out and even went out with some friends for a movie. Waking up the next few days with this same head ache and still could not figure out what it was from, I decided to convince myself that what I was feeling was a hangover. Yeah, I had 2 beers the night before with dinner, maybe that's why I have this bad headache, I just need to work it off and I'll feel much better. Yeah, I told myself, that sounds right. . . Come New Years Eve, I still had this head ache and after watching the ball drop at midnight and promptly falling asleep, I woke up New Years day feeling even worse. This time I was even more convinced it was a hangover, I told myself, "I had a couple glasses of champagne last night and I don't normally drink champagne that's probably why, yeah that's for sure why. . . " So I went about my day like normal, hanging on the beach for a bit and going to work at Lululemon in the afternoon. But no more than a couple hours into work I started getting really cold and even shivering and everybody else in the store was totally fine. I was feeling really hot but still shivering and feeling really cold, my head felt like it was jumbling in my skull and it finally hit me. . .  

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My body has been trying to tell me to slow down and take it easy, and I had refused to listen. I now had a fever and my body knew something was wrong the whole time. 

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I had several opportunities to listen to my body while it was trying to fight off whatever sickness was trying to take a hold of me and several times I chose to not listen, or even just tried to make up my own reasoning for why I felt certain ways. Even though I pride myself on my ability to live and lead a  healthy lifestyle, I am still human and I am not always able to practice what I preach, but I am constantly learning from my mistakes and hopefully I can help others learn from my experiences as well. 

I am not here to tell you that if you feel a certain way for a couple hours or even a day then you should stay in bed and rest for a couple days and I am not here to tell you that you should push through some rough sickness because it'll make you stronger. 

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You know your body better than anyone else does and you body knows itself best. So I am telling you to listen to your body and that means YOU know what is best for you. Once you starting practicing the art of listening you start to get better and start understanding what your body is telling you, whether that is that you need more rest, that you should push through it, that you should cut back on a certain food, that you should eat more of another food, etc. . . Whatever it is, being intentional and practicing this will only make YOU better! 

What a better way to start practicing listening to your body than joining the Whole Life Challenge this Month for 56 days of listening and understanding your body! 

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My Favorite Adventure of 2016

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Last week I asked you to share your favorite adventure of 2016 and this week I want to share my favorite! 

In February of this past year myself along with 3 of my buddies Ray, Sean, and Yash embarked on our first adventure to the Island of Oahu in Hawaii. We stayed for a week and did as much as we could possibly think of and did the same for where we slept. We did things like surf the north shore at Haleiwa and the south shore at Diamond head. We jumped off the cliffs at china walls and snorkled at hanamana bay. We slept in the car one night, and in hammocks another night. We played music in a garage on the windward side and climbed cliffs on the west side. We found and opened coconuts (like cavemen) and lounged in hammocks all day. We went to old school diners and Surfing The Nations, "Surfers Church". 

This trip was definitely one of epic proportions and all done with a pretty awesome group of guys. I still fall way short of the awesomeness of this trip so to make up for some of that I want to share some photos that were taken along the way. Enjoy!

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All photos from this trip were taken by Sean Graves also known as @SuedeSilver 

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Fitness First, Just Do It

I want to keep this week short and I want to make it real for most of us as the new year is quickly approaching. 

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As I talk about many different ways to keep yourself healthy one of the simplest and in my opinion a fun way is to stay active. There have been dozens of studies that try to explain which types of exercise are best for weight loss, best for endurance, best for anything you can imagine.

While there may be some validity behind some of this studies I want to suggest something so simple that it might sound asinine. I want to put out there the idea that doing something is better than doing nothing. No, I am not the first person to have this idea, but seldom do we see any health professionals publicly endorsing this in main stream media. I do believe that this idea has some profound truths behind it.  

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Doing something is better than doing nothing

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Yes, I am a CrossFit coach, and yes I do believe that CrossFit is for anyone who is willing to try it but I am also here to say I don't care if you do CrossFit, as long as you do something. If you walk, swim, run, bike, spin class, TRX, whatever you do, it is a whole heck of a lot better than sitting on your couch and not doing. Once you have started to move on a regular basis I can pretty confidently say that other things start to fall into place, such as confidence, happiness, less anxiety, etc. . . 

I will say that after you have consistently been doing something that seeking out the help and advice of a credible health and fitness professional is almost a no-brainer. So often people will seek out professional help for finances, for sickness, for new skills, for life advice, or heck even hair cuts, but for some reason think that health and fitness professionals don't bring any value to the table. I would like to challenge you to talk to some of your friends and find someone you trust to give you some advice. Maybe even have them put a health plan together for you for a month or two and decide after that whether WE bring value to your life. I think you'll be surprised. 

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Christmas and New Years closing 2016 out. 

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Instead of hearing of ways that I have gotten out in to the world and play, I want YOU to comment with a few words or maybe a picture of ways that YOU get outside and play! Share you favorite outdoor memory from 2016 and next week hear about mine! 

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Whole Life Challenge January 2017

I want to introduce a challenge that I have participated in many times in the past couple years and has had very significant impact on my views on training, health, wellness, and balance. 

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This challenge is 56 days long and encompasses 7 different lifestyle challenges in the following areas:

- NUTRITION

- EXERCISE

- MOBILITY

-SLEEP

- HYDRATION

- LIFESTYLE

- RELFECTION 

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The team at Whole Life Challenge has created a pretty awesome system for thousands of people to use to better their lives as a part of a team. This is where I come in, I would like to lead a team through the challenge as the "captain". More or less, all this means is that I am here to encourage you, answer questions, keep you updated, and keep you motivated! The rest is up to you and how you want to participate. I will also provide you with workouts to complete before and after the challenge and also provide you with a few raffles throughout the challenge! Who doesn't like a little extra motivation of winning?!

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There are a lot of rules and it can get sort of confusing so "WLC" has created a quick start guide that I linked to the button below to give you a basic overview of how the challenge works. If you are interested, please click the link below and read about how it works. Afterwards, come back to this page to sign up!

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Now that you know a little bit about how the challenge works, what are your next steps? well, signing up is the next biggest step and when you choose to sign up through the button below. "WLC" will walk you through step by step for each area of the sign up process and will even give you prompts to create goals and tips on how to get the most out of the challenge. One thing that can still be a little bit confusing is the nutrition levels so I want to talk about them. 

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You can participate in the Challenge in one of three levels. Your level determines the nutrition rules you will follow. You will begin each day with 5 points, and you will lose a point anytime you eat a food that is non-compliant based on your nutrition level.

You cannot change levels once the Challenge begins, so choose wisely. The three levels are:

Performance—The strictest level of the WLC. If you already have good eating habits that you just want to fine tune, have athletic or performance related goals, or have a pressing health or inflammation condition that you'd like to address, choose this level. The basic rules for this level (with a couple exceptions) are this: no grains, no sugar, no dairy, no soda, no alcohol, and no artificial ingredients.

So what can you eat? Fish, poultry, beef, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, oil and sweet potatoes. Think of it as a short-term acceleration program. While elements of it can be adapted to your daily life post-Challenge, maintaining it over the long term would be difficult and maybe not even necessary.

Lifestyle—A good choice if you are looking for a long-term lifestyle nutrition program. This is a great start to a sustainable practice of living a healthy lifestyle. Maintaining it to a "T" post-Challenge might be difficult, but it represents something much more adaptable to a long-term program than the Performance Level. It will allow additional options in each of the 5 main WLC nutrition categories (grains, sugar, dairy, beverages, artificial ingredients). Compliance will still be challenging, but make sticking to the nutrition requirements for 8 weeks much more manageable.

Kick Start—A great place to start if you're new to the health and fitness game and need to make the most important tweaks to get yourself started in the right direction. Cuts out what your mom might call “junk.” This level gives you one or two things to eliminate in each of the 5 main WLC nutrition categories. You can eliminate more, but by starting with these over 8 weeks, you’ll be off to a great start. If you are just starting to make a lifestyle change, this level will definitely be a challenge that culminates in amazing results.

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For a full list of foods that you can and can't eat on each of the levels click the button below:

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How do I sign up!? You're all jazzed up and excited after reading all this info and you are ready to sign up; OR; maybe you read all this info and someone has pushed or suggested you sign up for this and you don't really want to but know it would be really good for you and so you guess your ready to give it a go... GREAT! Glad to have you, I have put a link in the button below to get you started and on The Road To Better Health!

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Find time to play

This past week, the tides were really low in California and most of the time, here in Malibu, the water meets right at the houses and prevents a lot of people from exploring most beaches around here. BUT, there are a few times each year when the tide is low enough for a few hours you can run/walk along the beach from the Paradise Cove pier to the Malibu pier. (if you don't know where or how far that is, I attached a few pictures of the map) This little 7 mile run was a blast in the rain and sand and dark. My feet definitely hurt a little bit after running barefoot on the sand. In the end we took a nice and cold dip into the ocean at the Malibu pier then warmed up with a hot tub afterwards. Just another awesome opportunity to use this health that I have been blessed with in the great outdoors!! Even if it was dark and pouring rain!

2 hr 17 minutes is what google maps says it would take to walk this on the road. We did it in just over an hour.

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daylight and dry

dark and soaked (there is a pier behind us!)

one of the spots that you can't normally pass on a low tide

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Financial Health

Stay tuned, because next week I put out details about the Whole Life Challenge and how you can participate in this 56 day challenge and be a part of my team. This challenge is definitely a way to get you on the road to better health. 

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Sorry I have been MIA the past two weeks, I have been in Hawaii on vacation and spending time with friends and loved ones. I am back, alive and better than ever! 

This week I want to take a little different spin on health because it is something very relevant to me and the recent past and something I think is a crucial part of our overall health. 

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If you haven't guessed it already, then I am here to talk a tiny tiny bit about money today and how it can contribute to your overall health. It isn't something that is on the list when I say name the top 5 things you need to do in order to be healthy but I do firmly believe that it has proved true in my life and and speak some truth into yours as well. 

As of December 8th, 2016 (yes, just days ago) I am completely and 100% debt free, no student loans, no car loans, no credit card loans, nothing. I have officially started back at the big goose egg 0. This journey has been a 2 and 1/2 year journey and has been the farthest thing from easy. BUT before I talk about any of this, I want to talk about some guidelines to your financial health and why they are important. 

Having no debt removes a big stressor in your life and could possibly lead to better sleep, eating healthier foods and even having more time to do fun things (PLAY!). The second things about finances that I would advise you to create is a budget, a written plan. In Dave Ramseys words, "give every dollar a name". This gives you the most control over your situation and puts you in walking steps towards the bigger picture, a healthier life! It can seem very overwhelming when you look 1,5, or 10 years down the road but when you look at one month, it seems a lot more manageable.  

First of all, if Debt does not cause an unnecessary and uncomfortable amount of anxiety and stress, then you need to take a second to sit back and look at yourself honestly. I distinctly remember buying a brand new car a month before I started paying my student loans and getting home and talking to my mom and saying, I guess I am a grown up now, I am not going anywhere for a while and I might as well make some bigger purchases, I am already in debt, so what does it matter?

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Holy crap was I naive and  innocent for thinking that. I didn't get 3 months into paying the minimums before I was asking what I had gotten myself into.

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I was finding myself not being able to do the things I wanted to do and pursue the dreams I wanted to pursue because I was stuck having to work more hours and jobs that  I wasn't interested in just to make the minimum payments, AND I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THIS FOR 10 YEARS!? Boy do I remember my heart pumping and anxiety setting in and saying to myself that I was never going to get to do the things that I wanted to do because I was being "a responsible adult". 

After about six months of this I had gotten some really awesome advice from some amazing friends of mine to read a book called "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, maybe a few of you have heard about it. This book changed my outlook on the helplessness that I felt and stress and anxiety that this debt brought to me.

I would obsessively check my bank account to see how much money I had after every transaction and if I was getting any closer to my dreams, because I have big dreams, and none of them involve debt.  I was talking to my friends about it and they were a little bit annoyed by me talking about money, but turns out that I am not the only one with those crazy thoughts and feelings, but I didn't have to just swallow them and waste my life away, I could do something about it! 

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Creating a budget was one of the single greatest things I have done for my financial health and in turn my overall health. 

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The thing I learned most from and got my most sense of peace from while paying off my debt was a budget and goals. I knew that if I could create and maintain those two things, somehow my sanity would return to me. I am not saying that because of those things that I never worried about money over the next two years and it never caused me stress, discomfort, or sadness, because it definitely did. What I was able to do though was trust in the process, and trust in the thousands, if not millions of those who had come before me and done the same thing. 

I am not here to tell you all the ways they you should handle your money and how you should feel about money but I do want you to know that there is a different way than the "typical American" and "typical life" I want you to be more, dream more, and do more. I am putting the link to Dave Ramsey's book below here and I dare you to pick it up and read it, I dare you to change your mindset and I dare you to be better. 

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Hawaiian Adventures

I did all sorts of exploring and adventuring past two weeks even though I have not been on here writing to you guys. I wanted to share two of those experiences with you and show you a few photos. 

The first super awesome adventure we did was very illegal and (but apparently people do it on a very regular basis). It is called the Haiku Stairs or "Stairway to Heaven" it is a 3,922 step staircase to the to of one of the peaks on Oahu. it has 2,700 feet of elevation and is only about 1.5 miles long, which means it is a heck of a lot of vertical climbing. I do have a few photos of us climbing it but if you google stairway to heaven there are some absolutely breathtaking photos that will blow your mind.

We woke up at about 4:30 to be at the trail head by 5:30 and climbed fences and through bamboo forest and under the highway ( because the guard who gives tickets, was already there) we spend about 2 hours in the dark trying to find our way to the stairs, just after it got light we emerged and found the staircase!  We hiked for just over an hour before hanging out at the top where there was an old WW2 satellite. Then hiked back down in another 2 hours back through the mud and bamboo forests. I hope you can kind of get a picture of what it looked like when you see the photos and the highway.  

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The other cool experience that I want to share is paddling out to the Mokulua islands also known as "The Mokes" It is a 1 mile paddle out off of Lanikai beach and Kailua. We strapped up and brought the cooler with goodies and set off for the paddle out. Our friend Akela told us she would keep an eye out for sharks (apparently they are pretty common out there) we got to the island were we beached our boards and relaxed a bit before heading between the islands to surf waves that came between the islands. Although I don't have an photos of the actual surfing, I do have a few photos leading up to the surfing. The waves were a fun 4-6 feet but very mushy and would die out after they went between the islands. We also did a little exploring around one of the islands to see if we could find some cliff jumping but the waves were a little too big and the tide a little too high to do anything safely and it really puts you in awe at how amazing and powerful the ocean is. Until next week where I talk about The Whole Life Challenge in January and more adventures to come! Mahalo for your support! 

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Mental Game Strong

“Our thoughts are the same: we can’t control which ones
come into our heads, but we can control which ones we
give our attention to and which ones we dismiss. ”

— Ed Tseng

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So often we forget that everything starts within us. All of the things we do are ultimately because we chose to do them. In this weeks article, Ed talks about the mental game as it pertains to fitness and performance for most high level athletes but I would argue that you could compare his ideas to people who are successful in any area in life and I'd like to think that you would find similar results. 

The idea that thoughts come into our head no matter what and the key to overcoming them is not always controlling them, rather, letting them pass and staying focused on one thing. I have been practicing yoga and mediation over the past couple months and a big idea within mediation is not trying to control your thoughts, instead just trying to let them flow as you center yourself back on one thought. 

Trust me, I was quite terrible at this when I first started practicing and I am not much better now, but I can tell a difference in my mind in regards to letting go of control of my thoughts instead of trying to force quietness inside me.

If we practice letting go of thoughts inside our workouts and being okay with the outcome no matter what, we start to see performance increase that could possibly be for no other reason than more confidence in our self. I think this practice can and will transfer into other aspects of your life and ergo, your health!

Please read this article over by Ed Tseng and start putting the muscle between your ears to better use! link in the button below  

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CrossFit, Surf, Mountain bike - Adventure Saturday

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This past Saturday morning I got to take an all out adventure day! I started with a super fun CrossFit workout with CrossFit Malibu with heavy sand bag carries, box jumps, and wall ball shots. Lungs and low back were exhausted post WOD from carrying that heavy sand bag, it really compresses the chest! Then I suited up and hopped out in the water in Malibu to catch a few small rides and some fun ones with a buddy named Ray. Post surf I headed through the canyon into Malibu Creek State Park where I attempted mountain biking for the first time on an actual trail and holy crap was it hard! I ate it several times but didn't get hurt at all and got to enjoy a beautiful sunset inside the canyon before getting a beer and dinner at Industry Bar and Grill in Calabasas. 

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The People in Your Life

“You proven, you’ve been tested, and you’re welcome in this brotherhood. Doesn’t matter the color of your skin, doesn’t matter where you’re from, none of those things matter because you’re now part of this team. Everybody treats you with respect. ”

— Chriss Smith Jr.

This past weekend at a gathering with friends, BBQ and sunset at Sycamore Cove

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This week I want to talk about the importance of community and relationships on your overall health and wellness. I have two short videos for you as well. The first is from the CrossFit Journal and the second is from my surf adventures this past week. 

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As most of you know I have been in a long distance relationship with a girl that is very close to my heart, Elizabeth Lutz. In the time we have spent apart from one another I have learned a tremendous amount about the importance of community and the importance of "solidarity". The ability to belong to a community who cares about you as a human, who wants you to pursue your best, and will be there along the way to help you back up and encourage you when you are less than your best. 

I find that this group of people does not have one name or one place or even one goal but you can find communities that you can plug into who invest in who you are and who you will be. One of these examples is clear from the video that you are going to watch, a CrossFit community is one where you can be completely vulnerable and receive tremendous benefit from the people who share in their passion to stay in shape.

Another one of these communities is a small group or a church gathering group. A place that you can meet and share your greatest accomplishments and your biggest inadequacies to a group of people who will invest just as much in your well being as they will in their own.  You can find accountability and desire for growth.

The last community that I want mention is your co-workers and your work community. When placed in the right situation for a well ran company, people come together and strive for common goals and push each other to realize dreams. They see potential in you when we don't always see it our self. They make the understanding that life is greater than the company you work for and that who you are is not the same as what you do. 

I believe that each of these groups interlace and intertwine so that the each can provide all the things I've mentioned through community and not just the obvious.

They say that you are the average of your five closest friends, now go out there and surround yourself with amazing people, dive into their lives and be vulnerable. You will thank yourself. 

With the help and support of several communities that I am a part of, I have learned so much about my relationship with Elizabeth Lutz and I firmly believe that even though we have spent months apart, we are closer than we have ever been before. 

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Surf all Day

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Last Tuesday night I got to stay on a friend's sail boat in Ventura, wake up with the sunrise, and surf all day. We drove north early in the morning with tea and bagels in hand to try to find where the swell was the most exposed. We stopped at a spot in north Ventura called Pitas where we spent 4 hours surfing before getting out on a bed of rocks in low tide, and scambling to the car to get some lunch. After lunch we drove back down the coast until we met up with another friend and surfed at Leo Carrillo for 2 more hours at sunset! what and amazing and exhausting day. I captured just a little bit of the day at Leo, enjoy! 

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Movember: Men's Health Awareness

Thanks Josh Chan for the awesome photo

This week is about a little different kind of health. It's about men's health and how badly men can treat themselves (usually not on purpose of course). I have started a group on Movember.com and would love for you to join and spread the awareness or donate to help me reach our goal.  

The Movember Foundation is an organization that utilizes it funds really efficiently that go directly to programs that impact men's health. Check out their site at: www.movember.com

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In the United States alone, the male suicide rate is 3 to 5 times that of female. 

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Men seek psychiatric help 3 to 5 times less often than woman. 

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I have participated in "no shave November", and "mustache November" and "Movember" the past several years trying to raise awareness for men's health. But I only participated in the fact that I didn't shave my face or I grew a dirty mustache, which is totally fine and surprisingly I got to have A LOT of conversations with people about men's health, or the lack there of. 

So this year I decided to get a little more involved and sign up to participate on a team that I created and make an audacious goal of raising $500 in addition to getting to talk about men's health. I do need Mo'Bros and Mo'Sistas to help me spread the word and get involved so I would love it if you joined my team or shared this post on Facebook or through email. If you would like to join my team (no donation required) click the button below. 

Go see a doctor, talk about your feelings, do YOUR part to learn how to be healthier. Let's close the gap and live as long as women. 

BE A MAN.

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The state of men’s health is in a crisis. Men experience worse long-term health than women and die on average six years earlier. Prostate cancer rates will double in the next 15 years. Testicular cancer rates have already doubled in the last 50. Three quarters of suicides are men. Poor mental health leads to half a million men taking their own life every year. That’s one every minute.

Our fathers, partners, brothers and friends are facing this health crisis and it’s not being talked about.

We can’t afford to stay silent.

The Movember Foundation is uniquely placed to address the crisis at a global level. We’re funding ground-breaking programs all over the world and engaging with men where they are to understand what works best, to help make change happen sooner.

Our goals are big, but the impact of doing nothing is bigger. We need to act.

By 2030, we’ll reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25%.

This is all taken directly from the Movember page and I hope you are willing to man up and help men talk about their health. 

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HERE IS WHAT I NEED FROM YOU

IF YOU JUST WANT TO DONATE

IF YOU JOIN MY TEAM

- click the donate here button above 

- sign up to join the team through the button above

- read about the programs that Movember funds and how they allocate ALL of their money

- share this post on facebook or email

- make your donation and share on facebook or email and encourage others to speak up about men's health! 

- come enjoy the event at the end of the month 

- feel my smile as I thank you for making a difference for a cause we can all get behind

- grow your mustache or beard and commit to talk about men's health whenever questioned about your hair

- if you feel so obliged, you can donate to our team as well. The more steam we get rolling, the bigger impact we can make. 

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Malibu 5K run get outside and play

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This past Sunday I got the privilege of running the Malibu 5k with several friends and co-workers at an absolutely beautiful venue. Afterwards I got to stick around and lead some foam rolling for race finishers via Lululemon. Running isn't always fun, but with friends and this view, it could be a lot worse. The beautiful smell of early morning, saltwater, and slightly sweaty people really just makes me enjoy life more.

It is held at Point Mugu, also known as "The Rock" where they created a road though the mountain and shut down the old road that went out and around the rock on the cliff-side.  Enjoy these photos and just imagine the saltwater smells, warm sunlight on the skin, and the heavy breathing post-race that makes you feel alive. 

Sugar, Take a Step in The Right Direction

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YOU CAN NOW SIGN UP TO GET NOTIFIED WHEN I POST A NEW BLOG! CHECK THE BOTTOM THE PAGE TO SIGN UP :) PLEASE SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE 

“We expected change, but we were
astonished by the magnitude of the
changes.”

— Dr. Robert Lustig

fall is an amazing time for change...

We all are well aware that sugar isn't good for us. One thing that we might not be aware of is how much sugar is in the foods that we eat everyday that we don't even think about! reducing the amount of sugar we take in each day can have a big effect on our everyday health and wellness. With thanksgiving coming up around the corner I want to challenge you to be more aware of the food you are eating, not even changing them. 

A lot of CrossFit boxes and other health and wellness establishments are jumping on board in trying to help others reduce the sugar intake of anybody who is willing to give it a try. These events can be called many different things from detoxes, to challenges, to diets, cleanses. When first thinking about the change to a low sugar, or no sugar diet that jump seem insurmountable! I think that these events help those of us who are a little bit timid of trying something so new. If we can do it with some other people, then maybe it won't be so bad. After doing a version of these called "The Whole Life Challenge" I feel like I am better equipped to keep sugar intake at an all time low in my life. 

When I participate in this challenge, my energy levels are higher, I sleep better, I workout harder, and I find myself more productive every day. On top of this, my body composition also changes for the better. (I am not out of shape by any means but it still makes significant changes in my performance and appearance.)

I have no doubt that with as small of a change as taking sugar out of your everyday diet you will feel lasting effects for the better. This weeks article talks about the addiction we all have to sugar (even if we don't admit it) and what it is like to start the journey away from it. By no means is it easy, but it is plausible. Plus, doing things with a group of people makes it seem a little bit easier, whether its because we all can complain to each other, or keep each other accountable, or it gives us all a shared struggle to overcome.

If you are interested in doing one of these "challenges" to put you on the road to better health please feel free to email me or text me and I would be more than happy to talk to you about the one I par take in, "The Whole Life Challenge" and how it isn't as scary as you might think and how you can get started! 

The link to their site is HERE

Clink the button below and read this weeks article on sugar, what it is like to cut it from your diet, and the effects on your overall health. 

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Mid-week Colorado trip

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This past week I got to make a short trip to Denver, Colorado. One of the coolest impromptu trips I have ever taken. It was one of the first times that I have gotten to see a "fall", and boy was it beautiful! The crisp morning air reminded me of mornings in Arizona but with so much more beauty. The colors were vibrant and the sky was so blue!

I spent a little time up in the Red Rock Amphitheater, just a twenty minute drive from the city is a cool little museum and concert venue carved right into the mountains overlooking Denver. Then not too far from there is a little town called Evergreen, where you guessed it, there are thousands of evergreen trees! got to cruise around the biggest public ice skating rink on a lake in the USA. Of course it wasn't frozen when we saw it but I can imagine in the winter how beautiful it must be! 

Then I made my way to Littleton to visit the gym that a few of my friends (Jordan Smith and Erin Lee) work at called Project Move, you can check out their website HERE. Their facility was AWESOME. They have created a space not only for CrossFit classes but sports performance of any kind, teams, individuals, kettle bells, and even have several doctors offices in the same building that are a part of the team, chiropractors, physical therapists and foot doctors. If you are ever out in Denver, I highly recommend that you check them out! 

I also ate in downtown Denver at a brunch place called Snooze, one of the most hyped about brunch restaurants in the area. You can see a few of my selfies at the Union Station that has been converted to a hotel over the past few years and the trains have moved underground. The downtown is nice because unlike LA, it is WAY less chaotic. 

I really enjoy a good cup of coffee and boy did I get a pleasant surprise at THE coffee place called Corvus coffee. Awesome atmosphere and amazing coffee Definitely  a place to check out if you are a coffee fan or are around the area. Take a look at their website to learn about the cool things they are doing for the world. HERE is the link to their site. 

Enjoy these photos and remember you can click on them to make them bigger! 

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Treat People Well

“When it comes to being happy and healthy, she says, “There’s no secret. Treat people well. They treat you well. We all care about each other, and now the world’s a better place.”

— Leanda Keahi-Bevans

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Sometimes I am not going to be able to say something better than someone else. I am posting a video from the CrossFit Journal this week and please, please watch it all the way through. You'll understand why afterwards, and this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with CrossFit. 

So much of health and wellness seems to be divided into several complicated components and I want to challenge that perspective and help others (and myself) discover that often times simple changes put you on the road to better health. See what I did there? ;)

This is my goal with what I am currently doing in this stage in my life. It is awesome to know that I am not the only one who has this desire to treat people well.

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Pepperdine Alumni Water Polo

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Soccer field above the Pepperdine pool

This Past weekend I got to play in my first alumni water polo game for Pepperdine University. I only have one photo from the experience afterwards but holy smokes was this a blast. I played water polo for Pepperdine from 2010 to 2011 before being told (by no ones fault, a story for a another day) I could either take financial aide or I could play. I chose to take the money and finish school at Pepperdine University where I was so incredibly lucky to be able to attend. This who event threw me into a strange rut that has kept me out of the water and from playing water polo for many reasons, until this weekend. 

The alumni all got to play the current Pepperdine water polo team for fun. I am definitely out of water polo shape even after all the things I do to keep myself fit, ouch! Nobody on the alumni team stayed in for more than a couple minutes at a time so we got plenty of rest ;) It felt like a lifetime ago that I had been in the water playing the sport that I spent 11 years playing. It was truly a blast to get back in and play again. 

After the game (of course, we won) they had a big BBQ gathering where we got to talk and hangout with all of the Pepp alumni ranging from graduating in '77 all the way to '15! It was also amazing to see some of the guys that I personally got to play with and the guys that I spend obnoxious amounts of time with. We shall see what this weeks brings for adventures! 

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Not just for kicks and giggles

“CrossFitters see physical education as a primary vehicle
for teaching virtues essential for achievement. For us,
the world of physical challenge and achievement have
become metaphors for harvesting life’s riches and battling
its plagues.”

— Greg Glassman, CEO, CrossFit

Often times when I am asked why I do CrossFit I have about a thousand answers that go through my head but I get to say one before someone loses interest in what I am saying, so most of the time my answer is, "because it works." only because I try to be as concise as possible. I try to use the least amount of words to mean the most I can. But I will talk about a few of the other reasons I do CrossFit under that "because it works" realm. Greg Glassman is quite the speaker and knows how to be extremely concise and is very eloquent with his words, so I highly suggest that you read the article that he wrote back in 2005 about why he created CrossFit. Here and Below. 

"Because it works" I want to talk about a couple ways that I feel this statement is true concerning CrossFit. First of all, observable, measurable, repeatable, means we work for results and can see them not only in person but on paper as well. CrossFits community tends to bring people together, whether it is for a WOD or for a dinner, or backpacking trip. When people live in community they thrive. People inside the CrossFit community change and see themselves becoming better people, they achieve their goals quicker, they become better parents, they become more disciplined with their habits, and you could even say that they smile more. I am not saying that if you don't do CrossFit that you don't get any of these, in fact there are MILLIONS of people who have nothing to do with CrossFit who are achieving these things. What I am saying is that they are all present within the culture of CrossFit. 

Results, results, results. It is undeniable that CrossFit delivers tangible results. Not only results that you can feel, but results that are observable, measurable, and repeatable. The scientific method is applied to fitness where through good recording habits, your results in fitness are obvious. Stick with it and you will run faster, squat heavier, jump higher, do more pull ups, touch your toes better. The further you get into your training the wider the breadth of your physical results will be. We write in journals every workout and write exactly how it was done so that if we were to repeat it, we would replicate it exactly. We do exactly that, every so often we will do a workout that has been done in the past and because we can look up the date and repeat it exactly how it was performed before. We get to test our fitness. 

The community is something else that CrossFit offers that I believe supports my statement "because it works". A supportive community is something that is vital to everyone's overall health and wellness. It is encouraging in times of hopelessness, it is demanding in times of lacking, it is fun in times of sadness, it is understanding in times of brokenness, and it provides in times of need. I am not saying that these are not things that you can find in other communities outside of CrossFit but it is sure easy to find it within the CrossFit culture. So often are people planning crazy awesome adventures with other members, housing members who are in need, doing fundraisers for causes within the community, and supporting each others goals and hard work inside and out of the gym. 

The last portion here is what Greg talks about heavily in his article, about becoming better people. When you spend time within one of these environments, that you are driven toward success, toward achievement. He talks about fitness developing your will. Your will is such a key to your success that improving it only brings you to a better version of your self. One of the biggest things that I have been learning lately is that in order for you to give, love, and support others you have to give, love, and support yourself. I feel better equipped to do that because of CrossFit and the confidence it gives me, the capability, the fitness, the knowledge, and the love that I receive from it. Go hang around a box and tell me that you don't feel more driven. 

Now its time for me to get out there and give to you. 

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If you're willing to take a few reads through this short article I promise you that you will take away some great information and be inspired to be better. 

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If your wondering what I did this week I won't waste your time by typing some explanation. Just take a look! I will try to take more photos and videos so that you can experience these things with me! Enjoy! oh, and it was amazing to have my family in town for the weekend. They are from Arizona, and God has blessed me with some pretty amazing people. 

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PLAYING IS WHERE WE FIND JOY

“CrossFit helps hunters in Alaska get in shape more
efficiently, so they can spend more time enjoying the
outdoors and less time training. ”

— CrossFit Journal article linked below

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This week I want to talk about one of the biggest misconceptions of training. That it is done to look good and to stay "in shape". So often what we do with our bodies is seen as a requirement so that we don't get some chronic disease or because the doctor told me to and we miss out on so much of life because we never learn to play. Well, play as adults that is. I can almost guarantee that everyone here knew how to play as a kid, in the dirt, in the mud, in the bushes, in the rain, in the park, almost anywhere we found places to play. 

Countless times as an adult I've said and I've heard others say that they wish they could be a kid again. I am convinced that this aspect of play that kids have completely nailed down is what so many of us are drawn to. Yeah sure, we can say that with adult life we just don't have the time to play like kids. To what I would say is our playing looks very different than kids playing. BUT there is one similarity that will stand out for both adults and kids. Physicality. 

In the adult world playing looks like rockclimbing, surfing, hiking, mountain biking, camping, racing, sailing, sports, fishing, and yes, even hunting. The linked article talks about how people in Alaska are using CrossFit training to allow themselves to be outdoors more often and to enjoy their hunting, whether they have to run away from a predator, carry their prey out of the woods, or hide in a certain hiding spot all day. When they train they are gaining a better understanding of how their body works and  and what they are capable of. The more capable and the better you understand your capabilities, the more fun you have. 

I believe you need to train with a purpose and for me that purpose is to play, not only is life incredibly more fun when you get to play, but we are also directly protecting ourselves from chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes when we do so. My advice to you this week is to take a different look at training, look at it as an opportunity to do things that will bring you joy in life and not a requirement "to stay healthy"

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I Highly suggest you take 10 minutes and read this article from the CrossFit Journal. It will get you excited about the possibilities for playing as an adult.

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This weekend I got to play by going out on a sailboat and race in the Octoberfest series in Marina Del Ray. Sailing has been one of the most exciting things I've learned to do. (and I still can't sail on my own) Even in light winds there is so much that is going on on a thirty-something foot boat. Balance is key and body awareness is huge as the boat is always moving and you have to be ready to counter balance at a moments notice. not to mention all the hoisting, winching, and sail changes that require team work, speed, and agility. What are you going to to this week to play? 

I am very bad at taking photos of things I do, but I promise that I will start taking more and more photos so you guys can feel my experiences a little more in depth! It is always fun and inspiring to see people doing awesome things instead of hear about them.

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I am also currently trying to figure out how to set up an email subscription for anybody who who wants to get an email whenever I post new content to the blog! Hopefully by next week I've got it nailed down. (I still feel very new at this whole website thing)

See you next week!

Kolby 

The Road to Better Health

Are you interested in taking small steps to improve your overall health? Think that changing too much at one time will be to overwhelming? Wondering whether not your life fits in this realm of Healthy Living? You are in the right spot. 

My name is Kolby Krystofik, I am going to start to write more and more to share my experience and my story with anyone who wants to listen and hopefully learn a thing or two. 

So often I am talking with friends, family, or strangers about what I do as a CrossFit instructor and heath coach eventually the question arises:

"Why would anybody pay for any of that? Can't you just exercise and eat better? Anybody can do that for free." 

Most of the time nobody wants to hear my long answer after I tell them my short answer: "Because it makes sense."

But I am going to do a brief explaining right now. The long answer is that it makes sense. When presented with the topic of health, what it means to be health, and how to be healthy, people fall ALL over the spectrum as to how much info they know to how much they actually apply. 

I am going to compare learning how to take full control of your health to something that I relate to very closely here on this site; learning how to surf. 

Learning how to surf is an acquired skill. Now don't get me wrong, absolutely anybody (within driving distance to the beach of course) can buy a surf board, go to the beach, and learn how to surf. sounds simple doesn't it? Until you get to the water and are confused as to why nothing feels right, and you get out of the water significantly more frustrated then when you got in the water. 

This is how I learned to surf and from experience, a lot of the time it wasn't fun to go out with your friends and just get thrashed by the ocean and even a little frustrating when they seemed to be having so much fun. Having a coach would have saved me an insane amount of time, and stress. I would have had more fun sooner (gotten better results, faster) if I had someone teaching me. 

Now think about this for a second. You hire an instructor that loves to teach what you are trying to learn. (this aspect is incredibly important) Before you even meet for the first time, he (or she) tells you what kind of surfboard you would learn best on, and he might even have one he would be more than happy to lend you. He tells you what kind of wet suit you should get or if you should even both with a wet suit. Then you show up for your first session and they talk about ocean safety and how to get the most out of your learning experience, they talk about things you should be thinking about to break the information into understandable and applicable pieces. Then you finally get in the water and take it one step at a time.  

Then you get out of the water with a good teacher and understand why they charge money for what they do. Their knowledge in this field far exceeds yours, they know the best way for you to reach your goals, and they have a lot of experience with the learning process and how it works. 

The way I see it a fitness/health coach,  is no different. They are somebody who has spent a lot of time expanding and enhancing their knowledge of the subject they are teaching, They know the most effective you for you to reach your goals, and they have a lot of experience in making small steps to living a healthier life. Their goal is to get you better results, faster. 

I am someone who is so passionate about what I do for others and what I believe in that I am giving it away. I want to be able to help who ever is willing to make a change. 

"Because it makes sense." we need change in this world and I am willing to help.

After all, being healthy isn't just about going out and running a few miles each day. 

Follow my blog each week to learn a little about heath and what you can do this week to put yourself one step closer to a healthier life.