| Why the all caps PERSONAL?
To remind you that even though it's a group workout and even though you have the same workout card as everyone else in the room, that you and I together personalize it and your experience.
Remember CYBBC works with busy people mostly aged between 30-60 years (shout out to my outliers!) with a mean age in the 40's. These lucky people must be able to walk a mile (preferably run a mile), be currently pain & injury free, willing to commit to and follow the WHOLE plan and desire to get in their best shape (among the 14 big questions we ask new people, 6 of which are saved for the phone interview).
This selection process instantly personalizes your group workout by finding people similar to yourself in health, desires, abilities and readiness.
We then take it further with dumbbell loads, band thickness, medicine ball weights, exercise levels and even repetition recommendations.
We both track data, you in the recording of your workouts (level x weight x sets x reps), cardio minutes, sleep, meals, exercise and nutrition habits and me with measurements, testing, attendance, cardio minutes, challenge workouts, workout cards and kick ass weigh-ins.
You add this all up and its very personal. You share the cost of pretty awesome personal coaches, you get a dope team to train with, a results-oriented program to follow and a great big space to train in.
Why am I reminding you of this?
I'm reminding you of this to help you frame your thoughts around the little opportunities in the program like the Level 1, 2 & 3 sub-levels of a,b,c & d. and the unique rep ranges like do 5 reps if you do a new level or 8-12 reps if you do the same or have been doing the same level. Or do 2 reps of a 5 count hold with a 10 count rest in between if you do chin up holds; or do 1 rep of a 20 count hold (5 @ top, 5 @ 1/3 down, 5 @ 2/3 down and 5 @ full hang) if you do chin up negatives; or do 1+ reps of assisted or body weight chin ups and then recording the total number of reps you do each workout.
You see what I mean. That's very personal, individual specific and its within a group setting. The best of both worlds, plus you also get to do it with a partner and in small groups.
There are a lot of moving parts. It's a lot to learn compared to simply showing up at a class and being run through the motions until your sweaty and exhausted. And its worth it.
All you need to do is reflect on how far you've come in our program, how far our program has come since you've been with us or if you're newer ask someone how far they've come and how the program has gotten better over the years.
Hey, we used to not have workout cards and we did only team training, no stations, no pull up bars, no hurdles, medicine balls or TRX's. Everything was done at your mat and we let most anyone in. There used to be measurements, orientation and nutrition discussion with a grocery shopping tour all on separate weekend days. There was no goal setting phone interview. You know why we changed? Because our members got better so we had to change. We used to be solely a health & body transformation program. Our tagline was "Guaranteed body changes for busy people" and then what do you do when the bodies change? You add performance and raise individuals perceived ceilings to new heights and help them get comfortable with their identity change to one of an athlete.
When I worked for the Red Sox...
we did both team stretching and individual stretching. I'd teach the team how to stretch & warm up on their own and I'd lead them through a team stretch. Then the athletes could do specific workouts on their own that we taught them like band stretching, arm care, core workouts or strength workouts or we'd manually stretch them before practice and/or games. With 25 guys on the active roster, plus at least 3 coaches, equipment guys and front office people, there were a lot of people to care for over the course of a season, not including injured guys or coaches and players passing through. 2 Athletic training staff members couldn't do manual work on each guy every day, so we needed to empower the athletes. Athletes would love to be manually stretched and be led through their workouts most of the times, but that's not always realistic or best for them or us.
Empowerment and autonomy with their self-care and supplemented by us were the best ways to help them become their best selves. They could practice what they've learned on their own to the appropriate levels unique to them and get the accountability, support, guidance and motivation that comes from training with their peers (under supervision of a coach) or small group (outfielders, infielders, pitchers & catchers) or 1-on-1.
Empowerment and autonomy with your self care is what you practice with your nutrition plan, cardio plan, @ home workouts and personal warm up, cool down and recovery plans.
Accountability, support, guidance and motivation is what you get from being a member, training with a partner, working in small groups (med ball & hurdles or planks & sprints) and working together as a team in a large group setting to get better.
The Gray Goals
Lightly typed in gray on your cards are unique opportunities to get better. There are the italicized levels, some of which have specific rep ranges recommended (e.g. Facing Wall Slides x8, Push Ups x8-12, FE Pike Push Ups x5) and there are the set goals for each exercise in the recording boxes (e.g. G=1-2 sets/ex). Develop the habit of being early so you can pre-fill out your cards and review these gray goals. Let yourself be competitive and try to set a personal record (PR) every workout and also see if you can hit or beat those goals. You'll change your life in the best way possible and that's not b.s., that's straight up Truth, Paul Pierce style!
Daddy Daughter Day
I buried my sons Max & Leo. I buried my dad, Alex. I've been blessed to be invited to and part of more weddings than most in my short lifetime and also to more funerals than most. I choose to do what I love for a living, and that's getting to train you, and I choose to be home 2 days for daddy, daughter day and most every dinner. I'm far from perfect, but I've learned the hard way (a lot) and what daddy daughter days teach me is I have to present my best self to those days if I want to have a great day with Vivi and not go to sleep regretting something. She says too often, "GET UP Daddy!" when I'm lying on the sofa tired. I love that and hate that. It's ok. to be tired. It's ok. to have off days, but no one wants to make mistakes the night or days before over and over again, and pay the price the following day with a poor performance and the following days with a potential bad habit to break.
It used to be real easy to make the right decisions when I focused on kicking butt for a sports season or event season, but life, if you're lucky enough, keeps going, so for me its been a process to change from the Hare mentality (short term) to the Tortoise mentality (long term). But I don't want to waste any more days with Vivi, with Vanessa, with you or in general and neither do you.
Wrapping Up So what do you do? What's the point of this email? Everyday you want to squeeze out the most of the day that you can (e.g. hence personalizing your workouts for PR's or to present your best self all day long) AND set yourself up for success tomorrow. Be early to review and prepare, set boundaries to protect your resources (energy, time, ....) and stop (go to bed or push the plate away) so you can set yourself up to kick butt again tomorrow and the next day and the day after that and so on (the long term).
Your coach,
Mike Alves
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