Adapting to Change or Creating Change.... it's Darwin in 2015!

A few posts ago I told you I had been thinking about the concept of Change and what it means in forming the Lifestyle you want.

This post may be a little scattered and convoluted but bear with me.....

It's a principle and thought process that requires some fleshing out and the best way to do this is to just start talking about your experiences and what you've learned from them and then try to make some conclusions for future application.... so here goes....

I wanna begin with a saying that was on the front and back of a CrossFit shirt that my sister, Diana, sent me last summer.

It was from the Box that she worked out at and went something like this....

On the front it said.....

"To Get What Others Want......"

On the back it said....

"You Must Do What Others Don't!"

Kind of a catchy little phrase that goes a lot deeper than the initial "Aha" it triggers.....

Let's just start this little analysis with some questions based on my own experiences....

What am I doing that the average person doesn't do and what difference does it make?

Why do I put my 52 year old body through the varied, rigorous and high intensity CrossFit workouts?

Why do I ride a bicycle so much when I have a perfectly good car I can use?

Why do I make such a big deal out of buying minimally processed foods, preparing them simply and following the principles of a Paleo diet?

Why do I vary my workouts and my activities so much between CrossFit, Yoga, Pilates, Body Pump, Plyo/Cardio/Weight, Zumba?

Why do I favor full range of motion / all body exercises like Overhead Squats, Wide Grip Chins, Thrusters, Burpees, etc???

Well.... when I look around in the gym and see people working out, I see people putting in a lot of effort.....

Doing the same thing over and over again!

Spending 30 minutes on a treadmill....  doing some half ass tricep exercises on a cabled machine...

After about 3 - 4 weeks of that, the body adapts and any progress made stops.

That's why CrossFit is so effective..... because no 2 workouts are the same.

And the Olympic Lifting movements inherent to the CrossFit approach employ a combination of technique, flexibility, activating many major muscle groups at one time and maximum intensity and cardio efforts.

Throw a Paleo Diet in with a high intensity, continuously varied Workout Regimen and you will see changes in you....

And probably faster than you would imagine!

It's like I've told people many times..... There's a Beast hiding in all of us.....

We just keep it hidden.....

Under 20 - 50 lbs of fat!

You can work out till you blow yourself up and if you don't get the diet right and feed the body the High Quality Food it needs and set aside the time for the Right Amount of Restful Sleep (in general, at least 8 - 9 hours per night) to rebuild and recover from the workouts you're doing.....

You're gonna look the same next year as you did this year.

Intensity and Change are synonymous....

If you are comfortable in your workouts.... if you are not pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion, failure or being breathless....

Then you're just kidding yourself..... You're not gonna get there....

Now you may have to start with baby steps.... you may be way out of shape, but the principle is the same....

You have to challenge yourself.... take your body and mind to a place of discomfort and stay there for a while.

Then go home and feed it lean proteins, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds and get some good sleep.

To Get What Others Want.... You Must Do What Others Don't.....

Is it easy?

No.

Is it comfortable?

No.

It's one of the reasons I try to inject as much change in my life as possible.....

Taking long distance bicycle tours.....

Being one of the oldest athletes in a CrossFit workout....

Saying No to the bad carbs of Bread, Pasta, Rice and Beans and the lactose challenges and extra calories of dairy products and the processed pitfalls of already prepared foods.

Relocating to New Places and forcing myself to meet new people with new ideas and different ways of doing things....

It's all about Change....

And Adapting to New Stimuli....

It is the Essence of....

Evolution....

And the Destiny of....

Discovery.