The Hard Routine

Bob getting ready for the muscle up challenge.

Brayson post WOD stretch.

Going over the plan during a team workout.

Melissa and Angela doing some extra work.

Jaryl lunging during one of our team WOD's

As the New Year approaches people begin to think about their resolutions. Each year thousands if not millions of people will say this is the year they make a change in their lives; whether it be no smoking, less alcohol, better nutrition, more exercise, less debt…

Unfortunately our society has made it incredibly easy to become overweight, unhealthy and lazy; it’s no wonder that every year a vast majority of resolutions fail. Most people will make it a couple of months some will last a little longer, but in the end most will fall short of their objective.
It is difficult to change a lifestyle habit/routine and one must be 100% committed and willing to make the necessary sacrifices that go along with it. I think most people go into it not realizing how challanging it may be. However it is possible for someone to make a positive lifestyle change if they are willing to work for it; nothing worth while in life comes easy. The few who succeed have the discipline, focus and intensity needed to get through the challenging times and those who fail often lose site of their goal and take the easy way out.

For those members who are interested and willing, this New Year at CrossFit Spokane we will be getting a group together to participate in “The Hard Routine” which is a one month reoccurring program. The program will provide workouts, goals, bench marks and accountability for your resolution progress. This will be more of a support group to get you where you want to be (misery loves company). We will have “The Hard Routine” board at the gym for posting comments, achievements or whatever. I challenge myself and anyone else to “The Hard Routine” each month of 2009.


The principles of setting up a hard routine are simple. Following them is too, but it takes total commitment.

1. Recognize that there is a benefit to not getting everything you want.

2. Understand that mental toughness is born of adversity; that it will atrophy if not consistently
engaged; and that it carries over to everything you do.

3. Objectively scrutinize one or a handful of things in your life that you think you need but could
actually do without.

4. Deny yourself those things for a specified period of time.

You can get a copy of "The Hard Routine" at CrossFit Spokane

(PDF)http://www.crossfittroy.com/files/the_hard_routine.pdf

"To a great extent, the health problems experienced by the members of the ridiculous culture in which we live are self-inflicted. They are result of the reluctance of the bulk of the population to do anything that is either physically hard or something that they don’t want to do. People seem to have acquired the idea that they have the inalienable right to stroll through life without having sweated, picked up anything heavy, worked hard, or eaten less than they wanted at every meal. This approach is, of course, wrong. And it has resulted in a lot of expensive, unattractive, and entirely preventable problems amongst people who seem puzzled about why things aren’t going well." Mark Rippetoe (CrossFit Journal 63 November 2007)


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