Crappy CrossFit Gyms
“I’m sick of all these crappy CrossFit gyms opening everywhere.” “They are ruining CrossFit’s reputation.” “They are hurting people and hurting my CrossFit gym.” “They are destroying my brand!” I opened the first CrossFit gym in my city about 5 years ago. Not the first in my general area mind you, but it sounds cooler to say it like that. Now there are 7 located in Costa Mesa alone and within 10 minutes of my gym, there are 9 affiliates. Go out another 5 minutes, and within 15 minutes from my gym you can find 14...
read moreBe enough?
Wow what a tough log post title. Are you adding to the world and doing everything you can to be who you should be? Wow, I am currently struggling with that question. It’s a giant question. I hope that this question causes you to think and react as much as it is impacting me. I hope I can come up with an answer that I can sleep with. I hope I can react and answer this question when I am 99 years old, about to leave this world, and answer honestly, yes Lord, I did everything I...
read moreCrossFit and Common Sense?
Words in RED are links. Click and read. First things first, I’m not Old School CrossFit. I’m talking the real old school CrossFitters like Brian MacKenzie, Josh Evertt, Chris Spealler, Freddy Camacho, Mike Minium, Skip Chase, Lisbeth Darsh, etc… Yeah I left off a bunch of cool people, these guys just jumped off the top of my mind. I consider myself a second year kinda guy. I always check out these guy’s websites and blogs, seeking to dig out some kernels of gold or pearls of wisdom. I didn’t start CrossFit when it was...
read moreRemember
Seek and serve God as you know him to be Give grace and love to people unconditionally Strive to be a better man every day, For life is too short and easily wasted away Our time is spent on such trivial frivolity, like money and lust; such wasted energy Never lose sight of what matters, your true worth We are a step from death’s door, in these human shells here on...
read moreSo Choose and Live
It’s time for a little “Intense Alec”. Some of you out there may think that’s standard, but well, this may be a little more than usual. I love you though. So… Shut up and move. Stop thinking. Stop making excuses. Stop getting distracted. Stop being stagnant in your life. Just move. Take the steps in your life you have been meaning to and stop holding back from being who you are destined to be. Stop eating crap. Seriously. You know you are doing it so just stop. Look, you want the key? You want the super secret solution...
read moreDrive Time with Alec
First off you may be asking, is this real? Does Alec really have a fake/real YouTube show? Is he that weird/crazy/awkward? You bet! I’m having more fun than ever and I figured I would let everyone know where the Drive Time’s YouTube home actually is. Well, the link is below and guess what, you can actually watch the very first Drive Time AND my 50th Subscriber Video below. BOOM BABY! Drive Time with Alec Here is the direct link to Drive Time’s YouTube Channel. Just click and...
read moreBending the Universe
A mentor of mine told me in plain language, he had the ability to bend the universe to his will. He had been prone to exaggerations at times, so I let him roll with it. Little did I know, he wasn’t lying. “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.....
read moreWhy you matter enough to face the pain
You matter. Period. Somewhere along the lines of our lives we believe we don’t, at least not “that” much anyway. Some of us have parents who tell us we matter, some are not so lucky. But shortly, we learn we are only as valuable as what we can accomplish. School tells us we matter if we get the best grades. Sports tell us we matter if we can beat the other guy. Our friends and peers tell us we matter if we can somehow be cooler than everyone else. And we always fall short, don’t we? There is always...
read moreWhat Really Matters?
I often find myself thinking about life. I think about the human existence, our passions, our victories, and failures. What amazing existence. We eat, sleep, fight, work and grow old. We reproduce, make love, propagate hate, complain about unfairness, and at times perform extraordinary acts of greatness. But given all the magnitude of the human existence many people live their lives to their ends wishing they could have done more. They live with regret, with sadness, and with mediocrity. Why? Why do so many of us continually fail...
read moreWhat’s in a goal?
I find it bizarre but somehow completely normal that most of us don’t have goals. Don’t get me wrong, we have vague ideas and semi-thoughts that propel us in some form of a direction, but if we are honest with ourselves, these are not real, hard and fast, goals. We have soft commitments, unspoken objectives, and an unclear path towards a hazy horizon. Why? Why do people so often hide from making real goals? Is it Fear? Laziness? Apathy? What’s your excuse and reason? Why do you not spend the time to solidify and declare your goals to the...
read moreMeet The Desk Warrior
Welcome to my site. A place for my thoughts and ramblings and I hope you enjoy it. I live a life in amazing abundance but not the “pie in the sky”, “every day is a rainbow” kind of abundance, but a life grounded in a deep and often painful foundation of personal responsibility. Glad you are here. I’m a 31 year old Mortgage Banker and CrossFit Gym Owner. I manage Southern California for a Mortgage Banking Institution and assist in running and operating CrossFit Costa Mesa. I’m married to my beautiful wife,...
read moreSo you want to change the world?
You are not a mistake. You are not alone. You are not powerless, helpless, and without resources. You are not a victim. You are not what they say you are. You are not what they want you to be. You hold the power of a million suns, burning with an unquenchable ferocity. It’s all a lie. All those half-truths, and falsehoods, and confusion. It’s all part of the Great Deceit. You want to change the world? Just let it out. In all irony, it takes more effort to hold it all back, to make yourself small, to hide your power and...
read moreInvictus
I like a little reminder every now and then. I think the trick is, placing things around us to remind us of the power we are destined with. Why settle for being small. It does not serve you. I chose life. I chose to be the master of my fate and the captain of my soul. Join me. Invictus Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but...
read moreThe Edge
Everytime you do anything in life, there is an edge. In a WOD it’s that point beyond the pain. The place where it hurts so badly that all you want to do is pull back. In WORK it’s the uncomfortable place, more often the mental pain of making the next sales call, pushing through on a project that is going into the night, or having the tough conversations that need to be had to progress your business. Here’s my challenge. Go past it. Don’t dance with the edge this next time as there is always a next time. Blow by it...
read moreRide the Lightning
Today a new dawn breaks, a new horizon beckons. Decide today will be different, today will be your day. Ride the lightning.
read morePain
I have heard people act based on only two things in this world. They move away from Pain and towards Pleasure. The pain can be either perceived or realized and the same with pleasure. It can be physical, sexual, relational, or spiritual. Pleasure is the great Lover; the seducer, while Pain is the great Teacher and instructor. The Lover is always in front, calling, beckoning, opening her arms to you in hopes you will run to her and a future you are capable of achieving. the Teacher, though, she never leaves your side. While the Lover...
read moreWhat We Stand For
We stand for the transformation of the mind and body; the empowering and revitalization of the human will and spirit; the unleashing of the human potential. We care about your performance not your body fat percentage. We care about you setting new personal records not about your pant size. We live for the moment when the fire of your soul awakens and your eyes open with the steeled determination that you are more capable than you ever imagined. That’s what CrossFit means to us. Dropping weight, body fat percentage, and looking “sexy” are...
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Make the move
Get off your ass. Seriously. It’s way past time. You have been making enough excuses now so let’s just get them out in the open for everyone to see. You’re tired; Work was too hard; You’re not in good enough shape; You feel kinda sick; Kids are sick; Money is tight; Not enough time; Get over it. That last one was not an excuse. So what’s yours? Why do you continue to get fatter and unhealthier? Stand up straight right now and look down your front. Can you see your shoes? Or maybe it’s not a weight gain thing. Maybe you just get...
read moreCoachability
In another Alec/Steve conversation the other day, Steve made an interesting connection. We had just finished Sectionals the other weekend and an interesting phenomenon was observed. As we watched the athletes perform (myself included) we noticed that many at one point or another expressed frustration and even downright anger at some of the judges as they made their “calls” on whether a movement counted or not as a valid repetition. The judges where doing their best, no doubt, but I can definitely understand the frustration by some athletes...
read moreHow hard are you willing to work?
In a typical Alec/Steve conversation over some Thai food last night we wondered about the following situation. If you were asked by the CrossFit gym you train at to show up on a Sunday when the gym in normally closed, for an undisclosed reason involving your future membership, would you show up? Let’s say you do show up and you see some other gym members there as well and by talking with them, you realize they were told the same thing, and you realize that the other people you see around you are known to half-ass their workouts in the gym...
read moreThe Great Deceit “Part 5″ – Final Chapter
“Worth” “It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny.” - Jean Nidetch. Are you worth it? Are you worth having the success and passion you day dream about? Are you worth having the wealth, the loving family, the body and health? Are you worth it? It’s not a complex question. It’s a yes or no answer. But the answer you have, the answer that comes from the darkest corner of your soul, may not be the answer you want it to be. So much gets left out of this world, so much achievement, so much...
read moreThe Great Deceit “Part 4″
Are You Capable?” “Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not?” - George Bernard Shaw The second pillar surrounds the concept of your capabilities. Now that we have established that everything is possible for you, we need to dig out more for the foundation and establish if you have the capability to do what you desire. Do you believe you are capable of achieving what you previously deemed impossible? Well, let’s walk through this. If you now...
read moreThe Great Deceit “Part 3″
“The Foundation” With a clear place to work, we can start laying the foundation. We will need to dig deep to get the depth we need, for our new structure will reach tall. We are going to build something to pierce the clouds and stand the test of time. It’s going to rest on 3 pillars we will need to drive to the heart of our earth. These pillars are the core pieces of our foundation and they are not easily created. We will need to toil and sweat to get this work done and it will not be easy. Your ground which was once fertile has become...
read moreThe Great Deceit “Part 2″ – Getting Our Hands Dirty
We are going to build something now. As with all things worth building, we will need a foundation. True to our allegory, before a foundation can be laid, we will need to clear the site so we’ll have a neutral place to begin. “The Empty Cup” “The Japanese master Nan-in gave audience to a professor of philosophy. Serving tea, Nan-in filled his visitor’s cup, and kept pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could restrain himself no longer: “Stop! The cup is over full, no more will go in.” Nan-in said:...
read moreThe Great Deceit
“All things are possible…” When did we stop believing that? Do you remember the exact moment? Some do. Some people have that experience where their childhood understanding, the one that says they that they can do anything, comes crashing down around their heads and a harsher reality full of Can’t, Don’t, and No’s stifles their existence. For others it’s a gradual shift; full of subtle rejections and limitations that slowly choke the real life from their minds and bodies. So slowly it’s almost imperceptible and they don’t even...
read moreWar
“One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:...
read moreCrossFit is too intense
“CrossFit is too intense.” “I’m not ready (in good enough shape)” “It hurts too much.” Again, let me start with a question of my own; too intense for who? CrossFit can be done by children barely 3 years old and older adults all the way up into their 70’s and 80’s. I’ve seen it. In fact, just Google it or search on YouTube. It’s not a hidden reality. CrossFit is scalable. Everything can be simplified into the most basic and elementary movements that it becomes immediately applicable and...
read moreWhy Community Matters
Like you need convincing right? Ok maybe you do if you are still trying to workout alone. This is another one of those honest moments I like to draw attention to. This is a moment where you can let down some of the BS excuses you wrap around your consciousness to avoid facing the truth. When you workout alone you cheat yourself. I can hear the excuses and BS rising up in everyone’s mind just about now. I don’t cheat, I work hard, I do all the reps, I go through the full ROM, etc…yeah right. I don’t like a community, they...
read moreWinning is a Habit
Have you ever wondered why Vince Lombardi is famously remembered? He was a winner. One of my favorite quotes of his is “Winning is a habit.” I love that and I am sure you have heard that before. But why is it a habit? Habits are learned, right? Habits are something that becomes instinctual in a person over time. (Habit (psychology), an acquired pattern of behavior that often occurs automatically.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habit So how could something as complex as winning be a habit? Winning seems so obtuse and broad. Did Vince mean...
read moreVictory through pain
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” -Lance Armstrong We have all heard the sayings before. No Pain, No Gain. Pain is just weakness leaving the body. Etc… I have a thousand such quotes and sayings circling in my mind. But there is deep truth I am becoming more and more accustomed to surrounding the topic of pain. Pain comes at us in many forms and in each we all do the same thing. Try to...
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