A longtime friend of mine recently approached me and told me “man, Kendra is amazing..she’s the reason and inspiration I started CrossFit”. So I figured there would be more people out there who would benefit from hearing a little more about “Ninjy”.

Beauty does not lie in the weight on the scale, beauty lies in the weight you’re capable of lifting and moving. Being is strong and capable is beautiful. This is the lesson our daughters need to start hearing. If I ever have a daughter, I’d be proud of two things:
1) I’d want her to be taught by “Ms. Massie”
2) I’d want to lift and CrossFit like “Ninjy”.

Here’s a little more about Kendra in her own words, I hope it’s something our girls can learn from.

“Coming from an athletic background of being a three sport athlete in high school and a college athlete, I was always pretty active. Yet, I was never the smallest and never have been the one with the most confidence. In high school and college, I was made fun of every once and while for the way I looked. I either was overweight or even “manly.” Yes, I said it, “manly.” This was always a confidence issue as well as worrying about it constantly. After one year of college, I caught myself drowning away sorrows quite frequently due to many personal issues I was going through and dieting (what was that?). This went on for a few years until I woke up one day hating myself. I hated the way I looked and the person I had become. Here I was, graduating college with a degree in education and I was a complete DISASTER. My life was a mess and I needed to fix it. I decided to pick up running and take part in different fitness classes. I ended up losing close to thirty pounds and still looked like a disaster. Exercising was a part of my life for a couple years, but it was beginning to become a chore because the constant thought and torture of having to be skinny and I gained some of the weight back.

Two friends (Brandon Coleman and Shaye Berry) mentioned a place named, “PSKC.” They were positive that I would love it. After being hounded for weeks, I decided to set up an intro. Not to mention, that Sara tried to get me to come a year prior and I wasn’t interested. I walked in the first day intimidated and had my intro with Ann in the storage room. I constantly was thinking, “what in the world am I doing?”while swinging around this kettlebell thing and seeing the members of this place pounding out mountain climbers and weighted sit-ups. I remember thinking, “YES! I am going to be skinny!” Come to find out the values I would learn from these people were life changing.

A few weeks went by and I became an addict. I saw coach Mo “burpeeing” herself to death, Ash doing an extreme amount of pull-ups, and Dale’s will to conquer anything that was thrown his way. This was awesome and I wanted to be exactly like them! One of the most memorable things that Dale has said that I apply to everyday life is his speech about the dogs: The fear dog and courage dog. After this speech, I knew that this was the right place to be. It was after this speech that I began to conquer my issues that were weighing me down for years. Partying way too much, worrying about things that didn’t matter, past experiences I needed to forget and move on are just some examples. I needed to get my life together. PSKC has really helped me find myself and I have accomplished things that I NEVER THOUGHT would be possible (like be happy). I also know that anything that comes up in my life can be conquered as long as I turn my brain off and go!

Everyone starts out the same. It is all about making yourself better and supporting the gym family. Everyone begins with 18Ib kettle bells and works their way up. Everyone uses bands when they first start pull ups and ring dips. We have all been there. Stick with it and you will surprise yourself. My love is heavy weight and when I first started I was scared to lift heavy. I didn’t want to. I just wanted to be skinny! I remember Mo making me use heavier kettle bells and I thought, “no way, you are crazy.” A few months went by and I started to change. I actually care about what I eat and watch what I eat (which is still a work in progress because I love wings and pizza). I started focusing on what I was able to do and what I could do to get better. You improve when you do not even know you do. Most importantly, I learned how awesome it was to be strong.

It was freaking awesome seeing moms like D ,Ann, and Ash going through brutal workouts, Sara being one strong PREGNANT momma, Mo pounding out close to 100 burpees in 7 minutes, and Boo Boo deadlifting over 300 pounds. These are the ladies that convinced me it was awesome to get stronger. It was ok to be strong and defininetly a better feeling then worrying about how skinny I was. Being able to have fun with my kiddies in first grade and being able to carry everything to my classroom in one trip is a good feeling too!
Over the past two years, I have not lost any weight, but I haven’t gained any either. I have lost a little over 10 percent body fat, gotten stronger, and gained my fun life back. I have many friends through the gym and I love each and every one of you. It’s not about who is the best, who can lift the most, or who can be the fastest. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. It is simply the fact of watching people do their first pull up, pushing themselves toward personal records, or even just finishing a workout. At a time when I was at my lowest, PSKC lifted me up and still is lifting me up. I love that place. Ladies, “strong is the new skinny” no matter what people say and surely not manly. If anyone says that, it is their own stupidity and they are jealous you can lift more than them. Thank you Dale, Mo, Zak, Ash, Ann, and Sara for all the time and effort you put in to make me better and believing in me.”

On any given day you’ll see him running over every mile of pavement in Portsmouth. From 15 degrees to 105 degrees, he’s out there, the TC Express rolling along, smiling every step. At the gym he’s the first person to call you by your name and say hello. He’s Rue and everyone loves him.

Rue and I have talked several times over the past couple of years and I’ve been very fortunate to get to him. More people needed to learn more about him so I asked him to write a short bio, he was pretty hesitant but after some convincing he did.

Below you’ll find out the reason he is always smiling is because there was a period when he never smiled. A tale of depression, booze, and drugs that eventually turned into a love for people and fitness.

“Growing up I was bullied pretty regularly as a kid. I was always picked last in class or in sports. I always enjoyed sports, especially football but only played one year in the 8th grade because I felt I wasn’t good enough.

My lack of self esteem and confidence made me very shy and reserved, drew me inside myself. This led to me drinking at a very early age. I drank A LOT and then mixed my drinking with speed. My goal sometimes was to see just how I could get my blood pressure. Looking back at it and come to think of it, those were my very first “PRs”.

I had total disrespect for myself and others. I got in trouble with the law several times and found myself sometimes in and out of jail. Sad to say, but that’s basically how I spent a good 20+ years of my life, a blurred mess of alcohol, drugs, depression, mixed with lack of love and respect for myself and others.

After watching a friend overdose I then decided I had had enough. And for the past 8 years now I’ve been clean and sober…and I smile a helluva lot more.

In addition to my job assisting those with special needs, every week I visit inmates at the county jail and other juvenile detention facilities in the area. I go these places to talk to the inmates, give them some hope and encouragement because I know what it’s exactly like to be in there shoes.

Sometimes all it takes is for someone to reach out to make the change a person needs.

In addition to my substance abuse I was also pretty overweight. When I dropped drugs and booze I picked up running and I run a lot. At first I just ran to get away from the substance abuse, to give me much needed time to think, to keep my mind off of the drugs and alcohol. What started as a few steps turned into several miles. I’ve completed dozens of 5Ks, ½ marathons, and full marathons.

My new love for fitness led me to PSKC and CrossFit. I remember the first time I saw Dale swinging this weird looking iron ball and jumping up and down on the floor like a maniac. I had never met him before but I told him “man, you’re crazy…there’s no way I’d ever do that”. That was 3 years ago. I had never worked out before and now I love it! CrossFit is where it’s at. I’m doing things that I never thought I could do.

I know firsthand what it feels like to be the last one picked and go 20+ years without real laughter and joy. So now my pleasure is helping people and giving words of encouragement to my fellow PSKC’rs and anyone else that needs it. I love to laugh and make others laugh. Words of encouragement and laughter go a long way.

We have the best coaches and members at PSKC. The coaches and people there have helped make me who I am today. You all are the best and are like family to me. I’d do anything for them.”

You’re the man Rue…we’re all lucky to know you.

CrossFit’s slogan is “forging elite fitness”, a strength and conditioning program designed to increase your capacity as a human. And yes it does that..numbers will clearly show that. Whether it is numbers going up in your lifts or numbers going down in the scales..the numbers prove it, it’s hard data.
To me, a much more important result of CrossFit is the forging of indomitable spirit…WILL, the type of determination and spirit that burns like coal, white hot coals. Coals that will stay hot long after the fire has left and if stoked properly can ignite fire after fire when needed.

This “unconquerable soul” can be only be forged through repeated effort, toil, and pain. Yes pain, I’m not speaking about injuries, I’m talking about that pain that the Airdyne or Fran can deliver.

The pain that only comes after you have emptied whatever you had in the tank.
You have got to make the decision to dive headfirst into some pretty dark, murky, and uncomfortable waters. Make that decision and accept it.

Accept that you will encounter pain.

Accept that you will get up and you will do it over again tomorrow and the day after it.

Accept that you will relish, cherish, and enjoy this pain.

Accept that some days you will not feel like going, but you will go anyways, and you will give everything you have for that day, that hour.

The daily conquering of adversity and effort will produce this spirit

Your effort is determined by your attitude.

And to quote Mark Twight; your “attitude is the only meaningful fundamental”.

Our mission is to take the average person off the street and turn them into a machine. But you’ve got to want that too, more so than us. You can’t just show up and go through the motions.
Mediocre effort produces mediocre results. Watching mediocrity in action is disgusting, and it infuriates me. Isn’t America full of enough mediocrity? Take a stand and don’t add to the list.

You are not meant to be mediocre or average. But you’ve got to be willing to believe that your mind and body are capable of incredible things. You’ve got to be willing to sacrifice for it, willing to EARN it. If you want a fitness welfare check, you’re in the wrong place. You can’t show up, break a little sweat through osmosis and expect to be awesome. Inside these walls it’s a meritocracy…you get what you earn.

We get you 1 hour a day. 1 hour of your life where you can forget everything else, where nothing else matters except for the task at hand. Where the only thing that matters is the repetition that you’re doing, being truly in the moment. So don’t cheat yourself of that hour, that minute, that moment..

DO EVERY SINGLE REP. If it’s 21 reps, that doesn’t mean 20 or 19. It’s 21. Use whatever the hell you have to, chips, chalk, markers..but count them. If you lose count, do more than you think you have to.

DO EVERY SINGLE REP CORRECTLY. To standard, FULL RANGE OF MOTION. Get hips below your knees, elbows locked out overhead, chin above bar, etc. A 400 meter run is not a 385 meter run. Don’t rob yourself of that 1 hour.

And here’s the cold hard fact of why you cheat your reps or don’t perform them to standard. You got weak..not physically weak, you can do the movement and the work. But much worse, you broke mentally. The workout started to suck, so you decided to take the easy road out. You “lost count” and you started half squatting.

You may have gotten away it before somewhere in the past, but not here. We don’t hand out participation trophies. We don’t grade on a curve. And we don’t hand out fitness welfare checks.
We won’t allow it because we care too much and we expect nothing less than everything you got.

We won’t tolerate mediocrity.

We don’t care if you’re the fastest or strongest. We don’t care about times or scores for workouts, we care about your level of effort, attitude, and determination. You know why we cheer for the last person during a workout? It’s because we know what they’re going through. It’s because we love and appreciate their EFFORT. No one would cheer if that person was half-assing, half-squatting, and half-counting.

If you fall victim to the disease of weakness, the good news is that it’s not a terminal diagnosis. However, you’ve got to be willing to take the medicine..it comes in 1 hour doses each day you step foot into the gym.

The above videos show Sass hitting a 125# snatch and Ninjy hitting a 165# clean and jerk. Yes, technique isn’t picture perfect but it’s still an awesome display of strength, speed, and power. The progress these two have shown in the last year is outstanding.

Not just these two ladies, but the chicks at PSKC are some strong determined women. They aren’t viewed as “girls” they are viewed as equals…just other lifters. And as the two videos and dozens of other photos on this website and Facebook page show…they are not “bulky” and damn sure not “manly”.

It’s time we kill the “cardio bunnies” stereotype. Stop worrying about the numbers on your scale and get serious about the numbers you’re lifting. Your body will take care of itself.

Don’t fear the iron…you should fear the life you’d live without iron.

If you’d like to learn more shoot me an email at dale@www.pskccrossfit.com . Our next beginners program starts Tuesday at 630pm, we’d love to show you the amazing things you’re capable of.

People are awesome…but there’s a common theme throughout the video: having the physical ability to do these tasks. No one can be awesome sitting on their couch.

Your body is a tool capable of incredible things. But you’ve got to train it, punish it, perfect it in order to be able of doing awesome things.

Granted, I’m not talking about the things in the video, I’m talking about your own version of awesomeness.

Losing 20 lbs

Quitting smoking

Being stronger at 40 than at 20

Running around with your kids..

Having energy, helping others, and doing it with a smile.

If you’re ready of your own version of awesomeness, we’re ready for you.

Our next intro program kicks off on Tuesday at 630pm. Email mo@www.pskccrossfit.com to grab a slot.

Additionally, this Saturday is February’s Bring a Friend Pain Clinic. If you’ve got a friend whose never been to the gym, have them come down this Saturday at 9am to show them what we’re all about!

Recently we’ve been implementing a lot of work with ergometers via the rower and airdyne. An ergometer simply measures work being performed…in other words EFFORT.

In a very cold, black and white way..the erg displays data/numbers on how hard you’re going. It doesn’t tell you “good job” or pat you on the back…just numbers displayed in the form of calories ticking by the screen. The faster you go…the harder you pedal or pull…the quicker the numbers tick away….the greater the reward. Just like in life…the more you put into it..the more you get out of it.

But to reap the results you want…you have to willing to go there…to the places that others dare not go. But it doesn’t end there….

“PUNISH THE BODY…TO PERFECT THE SOUL” – Mark Twight

It’s not enough to just do the work…not enough to understand that you’ll experience the pain..you’ve got to delight and relish in the agony…in the pain. Don’t be the one who is afraid to be sent to the front lines….live to serve on the front lines.

Control the internal dialogue…starve the fear wolf…get angry…and start to attack.

GET F@CKING AFTER IT…

Want to show a big shout out to Kyle. The above before/after photo shows his progress after 3-4 months. He quit smoking, kicked diet Dew, cleaned up his diet, and starting hitting up the gym hard. He is a quiet dude, doesn’t say much..just busts his ass. Congrats brother, we are damn proud of you.

We had another great week in the books. We established our training maxes for backsquat and military press, got in a bitch of a birthday workout, and some other awesomeness in the process. We also kicked off the first of the “dawn patrol” with 6am workouts on Tuesday & Thursday. We had great crowds including 9 of you pyschos on Thursday. Keep up the attendance and we might just have to expand the 6am offerings.

Remember every Tuesday will be lower body lift and Thursday will be upper body lift. At the end of the 6 week cycle we will switch up the exercises. So remember your training maxes you established. This week on Tuesday & Thursday we are hitting up 5X5 at 60% of your 1RM.
Week 2 – 4X4 at 70%
Week 3 – 5X3 at 80%
Week 4 – 3X2 at 90%
Week 5 – Test out for new maxes

We will then start over with new exercises. For those that have been religiously sticking to the 5/3/1 program on squats and deadlifts. My recommendation to you is to stick with it so you can continue that program over the course of the year(s). Only thing you’ll need to do is simply switch out your lifts. For example if you’re a regular 5/3/1 backsquatter on Sundays, for this mini-cycle do front squat instead of backsquat on Tuesdays. This way you can continue with your 5/3/1 program. If you have any questions, see a coach.

Finally here’s a 30 second clip of pure pain face. It was my 30th 30 second interval on the airdyne. Damn thing eats my lunch every time..

Over the weekend some of the crew fly out to the Jersey Shore to hang out and compete in a Tactical Strength Challenge with our friends at The Training Room. As we’re grabbing a bite to eat in a restaurant, none other than the man himself Jim Wendler (creator the 5/3/1 Strength Program) walks up to grab a drink. Being the uber strength/physical culture nerd that I am immediately recognized him and shook his hand, said I was a big fan, and most importantly told him thanks.

At the gym, thanks to our strength guru Meathead, we’ve adopted the 5/3/1 program since the October/November timeframe and every person that has committed to the program has witnessed consistent strength gains across the roof . Click HERE to see what we do

So for about a half hour we able to talk lifting and 5/3/1 with the master himself. I tried to jot down as many notes as I could . Below you’ll see my key take aways:

1) Jim Wendler is one cool sumbitch. He was thrilled to meet his “fans”. He was extremely gracious with us and seemed to enjoy just talking training. His graciousness was only matched by his humor. For those that have read his books and articles you know this already, but he just seems to be one great dude.

2) 5/3/1 is all about taking one step forward each day. Don’t let your ego get in the way. Do your lifts, do them every week and every cycle. Some days you’re gonna be the hammer, some days you’re gonna be the nail. Don’t let that distract you from doing your main lifts. If it’s your heavy week in the cycle (5/3/1) and you’re not feeling like you can set a new rep PR. No worries, get in there and hit your main lifts and get out. Just keep making small steps forward.

3) When Mo was asking him questions about struggling with the deadlift. Jim asked

“How long you been lifting?”
Mo replied, “since October“
Jim laughed and said “when you’ve lifted for 25 years, then come talk to me about your problems“.

His point was strength training (lifting) is a lifelong pursuit. Similiar to the second point above, there is no quick and easy fix. Just keep taking small steps and stick to the basics. That’s the beauty of the 5/3/1 program. Keep track of your lifts, make the small 10lb jumps each cycle and before you know it, a year has passed and you’ve added 50-100lbs on your lifts.

4) Considering we were going to an event that involved a max deadlift, we asked him advice in regards to figuring out what weight to open up with. His advice was to figure out what weight you wanted to lift on your 3rd attempt. For example if you want to lift 500 on your final attempt,
your 1st lift you should open with 85% of that (425)
2nd lift should be 92.5% of that (463)
3rd attempt obviously 100% (500)

We implemented this strategy at the meet and I must admit it worked pretty damn well. 3 of the 4 of us PR’d on the deadlift. So it’s something to keep in mind. His main point was to open up with something you absolutely know you can get. What’s the point of doing 480-490-then 500? The %s of those jumps are minuscule.

5) Be awesome. Having an impromptu with Wendler was a pretty cool experience. His passion for lifting and helping others was quite evident. He is very clearly a no BS type of dude, he tells it like it is. Mo was asking questions to help with her deadlift and fix the problem with her back rounded. He point blank said, “your legs must be weak, get them stronger”. Brilliant..

In order to get stronger, you must prioritze strength. You can’t be a conditioning freak and expect to be as strong as you possibly can. Additionally, you can’t run around training a dozen different things and expect to get great at all them. You need a program and you gotta stick to the program and must make it a priority.

The favorite quote of the discussion was when I asked a leading question about doing a conditioning workout before a strength workout. He replied;
“c’mon dude..that’s common sense…you don’t masturbate before you have sex right?”

Good point Jim…well said.