Southern California Regionals-Womens Heat

Naiara doing a Handstand in front of the Regionals sign

The Southern California CrossFit Regionals took place this last weekend in Del Mar and they were a blast. Great job to Ryan, Naiara, Rosie, and John who judged the athletes. There were also a handful of Walnut CrossFitters in the stands enjoying the competition. I look forward to helping our competition team over the next 9-10 months in preparation for next years Regionals. Go team WCF!

When you make a commitment to do something, do you feel obliged to do it? Do you feel like you HAVE to do it or do you have freedom around it? I started thinking about it and wondered, what’s the difference between the two, commitment and obligation.

Here’s the definition of obliged from dictionary.com: “to place under a debt of gratitude for some benefit, favor, or service: I’m much obliged for the ride.”
And here’s the definition of committed: “to pledge or engage oneself: an athlete who commits to the highest standards.”

The way I see it now, the difference lies in the reason behind taking the action… because both will deliver actions. The person who feels obliged, feels that way because he/she has already been the recipient of some act of kindness and feels like they have to repay the act or person. Obligation, to me, means I am doing something because I should, it’s the right thing to do, I’m supposed to do it, and I need to repay something or someone who has done something for me. Commitment, on the other hand, comes out of nothing. With a commitment, there is nothing that I have to do, should do, or am supposed to do, nothing that needs to have happend because it is “right”, because the only person responsible for whatever it is I’ve committed to is me. There is total freedom with commitment… prison with obligation.

So here’s the million dollar question… how do you turn your obligations into commitments, to rid yourself of the necessity of doing something because you’re supposed to? Another question – do your commitments FEEL more like obligations? If so, why? I wish I had all the answers, I really do. I feel like I have a clear distinction between the two, but I’d love to hear your thoughts and your answers

If you guys have some free time this weekend, I recommend you check out the CrossFit Regionals taking place today, Saturday and Sunday. Regionals are CrossFit’s playoffs. The top individuals and teams at Regionals, get to proceed to the CrossFit Games which are obviously showcased on ESPN now. A bunch of us here at the box are there right now as I am writing this blog and will be there the entire weekend. Also, Ryan, Rosie, Naiara and John will be judges at the event the entire weekend. So don’t be surprised if you see some familiar faces judging the athletes. See you guys there!

May 17-19 9am-5:30pm

If you have those little voices, if you’re thinking about starting something, but haven’t started yet – this video is for you:

How many of you have fallen victim to the “Manana Syndrome”? You know, “I’ll fix that tomorrow”, “I’ll call them tomorrow”, “I’ll workout tomorrow”, or better yet…”I’ll start my diet tomorrow”. God knows I do this. If you’re like me and you find yourself putting off something that you know you need to do NOW, then you need to start by taking a small action. This small action will give you some much needed momentum to get you going in the right direction. It may be something as small as a 2 minute phone call or taking 5 minutes to write out a healthy meal plan you will be following for the next 2-3 days. What small action can you make right now?

Since I landed yesterday, I have received 5-6 text and Facebook messages sharing how people who are part of our “Body Tansformation Challenge”, have already lost weight and are feeling so much better. Someone shared with me that they already lost 6lbs in 3 days. I am so proud of all of you for taking on this challenge and wanting to improve your health and lives. Keep up your hard work and prepare, prepare, prepare your meals! I didn’t say it would be easy…I said it would be worth it!

PS-I wrote this blog on the beach

Mmm Mmm Mmmm…It was delicious!

Ingredients:

• Lettuce(I used a mix of organic Romaine Lettuce & Herb Salad Mix)
• Sliced Raw Almonds
• Small Handful of Organic Dried Cranberries
• 1 Can Starkist Chunk White Albacore Tuna
• Trader Joes Raspberry Vinaigrette

This was absolutely amazing. The Raspberry Vinaigrette and Cranberries gave this salad  a very sweet taste. I am NOT a big fan of tuna, but I couldn’t taste the tuna one bit. Try this! I know you will enjoy this thoroughly.

When I started my CrossFit journey in November of 2010 it was a very exciting and scary time. I was excited because I knew that the time had come to change my life.  But I was scared because, to say the least, I was a fat, out of shape individual. I could not go for more than a couple of minutes before I thought I was going to hack a lung.

As the journey continued, I slowly changed my diet. It was hard. There is no other way to describe it. I had developed some extremely poor eating habits, and I had to learn how to change. I spent an enormous amount of time receiving guidance and motivation from Coach Robert, and more importantly, reassurance from my wife, Coach Rosie.

Rosie and I started the journey together along with our daughter Natasha. I came to realize that family support was the key. Having loved ones sacrifice and understand the struggle made the change possible and doable.

On January 5, 2011, I entered WCf’s first body transformation challenge. As is my style, I closed my eyes and jumped in feet first. I did not think about it, I just did it. I put my faith in Coach Robert and followed his guidance to a, “T.”

When beginning, there is no other way but to follow your lifestyle change as “Rx.”  I do not like to use the word diet because of its negative connotations. I undertook a lifestyle change. Eating Paleo is doable for the rest of your life, and healthy. A diet in my opinion is done over a short period of time to try and lose weight in a short span of time. Often times risking our health.

We are not here for the short term. We are here for the long term. We are here to change out lives.

The best advice that I can offer is for you to be consistent. Journal all of your meals and write down exactly what you intake.

Do not lie to yourself. This will allow you to monitor and see what foods and intake are best for your body style and metabolism.  You have to figure out what works for you.

Establish a network that will help support you and encourage you through this journey. Like Coach Robert states, “It will not be easy, but it’s worth it.”

Most importantly, be patient. There will be good days and there will be bad days. It took a long time to get to the point that many of us are in. It will not change overnight.

Patience and consistency is the answer. Follow those things, and all else will fall into place.

Good luck to you all!!

John Castanedo

Thank you John!!

It’s here! The day many of you have been waiting for. If you haven’t registered for the Challenge and want to be part of it, make sure you show up to a class today or tomorrow with your buy in fee. We will start each class today WITHOUT a warm up and get right into the WOD. We do this once in a while so that you guys know what its like to put in some work with out a warm up. You guys don’t get the opportunity to warm up if your house is burning down and you need to move as much of your belongings out of the house ASAP. You don’t get to warm up if a dog is chasing you. I can go on and on.

After the WOD, those of you participating in the Challenge will stick around to get measured, weighed and listen to a nutrition lecture.