The Question in Fitness that No One is Asking
APRIL Featured Athlete – Josh Guerrero Sport – Crossfit
Think to yourself for a second and ask if you love any of the following: CrossFit, Yoga, Running, Sports, Bodybuilding. If you said yes, please entertain me for a second while I ignorantly argue with you, or better yet, I’ll explain the conversation I had with a recent client who does CrossFit.
Me: “So tell me a little about yourself, what’s important to you, what do you love?” Client: “hmm.. I don’t know… well, I love CrossFit” Me: “No you don’t” (Disagreeing with them in this manner is part of the exercise) Client: “What? Yes I do, I really love CrossFit” Me: “Okay, let’s explore this because I do CrossFit too. So tell me why you enjoy CrossFit, and then I will explain why I enjoy it, because we probably have different reasons.” Client: “Well I love the community, I’ve made so many friends that I get to connect with every day. I always walk out feeling accomplished and like I pushed myself, and I’m just happier when I go to CrossFit” Me: “So my argument is that you love connecting with people and being part of a community, and getting that sense of accomplishment and challenging yourself, and you value happiness.”
Client: “Yes!” Me: “So you don’t value CrossFit, CrossFit is merely what I call, your “Avenue of Experience,” but what you VALUE is the experience itself, accomplishment, growth, challenge, connection, and happiness” and if all those went away when you went to the gym, and let’s say when you went to CrossFit you felt secluded, demoralized, defeated, and insecure, then you would probably stop going to CrossFit. Client: “Yeah I agree” Me: Then it has very little to do with CrossFit, and everything to do with the experience you’re of life you’re looking for. (what you value is internal, not external)
Why is this so important for athletes, coaches, and business owners? Because your business, your sport, your gym, your fitness, can be taken away from you at any moment. So if you’re attached to the “avenue” (i.e. CrossFit) instead of the “experience” (i.e. growth) then you’re forever vulnerable and setting yourself up to be crushed someday. Think of the professional athlete who breaks their leg and has to leave the sport. They think the one thing they valued was taken away from them… What they hopefully come to realize, is that their sport was merely an avenue for experience, and now (with retirement, age, injury, etc.) they simply have to look for a different “avenue” to reach the “experiences” they care about. Think, “While I am recovering from injury, what is something else I could do to experience “connecting with others, being part of a community, getting that sense of accomplishment and challenge, and feeling happy”
This understanding is one of the many things that changed my path to coaching people in fitness to coaching people around mindset and experience. My relationship with fitness and my body is completely different today, and I feel freedom and empowerment. I am now getting injured less often, and even when I do I recover faster. Because my emotions and mindset are different around injury, I now focus on self-care instead of self-sabotage. This leads me to VFE, where I go every 2 weeks. The main reason I go to VFE and see Angel and Rich is not because of their skill sets (even thought they’re amazing) but because of their energy. Energy affects the body more than anything else. So remember it’s not just about external training (fitness), but also about internal training (mind, emotions, energy).
