If you’ve ever seen Shrek, you know the famous line: “Ogres are like onions… they have layers.”
Your health works the same way.
Too often, we want to make showing up to the gym harder than it really is. We tell ourselves we don’t have the time, energy, or motivation. But here’s the truth: it only takes a couple of hours a week to invest in your health. And when you come to BayWay CrossFit in Baytown, the “hard part” gets a whole lot easier.
Here, the workouts are already made for you, a certified CrossFit coach teaches you each movement, you get to train with a supportive community of people, and you always leave feeling like you accomplished something. That’s the first layer of building a healthier life: just show up.
Layer 1: Consistency
At first, health is about learning the basics and finishing workouts. Many of us come in with years of inactivity, and the goal is simply to move, sweat, and build momentum. Consistency is the foundation for every layer that follows.
Layer 2: Pushing Yourself
Once consistency sets in, the next layer is effort. Now it’s about asking: Can I lift heavier weights? Can I move faster? Can I scale up my pull-ups or try a harder variation? At this stage, you stop just surviving workouts and start building real strength, endurance, and confidence.
Layer 3: Cleaning Up Nutrition
Fitness doesn’t stop when you leave the gym. To fuel your training, you need to clean up your nutrition. This means slowly eliminating the foods that drag you down, sugary drinks, fast food, late-night snacks, and replacing them with whole foods, lean proteins, and vegetables. It doesn’t happen all at once, but every small change makes a big difference.
Layer 4: Dialing in Calories
Once the basics of nutrition are in place, it’s time to get intentional. Tracking your food intake helps you understand whether you’re eating too much or not enough. At this layer, you start to align your calories with your goals, whether that’s fat loss, building lean muscle, or simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Layer 5: Optimizing Macros
Calories give you the big picture, but macros fine-tune your results. This is where you ask: Am I eating enough protein to build muscle and recover? Do I need to cut back on carbs or add more healthy fats? Getting your macronutrients right is key to changing body composition and improving energy.
Layer 6: Timing
The deepest layer is meal timing. When should you eat carbs to fuel performance? How should you space protein throughout the day to recover better? Timing your food intake around your workouts can be the difference between good results and great ones.
Support Every Step of the Way
Here’s the best part: if you ever fall off track, you don’t quit, you just peel back to the first layer. Show up to class. Build consistency. Then work your way forward again, one layer at a time.
And you don’t have to do it alone. All of our coaches at BayWay CrossFit are here to help you on and off the floor. If you’re ready to start pushing the layers outside the gym but don’t know where to begin, whether that’s dialing in your nutrition, learning how to track macros, or setting realistic goals, shoot me a message and let’s get a plan together.
Final Thought
Working on your health will never be perfect. No one is perfect. But every layer you build makes you stronger, fitter, and healthier, for yourself and your family. And that’s always worth it.