Before you read through this post I want you to think about why you come in to exercise each day. Is it to be more healthy and live longer? Look better naked? Lose weight? Your doctor said you had to? Athletic performance? Every day you come in for some reason, why not get the most out of everyday? I have three things that you NEED to do to accomplish your why.   Bring INTENSITY to your workout: I have said before that intensity is relative to the person exercising but it is absolutely applicable to everyone. People ask me all the time, “what is intensity?” It is my opinion that intensity is being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is holding on to the barbell for five more reps. Pushing it a little faster on the air bike or running a little faster on your 400m repeats. You get fitter...Read more

A common question that I get from my members is, “Richard, I am losing weight and feeling good but I have plateaued a little, what can I add to my routine to help me tone up more and lose a few more pounds?” My response to them is usually not what they are looking for. Being in the fitness industry I hear a lot of things that are new and magical that will help people lose weight and tone up. There are so many “Get Skinny Quick” schemes out there right now, and people are so desperate to lose weight quickly without any effort, that they will pay or do almost anything to try. True weight loss and body composition change comes to people who work at it and have the discipline to stick with it. The issue is that most of us do not have that. How many people...Read more

As a business owner I try to educate myself as much as I can. From reading books and articles to listening to podcasts and sitting in on webinars.  Although I have learned a lot over the last couple years a common theme in many of these self educating avenues is “make a small change and you will find big success.” Different people call it different things from a “2 mm shift” or a “1% change” it doesn’t matter because it has the same impact. What I realize now is that the same application can be made to someones CrossFit life. Many times people will tell me, “My biggest goal is to get my first pull up!” But the only practice they give themselves is when pullups show up in workouts. It is not very often that someone will walk in and do a perfect pullup or get a muscle up...Read more

Time and time again I am asked, “What supplements should I be taking?” And although I believe there are a handful out there that you should take the one’s that I believe everyone can and should are BCAA’s and Whey Protein Powder. BCAA stands for “Branch Chain Amino Acids” and in short these are the “building blocks” of protein. Why are they important? If your body does not have enough amino acids in it from food or supplementation your body will look to get them from another source. Usually the other source will be your muscles. During and after exercise your body is looking to repair your muscles and if it does not have an adequate supply of amino acids then it will look to repair muscles by breaking down other muscles. So during and post workout your body is wanting to Breakdown (burn) fat, build and repair muscles. In...Read more

I was watching the news last week when they showed a stat that scared me. It said that at least 10% of the population completely skips breakfast and another 20% eat less than 500 calories for breakfast. Those two stats seems crazy to me but that’s not what scared me. The next stat was, those who skipped breakfast were 4.5 times more likely to be obese than those who did not. To most people the thought is, “I am not hungry in the morning so I don’t eat, and that means I am eating less calories so I will eventually lose weight.” But obviously that is false because almost 24 million people in the US skip breakfast and are obese. Science has shown that if you eat a meal in the morning it will help kick start digestion and fire up your metabolism. It should help you regulate your blood...Read more