It's that time of year again! Yes, you guessed it, the holidays are here. And not just any holiday, but the BEST holidays!

Virtuosity simply means: Performing the common uncommonly well. Chew on that for a minute. Like really think about it. It's a cool concept.

In recent weeks I have had numerous conversations with members and coaches regarding what I believe the "secret" is to getting better at CrossFit.

Tracking is so important guys. Log those scores. Every day. It is a documentary of your CrossFit journey, and it is important to your health and fitness journey, hell, it is CRUCIAL to your life journey. More today than ever.

The stronger your mind, the stronger your body will become. Trust me. It's funny, because I often tell newbies that CrossFit is not for everyone. That it takes mental toughness to endure it. And it's cool to know I am surrounded by so many people with strong minds.

Let's admit it, it's HARD eating "clean" through the holidays. Granted, maybe this year will be a bit different due to the pandemic. However, I am sure that there will still be plenty of holiday parties and gatherings and reasons to have just one more sugar cookie.

Recently some of you may have seen the announcements on Instagram and also the white board in the box regarding coached competition training for the Conquest Black program. Before I go further, let me share a little bit of history regarding the Conquest Black program.

We were so nervous, waited outside the doors for them to open, just to find out their class was capped and we couldn't take the class. We tried contacting them prior to our visit but didn't have any luck. This was about 11 years ago. It was heart breaking to say the least, but also a good learning experience.

A way to measure this is obviously fatigue in wods. Are we falling off in wods when we normally wouldn't. Are we lethargic and unmotivated before the wod? These are signs that rest is needed.

As a coach, what I LOVE to see is someone sticking to the conservative game plan and saying after that they should've gone faster. This allows them to be able to attack the WOD again with confidence and knowing exactly what they can do as far as output. Then possibly cranking it up at the end and even surprising themselves. However, most people do the exact opposite, and come out hard and then fall off around the 50-burpee mark. The result is a longer and more painful WOD.

Being sore...what can I say? We all get sore from our daily wods. High repetitions, coming back from vacation, coming back from the shutdown, coming back from just about anything. Mostly our legs, right? After a nasty squat wod, such as Cindy, or the other day with the 45 wallballs per round, or two Saturdays ago with all the squat cleans. I hear it every week, "What is Paul doing to us? I can't walk!". LOL. Makes me laugh. But hey, I hear ya. I can't walk correctly at least once a week from being sore either!

To be direct, EVERYONE SCALES! Yes, everyone. From Matt Frasier, to Annie Thorisdottir, to Rich Froning, to all your coaches, and to the newbie who has never set foot in a CrossFit gym, or any gym for that matter.

Ok, for those of you that love the "level up" model, and want to know how to level up in CrossFit, there are two areas that I recommend working on. So we won't call this levelling up. Let's just call it sound advice on how to make faster gains at CrossFit.

Most people have a love/hate relationship with food. Food is easy to love. Especially good tasty food. But the hate comes in when we see the results of eating and/or drinking the stuff that tastes the best.

Over the past month, I have signed up many new members. And many have said to me that they are joining because they know they have to change their ways. That this is a scary thing in the world, and they want to be fit and ready. I love hearing that. Man I love it. Gives me chills.

Knowing when to breathe during a heavy lift is important. Not only do you require the right amount of oxygen, but you also need to know how to brace yourself correctly.