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Yes, the statue is old but we can learn a lot from history. It was Plato who said, “The first and best victory is to conquer self.”

Anyway we have created an opportunity for you to hear and be heard regarding issues affecting your health, The Pound, fitness, nutrition, instruction, workouts, etc. All you have to do is participate. If you don’t find a topic of interest then let me encourage you to create a new forum. Go for it and enjoy.

To your success,

Welcome to The Pound Magazine

I want to welcome you to The Pound Magazine a publication of The Pound, CrossFit Plano and CrossFit Dallas. Our goal with this “magazine” is to help you in setting and surpassing extraordinary goals in relation to fitness, nutrition, and growing a healthy mindset. My hope is you will find the content to be a wealth of information to achieving ongoing success in your life. I promise to provide you relevant information that can change your life. I hope you enjoy. I welcome your comments.

To your success,

Jeff Crum - My Success Story

The first time I came to CrossFit Plano I came to a Saturday class. Halfway through that first workout I knew this is what I had been looking for. A year earlier I had surgery after coming back home from Afghanistan and I had gained 40 to 50 pounds. I knew I had to lose it. I began working out at 24 Hour Fitness for five to six days a week but it was mundane and the same old stuff and not much of a result. I told Troy when I signed up after doing a Suffer on Saturday workout that my main goal was to lose body fat and to get into better shape because I was trying to get back into the military. Two months later, I leave to go into the Army.

When I started CrossFit Plano my waist was at 41 inches and now my waist is at 38 inches! I weighed 222 when I started and when I recently got on the scale for the Army I was at 207! I am extremely happy and impressed with what Troy Dodson and CrossFit Plano achieved in just two short months.

5 Fat Facts

1. All fats are not created equal. Read more

2 Reasons to Scale Your Workouts and 3 Ways to Do It

Scaling your workout is very important because it gives you the ability to safely and effectively complete a CrossFit workout of the day. Furthermore, scaling allows you to correctly match your intensity with your recovery and continuously strive for higher levels of intensity.

Purpose of Scaling:

1. Form/Safety – Simply put, incorrect form leads to injury. If a weight is so heavy that proper form cannot be established or maintained under that load, then it should be scaled down to allow for good form.

For example, if you cannot get your thoracic spine into extension for a deadlift using only a PVC pipe (thoracic and lumbar extension are vital for lifting heavy, injury free), then throwing on a few hundred pounds is not going to change anything. It will actually ensure that your spine never reaches anything resembling extension thus forgoing the mechanical advantage of the spine, which makes lifting really heavy weights possible. You will only prevent a flexion wound of the spine IF your muscle tension around the spine is adequate enough to compensate for and prevent the spine from going into flexion.

Instead of painting a dirty car, why not develop the capacity for functional movements (trunk flexion, and extension, hip flexion, and extension, etc.) by intentionally and methodically practicing the skills needed to develop them?

2. Intensity – Intensity is what we seek, and high intensity is enabled by good form. In a CrossFit workout that is properly scaled to your fitness level and abilities, you will experience higher levels of intensity than you would have if the workload were higher. For example, if you do ‘Fran’ in 9 minutes with the full 95 pounds but bust out a 6-minute Fran with just 65 pounds, then the Power you generate and the Intensity you experience will be much higher. You will gain results faster at higher intensities, and you can always test yourself against higher loads as your times continue to drop.

Factors for Scaling:

1. Elite Level Duration (to scale down) – For example, if you are completing a workout that takes the Elite guys and gals 15 minutes, you should try and scale the load or reps to the level that allows you to complete in about the same amount of time. Make sure to log your results so you can adjust your scaling, as needed the next time.

2. Bodyweight Factoring (to scale up or down)– You can use this to determine what weight to use for your Elite level. You can assume that an Elite level male is 175 pounds and an Elite level female is 120 pounds. For example, if you want to do ‘Fran’ with the full 95 pounds and you weigh 150 pounds, then you would calculate the Elite level BW to Load ratio and multiply by your bodyweight. (95 pounds divided by 175 = .54, .54×150 pounds = ~ 81 pounds) This method is bad news for big guys!

3. Perceived Effort – This is very beneficial for days when you do not feel like working out or going hard. Just come in to the gym anyways – give yourself permission to either do reduced Intensity or quit and go home if it isn’t feeling right. You start off trying to keep your perceived effort between 50 and 80%. After the first few minutes of the workout, you can reassess and see how you feel. If you feel much better, then you can go for it and let loose (I’ve gotten Personal Records this way), or you can continue at your reduced effort level.

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A Mindset for Maximizing Your Results

All too often I observe people who seem to think that just by showing up, they will achieve all of their goals. Here is a mental approach to help you get more from your workouts:

1. Let Your Weaknesses Drive You
If you hate doing a certain thing, and avoid it like the plague, or you just plain suck at it, then use that as your guide to do more focused work on that item. Your goal should be to train your weaknesses to the points that they are now your strengths, or at least you don’t wince at hearing that we are doing that particular movement or workout today. By avoiding certain activities: 5k runs, and strength/skill development of all sorts, you are cheating yourself because you are failing to develop all of your body’s energy pathways and the skills that are crucial to your success. Plus, you are only reinforcing your mental weakness and you are limiting your ability to excel.

People who are serious about their results use their weaknesses to drive their behavior. This means that they are humble enough to remove their ego from the equation and they show up to do the work that they dislike the most! Because they are willing to pay the price, they reap more rewards in relation to their fitness and their health.

2. Silence the Weak Voice Within
I hear voices inside my head when I workout! Don’t you? Is it just me? Actually, everyone hears a voice inside their head, and that voice gets louder as the intensity and resulting discomfort gets ratcheted up. The voice can either weaken you or strengthen you; it can cause you to falter or empower you to complete the task at hand.

In the beginning, for an untrained individual, as discomfort gets piled on with Intensity, people’s self-talk turns to: “Stop! Slow Down! You can’t do this!”

Our bodies are capable of much, much more than we give them credit for. Most people’s tolerance for the discomfort, pain, and the uncertainty that comes with pushing their self past their preconceived limits is set way too low. When you give in to the voice telling you to stop, you are simply being too weak.

Start expanding your ability to go beyond your comfort level by flirting with the edge of your comfort level, take small steps over the line and with time you will notice how pushing yourself is becoming easier and the voice in your head is becoming more of a cheerleader than a critic. Remember, it is the mind that leads the way, not the body!

3. Attention to Detail
Don’t just pay attention to your workouts (reps, sets, loads, times), make sure to put your attention and thus your intention on your daily lifestyle. Nutrient intake (quantity, quality, and timing), fluid intake, sleep, relationships, fun/fulfillment factor, and stress, etc. all play into your body’s ability to adapt to your workouts. By making steady, but small improvements in all you will start getting more from your time in and out of the gym.

It takes a proactive mental approach to achieving the results you want. Like most things worth achieving in life, you have to be dedicated and work hard, and you have to have the work ethic to do the right things the right way instead of taking the easy way out. Pay the price in hard work, sweat equity, and reap the rewards!

The Secret to Unlock Your Performance Potential

Do you ever wonder why you are not achieving a personal record on nearly every workout? Everyone, including you, is capable of it. Read more

Three Unconventional Measures for Fitness

How can one measure fitness? It is a term that is often used without great
definition. This document outlines indicators to help identify key factors.
The Eyes Have It
Is your body changing from more water storage or fat storage? Do you have more
lean muscle and less fat? While these may be technical and physiological, here are
the true priorities for fitness: Read more

7 Keys for Nutritional Precision

Did you know that as much as 80% of unlocking your performance potential and receiving the health benefits that follow are a direct result of precise nutritional intake? The following 7 Keys for Nutritional Precision will arm you with the plan needed to implement your nutritional program successfully:

Read more

Advanced Nutrition Techniques to an Uncommon Performance

Advanced Nutrition Techniques

Basic Zone Overview
The Zone plan consists of dividing food consumption into units named ‘blocks’. One
block each of carbohydrates, protein, and fat contains about 80 calories total and
has a macronutrient ratio of approximately 40% carbohydrates (low‐glycemic),
30% protein (lean), and 30% fat (Omega‐3). Read more