JJ has a lot on the go. As a father, husband, PhD student, and athlete JJ works hard to keep balance in the areas he values. A member at Queen Street since 2016, JJ came from an athletic background in soccer and other team sports. Since joining the gym, JJ has been a member of the morning crew. Starting off with the 6:30am, he quickly adopted 5:30am when the class started. A few years into training, JJ decided he was interested in teaching others through CrossFit, and applied for an internship with the gym. After a few months of interning JJ was brought on as a coach and has been leading the 5:30am class ever since. JJ is one of the most consistent athletes at the gym. On days that he cannot make a class time he will come in at 4:30am to train before coaching. Read below for JJs mindset towards overcoming challenges, and how his focus over the past year has paid off.

How would you characterize your growth as an athlete since joining the gym?

Mentally, joining the gym has been one of the most humbling athletic endeavors of my life. Previous to the gym and CrossFit in general, I was a pretty solitary athlete who would put headphones in and grind away at whatever I had programmed for that day. At the gym, I am pushed daily by those around me to be better. There is always someone better than I am at a workout, movement, exercise, etc. and that motivates me to push harder.

Physically I have changed as well. Apart from the obvious changes in strength and endurance I have made great improvements in flexibility and range of motion. When I first started at the gym I needed to do deadlifts with the loaded bar resting on plates so I could grab the bar with (somewhat) proper mechanics. A lot has changed since then and I continue to make improvements to this day.

What does a day-in-the life look like for you these days?

4am - Wake up and quietly make my way downstairs to grab breakfast and head out the door without waking up the family.
4:30am - Usually arriving at the gym for the 4:30am open gym session. I normally do some extra work or the class workout if I can't stay and train.
5:30am - Coach the 5:30am class. At this point the athletes could pretty much run themselves so I am mainly there to make sure everybody is awake and has chalk.
6:30am - Train with the 6:30am crew (AKA the lazy man's 5:30am crew).
8am-1pm - If my wife is working then I run home to be on Dad Duty for the morning/afternoon. The student life has it's downfalls, but I am so lucky to have a flexible enough schedule that I get to spend one-on-one time with my son.

If my wife is not working then I am in full student mode so I can get what needs to be done and home in time to be with my family.

1pm-4pm - Essentially the inverse from above. If I was in Dad-Mode for the morning I changed to Student Mode for the afternoon and if I was in Student Mode for the morning then I switch to Dad-Mode to give my wife a bit of a break and hang out with the little guy.
4pm-7pm - I try my hardest to reserve this for family time no matter what is going on in my life. This is either time with my wife and son, mom and dad, in-laws, etc. It is nice to unwind and relax a little bit.
7pm - When you get up at 4am you get tired around this time. Normally bed-time routine for Merik is also bed-time routine for Kate and myself because this all starts again at 4am.

What challenges do you face in your day to day life? How do these affect your ability to train? How do you overcome them?

Time management. I can now relate to people who say "there just aren't enough hours in the day". That is primarily why I get up so early. I am a morning person, but I don't WANT to get up at 4am. It just became easier and easier to find an extra 15-20min in the day if I got up a bit earlier...and earlier...and earlier. It's a slippery slope.

While this is obviously a limitation (we need to sleep, there is no way around this) I found that the most effective strategy to deal with a tight time schedule is to be extremely directed and purposeful in what I am doing. If I have 3 hours to do school-work then I am using that full 3 hours. No Facebook or YouTube for the first 30, then a little bit in-between, and a little bit at the end. Your 3 hours just changed to 1 hour of actual work. Same when I am with family. If this is family time then no emails or school work. Enjoy the time I get to relax and work hard when it comes down to it.

This may sound hard and impressive but, I am definitely not a machine or built with an iron will to work hours on end. I take this mentality of being deliberate and purposeful with my breaks as well. If I am getting fatigued and under-productive with my work then I will take a 15min break to walk around or watching some garbage on YouTube. During this time I don't worry about the work that needs to get done. I don't try to get a bit of work done in the background. This is my break and I am taking this break for a purpose. I like the analogy of the push-ups in Murph. It's not realistic for most people to do all 200 push-ups unbroken. You need to rest, but when you are resting don't stay in the plank position. REST. Sit down, shake the arms out, then get back to it. The rest portion has a purpose. It is needed. Just holding the plank position is neither rest nor work and is ultimately unproductive.

What do you eat on a typical day? What are your nutrition priorities?

1st breakfast is usually a fruit high in carbs. Apples, banana. Something small to digest before training.
After training is 2nd breakfast. Usually oats with protein powder, cinnamon, and frozen fruit mixed in.
Lunch is usually some nuts, fruit, and a sandwich/left-overs from dinner the night before.
Dinner is usually some sort of meat protein, vegetables, and a starch. Personally, I could eat the same thing everyday, but I can't expect my wife and son to be the same. My wife is amazing and has been overly accommodating (I decided to start my PhD AFTER getting married...the wrong order of things) so I try to get creative with dinners now, but they still usually fit this category.

Interestingly I found my main priority with nutrition is eating enough calories. CrossFit is demanding, you need to make sure you are properly fueled.

What improvements have you made in the past 6 months that you are most proud of?

THE YEAR OF MOBILITY!

This has obviously been a year long journey, but the last little while has finally showed improvements. I am moving better, feeling better, and performing better as a result. If I had to point to one specific thing it would be the ability to do pistols squats. This wasn't really an option for me last January.

What would you consider to be your greatest strength as an athlete?

My mentality. Working out by yourself at 4:30am can be a challenge, but I find I can get into a head-space where I can imagine a person right behind me or one or two reps ahead of me. It's important to find that drive any way you can and I feel that I excel at challenging myself and finding that motivation.

What are your current training goals? What are your current life goals?

I have been doing CrossFit for a while and I have seen a lot of training goals come on and off of my list. My last remaining specific training goal was to be able to do pistol squats and the Year of Mobility was a way to help me get there. I have finally crossed this off my list. Now I need to sit down and repopulate this list. I have a feeling that THE YEAR OF STRENGTH is about to happen, but I am not sure.

Life goals? Would probably be finish my PhD and then find a job where I am actually using the degree. Much easier said than done, but I keep working away. The PhD has been my 4-year chipper workout.

Do you have a particularly memorable or challenging workout to share?

The first time I ever did Diane Rx. It took me so long that not only was the 6:30am class cheering me on because I was the only one left, but the 7:30am class was also cheering me on...probably because I was taking so long. It was tough and I really don't like being the center of attention but looking back it was one of the most memorable moments I have had at the gym.

How do you see CrossFit fitting into your life long term?

I don't see it going anywhere at all. I think my day-to-day fitness priorities will change, but the beauty of CrossFit is that it can facilitate a variety of goals. The amount of PRs will drop, but hopefully mobility will increase or at the very least maintain.

Years ago I used to train with a friend and we came up with the idea of "gap training" or "training the gap". The idea was that as we get older we might not be able to lift as much as we used to, but we keep increasing that gap between how much we can lift compared to friends our age. For instance, my snatch PR is 185lbs and my peers can probably doing the same. So my "gap score" is 0lbs. In 10 years, if I can still snatch 165lbs, but my peers can only do 135lbs, then I now have a "gap score" of 30lbs. That's a gap PR!

That's where I see CrossFit fitting into my life long term.

Is there anything you would like to add?

The people I have met at the gym have gone beyond just "gym buddies". I have been with the community for so long that they have been there for me when I got married, went back to school, and have my first child. I have celebrated birthdays, holidays, and more with the people I have met at the gym. They even threw my wife and I a baby shower!

Looking back on the memories I have with the community it is surprising how many of them are outside of the gym. It has been an amazing handful of years and I know there are more to come!