Christopher Douglas

by Coach Aarn Hyatt

Have you been doing CrossFit for a year or longer, yet the ability to do a pull-up still eludes you? I’m not talking about hanging from a pull-up bar while slung from a giant rubber band and having a violent seizure that somehow results in your chin almost touching the bar. I’m referring to the ability to perform an unassisted, strict, dead-hang pull-up that start with your arms fully extended and your chin clearly over the bar. If this sounds like someone you know, one of these three issues (or some combination) are probably the reason why you still haven’t developed the ability to perform a pull-up.

1. You Haven’t Focused On Developing Strength

Jumping pull-ups and banded kipping pull-ups are the most commonly used substitutions for anyone who doesn’t already have a pull-up. While these substitutions might be adequate in a conditioning workout to keep you moving and your heart rate elevated, I haven’t found these methods to be effective in developing the strength necessary to perform a proper pull-up. Keep in mind that a substitution or scaled movement is not the same as a progression. A proper exercise progression is designed to develop your ability, not act as a placeholder so that you can get a metcon-induced endorphin rush.

My recommendation is to focus on developing upper body pulling strength outside of your conditioning workouts. A combination of isometric holds, pull-up negatives, and accessory work to improve scapular stability will work wonders.

2. You’re Injured

If you are suffering from a torn rotator cuff, a shoulder impingement, AC separation, or any other type of upper extremity injury, the solution should be pretty obvious. Seek out the care of a licensed medical professional such as an orthopedic surgeon or physical therapist. Diagnosing and treating injuries are outside the scope of practice for personal trainers and fitness coaches so you’ll have to seek out a qualified practitioner to rehabilitate your injury.

Of course, prevention is the best medicine. Skipping past strength development and jumping right to learning kipping and butterfly pull-ups can be a highly effective method for injuring an upper extremity. The dynamic nature of kipping and butterfly pull-ups demands increased stability and strength throughout the shoulder in order to be performed safely. As mentioned earlier, work on developing competency in your strict pull-ups before worrying about learning kipping or butterfly variations.

3. Your Strength To Bodyweight Ratio Needs Improvement

Maybe you’re not injured and you’ve put in some time and effort to develop a strength base. You feel confident if cleans, presses, or squats are a part of your workout. Yet the pull-up, and most other body weight exercises like handstand push-ups, ring dips, and muscle-ups, are yet to be mastered. CrossFit has forged your pull-up potential. Unfortunately, you still weigh 250 pounds. You can’t out train a poor diet, and won’t reach your goals if you are trying. If you’re a male and your body fat percentage is north of 18%, consider looking at your nutritional approach. Ladies, the same advice applies to you if your body fat percentage is 25% or higher. Take a look at your nutrition and make sure your food intake aligns with your goals.

Make it a goal to achieve your first strict pull-up within a set time frame. Depending on what you need to overcome, three to six months (or less depending on how close you already are) should be plenty of time for you to perform your first rep. Figure out which of these reasons is preventing you from already having a strict pull-up and then develop an action plan to get there.

We need your help to keep the gym in tip-top shape by keeping the gym itself and the equipment in great condition! With constant daily use, it’s important to be mindful of how you are using the equipment to minimize wear and tear. While I do my best to maintain everything overall, it will be very helpful if everyone can help me when it comes to daily use. 

• Barbells: please use the wire brush to clean off the chalk after each use. Chalk build up holds in moisture and leads to rust over time. 
• Collars: please do not throw them; repeated drops are causing them to either physically break or no longer latch correctly, which makes them useless. 
• Jump ropes: please put them back exactly how you found them on the same hook, no one wants to deal with untangling them in the middle of a class. Most importantly DO NOT tie knots to shorten them, they are all designed to be self-adjusting on the fly. Ask a coach if you don’t know how. I already replace ropes regularly but they seem to be getting ruined much faster than they should when properly taken care of. 
• Pull up bars: please clean them after each use; a chalky build up wears on the coating and again, is leading to rust. Walls: drywall is fragile; please refrain from setting things against the wall or putting your feet on them. Please use the wood wall if you need to use one for exercise, stretching or lax ball rolling. The gym looks good when the walls look good!
• Rowers and bikes: please avoid going “HAM” to avoid breaking them. Go hard but with control to make sure they last. Unfortunately these machines do break down from excessive hard use. 

My goal is to provide a gym that offers quality coaching in a friendly environment that is neat and clean—I’ll need your help on the neat and clean part 😉

—Coach Chris

This is overall best gym I have been to. The machines and environment are extremely clean. And lastly, the best trainers anybody could ask for. These guys are astonishing at whatever they do and you’ll most definitely get great results working with them.”

—Chris Estain

Go here! Great facility with all the equipment you need. It’s very clean. The community is great and varied across all skill levels, very welcoming people here. And the best part of this gym are the coaches! They are passionate, inclusive, care about their clients, and are beyond knowledgeable when it comes to strength, conditioning, nutrition, lifestyle, etc. Go here!”

—Evan Hoover

by Coach Vanessa Dickens

You’re working out for a reason: to maintain or improve your health, to feel good, look good naked, or just plain have energy to make it through your day. But the biggest thing you can do for yourself is take a personal inventory to make sure you’re on your way to success.

I Have Pain During or Outside My Workout

Sometimes things get a little sore but there’s a big difference between a little stiffness or soreness that goes away with movement and pain. If it’s sharp, shooting or painful to use, stop and let your coach know so they can help you modify. In some cases, they may suggest you check in with a doctor, especially if the pain is chronic. There’s no sense pushing through pain just because it’s part of the workout. Getting hurt is not a goal for anyone.

I Feel Sick or Disoriented After I Workout

There are times in workouts you go all out and conquer, lying on the floor gasping for air but after a few minutes you’re ready to go home and eat! Then there are times you go overboard and afterwords, feel nauseous or even puke, sometimes needing more than a day to recover. These are not normal post-workout sensations, nor is feeling dizzy or light-headed on a regular basis after a workout. These can be signs that you are over doing it and not addressing the reasons: lack of hydration, improper nutrition, lack of sleep, etc. can make workouts something you don’t look forward to or gain benefits from.

Do I Compare Myself to Everyone Else?

Remember, it’s your workout, your competition is you! Are you better than last time? Can you go faster, is your form improving, can you pace appropriately and walk away with a smile? These are the things that really count, not the time or reps of the person working out next to you. If you feel the need to compare, compare yourself to your past self, that’s the way to improve your workout.

Do I Have a Goal?

The trouble with not having a goal is you might spend your life running up and down the field and never score. Pick one, make one! We have our goal board for a reason! You’re at Paramount because you care about your health and fitness and we do too! Talk to your coaches for guidance. Come in before the warmup to master your basic skills, pay close attention to the lessons and work for great form before strength.

by Coach Aaron Hyatt

Mindset is one of the most important aspects in determining if you are going to be successful in your training or not. In fact, I would argue that it is THE most important aspect. Before you ever lose weight, get in shape, get stronger, eat better, etc., you must do it in your head. No person ever achieved a goal without first deciding they were going to do it in their head. In this article, I discuss why mindset is so important and provide a few tips to help you change your mindset and achieve your goals.

There are two different mindsets that one can have, a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. In her book Mindset, Carol Dweck defines these two terms and talks about why it is so important to have a growth mindset. In life, many people have a fixed mindset, which means they believe that their talents and abilities are fixed and cannot be changed. These people believe certain people are born with good genes and that is the reason they are successful. These people believe they weren’t born to be fit, or smart, or skinny, or successful, or whatever the case may be. Dweck goes on to dispel this myth and show why people who achieve things in life got there by countless hours of work and dedication. The fixed mindset is a lie people tell themselves to feel better about not achieving what they would like to achieve. People with a growth mindset, however, believe they can achieve anything they would like to by putting in enough work. These are the people who succeed at the highest levels of any area. They know what their goals are, what it will take to achieve them, put systems in place that will help them get there, and then attack them relentlessly. They most likely have found out what successful people do and modeled their behavior after them. If you read any autobiography of a super successful person, or hear them talk, or meet them in person, you will quickly pick up on this. They would not be where they are without having a growth mindset.

So what does having a fixed mindset look like in regards to health and fitness? People with a fixed mindset will say things like “I wish I had their metabolism or genetics” or “I peaked in high school” or “I could never do that” or “obesity runs in my family.” There are a million other ways this mindset can manifest itself, but if you know what you are looking for, you will recognize it when you hear it. Such people will most likely quit any fitness program after a few months and never get the results they could have, because they don’t believe they can. They tell themselves they can’t achieve whatever it is they want to achieve because of their genetics to make themselves feel better about not putting in the work required. If they are not where they want to be in a fitness program, they will blame their trainer, or friends, or job, or schedule, or anyone and anything else they can think of. They will also spend a ton of time comparing themselves to others and making excuses for why someone else is in better shape, stronger, skinnier, etc. than them. A person with a growth mindset, however, will say things like “I can’t do that YET” or “I just want to be consistent” or “I want to give my best effort every time I come in.” These people realize that where they are in their health and fitness is a representation of their effort and consistency only and the work they have or have not put in. If they have not been training consistently, they take full responsibility for the shape they are in. Overall, they realize you get out what you put in and the harder the work they put in, the more progress they will make.

We all have a fixed mindset in some areas and a growth mindset in others. The goal is to think more growth mindset every day and realize you are in control of your life. If you want to achieve something, it is up to you, and only you, to achieve it. If you need a coach, it is up to you to find the best coach. If your coach isn’t cutting it, find a better one. If you need accountability, find people who will hold you accountable. If you need to get your diet in check, get your diet in check. If you need to learn more, do the research and learn more. So many people blame their circumstances for their results, but at the end of the day, we only have ourselves to blame for where we are in life. If you are not happy, it is up to you to make the necessary changes—no one is going to do it for you.

So how do you have a better mindset with your training? The first step is realizing you are in control of your own health and fitness. If you want to get stronger, lose weight, or anything else, it must start in your own mind. You must believe you can do it and come up with a plan to get there. Once you have a plan, you must hold yourself accountable to do everything you can to achieve it. Remember, whatever result you get will be solely a representation of your own resourcefulness, effort, and consistency. There is freedom in realizing this because once you realize you are in control, you realize you can achieve whatever you want! I would challenge you to start taking the steps towards your goals that you know you need to. If you have a goal but don’t know what to do, find someone who does know what to do and ask them. If you need to learn more, look things up on the Internet. If you need guidance, ask a coach. If you want to achieve something great, find someone who has achieved it and ask them how they did it. And finally, surround yourself with people with a growth mindset. Mindset is contagious and if you are around people with nothing but fixed mindsets, it will be very hard for you to have a growth mindset.

Remember this: no one ever achieved anything in life without first achieving it in their mind. If you have a goal, envision it in your mind, plan out how you will achieve it, and do everything in your power to get there. Be introspective about your thoughts and challenge yourself to have a growth mindset in every area of your life. Surround yourself with people who are more successful than you. And above all, remember you can do anything you want to do. The outcome is up to you.