Citius. Altius. Fortius. Simul.

Since I don’t foresee The Huffington Post or Grantland contacting me anytime soon to freelance write for them, I’ll have to make do with Patel It Like It Is.  I’ve gotten several messages lately from around the world asking me what the heck type of workouts I’m up to based on my Facebook newsfeed.  Well, let me tell you about CrossFit. 

I’ll start at the beginning and preface this by saying I’m one of those people who drank the CrossFit Kool-Aid.   I joined CrossFit in fall 2012.  It was a weird period where I hated the world and felt like life was “happening” to me.   So, I joined CrossFit to get some sense of control back and fill the void left by the end of my rugby career.   Eighteen months and thousands of squats later, I can’t imagine not CrossFitting for the rest of my life.  So, what is CrossFit?   Well, in a nutshell, Crossfit is a fitness regimen of constantly varied, functional movements performed at high intensity in a communal environment leading to better health and fitness. 

Whenever you walk into a CrossFit gym (aka “box”), you’re guaranteed one of the hardest workouts you’ll ever have.  Crossfit.com and each box tends to publish their daily workouts (great for workout ideas if you travel for work).  The hour usually goes something like this.  Everyone does a warmup together to get you loose and ready for the rest of the exercises.  Then comes the strength and/or skill exercise portion for ~20 minutes.  This could include anything from back squats, pull-ups, handstands, bench press, snatches, pistols, etc.   Then comes the workout of the day (aka “WOD”).  This is usually a set of exercises done for time or a fixed time workout done for as many rounds as possible (aka “AMRAP”).  The challenging and fun part is that these workouts vary every single day.  At the end of each WOD, it’s common for people to be sweating profusely spread-eagled on the ground trying to catch their breath and hoping not to upchuck.   As we say, CrossFit never gets easier, it just sucks less. 

Squat cleans, December 2013

Ass-kicking lessons

I’ve played sports or pursued athletic endeavors as long as I can remember.  CrossFit is the only thing I’ve found to be a guaranteed ass-kicking each time while also being the most motivating thing you can do.  I’ll get to the motivating aspect in a bit, but to expand on the ass-kicking element, I’ll say this.  In a given class, you will see people of all ages, shapes, sizes, and fitness levels.  That gives you some accountability and something to aspire to.  As we say, you’re always chasing someone while someone’s always chasing you.  My times, weights, and scores are not close to anything worth bragging about, but they are improving.  And, I have role models for the type of CrossFit athlete I’d like to be eventually.  There are beastly 30/40-something year old mothers who kick my ass every day in the WOD.  I think that’s great that these women are doing this for themselves and becoming stronger both literally and figuratively.  

One woman (a former DI college athlete) from my box once quipped, “Honey, never lose your figure because it’s so hard to get it back.”  Haha.  Regarding figures, I’d say CrossFit is doing a world of good in redefining what “beauty” is for women of all ages.  Maybe the day will come when teenage girls desire to be “strong and lean” vs. “skinny”.  Since I began CrossFitting, I’ve gained ~16 pounds and my (expensive) jeans no longer fit.   Except for the pricey collection of 7s and Citizens that I now need to replace, I’m OK with the weight gain and pants size increase because I know it’s muscle.  My 15-year-old self would’ve reacted differently.  

I love CrossFit workouts because they are so audacious.  I remember when I was beginning grad school in London, I met an alum who was an Italian navy officer turned Bain consultant.   He said something that was so profound and something that has always stuck with me.  

“It is only when we operate at the edge of our limits can we exceed them.”  

I would argue that most people (including me) are operating in cruise control mode for the majority of their endeavors at work, school, hobbies, etc.   I look forward to CrossFit each day because I know for that one hour, I will be physically operating at 100%.  Over time that 100% relatively becomes my 90%, and I can see and feel that improvement/growth. 

I mentioned previously that CrossFit can be one of the most motivating things you can do.  Part of that is because it’s a fitness philosophy or system that works.  We also have great coaches that cheer you on and push you to do your best.  Trust me, if you have someone like Coach Logan yelling behind you “Run like is bear is chasing you!” or (my favorite) “Payal, row like your ass is on fire!”, you will run and row faster.  Haha.  Coaching that emphasizes form and safety, snarky commentary, and someone just pushing you to do better actually makes you improve.   


Squatting well below parallel, August 2013

Furthermore, I’ve found that CrossFit has helped me to identify the subtle differences between smart strength and brute strength.   In strength training, form matters in that there are better/more efficient ways of doing things.  It’s a bit of smoke and mirrors.  An example would be the first time I did power cleans in a WOD.  I had no idea really what I was doing, and afterwards, Coach David came up to me and told me to treat a power clean like a kettlebell swing by using my hips to pop the weight up.  He told me, “Payal, put a little ass into it, and the heavy bar will float up”, and it did!  Another example would be when Coach Yannick from CrossFitAKA in Amsterdam taught me how to conserve energy by landing in the squat position when doing 20” box jumps.   I can think of so many examples of this type of great coaching I’ve received from the official coaches as well as other CrossFit members (very common for us to teach and learn from each other).  

 



Kettlebell Swings, January 2013

CrossFit Camaraderie 
I’m motivated to CrossFit largely because of my fellow CrossFitters and the culture of the organization.   It’s not uncommon for people to tell me that they think CrossFit is a cult.   Everyone is allowed to have their opinion, and I’m not offended by this comment.  I choose to think of CrossFit as a community.  Throughout my life, I’ve always found that anytime you can work, study, worship, or live in community, good things will happen.  I believe CrossFit is a community full of achievement junkies who just believe in better.  It’s a community where people encourage and cheer each other on in the box, in competitions, and in life.   It’s a community where failure is celebrated.  It’s a community where people say “please” and “thank you”.  It’s an egalitarian and accepting community where your socioeconomic status and place in life matter less than what you value and where you’re headed.  And like my alma mater, it’s an incredibly positive environment.   Whether you call it a cult or community, I’ll self select into that type of place any day of the week.

It is a bit weird to think that people who individually workout together can have such a strong feeling of connection, isn’t it?  I remember one of my co-workers once quipping, “We connect through our vulnerabilities.”  I almost laughed out loud and thought that was some royal bologna.  But, on second thought, I think there’s a nugget of truth to it.   CrossFit is not “glamourous”.  Most people look terrible at the end of the hour.  Sweat, blood, dirt, vomit, spit, grunting, etc. are all familiar to us.   And you publicly struggle.  And it is this vulnerability and shared set of experiences that create intense camaraderie just like in any other team sport.  


CrossFit Evolving (London) birthday party, October 2012
http://www.crossfitevolving.com


AllSport CrossFit Football Combine Workout + Flag Football, August 2013
http://allsportcrossfit.com

Earlier this year, a friend forwarded me this provocative New York Times article on why it’s so difficult to make friends after the age of 30.  Sociologists since the 1950s have identified these three conditions as crucial to making close friendships: 1) proximity; 2) repeated, unplanned interactions; and 3) a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other.  Through this lens, it’s easy to see why it’s so easy to make friends in college.  And, I’d argue the same for CrossFit.  Your fellow CrossFitters likely live or work close to your box.  And while you do see each other fairly often, you never know who’s going to show up in your class as peoples’ schedules are always shifting.  And again, as mentioned, when you’re working out, you’re gross and a bit vulnerable, which encourages people to let their guard down.   If any person from either my London or Houston box ever came up to me needing a favor that I had the ability and means to provide for, of course I would.   And that sentiment to go to battle with/for each other is a very common shared feeling.


CrossFit as a Global Sport (and Business)
When you think about it, there aren’t that many sports out there that have global appeal and participation.  Baseball may be America’s past time, but you won’t find many jerseys in Poland.  And while netball is popular in Europe, you won’t find many playing the game on this side of the pond.  The sports I think of as "global" tend to be popular ones in countries that were part of the British empire (e.g. soccer, cricket, tennis, rugby).  Or mainstay Olympic events like track & field.   And while there are examples of certain sports actively pushing for exposure beyond current boundaries such as the Premier League now broadcasting games on NBC Sports or the NFL committing to three regular season games being played in London at Wembley in 2014, it takes a while and loads of investment to build (and monetize) those brands globally. 

And then I look at CrossFit.  I had a chance to meet Adidas CFO Robin Stalker when I was in London.  He spoke about the rationale for Adidas’ brand Reebok for partnering with CrossFit and the investment that went into re-positioning Reebok as a fitness brand.  CrossFit from day 1 was the global sport of fitness.   Think about it, ESPN broadcasts the CrossFit Games every year, and athletes from all over the world compete for $1 million and the title of “fittest on earth”.   

I think of CrossFit as the McDonald’s of fitness in that wherever you go in the world, you will have a consistent fitness experience delivered by an organization with a strong culture and deeply ingrained values.  Whenever I travel domestically or internationally, I’ll log onto crossfit.com and type in a zip code in the affiliate finder tool.  I can usually find a box and will then email the owner to see if I can drop in for a workout (and usually pick up a t-shirt too).    I’ve done this for about 20 boxes in the US and also in 8 countries.  And, everywhere I’ve gone, it’s very much plug and play.  I know what to expect in terms of movements, general routine, and standards.  And because unique terminology and acronyms are used, there is a common CrossFit language wherever you go in the world.   And there’s further standardization with the benchmark girl WODs and Hero WODs named after military heroes.  Think of it like hurricanes, if you say “Hurricane Rita”, people instantly know what you're talking about.  Same thing with benchmark and hero WODs.  When my coach in London tells me we’re doing Fran, I know instantly that’s 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull-ups.  This workout standardization also allows for global comparisons of my times/weights/scores to other people regardless of nationality.  That's part of the secret of building a global sport.


CrossFit Aggieland, April 2013  (Fantastic box!!)

http://crossfitaggieland.com


CrossFit NYC Black Box, March 2013 (Don't bother going here!)

The other part about CrossFit that has always intrigued and excited me is that it promotes entrepreneurship.  This very well-written article explains the business and ethos of Greg Glassman’s CrossFit.  Essentially each box or affiliate is independently owned and operated.  The “affiliate franchise fee” tops out at $3,000/year and because the equipment tends to be free weights in locations that tend to be warehouses or strip malls, the startup costs are "reasonable" compared to other small businesses.   

As this affiliate map shows, there are somewhere around 7,000 affiliates around the world.  From my own observations, most tend to be single-location businesses, so that means there are likely 6,000+ people making a living running their own CrossFit business.  (As an aside, I have seen a few CrossFit “chains” like CrossFit Copenhagen which has about eight separate locations).  I think that’s awesome.  

CrossFit affiliate map, January 2014
Furthermore, CrossFit has a strong military element in it with the number of military members who CrossFit, the hero workouts, and common values.  I’ve noticed that several of the boxes I’ve visited are owned by ex-military personnel.   In business school, I noticed how our country doesn’t do that great of a job helping our soldiers find their next career after they’ve served their time.  I’m glad that many ex-military personnel have found their calling as CrossFit owners.     

Better Together

All else equal, I love CrossFit because it’s made (and continues to make) me a better person.   I’ve learned about my mental weakness but also my mental toughness.  Anyone who has done Murph has learned that, and I give credit to my London coach Stretch for first teaching me how to “chip away” when I desperately wanted to quit Angie.  

CrossFit has encouraged me to increase my protein consumption.  As a vegetarian all my life, I’ve just accepted being protein and iron deficient, but nowadays protein shakes, eggs, and nuts are part of my daily diet.  

CrossFit has made me a better runner, and if I still played rugby, I know the same.   I think of CrossFit as a “multiplier” in that it helps you in the rest of your fitness and sporting endeavors.  I imagine that’s why many professional athletes incorporate CrossFit into their training regime.  As a personal example, I ran my best half marathon time this fall in Istanbul with very few training runs.  I believe CrossFit is the missing link in that paradox.  

CrossFit has made me less of a hermit through our happy hours, birthday parties, road trips, Facebook conversations, and daily interaction.   My CrossFit friends are certainly not my closest friends, but in an odd way I count this motley crue as some of my dearest friends.  


AllSport CrossFit Christmas Party + White Elephant Gift Exchange, December 2013

CrossFit has given me a refreshed confidence.  It’s hard to explain, but just knowing that you can deadlift 1.5x your bodyweight or squat 1.3x your bodyweight is empowering.  I sometimes find myself “sizing up” other females in the grocery store or around town and thinking to myself “I could take her”.   

And as a woman who has always struggled to find other women I can identify with, I’ve certainly found some ladies who exhibit behaviors I’m trying to build into my character.  One woman in particular is my Houston coach Susie.  Twenty years down the road, I hope my kids, family, friends, and professional colleagues are impacted in the same way that Susie has impacted those around her because she’s certainly living my dream. 

The official tagline of CrossFit is “Forging Elite Fitness”.  That’s good, but if it were up to me, I’d borrow from the Olympics and amend to “Citius, Altius, Fortius, Simul” meaning “Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together.”  



SDHP, December 2013


Ring swings during the "12 Days of Christmas (fave WOD ever!), December 2012


Squat therapy, August 2013

AllSport CrossFit Fine Looking Friends!  December 2013

Thankful for Interesting Conversations

I graduate from London Business School on Friday July 13 (yes, I'm wondering why that ominous date was chosen).  The most common question I've gotten over the past two years is along the lines of "what are you doing afterwards?"  And there's a subtle but overemphasized presumption in all of this that business school is solely a means to an end.  Yes, it is a great way to transition careers, advance in your current discipline, start a new venture later, etc.   But, for me, the point was rarely (close to never) about the afterwards part because I saw it as a truly transformational life experience.  One of my former clients (a great guy who got his MBA from Stanford) said this to me way back, and it's proven right (even for the cynical ones in my class).  I learned frameworks, how to articulate points, appreciate diversity and differences, question everything, realize there can be multiple "right" answers based on frame of "right", etc.   I also believe I'll be a better leader, manager, wife, mother, patron, volunteer, advisor, and friend because of this experience.

I go into nostalgic mode often these days as I'm sad to see these amazing two years end.  I am SO thankful for this experience that it brings me close to tears, and I don't know what to do with all of this thankfulness.  Since I've fallen off the cliff in blogging lately, I'm going to use this blog to explore that.  There has to be a "so what" or logical next step for me given abundance of gratitude.  I can give back to LBS with my time and resources later on.  But, is that it?

Reason #1 to be thankful: Interesting conversations

I was invited to a dinner at the Dean's home this evening and Terry Neill was one of the guests of honor.  Mr. Neill graduated from LBS in the 3rd MBA (formerly MSc) class and went on to join Anderson Consulting where he helped build the company from 300 people to +200,000 plus as Chairman of Anderson/Accenture.   He is a GREAT guy, and we had an interesting, interactive discussion with him + 10 students.  Some of the stickier things that I learned:

-Stanford professor Ray Levitt once said people don't change for rational reasons but rather emotional reasons (love, fear, hate, worry, etc.).  I don't quite agree with it completely but do think people are more likely to change and do so more quickly if there is an emotional hook.  Ideally, the rational arguments are packaged nicely with the emotional messaging.   There are so many examples I can think of that back this up from my Class Gift 2012 campaign...

-Accenture has two projects that are each worth +$1 billion.  One is helping the US Dept. of Homeland Security setup their systems and the other is with an energy company.  (Aside...hope my taxpayer dollars are  being used wisely.)   We now have organizations willing to spend a BILLION dollars to change systems/technology but not willing to make similar investments in people.  And people are infinitisimally more complex that binary computers.   Think about it.

-Notre Dame legendary coach Lou Holtz was giving a speech to business leaders at Harvard Business School once, and he was asked "How do you motivate your players each Saturday?"  Holtz thought a second and then replied, "My job is to not demotivate them on game day."   He then drove home the point to the corporate executives in the audience by asking them how many of their employees are motivated on day 1 of the job and whether they are still motivated.  Most aren't, and company leaders are responsible for this loss in motivation.  And, Terry argued (and I agree) that lack of trust is a driving force in this.

-A question to ponder:  Is human behavior predictable?   Some say yes...doesn't a stadium of football fans go crazy in sync when a goal is scored?  At the same time, I can think of so many situations where people react to situations in different ways based on their background, motivations, etc.   There's validity in both these points, and I feel the truth is in the middle.  I think there are certain universal human reactions to events and generalizations on how different people (ex. nationalities) will react to situations and make decisions.  Good managers can identify these broad buckets of predictable behavior.  Great managers are able to take this understanding a step further and can understand/read people within these categories.

-Employees must understand the customer and know "why" they are important.  Terry brought up an example of an Accenture client engagement with McDonald's many years ago.  The average tenure of a burger flipper in NYC was 32 days.  (Whoa.)   Some forward thinking McDonald's managers knew they had to bring some meaning to the daily task of burger flipping, so they invested in educating these employees on the customers - who they are, the economics of the business, best practices, etc.  Eventually, average burger flipper tenure rose to 4.5 years.  People (and customers) don't care about what you do as a company, they care about the why.

-There are 15 million Jews in the world.  That number seems surprisingly low to me given how strong, pervasive, and influential they are globally.   All over, most Jews have rich traditions, generally consistent behaviors, much recognition, etc.  Jewishness transcends the small (national) borders of Israel better than any other religion.  This factoid came up as we were discussing this trend of people identifying more with lifestyles than nationalities...call them glomads ("global nomads").

I had no idea what this evening was going to entail.  I thought it was just drinks but then found out it was a formal dinner event.  It was a lovely evening, and I came home energized after the interesting conversation with such an accomplished, curious, diverse, and helpful group of people that I feel blessed to have in my personal community.

If I Had the Moolah...

I just finished taking a GREAT class called "Managing Sport & Entertainment" this spring.   Great guest speakers, topics, and cases that ran the gammut including Manchester United, Cirque du Soleil, Radiohead, NYC nightclubs, Broadway theater, YouTube, the book publishing industry, and much more.


If I had a couple hundred million dollars lying around, I'd invest in a sports franchise (though be a bit more price conscious than the likes of Magic Johnson recently).   Or an entertainment business (there is convergence). Sports franchises are full of passionate people who tend to make passionate decisions.  Take for example European football (whose revenues top those of the NFL, MLB, and NHL combined).  Even in the economic recession, there is no "revenue problem" for European football.  Fans will pinch pennies elsewhere before giving up on football.  Stadiums are sold out.  Lucrative media deals are struck year after year (plus you have new players like Al Jazeera who are just throwing money at it and driving up prices).  Teams have increasingly learned to monetize the brand with licensing deals.  And while all this money is coming in, there has been a wave of European football clubs going bankrupt (some are publicly listed) and others continuing to struggle financially year after year.   The virtuous cycle should be that money comes in, it's invested wisely on and off the pitch, more tickets sold, etc.  However, it's warped in the opposite direction for some clubs.  My hypothesis is that some of these football clubs (and other sports teams, in general) have passionate people making irrational decisions (record contracts given to players, bigger stadiums, etc.).   I feel there's a positive correlation between the sophistication of the team off the field and the sustainability of teams.    Seems ripe for some turnaround investors (and cash flows are more stable than you'd think).


Another story that stuck with me was that of Guy Lilberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil.  Around each big top touring show Cirque has, there is a white picket fence.  Guy calls this his world when customers walk through this fence.  If you've ever been to a Cirque show, you know that it's an emotional roller coaster where you leave on a high.  Guy's purpose for starting Cirque was so that when people entered his world, they would forget the troubles and torments of their life and let him entertain and educate them on what is possible.  And then maybe, when they walk out of the picket fence, they will take a piece of his world with them.  The best entertainment businesses are driven by something other than profit.  I personally respect them for that and think that applies to most businesses in general.