Making Time || Coach Miguel Garza
Three years ago, I was preparing for Regionals, pulling two-a-days and eating for all sorts of Gainz (carb back loading, it was awesome). I woke up thinking about training, and went to bed recapping the day of training. Life was awesome, I really didn’t have many worries besides staying healthy, working out, coaching and prepping meals…er eating Chipotle.
I was living a life perfect for maintaining my health and pursuing fitness the best way I knew how. My perspective was narrow, and because of this, I was the narrowminded jerk. I didn’t understand why other athletes and members didn’t have time for the gym, meal prepping, or exercise generally.
Fast forward to today and I’m lucky if I get to do 3 workouts or classes in a week. My fitness is no longer measured by my Fran time, in fact I don’t really measure my fitness at all. I’m not any less in love with CrossFit, and I’m not over continuing to pursue fitness competitively, but circumstances have changed.
A year ago, I started Must B Nutty, a grainfree Mexican food company with my sister Veronica Garza. Since then, my life has been turned upside down; I now wake up at 6am daily (Wes knows this isn’t normal). I honestly don’t know how any of you parents out there have kids and maintain sanity. While I’m still trying to figure out how to make a busy life fit into maintaining my health and fitness, I’ve found these 5 things to be very helpful in making sure I can make the most out of the gym:
1. Prioritize your time – I learned this from my good friend, mentor and CFA member David Kline. I now make sure and schedule a time slot in my calendar reserved for the gym. When I prioritize this and put it in my gmail calendar, it just makes it that much easier to wake up at 6am and workout with the crazies (Jillian, Dayna, “Janss” wifey, Bradley, Page, LaShitz, TOW Matt, Lane, Steven, Jose and Mr. T) at 6:30.
2. Be Intentional - This applies to many different things. For me it means that I have to be intentional about showing up and listening to the coaches.
3. Become a morning person - I know not all of us can be morning people. Believe me, I used to hate waking up any earlier than 8am. Now it’s become a habit and if I can get a workout in before emails come flooding in, life is better. I can control when my day starts, but rarely when it ends.
4. Sleep well, eat right - I’m a big believer in controlling what you can. For me this means getting the best sleep possible and eating as well as I can (insert Must B Nutty shameless plug here). I can’t always plan or meal prep, but I make the best decisions I can within my control. First sleep, then eat quality foods. Not always simple, but refer back to #2 (Be Intentional).
5. HAVE FUN Most of our lives are filled with stress, and the exercise we do adds more stress (Refer to Train Adapt Evolve for good nuggets on this). Therefore, I suggest while you’re at the gym you should work hard and HAVE FUN. You’re surrounded by a community that will lift you up on bad days and cheer you on for showing up. Make friends with the other members, and make the most out of your time. Smile always.
These 5 tips are what I’ve used to help me get into the gym more often and make the most out of my time. I’d love to hear of any tips you folks out there have on how you get it done.
Show up, work hard, have fun, and sleep well.
– Coach Miguel Garza