Like any other society, small community, tribe, secret society, or cult, being a member of a CrossFit box involves learning the CrossFit language and understanding the social norms of your environment.

It takes time, of course, but the sooner you learn, the easier it will be to avoid being “That Guy” (“That Guy” is the guy coaches talk about after a personal training session or a group class. FYI - He’s the guy you don’t want to be).

Introducing the Magnificent Seven "Don't be That Guys"

I have a handful of intelligent, educated friends. People who believe in their nutritional theories. Wholeheartedly.

I have a friend who is a Registered Dietician and promotes Canada’s Food Guide, which tells us sandwiches and pasta are great energy sources. I have a friend who drinks only rainwater, and a friend who owns a raw food restaurant. I have a vegan friend who believes a whey-gluten-corn dog is “a great protein blast.” And Lucas Parker sits around pounding quarter pounders from McDonald’s.

The vegan swears it’s the healthiest way to eat, and he has science to prove it. The vegetarian and the carnivore point to contrasting scientific evidence. And I even have a friend who showed me the science that shows that eating just one meal a day is the optimal way to live. He has lost a lot of weight eating this way in the last year, and he says his energy levels have skyrocketed.

I never understood why there’s so much fighting in the NHL. It always made me laugh when I watched spontaneous on-ice brawls. I simply didn’t understand how a person’s instinct in the middle of a game was to latch out and punch someone else.

I do now.

If you've never competed in a CrossFit competition, let me tell you there's always a new lesson to learn with each workout, each day of each competition.

I confess, at the last competition I was at, I almost fought my judge. Luckily, I avoided an altercation and learned a huge lesson in the process, a lesson I can use to turn into a positive in the future, a lesson I'd never learn in training.

Last weekend I went to a personal development course called Choices (http://www.choicesseminars.com/). While I can’t talk about the absolutely out-of-the-box specifics of the course (it would ruin it if you ever took the course), I will explain the emotions I felt: There were a whole lot of unknowns throughout the weekend that I had to face, and as we know from CrossFit, the unknown is daunting. It challenged me in ways I didn’t know exist, in ways I had no idea would challenge me. It scared me to death, it ripped me apart, it inspired me, it motivated me – the list goes on. At the end of the weekend, I was absolutely done. Physically, emotionally, mentally, my body just...

If you ever have to do a half marathon row in competition, or if you’re looking to challenge yourself and put yourself through the pain the individual athletes did last summer at the CrossFit Games, here’s some advice from Nathalie Maurer, former Canadian National Team rower, to help you mitigate the pain and maximize your performance. Maurer competed for Canada at both the 2006 and 2008 World Rowing Championships, and she won two medals – one gold and one silver - at the 2007 Pan American Games.   Nathalie Maurer (far right) with the Canadian National Team   5-Steps to Preparation: 1). UNISUIT: Rowers wear unisuits, a tight one-pieces spandex suit, to avoid any pieces of clothing getting caught anywhere...

I speak from experience when I say, if you’re ever crazy enough to try a half marathon row, like the one Dave Castro programmed for the fittest athletes in the world at the 2013 CrossFit Games this summer, don’t do what I did.

What did I do?

Take Care of Your Thumbs!

That's the advice Rachel Siemens had to offer when we asked her how a CrossFit athlete turned Olympic weightlifter (who recently competed at her first international weightlifting competition in Russia) should take care of their hands. 

Although pull-ups and toes-to-bars are harder on her hands than Olympic weightlifting is, lifting barbells still causes her some problems from time to time.

“My hands are pretty much one giant callous. The boys love that, right?” she joked.

Sometimes her hands get specifically bad when she mixes it up and trains with the men’s bar. “I guess my callous build up specifically for the women’s bar and when I use the men’s bar, I expose a weak section of my thumb to the bar,” she explained.

Siemens admitted she doesn’t take care of her hands enough in terms of sanding them down with a pumice stone or a callous shaver; it’s her thumbs that cause her the biggest issues.

“When volume is high, I wrap athletic tape around my thumbs, and it helps for gripping the bar as well as protecting my skin.”

At RIPT, we know a fews things about athletic hand care: If you're a high performance athlete, and your hands are involved in playing or practicing your sport, then ripped hands are like a flat tire. They limit your performance and your fun. RIPT will fix your hands. Fast. While we would love to be able to market RIPT Skin Systems to you with the use of scantily clad women, gritty, high production value video, and the promise that using our product will get you that fancy watch, performance sports car, and of course, the girl. But you’re smarter than that. So here are a few of our marketing mantras:  RIPT is a devilishly clever spelling error that works for...

With the commencement of the 2012 CrossFit Games (7min Burpee AMRAP…ouch), RIPT Skin Systems would like to announce the launch of our Get RIPT with the Games Contest. All you have to do is post a picture of your torn up CrossFit hands on our Facebook Page and tag RIPT Skin Systems in it. You will need to “like” our page to post a picture and participate. Every week, on the Tuesday before the 12.x WOD is announced, we will randomly select a winner who will receive a FREE 3 Phase Skin Reinforcement System from RIPT! Good luck with the Open!