By Ryan Humphries: Co-Founder

​If we are indeed the average of the five people we spend the most time with, then it stands to reason that our behaviors averaged out over time will give us (sometimes shockingly accurate) representations of who we’ve become...

Food is one of the best examples I can think of.

Want to take an honest look at your nutrition habits?

If not, it’s all good (hit me up when you do)

If you are curious though, let's try a quick exercise. Think about everything you've consumed (eaten and drank) over the last five weeks. If you were to put all of those meals/snacks/beverages together? What does an average meal look like?

Adventure, Community, Education.

These are the three Core Values from which Axistence was created. Chances are, if you're reading this, you probably share at least one of those values :)

​On Saturday, September 16th we're going to dive a little deeper into the COMMUNITY!

We're hosting our first ever FREE community workout event where we're inviting anyone in the area to come learn about what it means to train for adventure. 

After 10 years in the fitness game, we've learned a lot... For example, Do you need to be able to do deadlift your bodyweight in order to summit a mountain? What about pull-ups or push-ups? Do you need them to be "adventurous"? The short answer is no... but when you do indeed possess those skills, you're going to have a hell of a lot more fun on your outdoor pursuits!

At Axistence, our philosophy is fairly simple. We're not trying to re-create the wheel when it comes to fitness. Instead we like to study what works from a variety of methods.

Since long before we opened our doors, we've frequently asked ourselves this question: 
What principles develop REAL WORLD STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING?

Then we've asked ourselves this follow-up question: 
How can we take those principles and combine them into a program designed for the "Adventure Athlete"?

In asking ourselves these two questions, we've evolved what we call "The Axistence Method". Over the last decade we've learned a lot about what works and what doesn't. We've also continued to refine our methods so that we can continue delivering results to our members.

Side note on the definition of an Adventure Athlete: 
A human with a curiosity to find out not only what's around the next trail, but also curious about where they can take their own fitness level. They're not necessarily training for a specific competition, but instead, they'd rather be fit enough for anything life throws their way. They want to say YES to adventure.

We hope that the Adventure In The City event will deliver the following results:

- Locals meeting like-minded folks in their community who care about both fitness and adventure
- Learn a few new techniques to incorporate into your fitness routine (or start one)
- Discover local businesses who are aligned with values similar to your own
- Get a solid training session!

Although the event is FREE, spots will be limited. Please RSVP via the Eventbrite link HERE.

If you're interested in volunteering at the event, or you're a local business that would like to be a part of it, please email ryan@axistenceathletics.com 

By Amir Alrubaiy 
Axistence Coach

I just turned 50.

I keep thinking about the Leadville 100 MTB race. Not because I’m fixin’ to line up for it again. Although I might. It’s because thinking about that race helps me think about what is likely the halfway point of my life. It helps me frame up an approach to the return trip.

Leadville is a notorious out and back course. The turnaround at The Columbine Mine comes at 50 miles, after a 10-mile climb past 13000 ft. It’s a grind. And it gets harder the higher you go. But right at the end, it eases up. You see the tents, and you’re there. If you’re racing, it’s over in
a flash. You ride the small loop, and you’re back down the trail.

And here’s where things get interesting.

You feel like you’ve just done something. You start thinking about the finish. But you’re only
halfway home. You’ve got some things to learn yet. First, everything you climbed on the way
out, you get to rip down on the way back. All that plodding investment pays off in speed and
flow. If you’re strong, and you were paying attention, you know what’s coming and you can
dance through it on the way down. You were wishing for it before; here you are.

Hopefully you’ve built some skill and knowledge and capacity in your 50 years. That took work.
You get to use that now. Maybe you know how to cook or tell stories or write code. I’ll bet you’re
better at those things now than you were at 25…enjoy it. Sure you’re more tired, but you’re still
better. Let ‘er rip.

But…

Everything you ripped on the way out; all the blazing descents you were racing in the first
hours…the bill comes due on them. But, if you’re strong, and you were paying attention, those
climbs bring their own satisfaction. You know the rocks, the turns. You knew it was steep when
you went down it. Well, here you are. You’re climbing either way, you might as well do it
beautifully.

You knew that diet wasn’t going to last forever. And those injuries you played through, they
weren’t going to fix themselves. It was fun, but none of it was free. So, you can complain about
your new unwanted hobbies, your nutrition, your sleep. Or you can elevate them to the
meaningful challenges they are…you owe the debt either way.

If you’re strong, and you were paying attention, the first 50 primed you for the race back. You’re
in rhythm and on time. You carry some speed into the second leg, and if you’re ready, you can
aim for the negative split. Racing better than you went on the way out. And in chasing that time, as you drive toward the line, you start to understand that all your strength and speed won’t do
you any good once you stop the clock. If you’ve got matches to burn, burn ‘em.

Yeah, you don’t want to be dumb, but you don’t want to miss your chance either. You’ve done
the work, you’ve built the capacity…now expand it, use it. You want to do the thing? Do it.
You’ve got a lot of time to grow, but not a lot of time to waste.

You don’t want to finish fresh. You want to tear across the line, spent from one, glorious, long-
range shot to the finish.
​
But you’re not there yet. You’re at the turn. You’ve got 50 miles of dirt to race. Time to get
moving.

Everyone is talking about “being present”. But few seem to really practice it.

One activity I really enjoy doing is working out while I’m injured.

That little back “tweak”, the sting on the front of your shoulder, the quick shooting pain to the outside of the knee.
​
Those are just little opportunities to practice presence.

Once you can get past feeling like a failure, past the inconvenience of having to decrease speed & intensity, and all of the glorious gains you think you’re missing out on…once the ego has settled, you can truly be present in your training.

Now you can focus on finding the right movement pattern. Focus on activating the correct prime mover (main muscle responsible for the bulk of the movement), and not using your tiny stabilizer muscles to do the work for you…which is most likely how you got the injury in the first place.

You suffered from a lack of presence, a lack of awareness. You were moving fast to get through the next pull-up. Speed conceals weakness. In this case, using your shoulders and traps to get your chin over the bar, instead of your undertrained lat muscles.

Well here’s your opportunity to reconnect with the present.

Ask a coach for the best scaling option that will allow you to re-train your movement pattern. Don’t just avoid the injury, let it heal, then go back to doing the same shitty reps that got you there in the first place.

Take the time to feel the muscle engage. Slow down the tempo. Decrease the complexity of the movement. Use dumbbells instead of a barbell. Go one arm or leg at a time.

Feel your pec (chest muscle) start to contract on a Single-Arm Dumbbell Bench Press, then feel your shoulder try and take over like it always does. Focus back on contracting the pec, and relaxing the anterior delts (front of the shoulder).

Go slow. Feel the activation. Feel the burn of the prime mover finally doing it’s job. Reprogram your muscles to work properly (biggest ones doing the work, little ones stabilizing).

This time is a gift. Be present.

Fix your shit now, so you won’t have to again in the future.

This is just one of the reasons I enjoy working out with an injury.

​
********DISCLAIMER: If you are severely injured, in post surgery recovery, or had a medical professional tell you to rest it a week or two, listen to them.

By Ryan Humphries:
Co-Owner: Axistence Athletics

If you’ve been around a while, you know that the Axistence Coaches are into education...

On a fairly routine schedule, we run off to seminars, learn from the best in the industry and then bring back what we can incorporate into the Axistence programming. It could be a new technique, an entire new methodology, or maybe a just a new way of looking at things. If we think it can help our members, then we figure out a way to work it in.

This is how the Axistence method has been built over the last decade. From CrossFit to MovNat to StrongFirst to TRX to Olympic Weightlifting to Strongman and more, we like to take what works from the best systems in the world and trim off what doesn’t.

By Ryan Humphries
Co-Owner: Axistence Athletics

​There are many principles in the world of strength, my favorite of which happens to be
"The Principle Of Initial Gains".

Here's how it works. When a newbie to fitness (or someone who's been out of the gym for a while) starts working out, they'll see rapid decreases in fat loss, while at the same time experiencing rapid increases in muscle gain. The only other time that  this phenomenon happens is with performance enhancing drugs. So either being a newbie or taking time off and coming back is kinda like taking human growth hormone :) Then......well, then things slow down.

When you first start training, you're likely to hit PRs on the reg. Especially if you're hitting the gym a few times a week. All of a sudden you'll start to be able to do things you couldn't before. You'll get your first push-up or maybe your first 10 push-ups in a row. Your first pull-up, or maybe even your first set of 10 pull-ups. You'll hit a bodyweight deadlift and you'll feel pretty good....then you start getting curious as to what you're capable of. Eventually you'll get comfortable with certain movements and you'll end up working with the same weight on the same lifts. You'll feel pretty strong, but eventually you'll feel like you may not be progressing as fast as you once were. That newbie high is over. However, maybe you're not quite satisfied with where you are and you feel like you've been stuck lifting the same weight for a while.

It's possible you've hit the dreaded, dare I say, Plateau..