Linchpin Conversations

Greg Stephens is a real estate agent, a PGA professional & a member of the Linchpin community. He shares his journey from previously weighing 260 pounds to now weighing 180. He tells us how he found CrossFit & how it can benefit golfers.

1. At what distance do I decide to use a dedicated running shoe?

2. Can a tall person win the CrossFit Games?

3. How can one program (i.e. CrossFit) get everyone "fit"?

4. How is "fitness" defined?

5. How do different people's goals factor into fitness?

We just had our 3rd child, so there is a little newborn baby in our life! Fitness, sleep and nutrition continue to remain priorities, but adjustments need to be made. Whatever life throws at you does not need to completely derail your long term health and fitness journey. I discuss the steps I've taken in the first week of my new daughter's life and my plan moving forward.

1. Funny and/or worst experiences coaching or training.

2. How to break through mental barriers with Oly lifts.

3. Are there movements to avoid or modify for older athletes?

4. How to use the BTWB specialty programs for barbell lifts & gymnastics.

Real life disrupts your workout schedule. I walk through the last 3 days of poor sleep, less than ideal nutrition, travel and how I heavily modified workouts to make fitness possible.

1. Can you improve on a movement without doing it every week?

2. What if you don't have enough time to properly rest during intervals?

Addictive experiences can be "engineered". This is neither inherently good or bad. The critical factor is increasing your awareness about what makes certain behaviors addictive in a good way versus addictive in a bad way. We want YOU to be in control and that is only possible through information and education. A "fitness addiction" has the potential to become unhealthy if certain factors get out of control.

1. Writing a book 2. Scaling for various age groups 3. Estimating your 1RM without attempting a 1RM 4. Benefits of gymnastics 5. Get a 100 lb. weighted pull-up without training for it

The difficulty of the task/workout needs to be appropriately paired to the skill level of the individual athlete. If the task is well beyond the athlete's skill level it can lead to frustration, anxiety & failure. If the difficulty is too low the athlete grows bored & does not progress. Finding the sweet spot is critical.

1. Box Jumps vs. Box Step-ups, pros & cons. 2. Adding a weight vest to training 3. Linchpin meet-ups 4. What to do if you cannot maintain pace during intervals 5. Top 3 book recommendations