If you happen to follow me on Facebook on Instagram, you may have seen my post earlier this month about my son Jacen’s habit of waking up early. It was right after the time change, so Jacen’s habit of waking between 5:30 and 6:00 was suddenly a habit of waking between 4:30 and 5:00.

The post was something of a complaint, but I also made the point that because of Jacen’s early rising, I had the opportunity to get in a couple extra hours of work one morning and had the chance to go workout with our 6 am class the next morning when I probably wouldn’t have had time to make it to the gym later that day.

So thanks to my 4-year-old, instead of sleeping in those two mornings (the only two days I didn’t have to be at the gym early that week), I had two opportunities to be more productive.

I’m somewhat happy to report that Jacen still hasn’t really adjusted to the time change and is still waking before 5 am pretty much every morning, and for some reason he expects me and not his mother to prepare his breakfast.

Coincidentally, I’ve slept past 5:30 exactly once since the time change. While I don’t mind getting up early when I have to, I’m not the kind of person who wakes up early just because. I am not a “morning person” by nature. But the thing I’ve noticed about waking early every day is that I get more stuff done. I’ve missed substantially less workouts (other than planned rest days, of course), and even while keeping our 3-month-old daughter Jayden at home by myself due to a gap between my wife going back to work and daycare starting, I’ve managed to somewhat keep up with running a business.

My point in sharing this isn’t to try and shame you into waking up early (although I certainly recommend trying it!). I’m sharing this to say that I’m actually thankful that my son has the habit of waking up before 5 am.

With Thanksgiving behind us and the hustle and bustle (and stress) of the Christmas season ahead, I think it’s important to remember that being thankful shouldn’t be reserved for the fourth Thursday in November. We should go through our lives always being grateful for the opportunities we’re given and actively looking for reasons to be thankful instead of being frustrated or disappointed.

I hate to be too cliché, but it truly starts with changing your mindset and outlook. Things change a lot when you reframe tasks into opportunities by thinking of things you have to do as things you get to do. I GET to wake up early and be more productive. I GET to spend more time with my son and set a good example for him.

In all honesty, most of our daily activities are really opportunities that we’ve lost our gratitude for. For most of us, myself included, we see work as something we have to do, but when we first got the job, we thanked our lucky stars for the opportunity.

Here’s a simple exercise that someone once shared with me, and it worked wonders for my mindset:

Think of three things you ‘have to’ do this week and pretend that you’ve been fired from them. For example, you no longer get to manage your big project at work. You no longer get to wake up early and share a few laughs with your son over breakfast. You no longer get to drive your daughter to soccer games and sit in the stands cheering for her and her team.

Or… You no longer get to come to the gym for a great workout and see all the amazing people we’re lucky to have as members of our gym family.

Speaking of great workouts, here’s what we have planned for this week…

Week at a Glance: November 26-December 1

Monday – November 26, 2018

Context: Competition – Making proper weight jumps for testing a max
Strength: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 front squat (7 sets of 1 rep, increase weight with each set)
Super Set: none
Metcon: “Constantinople”

9-minute AMRAP

12/8 handstand push-ups

12 DB squats

8 knees-to-elbow
Rx: 50/35 DBs
Scaled: 12 DB press for HSPU, 16 sit-ups for K2E
Scaling Guide: 4-7 rounds, about 1:45 per round
Compare to: NEW WORKOUT!

Tuesday – November 27, 2018

Context: Competition – Pacing for a long effort
Skill Work: Spend 8 minutes working up to challenging power snatch plus overhead squat
Metcon: “Plenty of Gas in the Tank”

4 rounds for time. 40-minute time cap.

400m run or ¾-mile bike

20 wall ball (20/14)

15 burpees

10 DB snatch left hand, 10 reps right hand (50/35)

5 overhead squats (95/65)

400m row
Rx+: 20/14 wbs, 53/35 KB snatch, 135/95 OHS
Rx: 20/14 wbs, 50/35 DB, 95/65 OHS
Scaled: 14/10 wbs, 35/20 DB, 65/35 OHS or front squats, shorten run and row distances if needed
Scaling Guide: 25 – 38 minutes, about 7:00 per round
Compare to: May 1, 2018

Wednesday – November 28, 2018

Context: Practice – Rowing technique
Metcon: “Hornblower“

3 cycles – 11 min for each cycle

1500/1300 meter row

Then max rounds with the remaining time

12 chest-to-bar pull-ups

12 clean and jerks

2 min rest between cycles. Start rounds where you left off (after row buy in).
Rx+: 115/75 bar
Rx: 95/65 bar
Scaled: 65/35 bar or dumbbells; 20 jumping pull-ups, 1000 meter row
Scaling Guide: 5 – 8 rounds. About 6 min for the row, then 2 rounds per cycle
Compare to: March 6, 2018

Thursday – November 29, 2018

Context: Practice – Why warm ups are important.
Strength: 3-3-3-3-3 Hang Power Clean (5 sets of 3 reps, increase weight with each set)
Super Set: 5 x 6 each arm Single-Arm Ring Row
Metcon: “Southern Discomfort“

3 rounds for time

6 box jumps (30/24)

12 ring push-ups

12 single arm overhead squat (50/35)

18 Russian kettlebell swings (70/53)
Rx+: ring dips instead of ring push-ups
Rx: as written
Scaled: 24/20 box, 35/20 DB, 53/35 KB
Scaling Guide: 6 – 10 minutes, about 2.5 min per round
Compare to: June 22, 2018

Friday – November 30, 2018

Context: Practice – Adjustments in the programming – more conditioning
Strength: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 thruster (7 sets of 1 rep, increase weight with each set)
Super Set: 5-5-5-5-5 weighted ring dip (5 sets of 5 reps, increase weight with each set_
Metcon: “Ickey Shuffle“

5 rounds for time

12 push press

8 front squats

10′ lateral shuffle, 5 round trips, touch line with one hand
Rx+: 135/85 bar
Rx: 95/65 bar
Scaled: 65/35 bar
Scaling Guide: 5 – 9 minutes, about 1.5 minutes per round
Compare to: December 29, 2017 (different standards)

Saturday – December 01, 2018

Context: Practice – Speaking up before you blow up.
Metcon: “The Defenders”

25-minute AMRAP Teams of 3

Split work as desired with one team member working at a time, unless otherwise noted

1200m row

12 round trip sled push 20′ out, 20′ back (90/50) (50/0)

10 muscle ups (Rx+) 30 pull ups & 30 ring dips (Rx)

60 kettlebell swings, 2 people working at a time (53/35) (35/26)

15 sit-ups each person, all at the same time

15 burpees each person, all at the same time
Scaling Guide: 1.5 – 3 rounds. Scale Up: 2 people per team, same volume.
INDY VERSION: 300m row, 4 sled pushes, 3 muscle ups, 20 KB swings, 15 sit ups, 15 burpees, 20 min AMRAP
Compare to: March 31, 2018