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It is officially June! This means it is time for us to show a little special attention to one of our outstanding members… Julia Katzenmeier! Julia is the definition of consistent as it relates to her attendance and effort at Detour. Her progress and her fitness show the results of her dedication and effort in the gym. No matter what Julia has going on during her day, she makes it a priority to get to the gym. Whether she is working out at 5:00am, 5:30pm, or anywhere in between, you can expect to see Julia working out with a positive, upbeat attitude and a willingness to push herself outside of her comfort zone. We are so happy to have Julia as a staple in our Detour community and we hope you enjoy getting to learn a little more about her.

Preferred Name: Julia
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Age: 38
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Where did you grow up? Russia / Mongolia
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When did you become a member of Detour? May 2021 – Two weeks before MURPH!
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What do you do when you aren’t at Detour? For activity, I run on my own outside of the gym.
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How did you find out about Detour? Facebook
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When / How did you did you realize Detour was the right fit for you? The moment I stepped foot inside Detour, I felt like I had found my new “CrossFit family.”
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What is your favorite WOD or movement? EVERYTHING (except snatches)
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What is your least favorite WOD or movement? Deadlifts
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What motivates you to stay active?  Making better choices in my life, proving to myself what I am capable of, and continuing to better myself
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What is something about you that Detour members do not know about you…yet? I was adopted from an orphanage in Russia, I was born in Mongolia, and when I moved to America I didn’t know any English. It took me almost 2 years to learn English, but still graduated with my diploma.
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What advice would you give to someone just starting at Detour? Never give up on yourself

Memorial Day Murph has come and gone, and we are officially entering into the summer months. We hope that you all have exciting summer plans, and will be looking to take advantage of your fitness by doing things outside of the gym in the weeks and months ahead. It is easy to lose sight of WHY we workout the way we do, but it is so that we have the ability to go explore the world around us, and enjoy all that it has to offer without being concerned about whether or not we are fit enough.

That being said, we know that the summer months can also lead to some disruptions in routines, and leaving feeling like you are losing progress in the gym. I wanted to put together a few things for you to consider that could lead to a summer full of fun and continued success in the gym.

1. Identify your “non negotiables” – For so many Detour members, summer months mean more activities with kids, more travel for sporting events, and less time to focus on their own pursuits. While these are very much part of our reality, they do not need to be a reason why NOT to exercise. Allow me to give you an example. I have a “non negotiable” in my life that I will workout every time that I travel on an airplane. This isn’t always easy, but it does always pay off. This past winter my wife and I traveled back from the west coast and got back to Minnesota around 4pm on a Sunday after being awake for roughly 24 hours. The last thing I WANTED to do, was go in my garage and get a workout in, but because I had this as a non-negotiable in my life, the decision was already made. I set the timer for 20 minutes, hopped on my assault bike, grabbed my 35 pound dumbbells and got a little fitness in. I didn’t set any records, and honestly didn’t even push that hard, but man I felt better the next day, and know that I got back to my routine easier because of that choice. I would encourage you to identify some REALISTIC non negotiables in your life, and stick to them through the summer months.
2. Be a positive influence – The summer months tend to give us the opportunity to connect with friends, family and loved ones that we maybe don’t have time for during the school year. I would encourage you to consider your ability to influence and impact the decisions of those around you. Let’s say that you and some family friends are getting together for a weekend trip out of town… I would like to encourage you to be the friend who encourages everyone to stay active during the day. Go for a walk, go explore a local park, rent some kayaks and explore your environment. This position of influence extends to the dinner table as well. Inevitably, there will be a conversation about what to have for dinner. Without being “that guy,” encourage the group to make the healthiest decision possible. You know the value of eating well and food’s impact on how you feel and how much energy you have. Use these summer months to lift up those in your circle of influence and push them toward a path of health and fitness as well.
3. Identify some fall goals – The summer months always serve as a great “check-in” point for me personally. I tend to spend time checking back on my goals for the year, and where I am versus where I wanted to be. I use this time of year as a chance to re-assess my goals, and re-align my actions to move me toward where I want to be. I would encourage you all to do the same. Make some time on a weekend to identify some things you would like to accomplish during the fall, and into the end of the year. Then ask yourself what your actions will need to be like during these next few months to move yourself toward those goals.

The staff at Detour Athletics fully recognizes and appreciates the value of life outside of the gym, and I am not trying to come across as someone who “has it all figured out.” But I hope some of the suggestions in this post can help you all keep your focus on your health, fitness and well-being during the time of year that causes so many people to fall off the wagon.

As always, keep showing up and keep putting in the work.

-Coach Mitch

Hey Detour Community

I hope everyone is enjoying this sunshine and looking forward to some fun summer months ahead… beginning with Memorial Day Murph next Monday!

As some of you may know, we had a coaches meeting this past Sunday to talk about how we can provide you all with the absolute best service possible. I must say that we have one heck of a fantastic coaching group at Detour and I encourage you all to take advantage of these resources in our community.

While talking about class structure, flow, and time allocation, the topic of mobilizing / stretching / recovering was brought up. I will be the first to admit that I could work to improve my recovery habits, but it got the group thinking of how we could do a better job of supporting all of you in your workout recovery approach.

It goes without saying that recovering from intense exercise is just as important as the effort you put out in the gym; however, we simply run into a time barrier at a certain point. We would love to spend an additional 30 minutes with each class leading them through best practices on recovering from each effort in the gym, but that simply is not realistic.

This topic got my brain stirring, and I’m curious to hear what you all think about the idea of us putting out some recovery tips / videos / guides based on what the workouts have recently been in the gym. This idea is in the early stages, but with enough planning, I’m sure our group of fitness professionals would be able to deliver a top-notch offering.

Your input and suggestions are more than welcome on this topic! Would it be of value to you to have a brief (5-6 minute) video leading you through some recovery exercises on a regular basis?

As always, keep showing up and keep putting in the work.

-Coach Mitch

Hello Detour community!

In an effort to consistently provide you with unique perspectives and detailed insight into your training experience, I thought it would be valuable to write a little post about the benefits of tempo training.

Let’s begin by answering a likely question many of you have… “What is tempo training?”
Tempo training is the execution of movements at specified speeds based on a desired stimulus or goal. As an example, if we were doing bench press inside of a class setting, and the programmed “tempo” for the movement was a “5-count descent, 2-count pause, fast up, 1-count pause” you would complete each rep at that controlled speed. Lower the bar to your chest while counting to 5. Pause with the bar at your chest for a 2-count. Move the bar as fast as possible off your chest, and take a 1-count pause at lock out. We, as coaches, have the ability to implement desired tempos into just about any and every movement we utilize during strength training.

Now that we know what tempo training is, let’s look at three benefits that come from this pursuit.

1. Increased mind-body connection: Perhaps one of the most undervalued elements of a functional fitness program is the ability for participants to take full ownership of how they move their body through space. While moving your body through space against weight (strength training) will help get you stronger and likely lead to muscle mass development. Strength training with a tempo can increase your ability to connect the brain to the body, and gain more motor control through challenging ranges of motion. One of the best examples of this is gaining full motor control of the bottom of a squat. Without full motor control, there is an increased risk for injury in athletes who are squatting too deep for their own good. If we are working on squatting with tempos, use the time to improve your body awareness and decrease the chance of injury down the road. Remember, heavier is not always better.—
2. Muscle growth without the joint stress: As part of your participation in the Detour community, it is likely that you are pursuing this program in the hopes of seeing a little more leanness or muscle definition. This desire necessitates time spent strength training. While strength training can be an intimidating pursuit for some, the feeling of accomplishment and pride that comes from the pursuit is immeasurable and is always worth the effort. While the value of strength training is unquestioned, the requirement to consider potential risk is certainly worth noting, particularly for our aging population. Tempo training allows us as coaches to put a tremendous amount of stress on the muscle fibers in your body (leading to growth), without the joint stress that comes from heavy lifting. If tempos are written into your daily workout, please understand that we are considering your long-term sustainability in this pursuit in addition to your short-term goals of muscle mass accumulation.—
3. Increased metabolic demand: There is a high likelihood that if you are reading this article, you have experienced the shortness of breath that comes from something like a heavy set of 3, 4 or 5 back squats. Most forms of strength training demand some baseline capacity to breathe heavy. However, the inclusion of tempo training might have a surprisingly profound impact on your ability to breathe and gain capacity in two arenas at once. To best understand this, let’s consider the following. You show up to class today and see that back squats are programmed for strength work; however, you notice a subtle difference for the squats today. Rather than doing 5 sets of 5, you are asked to complete 4 sets of 12 reps, each rep done with a tempo of 3-seconds on the way down and 3-seconds on the way up. You do some quick math and realize that each set of 12 reps is going to take you close to 1:00 – 1:15 to complete if the tempos are held correctly. This amount of time under tension is going to demand that you be able to breathe while maintaining movement. You get done with your first set, and quickly realize that you are much more “winded” than normal. Understand that just because the weight on the bar might be a little less than a heavy set of 3, 4 or 5 reps, it doesn’t mean you aren’t getting stronger. In fact, given enough time training with tempos, you may be surprised to find increases in both strength and muscular stamina.—

As you can likely gather from this post, I am a big fan of tempo training and you should expect to see quite a bit of it over the next few months. If I could leave you with any one piece of advice, it would be this… If you feel that you could lift heavier weights without following the prescribed tempo, don’t do it. Respect the tempo, let it work it’s magic, and know that there is a time and a place for lifting without tempos as well.

Keep showing up, and keep putting in the work.
-Coach Mitch

 

From the 14 years that I have spent in the fitness space, I can tell you that one of the secrets to success that is never talked about is creating intentionality with your workout.

As a member of a top-notch gym like Detour, some of that intentionality is taken care of for you. Our coaching staff design workouts that all have a very specific intent behind them. Some days, we want you to go heavy and slow, some days we want you to go light and fast, and still other days we want a mixture of the two. The intention behind your workouts is largely taken care of for you as you follow our class programming.

My purpose in writing this little blurb, is less about creating intent with your workout, but more about creating intentionality within your workout. Let me give you an example… earlier this week, our workout was:
Every 4:00 x 16:00
-10 Deadlifts
-12 Lateral Burpees
-60 sec. Max effort on the ski erg or runner

This workout was designed to elicit a certain response from your body… high heart rate, heavy breathing. Every single one of our members achieved that stimulus. However, different members very easily could have chosen different “intent” within this one workout. Perhaps member A wanted to improve their deadlift mechanics and was intentionally going a little lighter on the deadlifts. Perhaps member B was looking to improve their burpee capacity, and was determined to not break up the 12 reps on each round. Member C could have been looking to challenge their pace on the ski or the runner.

You see, while our coaches are here to provide direction and guidance on the purpose behind a workout, you get to choose how you want to INTENTIONALLY benefit from each and every workout.

Trust me, going into workouts with an intent can make a world of difference in your mental approach to challenging efforts.

Keep up the hard work, and keep growing!
-Coach Mitch

Good morning and happy Spring!

It seems the weather is finally turning in our favor and we are heading into a fantastic time of year. By this time of the year, most of us have long forgotten about “New Year’s Resolutions,” and will undoubtedly begin to get overwhelmed by end of school activities, summer vacations, cook outs with friends and family and all of the hustle and bustle that comes with summer fun!

During this transition in the year, I wanted to take a moment and remind you of a simple phrase that I have certainly shared with a number of you during classes. The phrase goes like this:

“Practice makes permanent, not perfect”

I first heard the phrase uttered during a movement and mobility seminar I was attending in 2011, and I am reminded of the phrase on an almost daily occurrence. Inside the structure of a class, this phrase has so many applications. From the approach and attitude you bring to class beginning with the warm-up, to the focus and attention to detail you apply to each of your reps inside of a workout. If we are truly here to develop lifelong fitness, we need to know that our daily practices become permanent… so we better make them count. As an example, if you consistently practice deadlifting with a rounded back, sure enough, you will permanently deadlift with a rounded back. We need to understand this concept, and be focused on practicing quality mechanics in the movements that we execute during our hour… don’t settle for what feels “normal,” but instead always pursue better.

Not only does the phrase apply to the hour that you spend inside of the gym, but you could approach your entire health and fitness pursuit with this mindset. Going into the busy summer months, knowing that things don’t always go according to plan, keep exercise habits and healthy choices part of your daily practice, and sure enough… they will become permanent. Be intentional in the time you make for your fitness pursuits, be disciplined in choosing healthy foods and planning meals ahead of time. These things all add up to create the healthy version of you that you are striving for. If you practice the little things on a daily basis, they will become permanent.

Just some simple food for thought to start your week. Get ready to have a great week at Detour!

-Coach Mitch-

We wanted to take a moment and shine a spotlight on one of our newest members Nadia Parkar! Nadia is one of our first members to complete our newly developed On-Ramp program, and has been an absolute pleasure to add to our regular classes. Nadia always bring a positive attitude to class accompanied by a willingness to work hard and be coachable. The team could not be more excited to watch Nadia’s continued development with Detour Athletics.

We hope you will take a moment to learn a little more about Nadia!

Preferred Name: Nadia Parkar
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Age: 38
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Where did you grow up? Mumbai, India
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When did you become a member at Detour? February 2022
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What do you when you are not crushing workouts at Detour? I am a software engineer by profession, so I spend most of my time sitting in front of the laptop. This is why working out is so important to me.
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How did you find out about Detour? I have some close friends who have been members at Detour for about 2 years.
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When or How did you realize Detour was the right fit for you? I tested Covid positive in Dec 2021 and started feeling extremely low on energy. Me being overweight added to other medical issues. I attended a trial class with Detour and that convinced me to join. I was never motivated to workout by myself and since Detour has such amazing group workout plans, it worked for me.
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Favorite movement? Deadlifts
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Least favorite movement? Lunges
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What motivates you to stay active? I feel more energetic and light weight. Staying active helps me maintain good fitness level and an overall healthy lifestyle.
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What is something the Detour community does not know about you… yet? I enjoy organizing social and sports events for the local community whenever I can
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What advice would you give someone new to Detour? Stay consistent with your workout and never give up. It may look and feel difficult in the initial days but its worth all the pain. Half your battle is won when you walk through the  door, the rest you have to leave it on the amazing coaches to guide you. Joining Detour was my best decision of 2022.

Good morning Detour!

Although the weather may not seem like it, we have officially turned the calendars to May and we wanted to take a minute or two to let you know of some things going on in the month of May.

—PROGRAMMING—
The month of May is going to be a bit of a “transition” period in our programming. Matt is turning over programming responsibilities to Mitch in the month of June, and so you should expect May’s programming to have a little less of a “big-picture” progression than normal. Monday’s work will be built around anterior leg strength and be accompanied by interval based weight training. Tuesday will strength skill work with a focus on the split jerk, and some endurance based conditioning pieces. Wednesday and Saturday will complement each other well over the next 4 weeks as Wednesday will work on clean work, while Saturday’s will feature deadlift strength training time. Wednesday conditioning pieces will focus on mid-range (15-20) pieces. Thursdays will continue to be an optional recovery day or long aerobic based conditioning. Friday will be a fun day built around upper body interval weight training and accessory lifts. Finally, Saturday’s will continue to be partner style workouts along with the before mentioned deadlifts.
ENJOY!

—UPCOMING EVENTS—
Memorial Day Murph – Monday May 30th
9:00am at Detour Athletics
Corn-hole tournament and community cook out to follow workout

—NUTRITION COACHING—
Detour Athletics is proud to announce that we have partnered with Working Against Gravity to be able to offer personalized nutrition coaching. Right now, Coach Mitch and Coach Crysta are working on formalizing the process for anyone interested in getting personal attention to work toward their specific goals. If you have interest in being one of our first nutrition clients, please email Mitch directly at Mitch@thisisdetour.com.
You can expect to see more information regarding nutrition coaching coming your way soon!

—WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS—
The coaching staff has been kicking around ideas of hosting one-day workshops or seminar aimed at refining movements and teaching concepts that don’t always get the attention they deserve in class settings. Examples of these ideas would be things like double unders, kipping pull-ups, understanding cardio machine efficiency, etc… We wanted to gauge the level of interest our community has for events like these. Please take a minute and comment on this post with some things you would like to see offered through a weekend workshop or seminar.

—CLOSING THOUGHTS—
We know that the summer months ahead of us tend to be a time where many people get busy with family functions, vacations, and get-togethers with friends. Our team wants to encourage you to build positive momentum through the month of May by creating sustainable and realistic habits around your workout routine. Commit to YOU this month, and prepare yourself to continue your healthy habits all summer long.

It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that the team at Detour Athletics would like to welcome you to what we are calling… The Chalk Bucket.

The Chalk Bucket is our attempt to create a consistent landing page for any and all information relevant to you, our member. We will be using The Chalk Bucket to collect things such as our monthly newsletter, community event announcements and any relevant changes to our services.

Most importantly, we are aiming to use The Chalk Bucket as a place to have an ongoing dialogue about any and all things health and fitness related. The team at Detour Athletics wants to provide you all with the absolute best resources available to enhance your training experience in the gym and support healthy lifestyle habits outside of the gym. We are confident that our team and our connections within the community have an endless amount of knowledge to share with you, and we hope to be able to deliver that through The Chalk Bucket.

We hope that you all will take the time to read, watch, and give thought to the information we share with you here. Our hope is that The Chalk Bucket evolves into more than what we could even imagine right now, and the only way that growth will happen is with shared engagement with you all. Please feel free to comment on, engage with, and share relevant posts you find here.

Our primary goal at Detour Athletics is to serve you all the absolute best experience possible. We believe that The Chalk Bucket has the potential to be one of the more impactful tools in helping you live your best life.

-Mitch Hidden