We've all been working from home for a while now, have you developed new routines to get the most out fo your day? Listen to Old Cityzen, Justin give his thoughts on working from home!

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For those of you who are long term Old City members, you’ll remember the staple coach that was Jenn Power. She helped hold down the fort in the afternoon for the first few years that we were open. She’s since moved on to greener pastures in upstate New York and now Pennsylvania, but Jenn dropped in on the podcast to deliver some knowledge bombs for us all to consume. If you didn’t get the chance to work with Jenn when she was here as a coach, don’t miss this opportunity to learn from her now! [0:00] How Jenn found CrossFit and how she found Old City [14:00] Focusing on being better each day [20:00] Fitness that’s emotionally harmful? Jenn explains how she hid behind fitness for a long time. [30:00] The value of investing in yourself, and how finding a good coach can accelerate the process of learning [45:00] Being generous to yourself when it comes to eating right [60:00] Creating a productive relationship with your coach [1:20:00] Using nagging pains as an early warning system for your body [1:30:30] What Jenn Power is working on for self improvement

I knew Jess Baker for a LONG time before recording this podcast and right around the 50 min mark I learned that she has a PhD is Nuclear Physics. It sort of blew my mind and we spent a large portion of this show talking about that. One thing that struck me when talking to Jess is her extreme humility. I can definitely learn something from her in that regard, but tucked behind her hidden PhD is a subtle confidence that was forged through years of focusing on her strengths both as an athlete and as a scientist. I hope you listen and learn as much about Jess as I did when I recorded it. [0:00] Jess Baker does Naval Warfare modeling [15:00] Jess and Sean talk Leadership [30:00] Etiquette on a Submarine if you get the chance to ride on one [45:00] Upstate New York [50:00] Sean finds out that Jess Baker is Dr. Jess Baker in NUCLEAR PHYSICS! ...and we talk about this fact for a LONG time [1:20:00] Jess and Sean talk about cool things science has created [1:30:30] What Jenn is working on to improve her life

Kara is one of our coaches and runs Old City’s admin email. My conversation with Kara covered a lot about her background, but quickly pivoted into a chat about discovering your passion and taking steps to living a more passion filled life. Kara took small steps towards happier employment, and now instead of one big traditional job, Kara is much happier doing 4 smaller, part time jobs. Check out this conversation to get ideas on how to take small steps to being happier with the work that you do on a daily basis. [0:00] How Kara likes her coffee. [6:00] Living the cubicle life, and how to transition out of them into more passion filled work. [16:00] Kara’s background in exercise science [30:00] Learning new things, and the role of different coaches [45:00] Small steps to take towards more passionate employment, and how Kara approached those challenges [58:00] Follow your passions [1:11:00] What would you do with your life if you didn’t need money [1:19:30] Don’t stop learning and trying new things. [1:24:00] Try challenging things. Look for something that’s going to make you feel accomplished!

Rachel is literally the most consistent person in we have in the gym. We chat a lot about everything in this podcast from nutrition and lifestyle to concrete examples of how to get out of ruts, improving the routines of your life, developing daily and weekly consistency, and everything in between. Rachel’s approach towards improving and executing a daily routine will give you some ideas on how to develop more consistency in your life. Once you have the consistency in place, all you need to do then is sit back and let the #gainztrain roll into town. Enjoy: [0:00] CrossFit works. Rachel’s evolution in her fitness journey. [13:30] Consistency is an evolution. Add small things to your routine and execute your routine. [21:55] Rachel’s approach nutrition (hint: there’s not a lot of sugar) [30:00] Rachel transitions out of the party life with a greater focus on fitness [44:30] Work on yourself a small amount each day to make big changes over time. [52:30] Rachel and Sean talk about interviews and developing a better understanding of who you are. [1:00:10] A focus on health improves Rachel’s confidence among other things.

What do CrossFit, powerlifting, triathlons, and rock climbing all have in common? Sean Chua does them all. There are few people I know of who are more dedicated in developing competence in as many areas in life as Sean Chua, and in this conversation we explore Sean’s life and experience with fitness. In the process we learn about Sean’s 80% Rule, and how he uses this rule to get really good at things pretty quickly. It’s hard to become the top 1% at something, but it’s fairly easy to get to be in the top 20%. Sean talks about consistency, effort, mental fatigue, coaching, leadership, and everything in between. I learn something from Sean everytime I talk to him, so give this podcast a listen and hopefully you’ll take something away as well! [0:00] Sean Chua was at one point, the strongest man in Washington DC. Learn about Sean’s fitness background. How he got into CrossFit and Powerlifting. [10:00] Sean Chua tries Triathlons [14:20] The 80% Rule - The Sean’s talk about what this rule is, and how to use this rule to get really good at basically anything [20:00] Training vs. Exercise - doing what you want to do vs. training for a performance. [25:00] Show up. Be consistent and get results. [30:00] Take action to improve your situation. Move the ship in a safe direction! [44:00] Ideas on developing training consistency and ideas on how to avoid mental fatigue. [59:45] Success through failure. [1:09:17] Sean Chua talks about becoming a coach [1:12:00] Why you should get a coach [1:20:33] What we love about coaching

I love every conversation I have with Jason and I was especially lucky to have recorded perhaps my favorite conversation with him thus far. We dive into a ton of topics, but the theme of the conversation is really about self improvement. As CrossFit coaches, both Jason and I see CrossFit as an important avenue towards self improvement. In this podcast we breakdown how we use CrossFit specifically at Old City as a method to move ourselves towards health by focusing on fitness, nutrition, stress management and sleep. The first 80% is fairly tactical, filled with ideas and approaches to move yourself in a healthier direction. The final 15 minutes is me and Jason pontificating the hero’s journey and what that means for our lives and how we want to live. I really hope you enjoy: [0:00] Jason’s life as a beer sales rep for Port City and a fitness enthusiast and coach. [7:30] Jason and Sean talk about their approach to nutrition and eating healthy, and give a lot of practical guidance to eat for weight loss, strength gain, and health. [53:00] Approaches to make improvements on your health, by focusing on your weaknesses as opportunities for growth. [58:00] Stress management - a little background on stress and what to do to reduce stress to live life in better balance. [1:16:20] Sean and Jason chat technology and offer some ideas on how to reduce it’s power on our stress. [1:33:25] The podcast ends. SIKE! [1:33:35] Jason and Sean talk about the Hero’s Journey and things get deep. Hopefully the theoretical thoughts we explore come across as informed and thoughtful :)

Amy Rzpeka is a mom of two, a wife, a professional, and and all around wonderful person. This conversation dives into the importance of taking care of yourself and carving out time to prioritize filling up your own cup of happiness and fulfillment. If you’re not at your best, you can’t be at your best for others in your life. Your relationships will suffer, your work will suffer, and ultimately, your happiness and fulfillment will suffer. Amy goes into a lot of detail about her struggles raising two kids while balancing a professional career, and how she made conscious changes to her life to make it better. Not being a parent, I really found a lot of similarities in Amy’s struggles to the struggles I’ve experienced in my life. I really enjoyed this conversation and I’m hoping you get something out of it. Enjoy! [0:00] Amy’s life as a professional, a mom, being pregnant, fitness background, finding CrossFit, and the stimulus for making BIG changes. [4:50] Filling up your own cup - Taking care of yourself, and prioritizing your life so that you’re better for everything and everyone else in your life. This is the basic theme of the whole conversation… [14:00] Getting perspective in your life and realizing when you’re overstretched. Any what to do when you feel “stuck” in a negative routine. [28:50] Parenting vs. nurturing, and Amy’s interest shifting from being a professional first to wanting to be a Mom first. How she made the transition and how she found balance in her life with the change of mindset. [44:30] More ideas on finding balance in your life, and how to prioritize your life. [58:30] Dealing with adversity with a mindset of overcoming challenge and controlling what you can control. “GOOD.” [1:14:00] Where confidence comes from? Creating a better relationship with success, defining what success means, and how to define it for yourself. [1:28:00] More about filling your own cup (I told you that this was the theme for the conversation) - finding challenges that are worthy of pursuing.

Jen is the first coach we added to the team way back in October of 2013. Almost immediately Jen took over as the head coach for the morning classes and has been running our mornings at Old City (starting at 5 am!) for close to 5 years now. When she’s not coaching, Jen fills the rest of her day owning and running a successful dog walking and pet sitting service in the capital hill area - Capital Critter Sitters DC (http://www.capitalcrittersittersdc.com/) If that wasn’t enough, Jen runs 100 mile races. Yeah. Plural: 100. Mile. Races. I wrote this post a few years ago that puts this feat into slightly better perspective: https://oldcitycrossfit.com/meet-jen/ Jen is the model of consistency and excellence and I chatted with her to learn more about what drives her in the hopes that I could level up my life, even if only enough to build up the courage to run a 5k. [0:00] Background about Jen coaching with Old City, and coaching in general [15:00] Jen finds CrossFit and it’s love at first sight [29:30] What drives Jen and Sean to coach [40:00] Wake up. Show up. Do work. [1:00:00] What does Jen ENJOY about doing 100 mile races? [1:15:00] Flow state, and other things that motivate Jen [1:40:00] Jen uses goals and competitions to foster motivation [1:48:00] Jen’s approach to cutting weight for her races, and Jen and Sean talk about food, nutrition, and dieting