By Coach Shawn
Yesterday, I had two conversations that pointed to something we all experience or may in the future.
One member shared that she’s dealing with some real internal challenges. The kind that don’t always show up on the outside yet change how everything feels in the body. Create fear. Discomfort. Uncertainty.
She missed a week…and it drove her crazy.
What bothered her most wasn’t just the physical side.
It was the thought:
“What if I can’t do this anymore?”
And I shared with her something that I believe deeply:
The goal isn’t to be able to do CrossFit.
The goal is to come in and create feel good exercise.
Regardless of what’s going on in life or your body.
She stopped and said, “I love that.”
Because it clicked.
Let’s slow this down here, because this is important.
What do people actually want when they walk through the doors?
It is Not to set PRs for the rest of their lives,
it is Not to “win the workout” or get really good at working out.
You, me, we all want:
- To feel better in our bodies
- To live and move without pain or fear, decreasing what may already exist
- To have more energy out of the gym
- To quiet the noise in our head, even if only for that hour
- To feel and build capability we use outside the gym
- To be around people who make us better, smile, feel good, and that care
That’s what we all want.
And feel good exercise is the vehicle.
So what is “feel good exercise”?
It’s not easy training.
It’s not when I feel like it working out.
It’s intentional movement that works with your body, not against it.
It means:
- You push /challenge yourself where you can
- You adjust where you need (limitations, pain, range of motion etc)
- You respect what your body is telling you (back off today)
- You leave feeling better than when you walked in
Some days that might look strong and powerful.
Other days it might look slower, more controlled, more thoughtful.
Both count.
Both matter.
And you have a lot more agency and ownership in this than you think. Sometimes it only 1 conversation away.
And here’s where people get stuck:
There’s a mentality shift required.
From:
“I have to do what’s on the board or what everyone else is doing.”
To:
“I will choose what’s best for my body today.”
From:
“I should be able to do this.”
To:
“What movement serves where I am at right now?”
From:
“If i cant do what everyone else is doing I shouldn’t be doing this anymore..”
To:
“I can and get to workout with people i love and care about and can choose the movements that best align with my body and needs”
Duncan muscle is a great example of this.
My shoulder surgery in 2024 really opened my eyes to this.
The recovery from that really challenged my thinking and identity.
“I’m this health and fitness coach who can’t do x y and Z anymore, I’ve lost credibility, they won’t view me or trust me the same.”
It was all in my thinking, where it always is.
Could you imagine if I threw in the towel?
If that identity shift doesn’t happen, people fall into a trap:
- The Ego takes over – (force something, do something they shouldn’t, possibly hurt or make something worse..)
- They ignore signals from their body (force something, do something they shouldn’t possibly hurt or make something worse..)
- They push through things they shouldn’t (dopamine now, pain later)
- They create setbacks instead of progress
And eventually…they drift away, think they can’t do this anymore.
Not because they can’t do this but because they trying to do it in a way that doesn’t fit at the moment or anymore.
Now here’s the part that often gets overlooked:
Look at what you actually have available to you when you walk into Railroad.
The People (Community)
Energy.
Support, love and care.
Variety, difference and relatability.
Acceptance.
Camaraderie.
Shared effort.
You’re not doing this alone and that matters more than most people realize.
The Coaches
Care.
Guidance, teaching, expertise.
Knowledge.
Experience.
Attention.
Wisdom.
We’re here to help you navigate your body and experience, not just run you through a workout.
We are deeply invested in your health and wellbeing.
We know your bodies, sometimes better than you do.
We identify patterns.
We meet you where you are, only always.
The Programming
Thoughtful, deeply Intentional daily design.
Structure.
Balanced, wellness and longevity based.
Appropriately challenging.
The level of attention and detail that goes into a session let alone a week, from:
Range of motion, Movement patterns your body needs from within the warmup, workout into the cooldown, time domains, volume, progressions.
The Session plans designed to remove the need for excessive thinking and just follow and experience the benefits.
Movements you or I wouldn’t do on our own.
Strength, conditioning, mobility – all working together.
And most importantly:
It’s always adaptable and customizable.
It’s not one-size-fits-all.
It’s a framework that becomes powerful when you engage with it the right way.
When you combine all of that…
The People / The Community
The Coaching.
The Programming.
And you meet it halfway with awareness and ownership…
It creates something bigger…
It creates:
- Ease of movement
- Freedom in your body
- Less pain, less restriction
- More EMbodiment – self trust –
- More energy in your day-to-day life
- Less mental clutter
- More confidence
- More joy
It helps you:
- Stay active
- Be capable, well rounded and versatile human being
- Avoid unnecessary weight gain
- Build real relationships
- Feel connected to something
- Build real resilience
It gives you a path to the life you actually want.
This isn’t about always feeling great.
The truth is – you, me, we won’t always feel great.
Whether it be the emotional toll of a moment in life, work stress, or a body part bothering us, life is imperfect in this way.
And in my coaching experience, I’ve seen and experienced that everyone either has at least 1 body part area, (sometimes even two or more) (ie: shoulder, knee, back, wrist) that can sometimes get cranky, not feel so great or be bothersome.
That’s more normal than it is not.
The answer isn’t to stop or quit.
There’s a deeper response to this one but “motion is lotion” and strength and conditioning training is vital for a long healthy life – despite less than ideal bodily conditions.
And at Railroad – you have a place where, no matter what’s going on in your life or your body, you can come in and find a version of movement that supports you.
So if / when you find yourself thinking:
“I don’t know if I can do this anymore…”
And trust me…even I have been there…
Just remember:
There are thousands of exercise movements to do and you have MORE options than you don’t.
You don’t have to do everything.
You just have to do what helps.
Feel good exercise.
In your body.
Where you are in life.
That’s the shift.
And that’s how this lasts.
Loving you,
Coach Shawn