It’s been a hell of a year. It has been a year completely full of some of the biggest WHAT THE F!@# experiences I’ve ever had in my life. It’s been a life threatening year and a life changing year. The “life threatening” probably influencing the “life changing” more than anything else. There are so many things that I see so clearly now that i did not see at the start of this year. Don’t get me wrong, there are so many problems I’ve yet to fix, but I see those problems in an honest way that I’ve never been able to see before. I saw a funny meme the other day on reddit that said something along the lines of “I asked 2019 to come at me. It did. Now I’m asking 2020 to just go easy on me.” Well, I don’t want 2020 to go easy on me, but I’m hoping that 2020 can be a year of reflecting back on all the things I have learned in 2019 and actually putting them into practice. I’ve taken somewhat of a break from social media and trying to create content for the last few months so that I could try to focus a little more on what my goals really are and what things I want to do. I’ll be honest, I still haven’t figured that out. There are so many things and ideas going on in my head that I haven’t figured out how to organize all of it. I’ll keep you posted as the new year unfolds, and I hope to write a LOT more about all of the lessons that 2019 taught me. In the meantime, on to 2020…

One thing that I know is going to be a priority in 2020 is fitness. I took a beating in 2019. I mean like…I took a beating. Mentally as well as physically. I want to write more about the beating that I took, but I still don’t really understand it completely. Just know that it was very challenging and I hope to share more with you in the coming months as I continue to learn and grow from it.

I’ve been super inspired this year, not only by all of the special people I know and have met that are involved in the Special Forces Experience, but also by the “One Ton Challenge” that the Shrugged Collective started this year. The deal with the “One Ton Challenge” is that you max out 6 different lifts (Squat, Deadlift, Bench, Snatch, Clean, Jerk) and try to add those together to total 2000 pounds. There is a common thing yearly amongst runners where they try to total up the amount of miles they ran in the previous year to equal whatever year it currently is. An example would be running 2019 miles in the year 2019.

So…I thought it would be cool to try to hit the One Ton Challenge in 2020 and also run 2020 miles over the course of the year. Yes, I realize it’s probably an impossible task unless you are some kind of mutant, but I thought it would be a lot of fun to see just how close I could get to running 2020 miles and maxing out all those lifts to equal 2020 pounds. Update: If you’re interested in the One Ton Challenge Program, they’ve given us a coupon code for 10% off – Just click here and use the code LHRL when you check out!

The more I thought about the idea, the more I loved it. I wonder just how close I could get, and I bet there are some runners and lifters out there that wonder how close they could get. Especially in our Lift Heavy Run Long Community group on Facebook. So I made a spreadsheet to keep up with lifts and mileage over the next year.Here is a link to the spreadsheet. Feel free to add yourself and add your lifts and mileage to the sheet throughout the year. The idea is that you log your total lifts and mileage into the “totals” tab on the spreadsheet. So as you run more or hit new PR’s on lifts you put them on that sheet. Then at the end of 2020 we’ll see how close we got. I did add some rules and levels if you want to check out that tab on the spreadsheet and grab a partner and see if you both can hit the totals next year. Either way, I would love to see you put your name and totals throughout the year on the spreadsheet.

I am going to max out my 6 lifts on New Years Day at Olive Branch CrossFit at 2pm CST. I’d love for any of you that would like to do the same to join me. I’d like to do it again at the end of 2020. So if you want to see where you are at, beginner or expert, feel free to join me and update your spot in the spreadsheet. If you are local to where I am you are free to come join me at OBCF but if you are in a different city, then I’d love to see you have an event at your gym.

I look forward to sharing my 2020 with all you awesome people. Until New Years Day, Lift Heavy Run Long!

–The Rev