The Top 5 Reasons MOMS Should Strength Train

I get a lot of questions about why I coach housewives and moms. When you think "gym" or "lifter" most people don't also think "mom". But I do! Dads aren't the only ones that need to work out and stay in shape. Keeping up with kids and a family is hard work.So here are my top 5 reasons that moms should strength train.

1.) The Deadlift
Have you ever seen a mom in the supermarket desperately trying to pickup/carry/drag her screaming 5 year old out of the store? This is where that 135 pound deadlift comes in really handy.

2.) The Farmer Carry
While we are on the subject of supermarkets, carrying in all the food required to feed your not-so-small children and active husband is a lot of work! There is something very empowering about being able to farmer carry all of your groceries in one trip. It is even more impressive if you can do it weighted, say while wearing your youngest child. Not to mention, farmer carries also teach you to stabilize your torso so you don't get the much dreaded "mom hip".

3.) The Press/Push PressI don't know about y'all, but my almost 30 pound 7 month old LOVES being tossed in the air. They say that odd objects feel 1.5 times heavier than a standard object. And if I'm throwing my kid in the air I need to be able to do it AMRAP style for as long as his attention holds. That could be 2 minutes, that could be 20 mins. Good thing I practice push press weekly.

4.) The Sled DragSo this one isn't as funny as the others but it is equally important. Let's say there is a house fire and your husband is unconscious, unable to be woken up. Can you roll him on to a sheet and get him out of the house? If you can, great. Now can you do it while holding both of your kids? That, my friend, is why I drag sleds.

5.) The Sled PushImagine for a moment that you are driving home from church with your kids listening to the Frozen soundtrack for the bazillionth time. Suddenly your car dies in the middle of the road. Can you push your family safely to the side of the road? When I ask this a lot of people say, "but someone will surely stop and help!" Maybe they will. But my question is, what if they don't? Can YOU get your family to safety?

So those are my top 5 reasons that moms should strength train. 
What about you? 
Can you think of one I missed? 
Comment with your suggestions! 

When Ministry Happens in Your Home...

When ministry happens in your home, your world is a little different. 

Let me start by saying there is a big difference between having a small group in your home once a week and having a ministry in your home. 

If you have a small group once a week then you have one day where your house "has to" be in order. People show up, you do your thing, people leave. 

If you have a ministry in your home it is a totally different ballgame. People come and go from your home all day everyday. We have 14 scheduled  classes in our home per week. That doesn't cover all of the "oh I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by and see if you were available to talk about..." times. Those happen about twice a week as well. 

When ministry happens in your home you are opening up your lives to people. Things sometimes get messy.  Here are a few things we have done in the last month: 

had a mom bathe her poop-covered child in my tub (they are potty training). 

had a young soldier stay with us while here for a rally and ask us all about how to go about dating a girl in a Christ-like way. 

had a young wife come and ask what to do about her husband's pornography use. 

All of that happened around the gym schedule, in addition to our regular classes. 

When you have a ministry in your home you have to be ready for real life. At church and even in small group Bible studies it is easy to put on the mask and hide your issues. But when people come to my home and see that I have laundry to do, just like them, it makes us more real. We can be more honest. 

I don't say all of this to discourage you from ministry in the home. Quite the opposite, in fact. Opening up your home can be amazing. Having a close knit community is great. But beware! Once you open your home up for ministry you are opening your life up for people to look in. Shine the light of Christ when people look in to your home. 

Modesty in the Gym

We have had a bunch of people ask us about modesty in the gym. How does it work? What are the rules? Why does it matter?

Today I'm going to address those issues for y'all. Modesty is one of the number one reasons that we (the Farr family) don't work out at a Crossfit gym. For us personally being in that environment is not a good thing. At most boxes (Crossfit gyms) you will see women in sports bras and super short tight shorts and shirtless men. It is just the reality. We have chosen to not participate in that part of the fitness world. We want to honor Christ with our fitness while keeping our minds and hearts pure from sexual temptation. 

People often respond to this by saying, "But Morgan, you could still go even if Brian can't". And I want to address that right now. Moral purity is not something that just men struggle with. Women fight that battle too, we just tend to be less honest about it. Being a follower of Christ Jesus means that I need to honor Christ and my husband by not allowing my eyes to linger on a shirtless dude in the gym. 

So that is why it matters, but what are the rules for our gym and how does it work? Our gym rules are that modesty is the goal. The reality is that is going to look different for each athlete. I am going to be very frank here in my descriptions because I think beating around the bush leaves room for grey areas.  

For women:

I don't want to see you butt cheeks or your boobs. I have my own set, I don't need to see yours. Shorts need to cover everything during your movements meaning, if you do a 3rd world squat I shouldn't be able to see your underwear, if I can your shorts are too short. 

For men: 

Leave your shirts on. If we (the ladies) don't take ours off, you don't take yours off. I'm sure you're super awesome, but sexual sin works both ways. And if you have to take your shirt off to lift you're doing something wrong. With your shorts, what applies for the women applies for you. 

The moral of the story is, we want to honor God and the people around us. We don't want our physical bodies to mess up our spiritual fitness. If you have questions about modesty or why it is important feel free to contact us at FarrFunctionalFitness@gmail.com

But I Had a Baby...

So this weekend I (Morgan) went to Wilmington, North Carolina, to take the Crossfit Level 1 course.

Let me tell you I was SUPER nervous.

Here are a few things that crossed my mind as I was nursing my son at 2:45 am the night before the class:

• I am six months post c-section. 
• My son has been sick and fussy for about a week and I haven't gotten more than two hours of sleep at a time in over a week.
• I am going to have to figure out when/how to nurse my son while taking a hands on course.
• What if I have the lowest numbers in the gym?
• I was only cleared to lift "light" weights about a month and a half ago.
• What if I am the slowest person in the gym?
• I am not really an athlete.
• MAYBE I SHOULDN'T EVEN GO.

Then I walked in to that gym.

There were people of all ability levels there.
I saw a 64 year old man do a muscle up . I saw a 61 year old woman do thrusters. I saw a former soldier that lost his arm while serving his country do ONE ARMED BURPEES, like a beast!

While there are many things that I disagree with Crossfit about (clothing, music, programming...) I do understand the draw of it. There is NOTHING like stepping in to a gym full of people all focused on doing their absolute best.

We have all been to the normal "gyms" and have seen the hamsters on the elliptical and the treadmill or the guy that is in the gym for two hours but doesn't ever really do anything.

The atmosphere in a Crossfit box is totally different. You can feel the anticipation. The athletes' excitement is almost tangible right before the WOD begins. And in the box, it doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a seasoned Crossfitter. They think of you the same way. You are an athlete.

This weekend reinforced for me that our training should be hard. It should push you. If your training doesn't make you better, you are wasting your time.
And then I hear people tell me, "Don't worry about it, you just had a baby".

Forget that business.
I am not going to "worry" about it, but I am going to focus on it. I want to improve myself and those people that trust me to coach them. There is no reason to be embarrassed or stressed out about people seeing you when you get back to lifting after having a baby. You know why? You just had a baby.

Babies are awesome but the can do a number on your body. And guess what? It is ok. You don't have to give up and start wearing mom jeans. Find a workout partner, someone to hold you accountable. I found mine at PWOC (a Military organization for female spouses). After having a baby it is VITAL that you take care of yourself including fitness and nutrition because now you have a little one to take care of. You want to be able to play on the floor with them, and to throw them in the air in the pool. You can't do that if you hide from the gym because you had a baby.

Is it hard to get back to it? You bet.
You know what is harder? Being too broken and weak to take care of your family.  

Great, so we have a pretty awesome garage gym...

So what? 

We in the Farr household are devout Christians. Let me be clear, we don't adhere to one denomination or another, but rather we are followers of Christ. 

Our gym is open to both Christians and non-Christians. But our goal is always to bring the athletes in our gym closer to God. Colossians 3:17 says, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." We try to get to know every single athlete on a personal level and to help them in their walk with Christ or to tell them about Christ if they are not yet a believer. 

So why is that?

Honestly, we want to bring people to God because Hell is a very real place. And every single day people end up separated from God for eternity because they didn't hear about the love of Jesus. We would be remiss to help people develop only their physical bodies, because one day those will end. If at the end of the day people have walked away from our gym with a stronger body, but a soul bound for Hell, we have failed. 

Doesn't it get old, always having people in your home? 

Yes, there are days where I (Morgan) think, "Man, I am SO tired of people!" But then God places 1 Peter 4:9-10 on my heart. It says, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms". God gave us a gym, reasonable athletic skills, and the ability to coach effectively. Our job is to use those things to bring glory to his name. 

How long will you do this gym ministry/Facebook page/blog? 

We will continue to follow God's calling for our lives. Romans 12:1-2 says, "I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve that God's will is-His good, pleasing, and perfect will." For this season of life, God has called us to minister and witness in the military community through fitness. We will continue to run this race until He calls us to run another. 

Do you know Jesus as your savior? If not, we would LOVE to tell you about him! Feel free to email us at FarrFunctionalFitness@gmail.com or check out the tab at the top labeled "salvation".

Howdy!

Welcome to the very first post on Farr Functional Fitness! You can click here to learn more about the Farr part of Farr Functional Fitness. We put this blog together for a couple of reasons.

To glorify Christ with our work in the gym
To help our gym members keep up with workouts while they are TDY, PCS, or traveling.
To post modest examples of the correct form for movements
To post examples of how we run a gym ministry for military families
To post our thoughts on nutrition
To help us keep track of our workouts
...and anything else that God places on our hearts!

We will post an detailed explanation of our focus soon.
Stay tuned!