it has been a while

I have been busish. I have had work but not enough to say i have not had time to write. I just have not been motivated. I have notice over the past few weeks, maybe because i have not been writing maybe because exams are coming up but I have a growing anxiety.

I assume it is the tests. It is funny how I know this task is coming up and still have the little kid reaction that if i try to ignore it it will go away. It would be the easy way out, but whenever has taking the easy way out gotten you anywhere.

When I was reading about law school a lot of people talk about the breaking you down process. It is weird how I think, no it is not happening to me. I am going to stay the way I am. However, I believe it is working. The first quarter seems to just be a slow breaking down of your own way of thinking. The only ways of thinking are the ones that solve the problems. There is no real thinking outside of the box. Just very methodical thinking inside the box. There is no surprise info giving and the answers are never complex, just in the details.

I know this one babbles on but that is the mood I am in today. It seems to be another bad day after yesterday and just trying to get through the week one task at a time.

staying the course

Two saying have been running through my head... "anything which is obtained easy is not worth it." and "if hard work pays off, easy work is worthless."

I am always curious when two similar thoughts stay with me. I find the hardest thing for me to do sometimes is to stay the course. I will admit one of my downfalls is to fold my cards so to say when I see things going poorly. It is something I fight with. I hate that I will give up and I know it started in high school, it was a slippery slope from there.

I have yet to have this tested in law school, but I never the less doubt it will sooner or later.

However, I have had it tested many times in the gym. I will admit last spring I folded my cards way earlier then I should have. I did not work as hard as I should have. I also folded them in the fall. I have come out of that. Yes I have regret from it which is probably worse then feeling in my mind.

My goal is to start staying the course. I like winning and succeed but that is only possible through sticking through the hard times. I have stopped trying at times when it gets hard and that all needs to stop.

I have notice the my training and life have kept taking changes. My training has developed me to places I did not think I would ever go. I am happy for that, but it now time for me to take an active role and take that next step. I still believe I have a lot to go, but I have to be willing to take the pain and embrace the suck. I have to learn to accept that in order to get where you want to go you have to go through some tough hard spots. It is getting through those tough spots that filters out the weak and timid.

Time to take that step.

20lb. of Humble Soup

This morning I got served!

You might be asking what did I get served. Well the only thing on the menu was 20 lb. of humble soup. It did not taste great.

However I learned about myself. I am normally the one who gets to finish the workouts first. I enjoy winning I will not be shy about that. Anyone who says they do not enjoy winning is lying, winning is fun and everyone enjoys fun. Today I was the last one to finish. Most of the class had left by the time I finished the workout some 43 minutes after it started.

I know that I pushed and pushed for those 43 minutes. This is not a push that you get in a Fran or Helen or anything shorter. It is a different test of your mettle. This is not I cannot do one more pull up, it is can I just keep going. You have the time to ask yourself the question, "should I just quit and get it over with?" When you ask yourself that question is when you get to decide what you want to do.

The options are simple quit. There is no shame in quitting, but quitting is not winning. Quitting is a habit, once you start quitting when are you going to stop. It is the same as running from your problem. That is why I decided that no matter how long it took I was going to finish.

When I finished, it did not seem that bad. Is that not the weirdest feeling. Whenever I finish something difficult and which took effort my first thought is to discount it. However, in retrospect that attitude of not quitting in workout is something that I carry into my life.

I never want to quit. There is something very honorable in finishing what you started. Why do you think our society looks up to it so much. Because the majority of people like to take the easy way out when shit gets tough. How many people are sitting around waiting for the "miracles" of science to solve their problems? These peoples problems would be solved by getting off their own ass and not quitting until they are where they want to be.

My goal is to never quit. I feel if that if this is my goal I can always be victorious. The only time you are really defeated is when you quit.

Inspirational Quote: "The difference between success and failure is getting up one more time."

crossfit and law school

My post have become a weekly due to the whole school thing getting in my way. It is amazing how quickly your mind changes though. Two weeks ago I had no idea what I was reading, no idea how to look at it. I would just go through the motions of reading it with not being able to connect it in anyway to anything.

Now I am able to read something and have a decent idea of what it is saying. I have found myself slowly adding other ideas from other classes into it. My understanding of the whole picture is developing. I am surprised with how quickly I have been able to draw conclusions. I figured the first quarter I would have no idea. While who knows maybe in another two weeks I will say I had no idea what I was talking about then.

This all reminds me about when I start crossfit. In honest it probably will be very similar to my journey through crossfit. When you first start you are just doing what the trainer tells you. If he says you are not popping your hips, you pop your hips. If he says to drive your heels into the ground, while you drive your heels into the ground. However, you quickly learn the individual movements. Over a little time you are able to put it all together.

This transformation does not happen over night, but over a period of time. All of the sudden you are understanding that the drive out of the hips necessary to finish off a clean are the same drive necessary for a good kettlebell swing. That core stabilization is necessary for every movement. These evolution in your thinking about the movements takes time and practice. Some can easily come in and tell you, but you will still not understand until you put your hands on the tools of the trade.

Law school to me is no different. Everything builds on something else. Just as kettlebell swings help you understand to feelings of finishing a pull on a clean, pennoyer v. neff helps you understand International shoe. These things all build on each other.

This is true about all things in life. You live life in a straight line so to speak. You are not way over to the left one moment and right the next. Everything you do in life builds up on the future. That is why it is important to have the best base you can. Your future is a direct reflection on your ability to better yourself today.

What motivates you?

I saw something today which made me think who motivated him? The clear answer was his own ego. You could read it in his writing that he thought he was a big awesome beast. Well I say if that is what motivates him good for him.

This made me think what motivates me?

I am never really sure. At times I can tell it is to look good. This is not in the fashion sense, but in the sense of looking like a good person. However, there are times when I am motivated by my own pride. Pride is a great motivator. It forces you to do more, push yourself farther and harder then you thought possible. However, it has to be kept in check.

If your pride over runs your motivation, it becomes all about yourself. You start writing like the guy I know who motivated this post. Also when your pride takes over, it becomes all about you. It is never all about you. That should never be forgotten.

People should take pride in themselves. Everyone is a very talented person in their own way. However, do not forget it takes a lot of different talents to make a village. Also, that you did not do anything worth doing on your own. It took people with other talents to help form you. This is something I always want to remember. I have had some pretty talented people help form me into the person I am . I hope I can have that pride of talented people taking stock in me motivate me in the future.

busy

It has been a busy first week. I have been putting in about 10 hours each day. I will not say that i hate it though. I am enjoying the concepts and subjects I am learning. The professors are pretty good. I have only had to talk in class a few times, but look forward to chances to talk more.

I am curious to see how these long weeks, which I expect to increase, will wear on me. I believe I will be able to stay going to the gym in the morning monday, wednesday, friday. This is very exciting to me. I want to stay in the gym. I am seeing gains from just being in a box again.

I am going to start intermittent fasting (IF). This to me means just taking a day or so a week where you do not eat. I am going to start this week. Tuesday will be the day I fast. This is because I am not in the gym on Tuesdays. I am going to keep notes on how it goes.

Orientation

The 2nd day of orientation was today. It was more of the same, law school is going to be tough, you will have to work harder then you ever had etc. There was some useful information, but a lot of repeated info. However, there was one topic which I took away. I am going to have to go to that place in order to succeed.

That place is somewhere I have learned to go thanks to crossfit. That place is the place where you push yourself to the limit, then go a little further. That place is beyond where you think you can go, where you will normally not let yourself go. That place is also the place what is going to help me succeed.

The reason for this is cause law school is a lot of work. There are going to be long hours. However, thanks to crossfit I know I can put in those long hours and work hard. I know that I can go beyond my limits.

I know that I am going to develop and change mentally a lot this year. I am just happy that I have had the mental training that crossfit provides for over two years prior to entering law school. Also, I am going to have to keep up crossfitting to keep up the mental training. I know all my hard work will pay off. Now is just the time to put in the hard work.

The heat is taking me longer to adjust to then I thought. I guess it being 100 plus everyday means it is hot! On a less positive note, I tore my other hand today. I guess it is what I get for not doing pull ups for months. I think it will just take time to condition my hands and to the heat.

I am going to start going to the gym in the morning. 0615 class. It is early but it is what I need to do to make sure I can get to the gym. I hope that it works out. I am excited again and can not wait to get back into the gym everyday. There is no better feeling in the world.

Tomorrow I start orientation. I am excited to meet new people. The journey is starting!

Settled in Waco

Sorry about the long time off. I have been moving. Did not realize how much little ducks had to get in a row when you move. However, I am pretty settled now. Sara visited last weekend, which was nice.

I have started my schoolwork already. I have been doing assigned reading for the first week. I am enjoying it so far. I am not sure I will be able to say the same for much longer.

However, the more exciting news is that I have been to Crossfit Waco. I have missed the gym feel. I have been more or less on my own in the backyard for the past three months. It feels great to do pull ups again. Although they need a lot of work.

Today we did Jackie. I did it in 9:57. I feel happy with that time for now. I have to realize I have not been on a rower or pull up bar in months. I will say though after a month I hope to take a minute or so off that time.

The thing I have realized I missed the most is the feel of a 45 lb bar. I am looking forward to getting back to some heavy cleans and snatches. There is no better feeling to me then hitting that weight you previously though was impossible.

I am looking for the next several months to make constant improvement in both my strength and gymnastic movements. That is were my focus is going to be.

moved or moving

Well I have everything for my apartment. I never realized how much work it was to move. The list seemed never ending of things to get. However, now physically I have all I need for my journey.

The things I need for my journey is not limited to these physical things. After all a journey is not about what you have with you, but your actually movement. This means that just having my apartment ready does not make me ready for law school. I have to be mentally ready too.

My mental toughness I had to gain over time. Every time I did a workout, I have done things to get prepared for law school. It is now a question if I am able to turn that mental toughness in a workout to being able to mentally push myself.

I have a feeling the move in my mental state will be harder then just buying a bunch of items for living.

the journey starts

I just got back from vacation, unpacked the car. Then it was time to pack it up again for TEXAS!!! I am excited. Tomorrow I start the two day drive with my mom and Remmy. It should be a good time.

I have not felt this excited to spend 25 hours in the car with my mom. I know it is going to get lonely at first, but so was Columbia and I turned out with a great deal of good friends. I am glad to say I made it through the summer working landscaping. Although I did want to quit cause it sucked. I did it. Mentally it allowed me to grow.

I am hoping to take the mental growth and dominate some workouts soon. After I am settled in Waco on Wednesday. I am going to go try Crossfit Waco out on Thursday. I am pumped to get back in a crossfit gym around crossfitters. I am hoping it is a good one, cause I know what bad ones can do to you.

Tomorrow it all begins....

What is Crossfit.. to me?

I have recently seen a lot of these Crossfit commercial which try to define Crossfit. I think one of the great things about Crossfit is that it is hard find words to completely define.

Crossfit physically is a workout program. There is no additions to it. However, what that workout program allows you to do is amazing. It has given people with aliments the ability to live a pain free life. It is very common to hear about someone who was told they would have bad knees their whole life. Start Crossfit and have no problems again. However, there is more.

Crossfit allows you to become mentally fit. Crossfit goes beyond just training your body, it trains your mind. People who Crossfit are mental stronger then others. There whole idea that there are tasks not able to accomplish goes away. What other workout program does that?

However, what makes Crossfit unable to be defined only as a workout program are the people. The people you Crossfit with, become good friends. There are very few enemies in a true box. I have been in boxes which contain animosity. It is the worst thing for everyone. However, most boxes are friendly. Everyone is there to help each other out.

The community goes beyond your own box though. There can be a time when you run into a stranger, find out he is a Crossfitter, and all of the sudden you are good friends. This is because you both know what it is like.

Crossfitters are all very similar. They are highly motivated, determined, competitive yet easy going people. They enjoy pushing themselves to the limit, testing against others. However they know the true enemy is always going to be within. I know when I go slower, I am happy for the other, not angry. In what other community will you see that?

Inspirational Quote: "It chooses you. You do not choose it." -Unknown

good spot

This is a free write...

It has popped into my head a lot about moving. I am moving soon and will be taking a trip this weekend. I guess I look back and realize at one point I had a really good spot. However, it came time to move on from that spot. I did, because I know when I land again in another one, it will be great. I have had great coaches form me into a passable coach and athlete. I am always very thankful for that.

It is thanks to these people I have had the honor to call coach that I know I will end up in great places. I know not to settle for anything less then great. I owe a great amount of debt to these people. These are people who with no blood relation to me, treated me like family. Yes, we had our rough spots but who doesn't?

Unfortunately, I had to move away from my coaches. I wish I could stay close to them and help form me better. But it was time to move on. I know I will land on my feet again, someday. I look forward to that day.

crossfit games

I had the pleasure of watching a great sporting event this weekend, the crossfit games. To me this was one of the best sporting events I had the pleasure to watch. This is a little bias since I am a crossfitter. However, to someone who is new to the life, it did an amazing job of illustrating what makes the life so great.

Crossfit is a unique sporting event. This is because the spectators are a lot more then spectators. The spectators all are active in the sport. At a football game you might have some former players, but very few, and almost none active. At the crossfit games, ever specator is an active crossfitter.

This means that all the spectators understand the athletes’ pain. They understand how hard it is when the athlete is looking down at the barbell questionings how many more he/she can do. They understand cause they have been there, probably within the past week.

Beyond the spectators being so informed, the athletes are supportive. This is someone who just put everything they had into a workout, now yelling at you to finish it also. This is very unique to crossfit. It is rare in any other sport to see competitors helping out each other. Giving each other that emotional support necessary to finish it out. That is because as crossfitters, we all know what it is like and know how much a, “here we go!” helps out.

This last aspect is why I love crossfit. I can sit there and try my hardest every day to beat someone. However, this will not stop me from helping them when they need. It also will not stop them from helping me.

I am not saying that every crossfitter is like that. But it was nice to see even at the top of the sport for the year, the competitors are like that. It gives great role models to look up to for both their physical and moral attributes.

Inspirational quote: “our spectators can beat up your spectators!” crossfit commentator

pacing....

Time Management

I learned very quickly while running cross country in high school that pace is everything. My first race I was so nervous of running out super fast and dying, as a result I did the opposite. I believe that my first mile was in the 10 minutes range. However, the fear of going out fast and dying was real. There were tons of people who wanted to be a hero. They wanted to lead the race even if it was in the first 400. The ones who win the race though, find their pace and ignore the surroundings.

This is a lesson that I noticed again at the Carolina sectional. The guys who went at a nice even pace won. The ones who went super fast at the start died and finished poorly. It is misguided to believe you can go out quickly and maintain, your adrenaline runs out eventually.

I have been able to put these lessons to go use in my workouts. My goal is to never go out super fast and die. My goal is to maintain a good pace and pick it up as I go on. I have found great success in the past few months with this strategy. It has led me to many good workouts and I hope to employ it at law school.

The application should be rather straight forward. Do not work yourself at a blistering pace you know you will not be able to keep up. In shorter terms, do not work so hard that you burn out in the first month. Yes, you have to work hard, but the goal is to work your hardest over the whole year. There is no point in peaking in the first week. I hope not to hit my high in the first week and only have down to head.

Workout: 1 press, 3 push press, 5 push jerk, 7 push ups, 9 double unders, 10 rounds. This was all done with the 60 lb sandbag. I was able to finish in 9:39. My goal was under ten, so I am happy.

Inspirational quote: “You only have to be leading when you cross the final line.” -Anonymous

One L, my review

In prepping for law school I have started doing many things. I have been working on organization. I have been trying to grasp as many legal things as possible. I have also been reading as much as possible. In my preperation for law school I was recommended by a friend to read, One L, by Scott Turow.

This is a book about his journey in his first year at law school. He attended Harvard in the mid 70's, but lessons he learned are still relavent today. If you are even thinking about law school, I recommend you read it. However if you have no interest in law school I would suggest you avoid it.

One L is great for the purpose of educating soon to be one l's. One l is what a first year law student is called. Turow with his journals give real insight to how an one l will be feeling. How to deal with professors, students, and yourself. This book is very focused on this group. It would not have appeal for the most part outside of the soon to be law student group.

One L fails to attract other groups due to its narrow focus on a specific unique experience, the first year of law school. Due to this fact, if you are not an aspring law student it will be boring. Also, Turow seems to get on his high horse often, talking about how great Harvard is. This no matter who you are gets old after the first 50 pages. After that point it is just annoying snobbery.

Overall, One L for me was a good read. I was interested in the subject matter. I feel it has given me more insight to what I should be expecting to experience in the coming year. Hopefully it will help me do better in my first year.

how much do I eat?

When tweaking your diet, quality is probably the most important factor. This means not just getting the good types of fruits and vegatables, but also from good sources. The second most important factor behind quality is quantity. With quantity I have struggled in the past.

The most important part of quantity for me is making sure I get enough. I am very picky on what I eat. I want no grains, fruits and vegatables only. But beyond that, I want more vegatables always. However, I know the importance of making sure I am getting enough food and recently have added in more fruits. It is crazy to think that I would keep them out cause I do not want to eat to much. I do not know what I was thinking.

I say this because I know how important getting enough food is. You have to be giving your body enough to rebuild itself or you will not advance. The whole goal is to get into better shape, not the number on the scale, this is accomplished by giving my body all of what it needs to be health. I also have the advantage of being highly active. This means I am burning so much fuel each day, over eating is not a concern.

Giving your body the fuel neccessary for life means, enough for your activities and to recover. My concern is on the recovery side. I have always had injures. In retrospect, my running injuries are from bad running technique. I have been able to start fixing that with pose running. But I still need to make sure I am giving my body the fuel to recover from workouts, in order to avoid injuries.

The question is how do you know when you have had enough. The simple answer for me is when I think I have had enough, I eat some more. This is because I am very bad at short changing myself. I was on the zone for so long, I think that a few meals a month over what I need will hurt me. As a result I will overcompansate by not eating enough for any meal. However, I know to still stay in reason.

The question you have to answer is what is in reason for you. I highly encourage eating when hungry and until full. I know this does not work for me in my current situation, but has in the past. Now if you are highly active you need more fuel. The whole trick is to play with what you eat. But the first step is always eliminating grains and sugars.

Rest

This whole post just got delated and now I have to rewrite it. Reminds me why I am getting a MAC.

I have decided to take this week as a rest week. The concept of rest is something which I have struggled with. It seems counterproductive to not be working out. I know my body needs time to recover, but I feel it is. However this week will be a light to no working out.

This let me to think about how it can be incorporated to the rest of life. The simple fact is that you are forced to rest from things which you love to do. For most people, you are not allowed to do your hobbies for a living. This is what keeps them fun. You get short periods of stress free time to do them. You are also not able to do them all the time. This leds you to never getting sick of them.

If rest leds you to be able to get more done, then it is productive. This is what I am still learning. If by resting this week, I am able to do more push ups next week, it was productive. This can be put into the rest of the life. If by resting a little from your work, you are able to do more. Then rest must be an important factor. Lack of rest from a subject is why you see people burn out. It is impossible to not divert your attention and not burn out. This is why rest is important.

SOrry about the bad post. I will produce better. I am just very fustrated that when I was just about done, the computer highlighted all and delated and would not let me undo.

very tired

This is going to be short. I am very tired. I stayed up late last night to watch the end of the south carolina college world series game. I am glad to say USC is the national champs. The lost sleep was worth the price. However I felt the effects of it all day. It is interesting to note how i felt.

My fear is that this is how I will have to be at law school. I hope I am able to get more then 6 hours of sleep a night. I know some nights I will not be able to. I am just hoping that I will be smart enough to know I need sleep to function well and that those extra 90 to 120 minutes make a world of difference.

My goal is to put all more learning experience towards success at law school. I hope I am able to, I know I will have failures, but I know that is how you learn. I just hope at the end my achievements are up to my expectations.

Workout: 40 handstand push ups, 80 kettlebell swings. The trick was as many handstand push ups I did, I had to do twice as many kettlebell swings. I came in with a poor time of 11:05. I am crediting the poor time to being tired.

Inspirational quote: "Everything is a learning experience."

Why specialize?!?!??!

For decades people have felt that you have to specialize your training to your sport. There is no need to specialize training. In fact it is possible to get more gains through not specializing. In this case specialized training refers to programs where the emphasis is on sport specific training. If that is what specialized training is, non-specialized training is doing the opposite. This means it is just training hard in a variety of ways to get better fit across broad measures. Non-specialized training is more beneficial to all but a select few athletes.

There can be many reasons why an athlete would choose not to specialize his training. However the reason is not important, the athlete is making a good choice to get better across many measures. Any athlete should always want to get better across the ten basic measures of fitness. Those measures are accuracy, agility, balance, cardio endurance, coordination, flexibility, power, speed, stamina, and strength. When an athlete is able to get better across all of these, he becomes a better athlete. The best athletes in many fields are able to be good at many sports because of their grasp on these ten traits. Look at pro athletes for an example. Yes they are specialized in one sport, but many could probably play another sports at a close to professional level.

The biggest reason though to not specialize is that it is possible to get stronger and faster by not specializing. When you specialize you have to cut out some part of fitness to focus on another. That part missing is no less important to your overall fitness level. The more overall fit an athlete is, the better he will be at any sport.

There are times when specializing is good. If you are an athlete training for the Olympics in 100m dash, by all means just focus on sprinting. However there might be some speed you lose by not lifting weights to get stronger. If you want to be very good at a very narrow focused skill set, by all means specialize. If you are someone who just wants to be better at life in general, non-specialized training will be the best for you.

Workout: Buy in was 100 double unders, then 30-20-10 of sandbag lunges, and sandbag presses. Total time was 7:07. The double unders were about 1:14. This is over a minute improvement over last time. I was able to do 77 double unders in a row! Most I have done by about 15.

Inspirational Quote: “World-Class Fitness in 100 Words: -Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. – Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. –Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. –Regularly learn and play new sports.” –crossfit.com

taste your own sweat

Today the temperature hit a high in the 90’s. This by itself is not to bad. When it is teamed up with humidity and working in the sun it leads to a hot day. This was evident by the fact I sweat through my pants by 1000 today. In fact I was able to sweat through my clothes twice today.

Work and my workout made me think about sweating. Why do I like it? What is it about sweating through my clothes that is enjoyable? Any logical person would say there is nothing. My feelings are the opposite. There is a lot to learn when you sweat hard. In fact I feel bad for people who never have had to produce a hard sweat.

I enjoy the taste of sweat. Sweat stand for a whole lot of good. I know when I sweat I am working hard. I know anything worth my time requires hard work. Therefore if I am sweating, what I am working towards has to be worth the effort. When I sweat it teaches me how hard I can go. I know that if I am not breaking a hard sweat, I have more to give. Also, when we push ourselves to a hard sweat it teaches us that we do not break. There are people in the world scared to sweat cause they might push themselves to hard. I feel sorry for them.

This is why in workouts I try to push myself towards a hard sweat. When I am done I want to be able to taste my sweat. This is because I know I am moving in the right direction when I am pushing myself hard.

Workout: 4rds of 25 push ups, 25 squats. 6:45 was my time. I did the first 2 rounds at 3 minutes. I am happy I was able to keep up a pretty good pace even when my push ups were struggling.

Inspirational quote: “I see no virtue where I smell no sweat.” –Francis Quarles

free write....

Speaking that this is half my journal half my outlet and half just a blog of things on my mind. I decided today to do a free write.

Today I had many observations. The main one being you just have to keep moving forward. Last night I realized I have not been as good with a certain subject as I could be. It hurt me deeply to realize this. I had to pick up the pieces though and continue to work. I was able to do that today. During the day I just focused on my work cause worrying about something else will not help it get done. This should be the same during a workout. You should be focused just on the work. If you worry about everything else on your plate and other people you will be disappointed with your results.

Today I also had the pleasure of running into an old english teacher and tutor of mine, Mr. Barner. While I am not sure he would understand the whole blog thing, he was pretty influential in my english development. He taught a love for books. A way to analyze deeper into them which other teachers never did. His ability to do this was unique. He was able to talk about a book and except that there was no right answer always, it was how you saw it. This view is why I love to read. If you read expecting to see what everyone else sees, you will not see what is there for you.

My disappointment for the day. There were no children in the park today at 1500 when I drove by. Why is that? It is the first day of summer vacation! There should be children playing. A co worker and me were talking about this. There are so many young children who play video games. When I was a child yes I played video games. But we played outside the majority of the time. I believe younger and younger kids are taught to play video games cause it is ok. Just like it is ok to be fat. I think this is all horse shit. There is no genetic reason for children to be so overweight. It is disturbing that it is now the norm. I do not know if parents do not want there kids outside because of the scary men outside or if the kids do not go outside cause their parents do not force them. Which ever reason it is I just think it is bullshit. Just go outside and play.

This does not stop at children though. Everyone should go outside and get some exercise. You are never to old to do something active. If you spend hours upon hours in an office during the week then you definitely should be outside on the weekend being active. I cannot stand laziness.

Workout: 2 miles 25 lb weightvest run untimed.

Inspirational Quote: "There is no passion to be found in playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." -Nelson Mandela

Boxing yourself in...

When I was applying to colleges, I was asked to describe myself with one word. While I am good at talking about many things, myself is not one of them. Knowing this I got the help of my mom to generate words. The one word I still remember her describing me as is, “eclectic.” The dictionary defines it as, “deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.” I still believe this describes my life very well.

I am a big believe in being well rounded. I am always trying to learn in a vast many subjects, from how to fix up the house to new ways to cook ground beef. The fact that I am currently reading three books lets you know I enjoy being well rounded. If this is the case, should it not also be the case in my workouts?

The problem I have had over the past few weeks is I was very boxed in. Yes, I was using many different movements but I was keeping the workouts too short. I was almost coming up with workouts just to get a workout done. While this will keep me in shape, I want to push towards elite shape. This being my goal, I decided to break out of the box.

While I did not run out and buy new equipment, I am always looking though; I decided to have a variety of workouts. I was able to come up with a few new movements as well as different ways of timing to extend my workouts. I am hoping this along with other changes will help me push towards elite shape.

I believe that how you are as a person, should be in everything that you do. I enjoy many different things. I like having a decent variety in how I cook as a result. Sometimes I love spicy, sometimes sweet, and sometimes I enjoy it when someone else cooks. The lesson I have learned from this is that you cannot let yourself get boxed into one way of doing things. Everything you do in life should mimic your personality; you should not be changing your personality to the task.

Workout: 4rds of 60 seconds on 30 seconds off of push ups, sit ups, and squats. My goal was to get in the high 300’s while at the same time doing a minimum of 100 push ups. I achieve both. My overall score was 430. I did more then 25 push ups each round so I had to be over 100. I was happy with this.

Inspirational Quote: “Get comfortable with uncomfortable.” –James “OPT” Fitzgerald

Facing the Enemy

Besides working and working out, the other major activity in my life right now is reading. I will read anything that sparks my interest. Right now, being a nervous/excited soon to be law student I am reading a book about law school. While I am sure no book can completely prepare you for anything, it cannot hurt.

The book that I am reading is called One L by Scott Turow. This book is a collection of his journal entries from his first year of law school complied after his first year He attended law school in the mid 70’s but the lessons still hold true today. This is due to little change in how the first year of law school is taught.

I am only partially done with the book but there is one idea that has gotten a hold of me. The author talks about it when he is contemplating law school. He is talking to a friend of his and his friend says he would go to law school to, “face the enemy.” I identify with this concept.

At law school I believe I will come face to face with my enemy. My enemy of course is myself. I have never been the best student. I have been able to get by with my natural smarts. I believe I am now ready to take my studies seriously. And in fact I am willing to back myself big on that bet. This change has come to me through an unlikely source, crossfit.

I feel every time I completely a workout I have accomplished something. In this accomplishment I have learned a lot. I have been through the suck of the filthy fifty, when you are dead tired and you still have 50 more wallballs, burpees and double unders. I have also been at the accomplishment end of it. I know that there are going to be times when the work piles on me and I cannot see the end or a break.

The question in my own head is how will I handle it? I have a feeling I will handle it the same way I have handled many workouts, one step at a time. I know in the middle of the filthy fifty I have to just keep moving forward, school will be the same thing if not easier. As OPT has said, after knowing what the filthy fifty’s are like. It makes all of life seem easier. I just hope he is right.

Workout: Started the three weeks of programming. I am not allowed to alter the workouts at all I have decided. Today was 4 rds of 20 sandbag lunges and 10 handstand push ups. It took me 8:54. I believe some of my handstand push ups were suspect. However, I am willing to take the output on that one movement for now.

Inspirational quote: “hello old friend, Fuck you!” –James “OPT” Fitzgerald

Am I driven?

Do you think this man is driven?

Last night at dinner my parents told me a story. It was a short story without a lot of details. I am going to skip over almost all of them. The basic part of the story that is necessary is that a few months ago when they told family friends I was headed to law school. The reaction was almost disbelief. It was more they did not believe I was serious. It seems to make me think do I have that drive that people see? Was their reaction due to them not seeing me, or me not seeing how people see me?

Driven is used often to describe someone, but what does it mean? Is a driven person someone who wants to succeed? Well who does not want to succeed? I am not sure what it means. I do not believe it really means anything, just a nice sounding expression to give to people who succeed.

I do know these things about myself though. In everything I do, I want to do the best possible. I absolutely hate the feeling of holding back due to laziness. In things I truly care about, I want to be a stand out. I am not scared to admit it. I would love to be a standout crossfitter, I am not, I would love to be though. In law school I want to succeed. I know how to accomplish all of this too. I have to work as hard as possible.

Also I know I do not like to sit still. I constantly am trying to better myself. The fact that I took a year to take care of going to law school drives me crazy. I feel like I am a year behind now. However, that is what I needed to get focused.

Do these things make me driven? The truth is I do not really care. It would not change how I am. I do not think of nice adjectives to describe myself and say that is what I want to be. I just want to be me.

Workout: Rest day.

Inspirational quote: “Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.” –Wendy Wasserstein

Wind out of the sails...

Remmy looking past today.

“Taking the wind out of the sails,” is a common expression. It means stealing the momentum. This is something that everyone has felt at one point or another. You are all excited about something and someone just comes and give you bad news. This happened to me today twice.

When looking at the weather, it was obviously suppose to rain today. It was all planned into the week. Today was going to be half a workday. The other half would be used to do a task list. There are tasks which require a trip to the hardware store. This meant half a day of work fit perfectly into the plans.

This was the wind carrying the sails. However, at 1130 it became evident it would not be raining soon. When the weather was checked, rain was only a 50 percent chance. This meant work until 5 and none of the tasks getting done. At this point work seemed to be pointless. My momentum was broken. However, after a little while it was accepted and rebounded from.

The second time was during the workout. The workout was 5 handstand push ups, 10 kettlebell swings on the minute for 10 minutes. The goal was to get to 10 minutes. This was going to be a task. Failure came at four. This was unforgivable. There was no way failure could come that quickly. It did though. This took all momentum out of the sails.

The rebound was less from this. This is something that will have to change. There is a renewed dedication to harder workouts and handstand push-ups. This workout will be done again, and 10 minutes will be achieved. While this little event initially took the wind out of the sails, it was soon replaced by stronger winds.

Workout: 5 handstand push ups, 10 kettlebells on minute for as long as possible, 4 rounds. Finished with 3 sets of 20 kettlebell swings. 90 seconds rest.

Inspirational quote: “If you are going through hell, keep going.” –Winston Churchill

Just funny video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5PoW7_kdA

Pushing and Pulling

When you are growing up you are told to not allow people to push you around. This is an interesting statement. In all honesty I do not believe in it. I believe it does have some truth, but I feel you need to let yourself to be pushed around to fully grow.

The truth in the statement is when someone is trying to take advantage of you. I do believe you should never let people push you to do things you know are wrong or unlawful. You have to learn how to stand up for yourself. You have to learn how to push back in this situation. However, I feel there is a lot to learn by letting yourself to be pushed in a positive direction.

It would be simple to say that you accomplish all things in your life by yourself. It would also be a lie. There is no one in this world that accomplished anything on his or her own. There has to be people there pushing you to succeed. If you were to not allow yourself to get pushed around, who knows how little you would accomplish. Successful people always know how to let people push them.

This thought led me to think about when I have been pushed in my life. In the past two years I have been pushed into things that have changed the direction of my life. The first was going to crossfit. It was something I just toyed with doing. Then a friend of mine pushed me into it. All of the sudden I did not have a choice of what to do. I was hooked after my first day and have been for two years now. The list goes on and on though. There are major points when people pushed me to do something I did not want to. I am happy I let myself get pushed. It has led me to become a much better person. If I would have stood my ground here is a short list of things I would not know, crossfit, paleo, law school… The list can go on trust me.

The person I am today would be completely different if I did not let myself get pushed a little bit. You need that push as long as it is well guided. You have to watch out for who is pushing you and why. This goes for the gym and life outside. You need the trainer there to push you. In the gym it is easy to get that motivation by a yelling lunatic. It is hard to get it outside the gym. This is because it is then your job to push yourself. It is important that you are always pushing your mind and body in new directions.

Workout: 3rds of 10 kettlebell snatches right, 10 left, 10 handstand push ups. My time was 8:57. My handstands need some work, but I am happy with them since there were against the shed.

Inspirational quote: “Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A ‘you can do it’ when things are tough.” –Richard M. DeVos

Stay the course...

One of the most annoying lines which I hear all the time is, “that person just got lucky genetics.” This annoys me on so many levels. The major part is that it is usually from a lazy person who does nothing to change their situation. You can sit there and play the victim and blame your genetics or you can do something about it. I prefer people who to the latter. There is the further part that annoys me. No, you are not an Olympic athlete. Yes, they did get really good genetics. However you want to know what else the majority of people that succeed have? Consistency, they stayed the course when times got tough and now get the reap the benefits.

The biggest trick to getting results is being consistency. There is no short cut, you have to be getting your butt in gear everyday. The results will come with time. I promise you if you decide to go walking 4 times a week for a few miles, over a few months you will lose some weight or whatever your goal is. Lets look at some pit falls people find which causes inconsistency.

The most common problem is people expect results to quickly. People feel that if they are putting the time in now to get fit, they should be fit now. Who can blame them? We live in a society that believes you should reap benefits instantaneously. The reality is that it takes time. Being fit is a lifestyle. It never actually stops. You have to put your time into the process to expect results. To relate it to something I hope everyone can understand it is like investing. Peoples workout perception is similar to saying hey here is a dollar. Then expecting that in a month that dollar will be a hundred. That dollar has the ability to become a hundred. It just needs time.

Another pitfall is not being dedicated over a period of time. These people still hit the gym. There are just huge gaps in between visits. You have to be willing to give a current amount of time each week to working out. You will get more results if you put more in. It is simple as that. It is easier to not go to the gym and sit on the couch another hour. Be aware though that you made that choice to sit on the couch, you will have to pay the price later.

The simple fact is that no not everyone is genetically gifted. However you are not genetically disadvantaged. The people who are in better shape for the most part have just been more consistent over time about being in shape. They have been dedicated to a certain lifestyle.

People are designed to be a powerful hunter. This is how you evolved. You might never be able to beat Usain Bolt in the 100 m dash. But you should at least be able to run down some animals in order to survive.

Workout: 2 mile recovery run. Was going to do pull ups afterword but I broke the pull up bar on the first one. Very upset by this, will have to replace it.

Inspirational quote: “Stay the course”

who pushes who?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCFZoqmKf5M

I saw this video a few hours ago. It caused me to think. It is right on target on its point. I would like to expand one point from nutrition focused to full lifestyle focus. The point I would like to broaden is the point when he says just cause you are fitter then a fat person….

I have said before, the only person to compare yourself to is yourself in that moment. You know when you have given it your all. There are times when you have done a great job, but there was that little bit more you could have given. In these times it is wrong to settle for good enough. There should never be any settling that at least I did better then blah. This means that every workout you have to give it all you have for that moment do not compare yourself to others.

Continuing on this, it is wrong to even compare yourself to yourself. Last week I might have been able to do a 30 push ups in a row in 30 seconds. However this week it might be only 25. This does not mean I gave less effort. There could easily be circumstances which led to the drop in five push ups. I could have a cold, did 150 push ups the day before, etc. That means that you have to give it your all.

This by no means says that competing with others is wrong. I am just trying to bring to light that it should not be your final measuring stick. Competition can cause you to push it to places you never thought you could. This is a good thing. Where constant competition can hurt you, is when you only care about beating someone. The only person you should always want to beat is yourself.

There is only one person who knows when you have given it your all, you. This should not be kept to your workouts either. You should be given it your all at work. By being complacent in the fact that you are a better worker then blah, does not make you better. You should be comparing yourself to yourself. Did I give that letter, project, planting job all I had? If the answer is yes, then you are on the right track.

There is a problem when you start settling for just being better then someone else. There are people just naturally are not as good as you. To say you are just stronger then a 5 year old sounds ridiculous. However it is essentially what you are saying when you say you can relax cause you are in better shape then a big old fatty.

Workout: It was a rainy day so had to workout inside. I did 4 rds of 25 sit ups, 15 supermans, 15 push ups. My time was 8:05. It was a good quick workout in the middle of the week.

Inspirational quote: “ I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.” –Vince Lombardi

Continuing old processes...

This is a picture of how I like to think Remmy looks when I am gone.

There were a million of reasons running through my head how I could justify skipping today’s workout. However none were strong enough to overcome the one good reason I had. That reason was that I have to. I was tired, had a normal day of work but just felt exhausted, but I knew I had to workout.

With my body aching I still felt the need to go. I had to workout. And when I was done, I was happy that I did. This reminds me of years ago when I was big into running. I would dread the run everyday which led to a lot of skipped runs. On days when I would run I was happy when I was done with it. However, now a days it is different. I no longer run all the time. I am in better shape and hit workouts in short intense burst. However the process is still the same.

There are days when you stand there and think of everything else you could be doing. All of the chores you have to get done. Then you take that first step and it feels so good. It makes you question why I though of skipping this. Back in the running days, I dreaded it 90% of the time. Now I dread it only 10%. However, the same thoughts still skip through my head. It almost seems to be a left over process from my running days.

When you are done you feel productive and that you will never again dread doing a workout. This is simple not going to happen. The difference is taking that first step towards the workout with consistence. There is no short cut in getting into shape, just constant hard work. There is no way to get into shape by skipping workouts. You need every workout. This is because every workout is a lesson.

Workout: 21-15-9 of walking lunges each leg, holding 30lb dumbbells, shoulder press, and thrusters. My time was 10:28. It took a few seconds to stop the clock, so I took a few seconds off.

Inspirational quotes: “A road well begun is the battle half won. The important thing is to make a beginning and get under way.” –Soren Kierkegaard

DEVIATION!!!

Missing: the green bandit! If found please contact Joshua McMahon. (pictured above)

This post is dedicated to when you deviate from your diet. When I say deviation I mean eating outside what you normally would consider healthy. This on other diets is celebrated as this great time. I feel if you have to deviate from you diet for a great time, the diet is not working. I eat how I eat cause that is what makes my body and spirit better. The reason I do not call it “cheating” is that I feel like I am not cheating. The deviation is what helps stay the course.

There are three reasons to deviate, to help stay course, if mood calls for it, or hospitality. The first one, to stay the course is tricky. This is not to say that I need the deviation to stay on the diet. It just sometimes is necessary to remind your body why you avoid certain foods. I eat the foods I want to eat, when I feel like I want them. The same urges that tell me to eat brussels sprouts instead of bread are the exact same urges that tell me I want ice cream. A side note, I have been doing this for a while and it takes a while to listen to what you body wants and not what you desire.

The mood calls for it is another tricky one to judge at first. Of course you are always in the mood for ice cream. However is your spirit always in need of ice cream. When I say mood I mean you have had a bad day and it will help you feel better. In these times food can give my spirit a boost it desperately needs. In these cases ice cream or dark chocolate is what I eat.

The final reason to deviate is hospitality. This is a strict rule of mine. Under no circumstances do you refuse food that is a gift. If someone is willing to bake or cook you dinner you eat what they cook for you. The only exception is if it is family that cooks for you often. However, if anyone every makes you food for a special occasion, you eat it. It would be rude not to.

The final part of deviation to discuss is the frequency. If you are deviating every day, you are no long on the diet, but a completely different one. The number I like to think about is 90%. This does not have to be exact. Just like weighing and measuring food, I feel to go over board with exactness of deviation is an eating disorder. If you think about it this way you have 21 meals a week. If you deviate 2 meals a week, you are at 90%. This is not the golden bar though. If by all means you had a rough week, eat what you spirit needs.

There is absolutely no point in torturing yourself over your diet. It takes time to understand your body’s urges, especially after big changes like cutting out sugar. It is best to make many small changes. Do not be scared to take a step backwards every now and then, you might find it was unnecessary to cut out. You should eat how you like because it is best for you body and spirit. If you are not enjoying your diet, you are not going to stick to it. It is the same with everything; you should do things because you love to that is when you produce your best results.

Workout: 100 burpees with 25 lb weight vest. 8:49 was my time. It felt good, the vest shifted a lot on me. I missed my workout partner, but he is spending some time with his mommy.

Inspirational quote: “Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” –Mark Twain

Why do I do it?

Why do I do these workouts all the time? This is a question I often thinking about. I find answering it extremely difficult. I have yet to find out really why I do them. I have had many conversations about it with people. There are two great answers that I believe help formulate why I do it. The two answers are, “Because we can.” The other being, “because I would not not want to.”

The first one, “because we can,” comes from a girl names suz. I am unaware of her last name. She is a member at Crossfit 908. I was in the middle of a workout one day and said out loud, “Why do we do this to ourselves?” She quickly responded, “because we can.” This lead me to think. It is true, it is partially simply because we can. The fact is that many people physically cannot. It is not just because they are lazy, it is cause they have some physical impairment. I owe it to all those people to give it my all in every workout.

The second quote was from a friend of mine, Brandon K. We were talking about why we come in when we are tired and sore and do a workout. Then he simply said, “because I would not not want to come in.” I know it is not the most correct English, but it is a correct statement. There are definitely days when we do not want to workout. The workout that day however makes our day that much better. I have skipped workout on days and feel like a piece of my day is missing. It is as simple as I do it cause I would not not want to do it.

There is a third reason has come from personal reflection. I do it because of the positive it has had in my life. Before I started working out I was in bad shape inside and out. I was a 230 pound 6-1 softy. I was not capable of a pull up, could not squat 200 pounds or snatch anything. Physically it has changed my life. Mentally it has changed me too.

Mentally before I started I was shy. I would not want to challenge myself because I was scared of failure. Because of these workouts I know you have to take yourself if you do not take yourself to the point of failure, how do you know how well you can do? This has been taught to me through many brutal beat downs in workouts. It was paid for in sweat many times over. This lesson is the most important. I had the ability to extend it to my life as a whole.

I recently applied to law schools. I decided I was going to go for the best I could get into. I was not going to be scared of not getting in. How am I suppose to know the best school I could get in to if I do not fail? I got into 3 out of the 8 schools I applied to. Those numbers are not to great. Especially if you look at that 2 of them were safety schools. However, I do not have to wonder if I could have gotten into a school I wanted to. Did it suck getting a rejection letter from University of Texas when that is were I really wanted to go? You bet ya. It would suck more if I never applied and just wondered for the rest of my life.

Those are some of the reasons why I do it.

Workout: 50 kettlebell presses, 5 each arm rotation I did this twice. The first time was 4:28. The second I was able to do 3:26, I got motivated. I think I more was able to mentally push, I was not happy with the first time. Extras were 5 sets of 5 deadhang pull ups.

Inspiratonal Quote: “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” –Vince Lombardi

Giving it your all

It is very easy to say you have to give it your all. It is difficult to understand what that means. The question becomes what is your all? Does your all change day to day or hour by hour? Does just because you are doing more then someone mean you are giving more?

Everyday you have to give all that you have to give. When you think about it that way, it has to vary day to day. There are going to be good days and bad ones. Giving it your all on a bad day is not going to be nearly as much as on a good day. That does not mean that you should still not try. Also, it shows more character when on a bad day you still stand there giving it everything you have.

The other thing is to never measure yourself purely against someone else. Me giving it my all is going to be different then you. I can do more work in a day then you and still not have given it my all. However, the man who is able to give it their all everyday builds his character and will succeed in the end.

When giving it your all there are no corners to cuts. It is simple on a bad day to say this is all I am going to do. In this situation you are failing to give it your all. You are also showing bad character. That is why no matter how bad of a day you are having never cut corners. There is no shortcut to success, just a road paved with hard work.

My final thought is that you learn more about yourself on your bad days then on good. The bad part is you have to have learn from your bad days. They have to be seen as learning experiences. You never know when something you learned from one might turn a day into a great day.

Workout: 5rds, 6 kettlebell snatch each arm, 4:03ish. There was a mishap with the timing. Remmy decided to roll on my watch as I was finishing. The extra today was a 15 down to 1 pyrmiad of normal push ups, wide, and narrow. It was a fun one.

Inspirational quotes: “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi

Changing the perception

I came across this story and found it interesting. There are many versions and this is just one. One day a traveller, walking along a lane, came across 3 stonecutters working in a quarry. Each was busy cutting a block of stone. Interested to find out what they were working on, he asked the first stonecutter what he was doing. "I am cutting a stone!" Still no wiser the traveller turned to the second stonecutter and asked him what he was doing. “I am cutting this block of stone to make sure that it’s square, and its dimensions are uniform, so that it will fit exactly in its place in a wall." A bit closer to finding out what the stonecutters were working on but still unclear, the traveller turned to the third stonecutter. He seemed to be the happiest of the three and when asked what he was doing replied: “I am building a cathedral.”

It has caused me to do some thinking about my daily work. I work for a landscaping company. No, we do not cut lawns, it is a lot of digging holes and planting plants. It is not the most rewarding job, but it is a job. I am stuck doing work for people I do not know. However I have realized I find it rewarding.

I am able to work outside. I get a good amount of physical work. Mentally it still leaves a lot to be desired. However, at the end of the day I get to see a physical difference I have made. It is not just that, but when you get a client who is extremely excited about the work, it is very rewarding.

One time last week I had the chance to mulch a lady’s yard. It was an area that was overgrown with weeds. Her husband has cancer. The two of them normally keep it up, but given the circumstances it has slipped. By going and doing that work for that lady, we were able to make her day. I am not just saying that, she told us. It is when I get to work on those jobs that it reinvigorates my desire.

I guess it really just comes down to perception. Most of the time I use to perceive I am doing this work for wealthy unappreciative assholes. I think though if I change my perception as it a job I am doing just for pay to a job I am going to do my best out it will help me.

It will help me enjoy work more. I will be able to be more productive from the extra pride I will take in my work. I also am a firm believer in doing the best that you can in every thing that you do. I do not believe there is an on/off switch. I believe people who always take pride in their work and work hard, finish ahead. The people that do the bare minimum at work always will do the bare minimum in the rest of their life. This is why I challenge all people to do the best they can in everything that they do. This will force your whole attitude to change.

Workout: Today I wanted to get a quick 5 to 7 minute workout in. I had a desire to work my upper body. The lower body gets plenty of work at work. I did 5 rounds of 20 double unders, 4 broad jumps, 10 sandbag presses (60lb.), 4 broad jumps. The time that I finished in was 5:39. I tried the best I could to make all broad jumps as far as possible. I strive to do the best in everything.

P.S. Good luck Sara! I know you will pass easily.

Inspiritaional Quote: “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” -Buddha

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day. It is very important to do your best to thank military past and present every chance that you get. Today is a special day to remind you that there are soldiers that have and will continue to put their life on the line for the freedom we get to enjoy everyday. For this make sure to thank a soldier today, or the next opportunity that you get.

Now a brief history about Memorial Day. Memorial day started after the Civil war to remember soldiers of that conflict. It was celebrated in both the north and the south. The ceremonies were obviously different depending on whether it was in the north or south. The south was focused more as a social identity, remembering the lost cause. In the north it was more a day to remember the soldiers

After World War 1, the holiday came to be more about remembering soldiers of all American wars. Traditional celebrations are to put American flags and flowers on soldier’s graves.

I believe it is important to never forget that there are veteran’s out there. These are people that in their time put their life in danger to protect freedom. It is also imperative to remember we are still at war. There are soldiers currently in two different theaters of conflict, which put their life on the line daily. Today is a day to remember soldiers of the past and present.

Taking tests...

My workout today was a test day. This is a day I come up with to gauge my weaknesses. I pick four movements and go all out for those movements, resting about 5 minutes between exercises. This is an excellent training tool for the future. When I take the test again I will be able to see were my workouts have improved me.

The test today consisted of 100 double unders, 30 burpees, 50 squats, and 3 sets of dead hang pull ups. I was able to do the double unders in 2:19. I am not to happy with this, but know I have neglected double unders. When I do this again in a few weeks I expect to take over 30 seconds off of that time. The burpees were done in 1:25. I was not jumping for joy with this one, but I will live with it for now. The squats I was able to do in 59 seconds. This is respectable. However, I feel that I can do better. I hope to take my time under 55 next time. The final was 3 sets of dead hangs. I was able to get 22 total. I was happy with this. Especially considering the bar I have to use. Overall, I am happy with my test and feel I passed.

This was not the test I am most proud of passing today though. That honor belongs to an accident at work. I hit a wall with the dump truck. I was turning and had to cut it sharper then I really had space to. I nicked the corner of a techo-block wall. I just knocked the corner off and managed to shift the whole side down.

Just a few months ago I would have flipped out and made a big deal about it. I would have blamed someone else, I mean how could it be my fault that I hit a wall? However, I realized the change in me. I was calm about it, took care of it, and moved on. I never once in my head or other wise thought of blaming anyone else. I realized I messed up and had to deal with it. I think they call this becoming an adult. When I was done fixing the wall, the situation was over. It was nothing to make a big deal about. Sometimes you just hit the wall and all I you have control over is how you put it back together.

Inspirational Quote: "I believe that all wisdom consists in caring immensely for a few right things, and not caring a straw about the rest." - John Buchan

Thinking outside of the watch

I will rave today about the greatness of weight vest. They allow to make any movement that much more challenging. Yesterday I struggled with double unders because having the extra weight on makes jumping that much more difficult. This is a movement I am normally pretty good at. The idea of double unders with a weight vest came to me while researching how to best use the weight vest.

The idea that I came across was to not limit the use to obvious applications. The obvious applications would be running, pull ups, etc. pretty much any basic workout movement. This is why I did double unders with it. It is not something you would typically think to do. Today I took it a step further.

After work, I had to paint some on my parents front porch. This is the time slot I normally use for my workout. However, not wanting to just push back my schedule, I decided to wear my weight vest while I paint. This at first sound ridiculous. However I can assure you it made painting that much harder. The nicest thing about it is that although it does not replace an intense workout. It was able to proved a different type of difficulty to overcome.

This lead me to think that sometimes, I have to leave the stopwatch off and just do something difficult. This means wearing the weight vest to do chores or simply walking somewhere I might drive. All of this will help with my fitness. How could I limit my fitness sessions to just short intervals with the stopwatch. The whole point of intense workout is that they are short, this leaves a whole lot of time to do extras.

This also leads me to the point that, just because you workout you cannot expect results. There is the 23 to 1 rule. The max really you can spend working out is one hour a day, you have 23 to fuck it up. This means just cause you had a grueling day and you are tired you still do not cut corners. I would still walk from further in the parking lot. You workout to make you more fit, not to give excuses. These excuses could be from eating extra deserts to driving to a place you know you should walk.

Workout: 40 minutes of painting with the weight vest on

Inspirational Quote: "opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison

Mental Toughness....

The above picture is my battleground.

Jack Martin was my high school cross country and track coach. He was an old school type of guy. He had a lot of sayings he would use. There is one of them that stands out to me. The saying is, "mental toughness through physical pain."

I thought this was just one of Martin's sayings. However, as I reflect upon it, it hits the nail on the head. To simply back it up, the more tough shit you go through physically, the tougher you get mentally. This means that you have to always battle through the tough times. It is simple to see it in your own life. Just for a second look back 5 years. I bet there are things you do today, whether is be physical as run several miles or mental as learn a new language. You are able to face these challenges because of your mental hardening.

I am a true believer that high intensity training is far and away the best way to train. There are so many different lessons to learn. You are pushed mentally every workout to get that one next rep or sprint out that last bit. When you are able to push hard in a workout, the rest of life seems so easy. I have said to myself numerous times when facing a tough situation, "please I can do this, I can do (insert workout)."

This is one of the reasons I train. It makes my everyday life easier. If I can suck up through the pain and push, I know that when I am done everything will seem so much easier. This is all a part of my mental conditioning. Of course there are days you do not want to train, but why would you not when it makes life easier?

Today was a day that pushed me mentally. I am still learning how to best use my new toy, the weight vest. I decided today that 3 rds of 50 double unders, 25 kettlebell swings would be great. This was to be done with the 50 lb. weight vest on. I am pretty good at double unders and figured it would not be that much hard. I was wrong.

I wanted to quit after the first round. I even toyed around with trimming it down to 2 rounds or less double unders. I could not in good conscience do this. I know that somedays I will want to quit. I cannot give into that urge to quit. I feel that it would be too slippery a slope for me. Once I cut one corner what is going to stop me from cutting others.

This mental toughness I believe is the difference between being successful and falling short. I was going to finish that workout come hell or high water. To me it became not about the stopwatch but about the struggle. The struggle to get just one more double under kept me going. I wanted to finish just to prove that I could. I was not going to let a workout beat me.

This never say quit attitude has to be taken into every workout. You have to feel that you will finish this as hard as you are able to. You have to have the mental toughness to never give into the urge to quit. When you keep up this attitude you will be surprised by what you can accomplish.

My total workout time was 18:31. The first round was 4 minutes, second finished at 12:40ish. It was in the middle round I had my struggle. I won that battle though.

Inspirational quote: "Mental toughness through physical pain." -Jack Martin

Smoking... the DELICIOUS type

Yesterday, Sunday, I smoked a few pieces of meat in the above pictured smoker. Smoking meat is a way of cooking which utilizes low temperatures and long cooking times. The product is a unique tasting meat. Some people do not like it, I think it is delicious. It is one of the things I am most excited about in Texas!

This is going to be my brief overview of smoking. I am by no means an expert at it. I have made my fair share of mistakes with it. I am also far from perfecting my technique. However, only the first time I smoked a piece of meat did it come out tasting poorly. This was due to an over seasoning. I was young dumb and made a whole rub receipt and put it on two small racks of ribs. There is need to say they were caked in rub.

Learning from the mistake I have been careful not to over due the rubs. This time I decided to try three different rubs. There were four separate pieces of meat which I smoked, a brisket and three sets of ribs. The first rub I made contained salt, pepper, peprika, and thyme. This was used on the brisket and one pair of the ribs. The second rub was salt, pepper, herbs di provence, and crushed red pepper. This was on a set of ribs. The final set of ribs just got a dusting of salt and pepper. I did this variety to get a feel for what turns out best on the smoker. I was surprised by which rub was the best.

Now that I had all my meat rubbed down..... They went on the smoker at 0900. The process of setting up the smoker is simple. The bottom is filled with charcoal. There is then a dish of water in the middle to help hold a temperature and put moisture into the air. There is a cooking surface right on top of the water dish. This can be viewed in the picture. With a second surface at the top.

The trick I have learned to smoking is to not panic about the temperature. I have yet to find the "ideal" temperature. I however feel that a temperature of about 160 Fahrenheit works fine. The goal is to keep a constant temperature. This is a lot easier said then done. You have to keep the coals burnings, but not to quickly and hot, or to low that they go out. I had one minor flair up of temperature. It was right after I added more coals and got the fire going better. It peak around 260. However, most of the day was 130 to 160.

The only tuning up to the smoker I did all day was to add coals, stoke the fire up when needed, and add a piece of Applewood every few hours. Around 1700 I could tell that the meat was about done. I did not take them off then cause we would not be eating for a while. Also when smoking meat it is hard to overcook. The greater fear is it being undercooked. This is why I put the meat on so early. At 1700 I decided to put some white wine in the water dish and a fresh piece of wood to put in some last flavor. Around 1730 the meat was taken off the smoker.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get any pictures of the meat. I will say it was very delicious and very little survived the dinner table. The meat was falling off of the ribs and the brisket was well worth the time and effort put in. Now about the best rub. The simple fact when you are smoking, you are trying to smoke in flavor. The rub does not play a factor in the taste. If I were to smoke more meat tomorrow, I would probably not put any rub on them. I would focus more on putting a mixture into the water dish. Next time I smoke meat this is the technique I plan to use.

Workout: I decided to put my vest to use. I did an 8 minute AMRAP of 10 sandbag push press, and 10 push ups. I did all this while wearing all 50 lb. of the vest. The push ups were a struggle. I was able to squeeze out 5 rounds and 2 push ups. The vest makes a big difference!

Inspirational Quote: "It's what you do right now that makes a difference" -Blackhawk Down

New Toys

Yesterday I got my birthday present in the mail. It is a 50lb. weight vest. I know it is weird to get so excited about a weight vest but I believe with the lack of access to a gym it will help me out over the next few years. I plan to use it on sprints as well as long distance runs. Also, it can make any body weight movement harder. I am already seeing 100 burpees for time become an awful yet amazing experience. I am also hoping to be able to attempt, "becoming John," in a few months. It is a 20 min AMRAP of the cycle 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats. This is all done with a 50 lb. vest on. I am sure to talk in the future about the joy and misery of training with a weight vest.

This weekend Sara and I will be headed to Crossfit 908 for a team workout. It is in teams of three. There are 150 pull ups, 150 wallball, and 150 v ups to complete, then 300 double unders, 2700 m run, 3000m row. It should be a fun workout.

After that, I will be painting the front porch so I will probably not have to many interesting things to talk about. However, I already know that my post on monday is going to be on a smoked meat. I am smoking a brisket and ribs tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.