Random Rays of Awesomeness

1. This weekend, The Future and I celebrated our six year anniversary in the only way we know how: working out, studying, and walking the dog. We sure know how to party! On the upside, it gave me the best quote I have heard in a while: “I would rather watch 10 hours of Saskatchewan getting their asses kicked than spend five minutes watching any crap by Justin Bieber.” Pure class right there. I think she’s a keeper.

2. No matter how awkward you think it will be to attend your spouses office functions, trust me, they are always more awkward. Think like a colonoscopy performed by a wise-cracking intern with really bad jokes. “Hey, where’d that gerbil come from?? Just kidding.” The food was good, though.

3. As mentioned in a previous post, we are all essentially somewhat normal in one way or another, and hopefully exceptional in a lot of ways. Part of that normalcy is wanting to avoid pain, discomfort, and any negative feelings, which, being honest, is what gets created when pushing really hard with something pushing back against you, like a barbell you’re trying to dominate, or a hill that just won’t end. But when do we decide to switch from pain avoidance to mediocrity-avoidance? There are those who will give it there all in every situation, not knowing that there is an option to give less than absolutely everything they have in the tank, and there are those who give up just as it begins getting difficult. They know they could do more, and feel bad for themselves because they didn’t try harder. How do we switch from holding back to pushing with all our heart?

Watch Jessica here….
http://www.youtube.com/v/2Q4eAkMykms?fs=1&hl=en_US

She was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer 3 years ago. She underwent a full mastectomy, chemotherapy, lost all her hair, had to have her pectoral muscle removed and resectioned her latissimus to “reform” a pectoral muscle. More than a dozen surgeries later, she decided to do something to get healthy and stay healthy. She had never exercised before, and came in with an open mind and a willingness to work. Hard. Really, really stupid hard. She knew that she was lucky to have this opportunity to do the things she wanted to with her body, as she came very close to losing everything.

So at the end of our last workout, I thought I would challenge her a little. I hooked up a 45 pound plate to a battle rope, kneeled on it, and had her drag the entire system (300 pounds of total weight on a rough carpet tiled surface) for three sets of 10 reps. Each time she dragged it back, she had to suitcase-carry the plate back to the start position, and run back to the start. The bad news is she didn’t need a bucket. I always like a little projectile vomit to let me know I’m getting the best out of my clients, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. It’s sort of like my barometer of performance.

Always be grateful for the things you can do, never worry about the things you can’t.

4. I’ve been seeing more and more adds for the KFC Double Down

That’s all I have today. Have a great week!!