Friday, March 5, 2010

Workout of the Day:
Three sets of:
Deadlift x 4-6 reps
Rest 90 seconds
Ring Dips x 12 reps
Rest 2-3 minutes;
and then,
As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
20 Kettlebell Swings
20 Box Step-Ups with Kettlebell (10 each leg)
100 Meter Suitcase Carry

Get well soon Rhonda, we miss you!

Apologetic . . . But Not
Written by Mike Hom

I have a buddy who goes to the gym only when he starts, as he so eloquently puts it, “feeling fat.” He will do this every couple months for several days – maybe 9 or 10 if he’s feeling especially “fat.”  Now, I don’t know everything about how the body works, but I do know that an accumulation of stuffing garbage into your body is not exactly going to disappear with an hour on the treadmill followed by some dumbbell bench press and preacher curls for 10 days. While he may make some progress, possibly through the phenomenon known as the “novice effect”, it will only go so far with what limited activity he is doing. Unfortunately, my buddy’s level of accumulated activity does not nearly equal the amount of work needed to counteract the sheer volume of damage he’s done to himself. My buddy does say that “fortunately” for him, he is naturally skinny because we both know that if he was someone like me, he would be a slobbering, mouth-breathing, man-beast from eating and drinking the way he does. I guess my disconnect with him is where he got this attitude where he felt what he did was “good enough.”

This is a rather extreme example compared to those that work out at Invictus. Frankly, I’m preaching to the choir when I wax poetic about putting your time in for your training. But really, when do we ever come to a place where we say, “Oh yeah! I’m good to go!” and then just stop. It may just be the personality-type that is attracted to recreational activities, much less CrossFit-type activities. I don’t care if it’s running, weightlifting, rock climbing, bike riding, or whatever. People that really enjoy the stuff will eventually come to the epiphany that they want to be as good as they can at that something. I just don’t understand how someone gets to the place where they can say, “Hey you know what? I really love X but I think I’m good enough.”

I know I can be kind of a hard ass when I coach, but I do it out of care for the people that are entrusting me to guide and drive them to achieve things they thought they never could do. I want those I’m coaching to achieve what they think is unachievable at that moment, or ever. It doesn’t matter. My business is getting people stronger, faster, and healthier. I love my job. One of my biggest challenges, however, is understanding that not everyone has the same personality I do, nor do they have the same anal-rententive/OCD idiosyncrasies I have. I need to be in a certain mindset when I train. When I have a coach around me, I need that person to tell me what I am doing wrong so I can fix it immediately. I don’t necessarily need cheerleading, but I need that person to tell me what I need to do loudly. That is just how I operate. I’ve come to recognize, over time, that people need to be fed that information in different manners. And, that is just fine. But, I will still be a little firm about it.

I am also very aware that my expectations can be a little lofty for myself, which translates to lofty expectations for those I train. I just get excited by the potential I see–potential to take that important step towards a healthier life. I also get irritated when those I train don’t see that same potential. I’m trying to bring out that physiological, emotional, and psychological strength that inhabits every human being.  So, I’m sorry . . . but I’m not sorry about this.

Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve grown to see and understand the complexities of coaching. Every person is different and responds differently. I don’t mean to be a hard ass at times, but it can be a strain to try to temper this. Over the past several years I have come to accept a few things about myself as a coach: I will always strive to be more understanding and gentle if my clients respond best to that type of coaching. I will always get super excited when I see people take the initiative to better their lives. And, I will always get super excited when our members accomplish goals, lofty or not, that they set out to do. But, I will also probably be a little firm about expecting my clients to strive to be their best.  I am sorry about this . . . but only kind of.