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On Monday there was a post about commitment. People posted replies and it was clear that it is something that is on people's minds. It's been a couple days, and I'm going to ask you something you may not like -- have you done anything? Did you file it away as an insight for later use? Did you commit to something? If you did nothing, I have to ask -- do you expect things to be different?
I'll be the one to break it to you -- insight without action is of no use. Insight without action is insight. That is all; it's a feel-good moment. That feeling you get with insight is a door opening. Sometimes that door stays open for a day, sometimes an hour, sometimes 30 seconds. Your job when it opens is to CHARGE THROUGH IT. Take an action. Whichever one matters right now! Don't expect it to be open the next time you look. You will find over time that ACTION takes less energy than NO ACTION, when action is called for. Fighting taking action is enormously draining -- it feels like trying to contain an explosion after it has gone off.
Take a look at this video about commitment and tell me what you think. I will warn you up front -- it is inspiring and confronting. It is beautiful and it may make some of you mad. It will ask you, "how bad do you want it?"
How Bad Do You Want It from Greyskale Multimedia on Vimeo.
Today's Workout
10 Rounds for time of:
3 power cleans (185/125)
6 lateral burpees over bar
Believe me when I tell you, "You can do it."
In that moment when you don't just think, but know you cannot, choose instead to believe me when I tell you, you can.
I would never lie to you. I would never set you up for failure. Your success is why I do this. It is what makes the day worthwhile. I don't go home and think, I am so great at what I do. I go home and think, you are so great at being you.
Inhale and listen to me. Relax your grip on the barbell for a moment and hear my words. I know your upset is not what it appears to be. You are not mad at the weights. You are not mad at me. You are mad at yourself for whatever inadequacy you have inaccurately labeled yourself with today. I know you want this and the only thing in the way is you.
Listen to me, and as you deeply inhale take my words with the air. Let them inside you. Let them be you.
You can do it.
Today's Workout
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
10 Push Ups
10 Anchored Sit Ups
10 Squats
10 Pull Ups
What exactly is THAT supposed to mean? You mean this thing we do that makes us nauseous during a workout, collapse in a pile of sweat with bloody hands at the end, and take hours to recover afterward; is supposed to be 'fun'? For people like Zach, that probably IS the fun part, but for me, the fun is in seeing just what I'm capable of doing and achieving over time. This includes a whole host of things... strength, balance, coordination, endurance, time for a workout, handstand holding, picking heavy things up off the floor. I have 'fun' figuring out just what I'm capable of... and it's especially fun when I figure out how to do something new for the first time or achieve a personal record (pr).
But the fun is different for everyone. What's it for you?
Is that really Sean & Greg? Nah... Well whomever you are, congratulations to our 2011 Hoverball Tournament Champions! (Sean, Mina, Danette, Greg & Frankie)
Today's Workout
Rowing Intervals
10 Rounds, each for meters
1:00 work / 2:00 rest
How solid are your commitments? Do you keep them no matter what? And what if you miss a commitment... was it really a commitment to begin with, or just an intention? Have you thought about the difference?
Intention - to have in mind as something to be done or brought about
commitment - an obligation, promise, etc that restricts one's freedom of action; a pledge or promise; obligation
Do you see what's missing from intention that makes it different from a commitment? As long as it's still in your mind, as with intention, there's no skin in the game; still a chance to change course, alter plans, not show up, change your mind. A commitment? Check the definition - it necessarily contains a restriction in one's freedom of action - when you're committed to something it means something else can NOT happen. Period. End of story.
Think about things coming up in your schedule this week - are you committed? Meetings, phone calls, your workout, a flight across country, foods in your diet. Which ones are actually commitments and which are merely intentions? It will be easy to tell at week's end... the commitments actually happened... the intentions might have, but then again, might not. Think about this and it's impact - which events do others in your life think are your commitments when you know they are just intentions? Share in comments.
A Hooverball Morning - CFLA style!
Today's Workout
Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3
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Complete as many rounds as possible in 8 minutes of:
:20 hollow hold
7 Deadhang Pull-ups
50 Double Unders
Fight Gone Bad 6 is coming up in a few weeks. The words below were written by one of my best friends and the event's heart and soul... Scott Zagarino. It's long, but well worth the time to read. Please join us!
- Andy
Marble
by Scott Zagarino
Marble starts out as a chunk of stone rooted in the ground that resists removal from its station mightily. It takes brute force to uproot it from its place. Then as an ugly, stubborn chunk it has to be moved by heavy equipment to a place to be cut, shaped and polished until what was once an ugly piece of the earth becomes a beautiful, hard surface brought into service as a floor or a kitchen counter.
There is one more purpose it serves that rises far above the mundane household uses. What was once of the earth becomes of the spirit when it marks a life no longer lived. Most times it marks the cradle to grave passing of a person of the everyday accomplishment of a father, son, brother, sister or friend.
But occasionally there is a rock dug from the earth meant to mark an extraordinary and heroic life. Not long ago I stood before just that special piece of marble on a small piece of ground off the beaten path at the Special Operations Warrior memorial wall in Florida. As I walked from the parking lot and caught my first glance of the yards of cool black marble inscribed to honor and memorialize men and women who had given the most precious thing given to all of us, their lives, I began to feel. It was a feeling of appreciation that any words I write here could not begin to describe.
The black, veined rock had come to a confluence of rest with the souls of people who walk among us but not with us. There was one name I searched for because I knew at least a part of the story that caused the marble slab to bear his name. After walking around the memorial feeling more and more a mixture of sadness, appreciation and a kind of awe took over that I may have felt sometime before, but couldn't remember when.
Then as if I had always been meant to stand in that place, I found myself standing in front of a small, square piece of black marble with the carefully carved inscription, "Lt Michael P Murphy." I disappeared into a sobbing, shattered shadow of the person I had been when I'd woken in my hotel that morning. What was left of Lt Murphy was not a piece of rock, it was a reminder of the heights each of us are capable of rising to from one singular motivation. A motivation I, and most of us, rarely recognize, acknowledge or ever have the chance to act on. A motivation that is the very quality we each squander daily as we race through our lives of never enough. A motivation that makes everything else in the world pale and disappear into the background. The motivation wrought by our total and complete love for our brothers and sisters.
For Michael Murphy, that meant making the choice to stand up, as bullets flew through and by him, pick up a satellite phone and make a phone call that I am sure he knew would be the last act of this life. That phone call was a plea for anyone on the other end to please come to the rescue of his brothers who were being torn apart by enemy fire that there was no escape from. And then Lt Michael Murphy was gone.
But I met Michael Murphy. I met him on a wall sitting in a patch of grass in a small field in Florida. I met him, because that piece of marble that had been so stubborn and rugged would forever stand in that place to remind me, and anyone who stands before it, we all have a chance to rise. We all have a chance to give and serve something precious to us to someone and something bigger than ourselves.
Before I left that place, I rubbed my hand across that cold, dark slab and made a vow to Lt Murphy. Writing this now it may sound insignificant given what he'd given me, but I promised him that as long as there was a Fight Gone Bad I would do everything I could to make sure he was not forgotten, and that as many people as I could reach would not forget him either. At least for seventeen minutes once a year.
On September 17th, every one of us has a chance to rise above ourselves, throw some money in the hat for the people we can help, and say thank you to Lt. Michael Murphy for reminding us who we can be. He gave us the chance to be heroic in our own way.
Let us not, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "....be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Lt. Murphy will never stand or lie in that place.
I hope you'll join our CFLA team this year - standing together WITH us on September 17th. Fight Gone Bad 6
www.fgb6.org
Today's Workout
“Dirty Fight Gone Bad”
- by Chris Devlin
Complete 6 rounds for max reps of:
30 sec Wall Ball (20/14)
30 sec Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75/55)
30 sec Box Jump
30 sec Push Press (75/55)
30 sec Row
- take 30 seconds rest between rounds
"Pleasure was the ego seeking instant gratification. Pleasure was the second piece of chocolate cake. Happiness, on the other hand, was walking down the lane 2 pounds lighter and feeling more energy because of the new program of exercise and healthy food. That was happiness. Pleasure was the extra cake being chewed up in the mouth. That was pleasure. Happiness was often the feeling of being lighter and more in control of your life force...Pleasure did not last. And pleasure was worse than that. Not only did pleasure not last, it did something even more upsetting. It turned itself around. It turned itself inside out...Because what was happening now? I am only an hour past the eating of the cake, and I am feeling a little sick! A little bloated! Where's the pleasure? It was the best devil's food cake ever! Why can't I still enjoy it? What kind of cruel joke does pleasure play on me?"
- Steve Chandler, "The Story of You"
Do you see yourself in this?
Happiness?
Today's Workout
2 Snatches every minute, on the minute, for 15 minutes
use 70% of your 1 rep max as a gauge
-- rest --
As many rounds as possible in 8 minutes of
6 Crab-Spider-Crabs
8 Push Ups
6 Jumping Lunges (2-count)
