There has been a lot of posts here lately wanting info on sports specific programs or inquiries about specific sports (i.e. triathlon training, wrestling, kids, etc).
As a strength and condtioning professional in the field, I highly recommend against 'sport specific' training for a number of reasons...
1) 'sport specific' is a misused term in our industry and should be reserved to work on skills with in the individual sport ...NOT to describe what an athlete is doing in the weight room. Doing 'sport specific' weight training will increase the rate of injury 5 fold because of overuse injuries
2) athletes today specialize in their respective sports WAY too young 98% of the time. Kids need to develop and play multiple sports in order to be a well rounded athlete
3) I am in the business of creating better athletes. As they become better 'athletes' they will be better at wrestling, soccer, hockey, badminton, ping pong, darts (ok maybe not darts) or whatever their 'sport' is.
4) I focus on movement. Movement vs muscle. The body does not know muscles, it only knows movements. Also the strongest kid is not always the best athlete. The fastest kid is not always the best athlete. However the best athlete is among the strongest, fastest, quickest...and not necessarily the 'biggest' in terms of muscle mass either.
5) looking for specific training programs for sport. Start with the opposing muscle groups. Triathletes are the WORST! I have 3 IronMan competitors and they are destroyed when it comes to imbalances. Most of them have a posterior chain limitation and are constantly in a flexed position in the torso due to swimming 99.9% freestyle, biking (sitting in the handle bars leaned over) and running...just one example.
6) most don't understand the basics (I'm talking kettlebell training here) and they are already looking for the holy grail. The basics will do most athletes best because emphasis on the posterior chain (swings / snatches) weight in front where most sports are played (front squats) flexibility (windmills and TGUs) overhead pressing (military press) which they rarely get in traditional weight training.
OK, rant over. This should induce some good food for thought.
20070422
20070328
Z Discoveries Part 3...Concious Awareness
Some of the theory supporting Z Health is the idea of Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA). SMA manifests when there is an acute injury. I will use an ankle sprain as my example. As a sprained ankle heals, the body 'protects' the ankle by blocking out some of the pain. Now the pain is not in the ankle. The pain registers in our head flashing that there is a problem at the ankle. The body and mind wants to avoid concious attention around the ankle and therefore the ankle might become a chronic hindrance or continue to be tweaked. Z allows conscious attention and therefore concious motor control back to that specific area. It can work on ALL joints and range of motion when you have the discipline to do it for a period of time.
This is big. Mainly because we have allowed machines of all types creep into our lives. We want a machine to do it for us. Exercise, corrective therapy, or computer work. Some things are best left to what you are willing to discover for yourself. How serious are you about discovering who YOU are? Are you a robot on some levels? Are you willing to change that and become consciously aware?
Let's take this a step further. Are you consciously aware throughout your day? On all levels, physically, mentally, spiritually? Are you present or do you have presence? There is a HUGE difference between being present and having presence. I know many times I have falling into the 'I'll just show up' mentality. 'Being present' is consuming space (taking). 'Having presence' is contributing space, thought and flow (giving AND receiving). "Just because you are present, doesn't mean you have presence." a quote from Tony Blauer. Work on your presence regardless of the task you are doing. A great exercise to do is focus on your breathing for 5-10 minutes. Do it in this manner:
Stand or Sit in a comfortable position
Inhale through your nose and move the breath down the front of your body slowly (about 7 seconds down to the tip of your coccyx (tailbone) and then begin to exhale as your breath travels up your spine and over your forehead.
Repeat the inhale when you have reached your nose.
Do this every day at least 5 minutes for a week. I promise you will have begun to discover a new level of you and a conscious awareness of feeling that is only the beginning. Carry this into everything that you do. Take your training, Z Health practice, job, business or whatever you do to the next level by having presence.
This is big. Mainly because we have allowed machines of all types creep into our lives. We want a machine to do it for us. Exercise, corrective therapy, or computer work. Some things are best left to what you are willing to discover for yourself. How serious are you about discovering who YOU are? Are you a robot on some levels? Are you willing to change that and become consciously aware?
Let's take this a step further. Are you consciously aware throughout your day? On all levels, physically, mentally, spiritually? Are you present or do you have presence? There is a HUGE difference between being present and having presence. I know many times I have falling into the 'I'll just show up' mentality. 'Being present' is consuming space (taking). 'Having presence' is contributing space, thought and flow (giving AND receiving). "Just because you are present, doesn't mean you have presence." a quote from Tony Blauer. Work on your presence regardless of the task you are doing. A great exercise to do is focus on your breathing for 5-10 minutes. Do it in this manner:
Stand or Sit in a comfortable position
Inhale through your nose and move the breath down the front of your body slowly (about 7 seconds down to the tip of your coccyx (tailbone) and then begin to exhale as your breath travels up your spine and over your forehead.
Repeat the inhale when you have reached your nose.
Do this every day at least 5 minutes for a week. I promise you will have begun to discover a new level of you and a conscious awareness of feeling that is only the beginning. Carry this into everything that you do. Take your training, Z Health practice, job, business or whatever you do to the next level by having presence.
20070316
Z Discoveries Part 2...The S.A.I.D Principle
Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands
This one could get deep so hang on. I studied this in college for about 10 minutes. Z brought it back into focus for about 4 days which brings me to think about it daily now.
The body (the mind, insert anything here) will adapt to whatever it is exposed to over time.
Two words where left out of this acronym per Dr. Cobb...' ALWAYS and EXACTLY ' .
The body will ALWAYS specfically adapt to EXACTLY the imposed demand. What does this mean? Sitting at a desk all day with slumped shoulders and tight hip flexors will lead to slouched standing posture with potential of low back pain in a very short period of time. This is only one example. Another example would be performing a posturely correct push-up. Most of the time people cannot do one correct push-up without severe anterior neck carriage and thoracic/lumbar sagging. We are about to change that. We do what we practice. We are what we practice. What are you practicing for?...sustained health, big biceps for the girls, seeing how many 1/8 squats you can do with 500 lbs? What EXACTLY are you training for and WHY?
The SAID principle has stood the test of time, yet most of us including myself have gave any attention to it beyond our sophomore Exer. Phys. class.
Let's take this a step further. Motor Learning is also enhanced and/or hindered by Cognitive Learning. This means that if you are telling yourself you can't do a proper push-up, you're right...you can't. ONLY when you begin to tell yourself that you will do one is when your body will start to adapt in order to do one. This is called 'chunking' where motor and cognitive are linked together for every task that we do in life. Here are 2 examples outside the training world.
1) picture your favorite food right now. the taste. the smell. Did you relax? thought so.
2) now picture cleaning the house. dusting. vaccuming. mopping. Did you tense? I did because I detest cleaning the house and it is why I hire a housekeeper.
Now both of those cognitive thoughts immediately had an effect on the physiology of your body. They are 'chunked' together.
Through my Z practice, my posture has improved, my jaw is continuing to move back in alignment, my L shoulder pain is gone with much increased ROM, my hip flexors feel great, my R low back is pain free, my L ankle/foot is 'unlocked' and overall I have decreased the amount of tension throughout my body dramatically. This is through religious Z practice at least 4x/week.
The SAID Principle applied to your Z practice and then on into your weight training/sport activity/daily activity will change the way you look, the way you feel, and the way you do everything.
Think about it. Get to a Z trainer. If you've already been to one, get to that person again and make sure they understand what they are training you to do.
This one could get deep so hang on. I studied this in college for about 10 minutes. Z brought it back into focus for about 4 days which brings me to think about it daily now.
The body (the mind, insert anything here) will adapt to whatever it is exposed to over time.
Two words where left out of this acronym per Dr. Cobb...' ALWAYS and EXACTLY ' .
The body will ALWAYS specfically adapt to EXACTLY the imposed demand. What does this mean? Sitting at a desk all day with slumped shoulders and tight hip flexors will lead to slouched standing posture with potential of low back pain in a very short period of time. This is only one example. Another example would be performing a posturely correct push-up. Most of the time people cannot do one correct push-up without severe anterior neck carriage and thoracic/lumbar sagging. We are about to change that. We do what we practice. We are what we practice. What are you practicing for?...sustained health, big biceps for the girls, seeing how many 1/8 squats you can do with 500 lbs? What EXACTLY are you training for and WHY?
The SAID principle has stood the test of time, yet most of us including myself have gave any attention to it beyond our sophomore Exer. Phys. class.
Let's take this a step further. Motor Learning is also enhanced and/or hindered by Cognitive Learning. This means that if you are telling yourself you can't do a proper push-up, you're right...you can't. ONLY when you begin to tell yourself that you will do one is when your body will start to adapt in order to do one. This is called 'chunking' where motor and cognitive are linked together for every task that we do in life. Here are 2 examples outside the training world.
1) picture your favorite food right now. the taste. the smell. Did you relax? thought so.
2) now picture cleaning the house. dusting. vaccuming. mopping. Did you tense? I did because I detest cleaning the house and it is why I hire a housekeeper.
Now both of those cognitive thoughts immediately had an effect on the physiology of your body. They are 'chunked' together.
Through my Z practice, my posture has improved, my jaw is continuing to move back in alignment, my L shoulder pain is gone with much increased ROM, my hip flexors feel great, my R low back is pain free, my L ankle/foot is 'unlocked' and overall I have decreased the amount of tension throughout my body dramatically. This is through religious Z practice at least 4x/week.
The SAID Principle applied to your Z practice and then on into your weight training/sport activity/daily activity will change the way you look, the way you feel, and the way you do everything.
Think about it. Get to a Z trainer. If you've already been to one, get to that person again and make sure they understand what they are training you to do.
20070315
Z Health Discoveries Part 1 of ?
Let's talk about 'Z'. Many of you have heard of it. Few of you have experienced it. Some of you don't know what I'm talking about. Bear with me through the next few months as I wade through all of the information that has been presented to me as I attempt restructure my thoughts on paper so not only I can understand them but you can as well. This is more for me than for you, but hopefully you will benefit tremendously along the way. There is WAY more to Z than I will be able to translate to you via blog so keep that in mind as I plug along in explanations.
Here goes... with the disclaimer that this is from 'MY experience' not from someone kinda sorta telling me a few things...therefore you may experience different results.
I first attending Level I Z R-phase in April and July of 2006. I became very good very quickly at all of the drills that were presented to me at that time and I saw dramatic improvement in both my martial arts training as well as strength and conditioning levels.
2 weeks ago I attended Level II I-phase which was Level 1 times 20. The reason for this will be explained in numerous follow-up bloggings.
Z's main principle is immediately impacting the central nervous system to see some type of immediate change in the body...could be either good or bad. Put it this way, it's like having a conversation with your body and your body is giving you the answer in a number of ways.
R-phase stands for: Rehabilition (of past injuries), Restoration (of nervous system functioning and sending proper signals, Re-education (of conscious control over all motor patterns). R-phase happens in a neutral stance so the body feels 'safe.'
I-phase stands for Integration. I-phase significantly creates infinite possibilities of motor patterns throughout the body, therefore dramatically increasing coordination, agility, control, strength...basically everything that has to do with movement.
I-phase allowed me to 'get it' when it came to R phase. This is the easiest way to explain it in a nutshell:
'Z' is the language of 'movement' (ANY and ALL movement)
R-phase provides the letters or 'alphabet' of drills inherent in movement skills (we are all born with these motor patterns 'hardwired') Now remember there are only 26 letters in the English language. I-phase provides the 'words' of movement. There are 100,000+ words in the English dictionary...more depending on which dictionary you are following. From those 100,00 words we have millions and millions of books that have been created from 100,000 words and ONLY 26 letters. Bottom-line is the COMBINATION that creates the matrix of the infinite.
Let's recap:
26 letters (Level I Z R-phase)
100,000 words (Level II I-phase)
Millions of books created from infinite combinations
So the question becomes how FLUENT are you in 'MOVEMENT LANGUAGE and VOCABULARY'? How good is your PRONUNCIATION?
Life and learning is all about repetition...we are creatures of habit. I will discuss this more in the next post regarding the SAID principle.
500-600 words = 'survival' vocabulary
10,000+ words = you are fluent in the language
That leaves 90,000 words UNEXPLORED.
let's translate this to learning a skill:
100-300 reps = to learn the concept
1000 reps = for the skill to become useful (to better understand the skill)
100,000-300,000 reps = mastery
Now some of you are saying..."100,000 REPS??? I don't have the time!" Let me share some ideas of things you do every day where this concept is hardwired into you:
1 walking (how many steps have you taken in your life?)
2 eating (are they good reps or bad reps...think about it.)
3 brushing your teeth
4 flossing
5 going to the bathroom (Ok, this one is for my humor and a great picture for you ;)
6 turning on a light switch (do you have to have your eyes open to do this?)
7 POSTURE (how is it sitting at your desk all day?)
Bottom line: you do what you practice. You ARE what you practice.
Z is a shortcut to doing all of those reps as long as your Z reps are done WELL. 1 bad rep takes about 3-5 good ones to undo the bad one. Notice I used the word 'shortcut' and not the words 'cure-all'. Very important because some trainers believe Z is a miracle pill. At times it is. At other times there are some layers to be peeled.
Z is on the cutting edge of the expanding the concept of interaction between brain/motor learning/cognitive learning components.
In summary:
R-phase Level I is a small TOOL BOX that you would buy at Home Depot. 75-80% of you and your clients will be 'fixed' by R-phase.
I-phase Level II is the 100 foot x 100 foot TOOL SHED that contains every conceivable tool you would ever want. 19-24% of you and your clients will need this Level II training to be 'fixed.'
The last 1% may need some other help in order to be 'fixed.'
This is only the beginning...
Here goes... with the disclaimer that this is from 'MY experience' not from someone kinda sorta telling me a few things...therefore you may experience different results.
I first attending Level I Z R-phase in April and July of 2006. I became very good very quickly at all of the drills that were presented to me at that time and I saw dramatic improvement in both my martial arts training as well as strength and conditioning levels.
2 weeks ago I attended Level II I-phase which was Level 1 times 20. The reason for this will be explained in numerous follow-up bloggings.
Z's main principle is immediately impacting the central nervous system to see some type of immediate change in the body...could be either good or bad. Put it this way, it's like having a conversation with your body and your body is giving you the answer in a number of ways.
R-phase stands for: Rehabilition (of past injuries), Restoration (of nervous system functioning and sending proper signals, Re-education (of conscious control over all motor patterns). R-phase happens in a neutral stance so the body feels 'safe.'
I-phase stands for Integration. I-phase significantly creates infinite possibilities of motor patterns throughout the body, therefore dramatically increasing coordination, agility, control, strength...basically everything that has to do with movement.
I-phase allowed me to 'get it' when it came to R phase. This is the easiest way to explain it in a nutshell:
'Z' is the language of 'movement' (ANY and ALL movement)
R-phase provides the letters or 'alphabet' of drills inherent in movement skills (we are all born with these motor patterns 'hardwired') Now remember there are only 26 letters in the English language. I-phase provides the 'words' of movement. There are 100,000+ words in the English dictionary...more depending on which dictionary you are following. From those 100,00 words we have millions and millions of books that have been created from 100,000 words and ONLY 26 letters. Bottom-line is the COMBINATION that creates the matrix of the infinite.
Let's recap:
26 letters (Level I Z R-phase)
100,000 words (Level II I-phase)
Millions of books created from infinite combinations
So the question becomes how FLUENT are you in 'MOVEMENT LANGUAGE and VOCABULARY'? How good is your PRONUNCIATION?
Life and learning is all about repetition...we are creatures of habit. I will discuss this more in the next post regarding the SAID principle.
500-600 words = 'survival' vocabulary
10,000+ words = you are fluent in the language
That leaves 90,000 words UNEXPLORED.
let's translate this to learning a skill:
100-300 reps = to learn the concept
1000 reps = for the skill to become useful (to better understand the skill)
100,000-300,000 reps = mastery
Now some of you are saying..."100,000 REPS??? I don't have the time!" Let me share some ideas of things you do every day where this concept is hardwired into you:
1 walking (how many steps have you taken in your life?)
2 eating (are they good reps or bad reps...think about it.)
3 brushing your teeth
4 flossing
5 going to the bathroom (Ok, this one is for my humor and a great picture for you ;)
6 turning on a light switch (do you have to have your eyes open to do this?)
7 POSTURE (how is it sitting at your desk all day?)
Bottom line: you do what you practice. You ARE what you practice.
Z is a shortcut to doing all of those reps as long as your Z reps are done WELL. 1 bad rep takes about 3-5 good ones to undo the bad one. Notice I used the word 'shortcut' and not the words 'cure-all'. Very important because some trainers believe Z is a miracle pill. At times it is. At other times there are some layers to be peeled.
Z is on the cutting edge of the expanding the concept of interaction between brain/motor learning/cognitive learning components.
In summary:
R-phase Level I is a small TOOL BOX that you would buy at Home Depot. 75-80% of you and your clients will be 'fixed' by R-phase.
I-phase Level II is the 100 foot x 100 foot TOOL SHED that contains every conceivable tool you would ever want. 19-24% of you and your clients will need this Level II training to be 'fixed.'
The last 1% may need some other help in order to be 'fixed.'
This is only the beginning...
20070313
I'm back
After a 3 month blogging hiatus (ironic that I am writing this right after my last blog '3 levels of quitting') I am ready to coherently structure my thoughts on numerous topics taking place in the last 3 months.
For those of you that are following I have:
1 a major website overhaul at www.keperformance.com
2 a brand new personal training studio open in Woodbury MN
3 kettlebell classes already going on daily. Check my website for details.
The topics you can look forward to are:
1) Z Health ...just returned from Level II and registered for Level III in June (if you are remotely serious about your training and coaching email me at brad@keperformance.com to discuss this further)
2) motor learning (the way I wish I would have learned it in college)
3) anatomy (same as above)
4) the S.A.I.D principle revisited
5) motivation: self and helping others
6) yin/yang
7) amp your nervous system
8) Perfect Rep Principle
9) Efficiency
and of course numerous philosophies from the neurons in my never-ending sequence of thought possibilites.
Feel free to email me questions and or comments.
For those of you that are following I have:
1 a major website overhaul at www.keperformance.com
2 a brand new personal training studio open in Woodbury MN
3 kettlebell classes already going on daily. Check my website for details.
The topics you can look forward to are:
1) Z Health ...just returned from Level II and registered for Level III in June (if you are remotely serious about your training and coaching email me at brad@keperformance.com to discuss this further)
2) motor learning (the way I wish I would have learned it in college)
3) anatomy (same as above)
4) the S.A.I.D principle revisited
5) motivation: self and helping others
6) yin/yang
7) amp your nervous system
8) Perfect Rep Principle
9) Efficiency
and of course numerous philosophies from the neurons in my never-ending sequence of thought possibilites.
Feel free to email me questions and or comments.
20061218
3 Levels of Quitting
I heard this some time ago and want to revisit the concept.
There are 3 levels of quitting:
1 The first time you quit something it is hard...really hard.
Most people don't like to be known as quitters. It takes a lot to walk away from something that you started or at least that is how it should be. Interesting that when I was in 1st grade I quit youth wrestling cuz I got my face wiped all over the mat. Today I train a lot of ground in martial arts and train some of the top wrestlers in the state of Minnesota and also write for one of the top NCAA wrestling coaches in the game today. Coincidence? Doubt it. It's back to haunt me and force me to deal with some childhood memories. Amazing that some seemingly small circumstance can subconsciously control us when we are adults if we do not put it in the proper frame of reference.
2 The second time you quit...it gets a little easier.
Each successive time you choose to quit softens you and your tenacity. Don't give up. You will conquer your fears only if you see it through. Thousands to possibly millions of people are setting their 'New Year's Resolutions' as we speak saying 'I'm a gonna do this and I'm a gonna do that starting the 1st of the year." I challenge you to NOT be one of them who forgets what the resolution is by the end of the second week of '07 including all forms of dieting and exercise. It's best to enlist some accountability from a friend or hire a trainer or business coach. Amazing how accountable we become when we put money on the table.
3 The third time you quit...that's what you are. A quitter.
The more you quit the easier it becomes and then a host of habits creep into your life that you may not even be able to recognize since you are 'in' it constantly. A difficult habit to form is persistence especially if you don't have experience in sports. Not that sports are the end all. However, sports do teach persistence. There is always an individual or a team that is better and gunning for the top. Somewhere someone is practicing and when you meet him in head to head competition, he'll beat you. When you think about quitting, you might be one training session away, one deal away, one person away from the mother lode. Stick to it and see your goals through.
We've all quit something in our life. Maybe it was OK because your plate was too full. In that case, you were probably in the right. Make a habit of sticking it out. You never know what will turn up on the other side. You might just chalk one up to: learning experience :)
There are 3 levels of quitting:
1 The first time you quit something it is hard...really hard.
Most people don't like to be known as quitters. It takes a lot to walk away from something that you started or at least that is how it should be. Interesting that when I was in 1st grade I quit youth wrestling cuz I got my face wiped all over the mat. Today I train a lot of ground in martial arts and train some of the top wrestlers in the state of Minnesota and also write for one of the top NCAA wrestling coaches in the game today. Coincidence? Doubt it. It's back to haunt me and force me to deal with some childhood memories. Amazing that some seemingly small circumstance can subconsciously control us when we are adults if we do not put it in the proper frame of reference.
2 The second time you quit...it gets a little easier.
Each successive time you choose to quit softens you and your tenacity. Don't give up. You will conquer your fears only if you see it through. Thousands to possibly millions of people are setting their 'New Year's Resolutions' as we speak saying 'I'm a gonna do this and I'm a gonna do that starting the 1st of the year." I challenge you to NOT be one of them who forgets what the resolution is by the end of the second week of '07 including all forms of dieting and exercise. It's best to enlist some accountability from a friend or hire a trainer or business coach. Amazing how accountable we become when we put money on the table.
3 The third time you quit...that's what you are. A quitter.
The more you quit the easier it becomes and then a host of habits creep into your life that you may not even be able to recognize since you are 'in' it constantly. A difficult habit to form is persistence especially if you don't have experience in sports. Not that sports are the end all. However, sports do teach persistence. There is always an individual or a team that is better and gunning for the top. Somewhere someone is practicing and when you meet him in head to head competition, he'll beat you. When you think about quitting, you might be one training session away, one deal away, one person away from the mother lode. Stick to it and see your goals through.
We've all quit something in our life. Maybe it was OK because your plate was too full. In that case, you were probably in the right. Make a habit of sticking it out. You never know what will turn up on the other side. You might just chalk one up to: learning experience :)
20061207
I PERSIST Without Exception
Continuing the Andy Andrews series...
Principle #7
I PERSIST WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
I must find a way where there is no way. This might be the most lacking topic in American culture today. I hear excuses all the time why someone can't do something. I 'cannot' do that really means I 'will not' do that. And I will do or not do whatever I tell myself. Amazing how we get in situations that we don't necessarily like...WE manifested them into place!!
An example that is on my mind...
We have become very lazy due to technology...so much to the point that I see 10 and 12 year-olds who are 20lbs overweight riding motorized scooters to the store 3 blocks from his/her house!! What happened to bikes? What happened to running/jumping/playing? Or how about this? Go to any ball field...football, baseball, soccer, whatever and tell me if you see any kids 'playing' and creating their own rules and games without the structure of organized team sports. My college strength coach called me the other day to tell me that he was sitting on the side of the road by a park where kids were playing pick-up football. Why is that special? BECAUSE YOU RARELY SEE IT!
That is the true sadness in our society. We witness feats (be it sport, job, skill) on an AWE-some level that really should be the norm. However, we have come to expect so little out of ourselves, that all of these so-called feats should not be a spectacle to us. That goes back to having 'participation' ribbons in sports of the 5-7 year old generation because it's a feel good give me a cookie because I showed up event. WRONG! Last time I checked life didn't hand out high school diplomas or college degrees just because you lived on campus? How about just because I show up for a job interview, I just get the job? What are we teaching our youth? What are we 'allowing' to happen in our society as a whole?
That got a little off topic but helping kids and the sad state of fitness in schools is one of my pet peeves and my goal is to change they way my local and state community views physical fitness. It boils down to this: OWN responsibility for yourself and no one else. Most people don't have to persist over anything because they don't hold themself to standard to go after anything bigger than themselves. Stand up for what you believe in. Dare something worthy! A great motto to start with heading into 2007. Go after a specific target that you want and PERSIST WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
Principle #7
I PERSIST WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
I must find a way where there is no way. This might be the most lacking topic in American culture today. I hear excuses all the time why someone can't do something. I 'cannot' do that really means I 'will not' do that. And I will do or not do whatever I tell myself. Amazing how we get in situations that we don't necessarily like...WE manifested them into place!!
An example that is on my mind...
We have become very lazy due to technology...so much to the point that I see 10 and 12 year-olds who are 20lbs overweight riding motorized scooters to the store 3 blocks from his/her house!! What happened to bikes? What happened to running/jumping/playing? Or how about this? Go to any ball field...football, baseball, soccer, whatever and tell me if you see any kids 'playing' and creating their own rules and games without the structure of organized team sports. My college strength coach called me the other day to tell me that he was sitting on the side of the road by a park where kids were playing pick-up football. Why is that special? BECAUSE YOU RARELY SEE IT!
That is the true sadness in our society. We witness feats (be it sport, job, skill) on an AWE-some level that really should be the norm. However, we have come to expect so little out of ourselves, that all of these so-called feats should not be a spectacle to us. That goes back to having 'participation' ribbons in sports of the 5-7 year old generation because it's a feel good give me a cookie because I showed up event. WRONG! Last time I checked life didn't hand out high school diplomas or college degrees just because you lived on campus? How about just because I show up for a job interview, I just get the job? What are we teaching our youth? What are we 'allowing' to happen in our society as a whole?
That got a little off topic but helping kids and the sad state of fitness in schools is one of my pet peeves and my goal is to change they way my local and state community views physical fitness. It boils down to this: OWN responsibility for yourself and no one else. Most people don't have to persist over anything because they don't hold themself to standard to go after anything bigger than themselves. Stand up for what you believe in. Dare something worthy! A great motto to start with heading into 2007. Go after a specific target that you want and PERSIST WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
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