Category Archives: Fitness

Welcome To The Grind | “Rise and Shine”

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Whether the test is physical in nature or not, we all can relate to The Grind. I stumbled upon this last night (not really sure where it came from). While it is targeted for the athlete in all of us, I find it’s motivation applicable to just about anything that requires strife, challenge or sacrifice… anything that life can throw at you (voluntary and by chance). 

The next time life is trying to beat you down, testing you’re mettle… be sure to refer to this. I know I will. 

…

You’re welcome.

Via Welcome To The Grind (Motivation) – YouTube

“Rise and shine.”

6am and your hand can’t make it to the alarm clock before the voices in your head start telling you that it’s too early, too dark, and too cold to get out of a bed.
Aching muscles lie still in rebellion, pretending not to hear your brain commanding them to move
A legion of voices are shouting their unanimous permission for you to hit the snooze button and go back to dreamland, but you didn’t ask their opinion.

The voice you’ve chosen to listen to is one of defiance.
A voice that’s says there was a reason you set that alarm in the first place. So sit up, put your feet on the floor, and don’t look back because we’ve got work to do.
Welcome to The Grind!
For what is each day but a series of conflicts between the right way and the easy way,
10,000 streams fan out like a river delta before you, Each one promising the path of least resistance.
Thing is, you’re headed upstream
And when you make that choice, when you decide to turn your back on what’s comfortable and what’s safe and what some would call “common sense”, well that’s day 1.
From there it only gets tougher.
So just make sure this is something you want.
Because the easy way out will always be there, ready to wash you away, all you have to do is pick up your feet.
But you aren’t going to are you?
With each step comes the decision to take another
You’re on your way now
But this is no time to dwell on how far you’ve come.
You’re in a fight against an opponent you can’t see
Oh but you can feel him on your heels can’t you?
Feel him breathing down your neck
You know what that is?
That’s you…
Your fears, your doubts and insecurities all lined up like a firing squad ready to shoot you out of the sky
But don’t lose heart
While they aren’t easily defeated, they are far from invincible
Remember this is The Grind
The Battle Royale between you and your mind, your body and the devil on your shoulder who’s telling you that this is just a game, this is just a waste of time, your opponents are stronger than you.
Drown out the voice of uncertainty with the sound of your own heartbeat
Burn away your self doubt with the fire that’s beneath you
Remember what you’re fighting for
And never forget that momentum is a cruel mistress
She can turn on a dime with the smallest mistake.
She is ever searching for that weak place in your armor
That one tiny thing you forgot to prepare for
So as long as the devil is hiding the details, the question remains,”is that all you got?”, “are you sure?”
And when the answer is “yes”. That you’ve done all you can to prepare yourself for battle THEN it’s time to go forth and boldly face your enemy, the enemy within
Only now you must take that fight into the open, into hostile territory
You’re a lion in a field of lions
All hunting the same elusive prey with a desperate starvation that says VICTORY is the only thing that can keep you alive
So believe that voice that says “you CAN run a little faster” and that “you CAN throw a little harder” and that “you CAN dive a little deeper” and that, for you, the laws of physics are merely a suggestion.

Luck is the last dying wish of those who wanna believe that winning can happen by accident, sweat on the other hand is for those who know it’s a choice, so decide now because destiny waits for no man. And when your time comes and a thousand different voices are trying to tell you you’re not ready for it, listen instead for that lone voice in decent the one that says you are ready, you are prepared, it’s all up to you now,

Big Brother Internet is watching you…

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I recently purchased a new pair of Inov-8 shoes (that I love by the way). So I took to the internet to search for another pair, or something similar, but at a discounted price. I hopped through a couple different websites, including Zappos (which I love) looking for any good deals. 

Now almost every web page I visit that has advertisements shows me these:

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You think Big Brother could slow his roll? Just a bit?

What I think of on my Birthday today…

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These are the things I think of every year on my birthday (not just turning 40)…

Ides of March

In modern times, the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were involved. According to Plutarch,[14] a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, “The ides of March have come,” meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.”[14] This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March.”[15][16] The Roman biographer Suetonius[17] identifies the “seer” as a haruspex named Spurinna.

On the anniversary of Caesar’s death in 40 BC, after achieving a victory at the siege of Perugia, Octavian (later known as Augustus) executed 300 senators and knights who had fought against him under Lucius Antonius, the brother of Mark Antony.[18] The executions were one of a series of actions taken by Octavian as Caesar’s adopted heir to avenge his death. Suetonius[19] and the historian Cassius Dio[20] characterise the slaughter as like a religious sacrifice, noting that it occurred on the Ides of March at the new altar to the deified Julius.

Yeah… hopefully no one will stab me in the back (literally or figuratively)

And since I was an 80’s wild child, of course I think of this…

You gotta love Anthony Michael Hall’s Farmer Ted character

We’re heading out this evening to catch a stand-up act by a well known comedian. My wife claims she booked the event so that I would laugh on my 40th birthday, not cry.

…

Thanks babe. ;)

I’m Tossing My Hat In the Ring: CrossFit Games Open 2013

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CrossFit Games | The Fittest on Earth

After almost two years of ‘trying’ CrossFit, I finally made the plunge. I registered for the CrossFit Games 2013 Open today.

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I’m excited, but I’m very realistic.

Do I plan on winning the games? Probably not.

Do I plan on giving it all I got. Yep.

The irony of this CrossFit environment is that I’m ‘competing’ with individuals whose full-time job is just to simply train. They don’t have a day job. They’re ‘job’ is to workout. And then about ⅛ of the competitors or maybe even ¼ of the competitors are CrossFit box owners. So they’re full-time job is to train other’s. They spend their entire day doing CrossFit.

And then there’s me. I am the average 40 year old joe, who might do CrossFit 2-4 times a week. I don’t have a coach. I don’t even workout in a traditional Crossfit ‘box’. I workout independently on my own at my local ‘globo-gym’. Follow my own programming, and truly live the theme of ‘random’. Yet, I’m paying the registration fee to ‘compete’. To be a part of apparently over 100,00 registrants and counting.

Why am I doing this?

For the love of the game. It’s that simple. To have another whack at being a competitor. To see what kind of mettle I have. To compare. To train. To improve. To test my limits. Physical fortitude is forged through mental toughness. What better way to improve my mental toughness than to test my physical limits?? Who doesn’t’ need to improve their mind? Or their body?

Even though I’m a 40 year old blue-collared citizen with a 40+ hour a week job, school, family and social responsibilities, for the next 5 weeks… I can be called a competitor. I can be called an athlete. Regardless of the outcome, I get to participate and then watch other athletes perform in a ‘game’ that I’m a part of. That is the draw of CrossFit, to watch these amazing athletes perform skills that I myself have tried, and for the most part can perform. I can empathize with these athletes on a level that is not understood with other sports. When I see the ‘elite’ performing, struggling and showing their mettle, I can truly understand what they are going through, and what they’ve gone through to get where they are.

I mean, how cool is that?

That is, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Care to join me?

Not everything is as seem..

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Via Karate Kid – YouTube

I was talking with my wife the other day about how some of life’s most important lessons that have ‘stayed’ with us the most are the lessons that were ‘taught’ to us without us even knowing we  were being taught. While I don’t think the character Mr. Miyagi is some secret life-altering guru of any sorts, his character in the 1984 “The Karate Kid” was probably one of the first instances that I can remember from my childhood where “Not everything is what is seems”.

That look on Daniel-san’s face in the above movie clip… yeah we’ve all had that moment at least once in our lives. And I’ll bet you remember the moment in vivid detail.

(sigh)

They just don’t make them like they used to huh?

Hope you enjoyed the video, I know I did.

 

Pinterest sometimes reads my mind

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I saw this Pin on Pinterest this morning. Oddly enough my body is SOOOOORE, from my workouts the past two days.

So I must be sexy huh? 

It’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Your online reputation

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When is the last time you ‘Googled’ yourself? (Go ahead, I’ll wait…)

Did you like what you saw? Do you ‘approve’ of the results? Do the results give a good ‘representation’ of you? Are you a health care professional? Guess what, the patient’s you care for.. are ‘Googling’ you. The above video’s target audience is of course physicians, but it can be applicable to anyone who is in the health care industry. 

Be sure to pay attention to the following concepts in the above video:

“elevator test”

“dual citizenship”

If you think that your online presence has no bearing on your professional career in this day and age, you may want to rethink your career choices, ESPECIALLY in the field of health care. As a registered nurse who will be filling the shoes of an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, I’m becoming more proactive about what all-things ‘on-line’ say about me.

Care to join me?

 

Hat tip to Dr. Mike Sevilla for sharing his podcast about this topic: KevinMD On FamMedRocks Podcast

 

 

Via Online reputation for physicians: A social media guide – YouTube

A Dose of Inspiration = Our Time to Change

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Via Our Time to Change • My wife was cleaning out a desk the other day and…

I’ve been blessed. I have been lucky enough to cross paths with some pretty amazing and inspiring people through my social media avenues. While Twitter, Facebook and now Google+ afford me some pretty awesome internet acquaintances, Tumblr is always left out of the equation.

Through Tumblr I’ve met some pretty amazing people. People with the type of inspiring stories that make my plight to a more healthier me seem trivial compared to the mountains they have had to climb. Take for instance Jason in the picture up above. Just over 2 years ago he and his wife made a promise as a couple to better their health (which is awesome that he can do this with his wife).

2 years later after a lot of blood sweat and tears, you can see he’s made QUITE a change. In fact the name of his Tumblr blog says it all “Our Time To Change”. He went from having some overweight challenges to deadlifting over 350 lbs???!!!

How awesome is that? (Not to mention he’s also a crazy CrossFit loving fool)

I can bear witness to his journey because he shares many of the steps he has taken to get to his goal on his Tumblr blog. He is a prime example of making a lifestyle change as opposed to just ‘dieting’ will literally transform you and your life. His dedication is awe-inspiring.

A huge congratulations to a great inspiration. Be sure to ‘stalk’ him if you get the chance (his words, not mine), you won’t regret it. 

Tumblr: Our Time To Change

Twitter: Jason Morrison

A Peaceful Morning…

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Yoga By Equinox from VegasArt on Vimeo.

Some peace for your morning.

You have to respect all things Yoga. It requires a level of self-control and body awareness that reaches far beyond bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves.

One of these days I’m going to take the plunge and try it.

One of these days…