Sunday Story…It's never too late to start.

That doesn't mean it will be easy. That doesn't mean it will be simple. The most important thing is to start, to take that first step.

The other day, a new client asked me, "What am I doing well, or what am I good at?" My first answer was, "You're showing up." It isn't easy to show up when everything's not going exactly your way. It is easy to show up when everything's perfect, all the stars are aligned, and it's simple. That's easy, but what about when it's hard to get out of bed? What about when it’s hard to walk through the door? When you are faced with the truth that you haven't done the things that you should have done, the things you know you should have done over the last few years or decades. You had other priorities. You had other things to do, but it's not too late to start now.

The key is you've got to walk through the door. If you want to learn a new language, you've got to start somewhere. If you want to have something different, you must do something different.

We can't solve problems with the same thought process that we used when we got the problem. We must change our thinking. We must get up, get out of bed, and walk through the door to make those changes. It's not too late to start, no matter what time it is. 5 minutes until midnight, it's still 5 minutes. You can do that: walk through the door.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

Sunday Story…Labor Day.

The other day, we were talking about Labor Day, the whys and wherefores, and realized that most of us have no idea why Labor Day started, why we're doing a holiday for it. For most of us, it means a 3-day weekend, an extra day off, and a chance to rest and enjoy ourselves.

The reason Labor Day started all those years ago, and it was 1894 when it became a federal holiday, signed into law by President Grover Cleveland, was a way to celebrate workers' contributions and support the labor movement, which fought for fair wages, shorter workdays, and improved conditions during the Industrial Revolution. Before this, it was not unusual for people to work 7 days a week and 10-hour days. The labor movement helped the workers get better conditions, and that's why we celebrate Labor Day.

Here at CrossFit Odyssey, we'll have two classes, 8 and 10, so the coaches, Ellie and I, can have a little extra time off, and so you can come in, work hard, and then enjoy your leisure time. The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary, so we've got to do a little work first; then we can have success.

I hope you'll join us at either 8 or 10; bring your family and friends. We're going to do a hero workout. Ellie and I were talking about which one. It'll be a surprise when you get here, and we will have fun; we'll do some work, then enjoy ourselves. See you Monday morning.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

Sunday's Story: Longevity Again

One of the most important parts of your health span and your life span is nutrition and whatever supplements you may or may not be taking in addition to your nutrition. When we look at the pyramid of fitness, the bottom row is nutrition. We've got to be able to eat right, and as stated in the first sentence of Fitness in a Hundred Words: Eat meat and vegetables, seeds and nuts, a little starch, avoid sugar. What that means is eat real food!

Once your nutrition is dialed in, we can start talking about supplementation. Two that I always recommend:

• Glucosamine 2,000 mg a day for your joints, cartilage, tendons, and other connective tissues. Keep those healthy and strong.
• Turmeric, again about 2,000 mg a day, for inflammation. Inflammation is what kills all of us. You want to avoid that.

The other reason I'm bringing this up is that I found two new supplements, and they are amazing.

The first is called NAC (N-acetyl cysteine). A couple of capsules a day. It's good for respiratory support, liver detox, and overall health.

The other one is called Urolithin-A. This one is amazing. It's from TimeLine, and it's a mitochondrial support supplement.

Somewhere between those two, I noticed that my skin, especially on my arms and legs, stopped bruising so easily and seemed to have thickened. My skin doesn't cut as easily and doesn't get scraped up and bleeding. You may not have noticed this yet, but my grandparents used to call them liver spots on your hands and arms. As you get older, your skin thins out, and you need something to make that less prevalent. It's hard to believe, but one or both of those supplements seem to have fixed that problem. We offer NAC here! You'll need to order the other one.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story... Longevity continued.

In the past, we have talked about your marginal decade, in other words, the last ten years of your life. What do you want to be able to do in those last ten years? This is an important exercise. It's an exercise that you should really think about: what it is you really want to be able to do as your time on earth winds down. More important than that, because longevity isn't about how long you live; longevity is how well you live as long as you live. Most of us don't like the prospect of lying in bed for ten years waiting to die. That's not life. The real question is not what you want to do in your last ten years, but:

• What do you want to do this year?
• Next year?
• Five years from now?
• Ten years from now?

What do you want your life to look like activity-wise? What do you want your life to look like relationship-wise? What do you want it to look like career-wise? These are all important facets of who we are as humans. The fact is, I can have a great career and great relationships, and if my physical and mental health are lacking, life isn't going to be much fun. If I must quit my job because I am infirm, or if I have to start taking psychoactive drugs because my mental state isn't good and my relationships are suffering, again, that's not a life. That's an existence, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to just exist. I want to live.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday Story…Birthday

 

As I approach my 70th birthday, I find myself looking backward at the twists and turns, the successes and the failures, the growth and the stunted places, the victories and the defeats that have gotten me here, to this place, writing to you today.

I think about my mother, in her early 90s, having a son about to turn 70, who has children not far from 50, who has at least 1 child not far from 20. We have been fortunate to have lived in a world that has afforded us the luxury of long, healthy, peaceful lives.

As humans, we want to provide meaning to the world. We see this in all the stories, the myths, and the religions. We do this on every level…from the worldview all the way down to our individual experience. What did my life here mean? What have I done other than take up space for the last 25,000 days?

What meaning can I attach to this life I am living? What value am I providing, not just for the immediate people around me but to the world writ large? Is there something, or many things, I have not done yet that will give someone else a glimpse into what’s possible?

Some of the questions I ask myself are: Have I loved enough? What can I do to love more in the time I have? What stories do I have left to tell? Are there mountains (figuratively or literally) left to climb?

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

Sunday Story… More Longevity.

I see a lot of posts on Instagram these days telling me that I should be able to do X, Y, or Z at a certain age. Some of those things may be true. I should be able to do some of them, but the real question is: what do you want to be able to do at any given age? What do you want to be able to do at age 40, 50, 60, 70, and beyond?

I am going to be 70 in a few short months. Do I really need to prove my fitness to anybody but myself? I don't think so. What I need to do is to be as fit as I want to be to do the things that I want to do. That's all there is.

If part of my fitness means I need to pick up something heavy and walk around with it for 100 yards, 200 yards, 3 minutes, or whatever, then that's what I need to do. Same thing with any other measurement. Some of these things I need to be able to do to maintain my health, my bone density, my testosterone, things like that. A lot of the fitness components help with my hormonal responses and my ability to perform certain things.

If I can deadlift double my body weight, what is that going to do for me? How does that move my fitness forward? How does that move my life forward? How does that improve and impact my life? If you don't have the answer to that, chasing that goal is futile. You need to figure out why you're doing that. What is it you want to be able to do? What is deadlifting double your body weight going to do for you? When you can answer that question, the goal becomes real.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

Sunday story…Race Day

Or competition day or game day. All your training has led to this point. This is the day when you get to put it on the line. You get to show up and show everybody what you've been working toward. The butterflies are real, the anticipation, the anxiety, all real. Or maybe this is your first time, and your anticipation is over the top.

Whether it's your first time or your tenth time competing, many of the feelings and trepidation are the same:

• Will you do well?
• Will you follow your game plan?
• What about the other competitors?
• Are you good enough?
• Are they too good?
• Have you trained enough?
• Have you worked hard enough to do as well as you'd like to do?

These are all questions that come up the night before, in the middle of the night, and the morning of. They're all valid, and they're all real. The anxiety is real. The anticipation is real, but the bottom line is none of it matters.

What matters is your willingness to put yourself out there and to put your training and abilities on the line for everybody to witness. Whether you end up first or last, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you showed up, did the best that you could do, learned something, and had some fun. That's all that matters. The event will be successful if you can do those things. Your final score, your final placing is irrelevant. It is those other, less obvious things that really matter. It's the journey that you took to get to this moment, to get to this day that matters. And that's why we compete.

If you're interested in building muscle and strength, sign up for a free fitness assessment at www.crossfitodyssey.com or reach out to me directly, and let's get you started on your journey to extraordinary results.

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412