Sunday Story...183

This week, as many of you already know, was the opening of the CrossFit Games. This is an event I have had my eye on since last year. Last year I ended up 53rd in my age group in the world. This was not bad considering I really had no idea about what the competition was about or how to strategize the workouts. So I set myself on a mission over the year to improve my performance in every area…strength, coordination, speed, balance, flexibility, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, agility, power, accuracy. I knew I would need to improve at least 20% across all of those domains to even think about getting to the “big show” in July.

I needed to improve my gymnastic skills, increase my strength, get faster and get in better condition. All of this in the face of an aging body and still get better at TaeKwon-Do and Jiu-Jitsu. I got help from lots of places…Jim Fitzsimmons at UNR CrossFit, Jason Swanson and Alena Yancey at Battle Born CrossFit, the staff at CrossFit Brand X in San Diego, Kelly Starret the joint and mobility guru from MobilityWOD, and all the athletes here at Relentless Martial Arts…Ellie McKenzie, Brian and Linda Pike, Denise Schnauer, Monique Lovrin, Dani Northington, Heather Robie, and a bunch of others. These folks have watched and cheered and seen my struggles every day. And worked out with me and cheered me on. And put up with some particular brand of cranky from time to time (hardly noticeable, really!) They believed. Of course my Mother and my daughter Shelle have been so encouraging and promised to get to Carson CA when I get there. They believed.

This piece today isn’t about training methods or max effort lifts, or how to improve this or that although I can tell you that nutrition is the biggest foundational piece, closely followed by sleep. Today isn’t about what you should or shouldn’t do in these realms of physical fitness although I could certainly shed some insight on the subject.

Today is about answering a simple question that Coach Jim Fitzsimmons asked me first…Why do you want to go to the games? At the time I had a flip answer about wanting to wear the cool pants like all the rest of the cool kids. Another friend asked…What was the motivation, why would I want to work so hard for something, to get somewhere that might not even be possible for me? Again my answer was flip…”Because I can.”

The answer to those questions is simple really and I find it in a quote from Coach John Wooden:
“Success is the peace of mind, which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
So…Why the games? To be the best I am capable of being in this particular arena. The games is an open measurement of improvement from year to year. It isn’t about beating someone else or being better than they are, it is about besting your own performance, about doing the best you are capable of doing. This requires dedication, a plan, coaching, a focus on work and perspicacity (a clarity of vision or intellect which provides a deep understanding and insight). It really isn’t about getting to games. It is about getting to the level of improvement that allows me to be the absolute best I can be. Am I there? I may be as good as I can get right now but I am not as good as I am going to get. There are more things to improve. There are more things to get stronger at doing, more things to get faster at doing, skills to get even more skillful at doing.

This is something any of us can do…this drive for success, this drive to make the effort to be the absolute best you are capable of becoming. It isn’t about athletic performance. It isn’t about business performance, it isn’t about any one thing…it is about searching for the best you are capable of in whatever area you choose to seek it.

Guess what you have to do first?


BELIEVE.

By the way…183 is the number of repetitions from the first Workout this week. I did it twice and improved by 35% from Friday to Sunday. My best this week.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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