Sunday Story…Injuries and You and I

Injuries happen to all of us. It's the nature of movement. Sometimes we move the wrong way, pick up the wrong thing in the wrong way, or just turn an ankle. Any number of things can happen inadvertently or accidentally, and then you're injured. Sometimes you're injured, sometimes you have discomfort, sometimes you have a strain, and sometimes you have a pull. There are all kinds of injuries. Some are way more serious than others.

The fact is that I, Ellie, and the other coaches need to know when you are injured, when you're fighting a chronic overuse injury, if you had your spine fused 20 years ago, or if your hip was replaced. We need to know these things. It helps us cue you to move better, keep you safe, and provide a different stimulus to get the same response.

Sometimes we'll tell you to back off, drop some weight, and then see how it moves and feels. Sometimes we're going to tell you to stop, go hop on a bike, stretch it out a little bit. Sometimes we're going to tell you to take a couple of days off, go see a physical therapist like Amanda Anderson at Raise the Barbell or an orthopedic doctor.

I'm a champion at putting my head down and fighting through injuries, and honestly, over the years, I'm pretty sure that's made several things worse than they probably needed to be. It's not the smartest way to go. It's a bad habit I picked up a long time ago: put some ice on it and get back in there. Sometimes that is the best advice. Sometimes that's how we get past the discomfort of doing hard things, and sometimes you need to put some ice on it and sit down.

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…Pep, pep peptides!

By now, most of you have heard of peptides. For those of you unclear on them, here’s a quick definition from WebMD:

Peptides are strings of molecules called amino acids. Amino acids are the “building blocks” of proteins. Peptides are short strings of proteins that are about 2-100 amino acids long.

The most common peptide in use today is insulin. Insulin was first used in 1923. Today, probably the most common peptides that we see are the semaglutides, or the GLP-1s, which are being used to treat diabetes, of course, but also for weight loss.

It turns out there are peptides for all sorts of things. You can get them to help stimulate human growth hormone. You can get them to stimulate healing. They can help you get more melanin in your skin, in other words, be tanner.

As with any supplement, the source matters most. Is the source reliable and safe? Can we get them and administer them effectively to get the results we want?

Ellie and I are researching ways to offer these peptides to you. Obviously, we are not going to be prescribing them. We are not going to be administering them. We'll help you find a source and connect you with a knowledgeable medical practitioner who can guide you down that path, if you choose.

Before considering supplements or peptides, dial in your diet, exercise, rest, and recovery. Then focus on options that support longevity and healthspan—living as healthfully as possible.

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…It’s almost over

As I write this, it's mid-October 2026. The year is almost over. We have 2.5 months left. Halloween's right around the corner, followed quickly by Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then it's the new year. It'll be 2027. For me, at least, thinking about 2027, and a new decade right around the corner, feels a little jarring. The fact of the matter is that:

1. I've never been this old (neither have you!)
2. As we hit these years, every one of them seems to add more knowledge, more changes, more things of mystery and trepidation.

What do we do? How do we look at these next few years and decades? For many of you who are reading this, you're not 40 yet. You are more than likely to be alive in 2060, 2070. You'll be alive in the last part of this century. Think about that. If you were born in 1990 and lived 100 years, you'd be living in 2090. What's the likelihood you'll live to 100? It's much more likely you'll live to 100 than I am. My mom's 92. Not many people born 92 years ago are still around. My mom's in great health. She's got several years left. A proverb says, "Every day you live past your 70th birthday is a gift." Every day you get up and see the sun rise is a gift, every day, no matter how old you are. The older we get, the fewer sunrises we have to look forward to, so we need to approach each one with gratitude and an eye toward making it count in a way that creates a more harmonious, vibrant life.

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

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story... Who do you know?

The rest of that question is: Who do you know who needs to be in here? We all have people in our lives that we care about. We all know people who could benefit from getting fitter. Maybe they've even asked what you're doing and why your fitness has suddenly improved so much. You've told them, "Oh, I go to CrossFit over at Odyssey.”

They might feel like they can't really participate for whatever reason. Ellie and I are here to tell you that, whatever the reason, it is simply not true. They can do this. Our oldest client is 87. We have clients that have had strokes, coming back to do things that they could do easily years ago and are now having trouble getting down on the ground and getting back up. We have people come to us recovering from cancer and other debilitating diseases and operations. Several of us here have had knees replaced, shoulders fixed, and hips replaced. No excuse keeps you from coming in here.

Who do you know who needs that gentle nudge to start their journey to extraordinary? Every journey starts with a single step, and that first step is the one that brings you through the door. If you've got somebody in your life who needs to be here, you might have to take them by the hand and bring them.

I know of at least one person who worked on somebody for a year before they graced our doors. Their fitness is improving. Their life is healthier than it was the day they first came here. If you know someone who needs to be here, ask us to reach out to them. You can bring them in, and we will sit down, talk with them, and show them what we do and how we do it. Whatever it takes to make that work for them, we'll do our best to get them on the journey to extraordinary.

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

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Today's the day.

If you're reading this on Sunday, October 4th, today is my birthday, the official day. It's one of those bittersweet birthdays. Honestly, I never thought I'd see 70. It always seemed so far away. Even 5 years ago, 10 years ago, it felt so far away. My mom's 92, so when I look at that, I still have a long way to go. Maybe not as long as I had 20 years ago, but still a long way to go. For my birthday, and a challenge to all of you reading this, here is my 70th birthday workout of the day:

• 70 calories on the bike to cash in
• 70 pull-ups
• 70 push-ups
• 70 air squats
• 70 box jumps (that's a 24-inch box for the men, 20 for the ladies)
• 70 feet of handstand walks. If you want to do this but you can't handstand walk, you're going to do 3 wall walks and 10 shoulder taps for every 10 feet. That means you're going to do 21 wall walks and 70 shoulder taps.
• 70 GHD sit-ups
• 70 burpees
• 70-calorie row to buy out

There's a 70-minute time cap on this. The time to beat is 54 minutes and 24 seconds. That was my time on Friday afternoon. You can break up your sets any way you like, but you must finish each element before you start the next. In other words, you must finish all 70 pull-ups before you start your 70 push-ups, etc. Other than that, it's straightforward. It's a grind. There's a little bit of suffering involved. It's my favorite kind of workout. Have a great day. I know I did.

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: Update on some supplements.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about two supplements called NAC and Urolithin A. I'm not a real big pill pusher. I think you should take supplements once you've got your diet dialed in and are doing all the rest of the things that you should be doing.

Here's the deal with these two supplements. My doctor, Dr. Ravipati, at Southwest Mind and Body (https://southwestmindandbody.com/) suggested I start taking these. She's a longevity specialist. NAC stands for N-acetylcysteine, and the label says it supports liver detox and respiratory health. Urolithin A is listed for mitochondrial support. Your mitochondria are like the little engines in your cells that make everything work. As we get older, those cells don't rejuvenate and restore themselves quite as well as they did when we were 20 or 25.

The biggest change I've noticed is in my skin. Before I started taking these, it took almost nothing for me to get a big red bruise on my arm. My skin was thinner and seemed to bruise and bleed for no reason. The bruises lasted days, weeks, and even months. Once I started taking these two supplements, the bruising stopped within a month. Now, if I have a bruise, it goes away in a day or two, and my skin seems tougher or something because it doesn't cut and bleed as easily.

These two supplements, NAC and Urolithin A, are doing something very beneficial to my body. NAC is common; we offer the Thorne brand here, or you can visit here: https://www.thorne.com/products?affid=PR800589&utm_campaign=Affiliate+Programs&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_source=Custom+Link&utm_content=Supplements+%26+Tests. Urolithin A is less common, but here is their website: https://www.timeline.com/. Urolithin A tends to be pricey; it looks like about $100 a month, maybe a little less. NAC, on the other hand, is inexpensive.

The two of them have made a huge difference in my skin and, I think, my energy levels. I recover a little bit faster, so I highly recommend them.

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…I don’t wanna!

Like most of you, I also have days and times when I struggle with consistency. When I really don't want to pick up the weight, when I really don't want to go out and do another pull-up or another push-up, it looks like just a task: tedious, tiring, boring.

This is part of the process, part of making progress: realizing that even when I don't want to do it, I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to pick up that weight. I'm going to hop on the bar. I'm going to do what needs to be done.

The reason for this? I'm looking down the road 5 years, 10 years, 20 years from now, and in my case, 20 years, when I'm 90 years old. What do I want to be able to do? If I don't do what needs to be done today, then 20 years from now, I may struggle to get off the toilet. 20 years from now, I may not be able to walk around the block. 20 years from now, I might be unable to do any of the things I want to do. I would have nobody to hold responsible for that but myself, because today I didn't do what needed to be done.

So, when the alarm goes off, and you wake up, get out of bed, and you say, "Screw this! I don't feel like doing it. I want to sit around and drink coffee and sit on the porch and watch the world go by," realize that if that's your choice, that's also the choice you're making 20 years from today. Finish your coffee, get off the porch, and go to the gym. See you there.

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…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

 

 

Sunday Story…Why a Simulation?

As I mentioned earlier, I participated in the Xenom competition a few weeks ago. I went in cold, not having looked at the workouts, practiced them, or done any sort of strategizing about them. This is one of the things that CrossFit has always preached…knowing the unknowable. If I am faced with a task I have never seen before, can I figure it out and make it work to my advantage in a short time? This requires many different skills, but most importantly, I need an honest assessment of my strengths and weaknesses.

But the truth is, if I want to maximize my performance, I need to practice the things that will make me better at whatever I do. This is why a simulation race is important. The human body will adapt to the stresses put upon it. If I practice properly, I will perform better over time. This is the point of practice. Footballers practice football, swimmers swim, boxers box; it is how we get good at anything.

This is why you should do a simulation race. It is practice for the real thing. I will learn how to pace the run. What is running going to feel like after skiing or rowing? Do I need to adjust my pace up or down after anything due to stress or fatigue? A simulation race is designed for learning. Learning about what it feels like. Learning about what works best for you. Learning what doesn’t work for you. And learning what you need to spend time getting better at. What is the low-hanging fruit? The things you can do easily and get the biggest return on.

Show up on 7/25. Have fun, learn something.

Register her: https://competitioncorner.net/events/21704/register

discount code for members cfo20

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…HYROX Simulation Race

 

I wrote about HYROX in general a few weeks ago. HYROX is a fitness race that includes several thousand meters of running, some sled pushes and pulls, some rowing, some wall balls, just a little bit of everything. It's a very accessible race to participate in. There are no really difficult skills to learn or perfect, and it's a way to test your fitness, or at least some parts of your fitness.

We've started HYROX training classes here. We currently have five a week, and you're welcome to join those. It's part of your CrossFit membership, or if you want, you can bring a friend, and we can make that happen as well.

What we're going to do on the 25th of July is have a full-scale simulation race. We will be hosting the events listed on the website. You'll run 1,000 m, you'll ski 1,000 m, you'll run 1,000 m, you'll push the sled at the prescribed weight, you'll run 1,000 m, and you'll pull the sled at the prescribed weight. All in all, it'll be a race like the one that is going to take place here in Dallas in November, or in any number of other cities. It's always the same race in all the cities.

Now, the difference here is that we will be running outside. Most of the work will be done outside. We may have to make some adjustments, but it's going to be a simulation race. If you would like to participate, we'd love to have you. Below is the code for event registration, as well as a discount code if you're a member here at CrossFit Odyssey. If you're not a member and you still want to participate, we'd love to have you, and of course, we'd love to have you as a member.

https://competitioncorner.net/events/21704/register

discount code for members cfo20

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…Xenom

 

Last week I competed in a brand-new fitness competition called Xenom, the decathlon of fitness. It was 10 events over 2 days. The duration of each event ranged from 1 to 30 minutes, with most falling in the 5–15-minute range. There were some high-skill events, like bar and ring muscle-ups, and low-skill events, like running a 3k!

The Star was a great venue for this competition. The event was very well run and ran on time throughout the 2 days. The equipment was top-notch (all Rogue). There was plenty of room and equipment for warming up, and the events were well planned, so everyone wasn’t warming up for the same event. The volunteers were helpful and happy. The judges (at least the ones I had) were consistent and fair.

There were 3 levels or divisions in this competition. Compete (the easiest), Rx (as prescribed), and Elite (the pros!). Although age groups were listed, everyone in the RX group did the same weights and exercises. So, for me, being over 12 years older than the next competitor puts me at a distinct disadvantage. But I wanted to test myself without the “scaling down” to see how I would fare.

I wasn’t last. Just next to last! The key questions, like any competition, are always: did you have fun, and did you learn something? Based on those two questions, the answer was a resounding Yes. That makes it a success in my book!

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 Europe

More impressions from the continent!

Probably the biggest impression I got from my visit to Europe is that, in general, society seems more cooperative and collaborative than it is here in the States. By that I mean, and this may be because we spent a lot of time in bigger cities, but people living close together must be more cooperative with each other in terms of resource usage, and things like that.

The public transportation systems were a marvel and heavily used by all kinds of people, not primarily tourists, but mostly people who live there. We traveled by both train and bus. We found that the people on both were helpful and very kind with our questions about the stops and stations. Interestingly, we found that many people spoke very good English, as a matter of fact, way better English than I spoke either French or Italian. When we had questions about which station to go to and what to do there (as in the next connection), it was just amazing to me how helpful and kind people were in general. Most people actually inquired about where we were from, where we were going, and what we were doing there. They seemed genuinely interested in who we were and how we were getting along in their communities.

Overall, I found that whether we were in large cities like Florence and Paris or in very small cities and villages, the people were interesting and interested. Probably the biggest thing I brought home was a greater sense of how I can be kind and helpful to strangers and people who just need a helping hand.

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

 

PS. This photo is of our first meal in Florence: the Florentine steak. It was an amazing meal.

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story... Europe, Part 1

When I initially started writing this, I began it as sort of a travel log: we went here, did this, saw that, and did these other things. Then I realized that that really wasn't an important part of the trip. It was interesting and fun, but it wasn't the important part. It wasn't the part that I really remember.

What we saw and where we went were memorable, and we saw some amazing sites, art, and architecture. We marveled at the ingenuity and abilities of our forebears in building structures that took hundreds of years to assemble. To do so with such beauty and have an amazing structure still standing after hundreds and hundreds of years is just amazing.

What I found most important and memorable about the trip were the people and the experiences we had. One of the most memorable experiences was a cooking class in a couple's home in Pisa, Italy. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and spent the next five hours learning to make homemade pasta, rolling it out, running it through the pasta maker, hearing the stories behind Nona's meatballs, cooking rabbit on the stove, and just generally enjoying the company and stories. There was another couple there from Ireland, a mother and daughter, and we exchanged stories about current cultural things in Ireland as opposed to America. It was as simple as having a community enjoying other humans. The couple running the cooking class were engaging and fun, and they made it a really memorable experience for everybody. We had a couple of teenagers and some adults, and everybody got something out of it. That was the essence of the European trip. That was the part of the trip that I will never ever forget.

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... European Vacation

I just spent two weeks in Europe. We traveled to Nice, France; Pisa and Florence, Italy; and Paris, France. We managed a side trip to Monaco as well. This was my first experience of Europe, and it was truly eye-opening. So many of the things that I've read about and seen pictures of came to life right before my eyes. As a very limited student of art history (thank you, Gonzaga), it was amazing to see so many of the works I studied in class. There is a huge difference between pictures and the real thing. Those things become so much more real and relevant when you're looking at the work of art. I have to say that after four hours in the Louvre, my eyes were completely overwhelmed, almost on fire. It was art and beauty everywhere you looked. Something different to see, something different to imagine, thinking of the artist pouring out his soul as he lay upside down, painting a ceiling in the most vivid and bright colors, with a story or an allegory that he's trying to convey to his audience.

Of course, I have a ton of pictures, none of which do justice to the sights and sounds we experienced.

More next week!

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