Sunday Story…Your Abs and You

That firm flat midsection…we all want one. It is one of the obvious indicators of health and fitness. When we see a big pot belly we make immediate judgments about the overall health of that person. Even on someone who may be an athlete like a power lifter or an offensive lineman in the NFL. I am not saying you need a 6-pack. We have discussed that before…see the blog post: http://sunday-stories.blogspot.com/2015/08/sunday-storyyour-6-pack.html But, honestly, none of us want a “dunlap” (as in your belly done-lapped over your belt) midsection.

That flat firm midline gets built in the kitchen, folks. Sure your work out is necessary, especially for the firm part. But the food you put in the system is the main contributor to how much fat you are storing and where you are storing it. We all have genetic predispositions to storing fat in one place more than others. But sooner or later it is going to hit your middle and that is bad.

I am not going to tell you what to eat. I have an opinion and you are welcome to it but the fact is your body is going to respond to certain foods differently than my body. Dairy and I don’t get along well but dairy may be very good for you. You need to figure out what works for your body and what doesn’t. Do a whole 30 elimination diet and get clear what foods work best for you. It probably isn’t Cheetos and Beer by the way.

That being said, there are certain dietary principles you should know, understand and employ every day and throughout your dietary life. These principles are chemical and physiological responses to the type of food you are eating. This is a “call and response” effect. If you put this in your body (call) it is going to do this (response).

Here are 5 Physiological Responses:
1. Carbohydrates and sugar raise your blood sugar.
2. High fructose corn syrup is metabolized by the liver as Fat.
3. Excess carbs and sugar that aren’t used immediately are stored as fat.
4. Insulin is a lipogenic hormone, so it causes you to store fat.
5. Protein and dietary fat have no significant impact on raising blood sugar.
We all will have different responses to various foods but these 5 responses are true for every human body.

Armed with these facts you can now make choices of what you are going to put in your body. Eat enough to support activity but NOT store fat! If eating dietary fat doesn’t raise blood sugar just eating fat won’t make you fat. Eating too much fat will make you fat.

We often say…”exercise won’t necessarily make you bulky but cupcakes will make you squishy” Lay off the cupcakes especially the ones with high fructose corn syrup!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Once upon a time

Is how fairy tales start. Once upon a time signals to each of us that a story is about to be told. We know that after that start everything follows will be a story of some sort…might be a fable, or complete fiction or a learning parable but it will be a story. It is what we expect; it is what we know will happen.

My life is made up of stories. The stories I tell myself about my life. The stories I tell myself about what happened and who I am/was in that story. This is not a problem and seems to be part of the universal human condition. Man is a meaning making machine. We make meaning out of everything. My spouse left me…it means I wasn’t good enough. My spouse left me it means I was too good for them. My spouse left me it means no one will ever love me again. We make the things in our life mean things.

Try this on: Once upon a time my spouse left me. Everything that comes after that is a fairy tale. It might completely untrue. It might be partially true or it might be mostly true. But whatever I say after once upon a time is a story.

What if you changed the fairy tale? What if it went like this…Once upon a time my spouse left me and it was painful and it hurt but I learned how to be in a relationship and how not to be in a relationship and when I get into another relationship I will be more able to be who I want to be in relationship. Isn’t that a whole lot better than I got left, she done me wrong, I am unlovable and I won’t ever be in a relationship again?

This is true for all the stories you are telling yourself about your life. Whether it is career, relationship, money, parenting, or love; the stories you are telling yourself should empower you. Those stories should raise you up. Even when you were wrong about something…you can tell yourself how lucky you were to have learned that lesson.

You can’t change what happened. You can change the story you tell yourself about it. You can change the narration of your fairy tale to make you out to be the hero and not the villain. No one really likes the villain, not really.

Once upon a time…if you are going to tell yourself a story it may as well be one that has you looking good!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Bad Day in Black Rock

Bad days happen. We have all had them. They are part of life. If somehow you have managed to live a life of wine and roses with no hangovers or thorns you are supremely fortunate. Most of us didn’t get that lottery ticket. We got the one that has life throwing us curveballs, screwballs, and the pitch that hits you right upside the head. It is part of life. It is part of the growth curve we all experience.

Knowing you are going to have a bad day allows you prepare for it and be ready to face it with the right attitude. Here are 3 basic understandings:
1. Stuff is going to happen. Bad stuff…oh well.
2. You get to decide the story you are going to tell yourself about the stuff that happened.
3. You get to do something about the stuff.

Being prepared to handle these 3 understandings is going to take mental strength. You will need to exercise your mental toughness muscle. Here are the 4 exercises to get that muscle up and functional:
1. Expect stuff to happen Expect your 5 year plan to take 7 years, expect to go on lots of first dates because the girl of your dreams may not be around the corner, expect obstacles. Once we expect these sorts of challenges and disruptions they won’t come as a huge surprise. And when they aren’t a surprise they are easier to handle.
2. The stuff is not the new paradigm. You got fired; it doesn’t mean you will never work again. Your lover left you and broke your heart; it doesn’t mean you won’t love again. Change signals new opportunities arising.
3. Don’t beat yourself up. Just like the stuff is not a new paradigm, the stuff that happens does not make you a bad person, unlovable, stupid, or not worthy. Stuff happens. Refrain from making it a personal narrative.
4. Get into action. Do something. You can try almost anything. Action is always better than inaction. Inaction will find you wallowing in self-pity and stinking thinking.

Bad days come when we least expect them. They can appear overwhelming and insurmountable. You can put them where they belong by recognizing that they are impermanent and that they can be put in their place using the 4 strategies we just covered:
It happens.
It is not permanent
It isn’t about the real you.
Get into action.

This will strengthen your mental toughness…your resiliency…your ability to control your attitude in the face of adversity.

Lean on your past experiences and formulate a plan.

Success isn’t permanent and Failure isn’t fatal.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Reluctant Caterpillar

We can all understand not wanting to break out of our cocoon and become the butterfly. After all, our cocoon is safe and warm and even though we are this weird grey mush we don’t have to unfurl our wings and fly. Lots of cocoons never open. Lots of butterflies never enter the world. And that’s Ok I suppose. You do not have to become the butterfly you were meant to be.

In the natural world the caterpillar becomes the cocoon and then, in many cases, becomes the butterfly. It is a natural progression. It is going to happen. At no point does the caterpillar get to say, “I think I’m done now. I am going to stay right where I am. I have reached my full potential as a caterpillar and being a butterfly looks just too hard and exceeds my capabilities. So I will just sit back and be a caterpillar.”

We humans are the only living thing I know of that that can choose to not grow to its potential. Does the tree choose to stop growing? No! It may be stunted due to other issues but the tree will always grow as tall as it can, sprout as many leaves as it can, and bear as much fruit as it can. The caterpillar will always grow into a butterfly…that is its nature. This is the way of the world.

Sadly this is not the way of most people. We put limits on our growth. We decide not to grow into our full potential. We play small. We are afraid of being as powerful, as big, or as important as we were meant to be. We decide to not grow into butterflies, as matter of fact we decide not to even move into our cocoons. We are reluctant caterpillars.

The way of my people is to live up to and surpass our potential. The way of my people is to find their purpose and fulfill it. The way of my people is the path of constant and never ending introspection and growth. The way of my people is to face the scary stuff and move into the cocoon so we can be we were meant to be. The way of my people is to strive for more consciousness, more awareness, more knowledge, more growth and more of being us.

You can easily join us. Stop playing small. Start playing for it all. Stop stunting your growth. Start growing as tall as you can. Stop admitting to arbitrary limits that put a cap on your potential as a human. Start producing as much as you can. Stop settling for mediocrity. Start accepting excellence.

Join the tribe!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Hello, Good Bye

Say Hello to the person you could’ve been. Say Good Bye to the person you are.

Think about it…How would you feel, if, upon your deathbed, if someone sat down, clasped your hand and waited for you to open your tired, dying eyes? When you look up you see a face that looks vaguely familiar. You feel a presence you recognize deep in the recesses of your being. But you can’t quite place it. The person is you but not you. This is the person you could have become.

This is the person who took full responsibility for their life.
This is the person who was willing to take everything personally.
This is the person who realized every dream.
This is the person who took the chance, made the effort to write every book, sing every song, paint every picture, build every castle, and create every beauty they were supposed to.
This is the person who lived the way you always knew you could but didn’t.
This is the person who loved as deeply and as often as humanely possible.
This is the person who did every kindness and never missed an opportunity to smile.
This is the person who lived life full out, took every chance, and did all the things you said “someday” to.
This is the person who lived your dreams.
This is the person who waited for you to do all of these things.

Meeting this person is one definition of hell. If you are lucky you will only meet them on your death bed. How about now? How would you feel if tomorrow at coffee a strangely familiar person sat down and greeted you with a frown and a subtle shake of their head, saying “When did you give up?”

You can stop giving up. You are that person. It isn’t too late to take your life personally. There is still time to meet the person you could’ve been and greet them warmly as your twin.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Murder

It’s not a quest unless you might lose your life.

Let’s be honest…if you don’t get fit you probably won’t lose your life…right away anyway. If you jump out of that airplane you probably won’t lose your life…at least statistically the odds are in your favor. If you climb Everest you probably won’t lose your life…not in this day and age unless someone really screws something up. All of these things carry some measure of risk, I grant you but are they going to kill you? Physically I would expect to continue on this corporeal plane after any of these activities.

And I would expect to die after each one.

Yes you read that right. I would expect to die. I would not only expect to die I would be trying to pierce my heart with a blade and pour my life’s blood out. I would commit murder upon the person I am.

If I choose my quest correctly I am going to kill the person who chose that quest. The person who chose to jump, climb, or dedicate themselves must die in order for me to become the new person who has attempted the quest. Just the very act of setting out will cut the throat of who I was so that I may become who I will be. The quest is not an incubator. The quest is not a cocoon. The quest is not a benign easy process. The quest is an active, homicidal activity designed to put you in a crucible of change.

So are you willing to put who you are to the test? Are you willing to step, like the explorers of yore, into the unknown abyss where monsters and incredible creatures may lie in waiting to devour you? Are you willing to walk through the fires of change to discover who you may become?

I am giving you permission to kill the person you are in order to become the person you want to be. I am giving you permission to go on a quest to find that person.

Let’s launch your ship on a Homeric hero’s journey. Get on board or get left behind! It’s never too late to be who you were meant to be.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story…Success

Recently Kim McLaughlin from CrossFit Invictus put up a blog post about the three types of success. You can read it here: http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/three-types-of-success/

This got me to thinking about how we measure success in some other areas of our lives. The work we do in the gym or the box is great. I want you to set a PR. It feels freaking great to lift something you previously thought was impossible. What about your life outside these four walls? I know most of you have one (except maybe me!)

Where are your personal records in your life? Not the size of your bank account or the type of automobile you drive or your zip code? What personal records do you have that you are trying to surpass? Are you trying to be more philanthropic? Get to church more? Volunteer more? How much more? Is there 1 more thing you can do to help this world and the people in it who really need your gifts, skills and talents?

Can I get better? At my job? At my parenting? At my personal growth? At my self-talk? Am I spending some time each day in gratitude? Will you write down where you are kind? I know we are trained from an early age to be self-deprecating but how does that really serve you? I was told…”don’t be too full of yourself.” Really? Who should I be full of? I am not saying you should run around and tell the world what a great person you are (your actions will do that) but you should recognize to yourself the things you do that are good and kind. It’s ok to pat yourself on the back for being a great human.

Do you show up? Do you do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it? Are you consistent in your approach to your life and the people around you? Can I count on you to be consistent? We all know people who are not. We are never sure who is going to show up from one day to the next. At least with certain people we know who they are…we don’t like it, we don’t enjoy that person but we know who they are…we can count on them to lie, cheat and steal. There is a consistency there. Will you be consistent…can I count on your word, can I count on you to be the person you say you are? Am I who you think I am? Am I that guy day in and day out? This is a consistency to be admired and celebrated. I want to hang out with people like that.

Your life should be a celebration of person bests. Your life should be one of constant and never ending improvement…if you aren’t growing, you are dying. Your life should be consistent and congruent. You are walking your talk.

The beautiful thing about being human where we are right now is You Can Change. If you look at yourself and see something you don’t like, we can change. We can do better more often.

Life is like a burpee…you can’t fail as long as you keep getting up off the floor.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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