Sunday Story…Your ‘Tude, dude

In “Man’s Search for Meaning” Viktor Frankl states the only true freedom we have is the freedom to choose our attitude about what happens to us. We can be locked up, beaten, everything taken from us but we can still choose our attitude.

I had the good fortune last week to have dinner with a friend who is the living embodiment of this freedom. Wendy Tustin and I go way back…probably close to 30 years. We have seen our kids grow and start their own families. We have had ups and down and times when we didn’t always speak or see eye to eye. Our friendship was forged on martial arts mats and cemented through the bonds of shared suffering, sweat, and strife.

Wendy is battling cancer. She has beaten it back a couple times but her opponent is unrelenting. Given enough time I don’t doubt she will beat it in the end. In the meantime she fights the fight with a smile and an attitude of hope and good fortune. Her spirit is strong. She is never going to be defeated even when it looks as if the battle may be lost. She is having the most fun she can have, laughing and crying, giving her friends the strength to face the small things in their lives with aplomb.

We all have stuff in our lives; stuff that gets us down, things that make us blue. Sometimes it feels like that stuff is too much, sometimes we think we just can’t take any more, that we have reached our limit of calamities in our lives. We feel sad and angry and hopeless over all the crap heaped upon us.

When you get to that point it is time to change your attitude. It is time to look over and see Wendy laughing and smiling and enjoying everything life is giving her. Yes, you read that correctly…everything. She says “it could be worse. I’m still here and I’m still fighting and living.” Whatever I am facing in my life is nothing compared to the road she is traveling.

Life is as hard as you make it. It is going to have ups and downs. It is up to you to decide the attitude you approach it with. You can take a look and decide you can’t handle it and life sucks and you don’t want to deal with the pain. Or you can take a look and decide to smile and go full steam ahead. Your attitude will decide your mental state from moment to moment. As Henry Ford once said…”if you think you can or think you can’t, you are probably right.” If you think life sucks it probably does. If you think life is grand it probably is.

So Change your attitude and Change your life. Now go out make your life be what you want it to be.

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…3 reasons you get hurt at CrossFit

There is a huge amount of bad press about CrossFit hurting people. I hear about Doctors and physical therapists who claim CrossFit bought them a new Porsche or a new boat. I am going to let you in on a big secret…CrossFit doesn’t hurt people. CrossFit doesn’t cause injuries. CrossFit is a benign being. As my friend Kelly Starrett says,” CrossFit is a laboratory for finding and fixing bad movement patterns.”

Injuries are part of life. At least a life lived off the couch and out in the world. Here’s a partial list of mine…torn meniscus (Brazilian jiu-jitsu exacerbated by running), broken (displaced) finger (snowboarding), boxers break (hand) (fighting), dislocated thumb (martial arts), several non-displaced finger and toe breaks (martial arts), at least 10 concussions (football mostly & snowboarding & car accidents), cauliflower ears (BJJ, boxing, wrestling), and some more I don’t remember. This does not count any of the multitudes of sprains, strains, pulls and tweaks. Notice anything about this list? CrossFit did not cause any of my injuries. Now that I have said that I can say that my current shoulder and elbow issues are CrossFit related but they come under the tweak category and have not required surgical or medical diagnostic intervention. They are also most likely related to one the 3 reasons listed below.

But if CrossFit doesn’t hurt people, how come we read about all these injuries on various forums?
It’s simple really…and here are my top 3 reason people get hurt doing CrossFit:

You are a bleeding idiot.
You don’t know how to do a movement but you see someone else do it and now you are an expert. So you load the bar up, jump up on the rings and give it a whirl. And Bam, the whip comes down, your shoulder is torn or your back is tweaked. I mean watching someone jump off a cliff on snowboard doesn’t make you an expert does it? You haven’t been off the couch in a decade and now you are going to try giants on the high bar? Really? Don’t be that guy.

Your coach is a bleeding idiot.
If someone’s idea of a good work out is to leave you on the floor puking your guts out, run don’t walk out the door. If the instruction consists of a really strong and fit dude or dudette doing an exercise 3 times and then walking off and telling you to go for it…get out now. If the “coach” is paying all his or her attention to the hottie in the first row, get your feet moving.

The community is made up of bleeding idiots.
They all have one speed…all out. The all want to “win” the wod or see how close they can get to Froning or Khalipa’s time. The want you to prove your worthiness before they will acknowledge your presence. The programming is designed to break you down and spit you out…day after day. The work outs really are random; there is no rhyme or reason to how they move you towards your goals.

So…here is how you don’t get hurt at your CrossFit Box…
Be smart. Understand your limitations and your fitness level. You aren’t as fit as you are going to be and you are nowhere near as fit as you remember being.

Be Coachable. Listen to what the coach (qualified and caring) is telling you. Ask questions and correct bad movement patterns. Just because someone else can do it doesn’t mean you are ready to do it. Progress up to the movement before you hop into the middle of a train wreck you just created.

Find like minded people. Find people like you who want the same things you do out of a workout. Find a tribe you can commune with, people you want to hang out with, folks you like.

Scale your work. Make it fit into your fitness level and abilities. There is always a work around when you have mobility or mechanical limitations. Don’t assume that you have to do it just the way it is written.

Have fun. Get Fit. CrossFit is for everyone…if you, your coach and your community all work together to get you the results you want. 3,2,1…GO!

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…3 things to have more money, more success, more sex

Now that got your attention, didn’t it? The big 3…money success and sex…always gets your ears to perk right up. So sorry to bait and switch you like this but this post is not about money, success, or sex. Besides everyone knows the answer is squats, more squats solve all the problems of the universe.

I am going to be on a radio show this week. The hosts want me to give their listeners 3 tips to start getting in shape, more fit, healthier. So I thought I would distill my thoughts here on paper for you.
1. Eat Real Food
2. Move
3. Sleep
That’s it. It is really that simple. It doesn’t take a degree in advanced rocket science; it doesn’t take a personal chef, a million dollar gym membership, or special immersion sleep tank.

You already know what to do. The real question is why aren’t you doing it? You know drinking 6 cans of soda a day isn’t good for you (you do don’t you?) So why don’t you stop?

You know sitting around all the time and not moving is hurting your health. So why don’t you get off the couch and start moving? (Ask your doctor if getting off your a#s is right for you.)

You know going to bed earlier will have you feel better in the morning. So why don’t you do it?

Our entire world is beset by diabetes and obesity. We are a society that is over fed and under nourished. We work ourselves into early graves. We eat ourselves into early graves. We are tired all the time.
Yet in the face of all that we don’t change. We rarely begin and even more rarely do we continue. So what is up with that? Is it that hard to eat real food, move, and rest?

The simple answer is this: (no, it isn’t squats) it is easy. Are those three things hard? Not really but it is easier to eat crap, sit on your butt and spend endless hours surfing 500 channels on TV or watching cat videos on the computer. We want to take the path of least resistance. We want it to be one pill and the problem is fixed. Sorry to burst your bubble.

There is no magic pill. The path of least resistance is the one that has you sliding, fat, dumb and smiling into the grave. Skipping one night of drinking isn’t going to end your world. Walking up the stairs won’t be the end of the world and you aren’t going to have a heart attack if the TV gets turned off once in a while.

Decide the pleasure is going to be greater than the pain of letting old habits go. The pleasure of being healthy and fit is so much greater than you realize. You will never know how good you could feel since you don’t know how bad you feel now. Your energy levels could double or triple with proper rest, nutrition and exercise. All the little things we lay on the doorstep of getting older could disappear or dissipate by finally implementing those 3 little steps.

Eat Real Food
Move
Rest
Go get some.

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…When was…

The last time you did something for the first time? I heard this phrase yesterday at the start of the Dallas Tough Mudder. It reminded me of the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt…”do something every day that scares you.”

So really…When was the last time you did something for the first time?

I’m waiting…waiting…waiting…been a while hasn’t it? Many of you are taking on new things this fall…eliminating alcohol or sugar for 30 days for instance. Or eating clean or making sure you get to the gym 4 days a week. These things count. They don’t have to be huge, earth shattering things. Just do things you have never done.

Here is the challenge…can you do something for the first time every week for the next 52 weeks? Maybe culminate the 52 weeks with a really big scary thing like sky diving or a marathon or a Tough Mudder?

Getting out of your comfort zone is a habit and a good one to develop. Growth happens outside of your comfort zone. You can’t change and develop into something new using the same thoughts and activities that you used to get where you currently are. You must utilize new thought patterns and do different things and the only way to do that is step out of the box you are living in. The box confines you. The box defines you. The box keeps you safe and secure.

Getting out of the box allows you to become something more, something new, and something that hasn’t existed before. Yet you will still be you. Just a bigger you…a you with the habit of trying new things and new experiences. It’s going to be a little scary, I admit. It’s going to be a little dangerous. Things might go wrong. They might not turn out quite the way you planned. No matter what happens…you will learn things, you will grow, and you might even have a little fun along the way.

You have to try. You have been trying new things all your life. Walking, running, and talking were all new things at one time. We want our kids to try new foods. Maybe you should too? Don’t like eggplant? Find a new recipe and try some. Afraid of running? Of lifting weights? Of what? Why? Fear is unreasonable and usually unfounded on anything in reality. It is usually a reaction to something we anticipate happening…which may never happen.

Go do something you haven’t done before. Brush your teeth with the other hand. Jump off the high dive at the pool. Take a new route on your run. It really doesn’t matter what it is…it will develop the habit of doing new things.

See you out of the box!

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…80/20%

There is an old saying that 20% of your efforts will yield 80% of your results. This is known as Pareto’s principle. This law is probably named after some guy named Pareto who spent a lot of productive time studying other people’s productivity. Sadly this means that you are spending 80% of your time in non-productive pursuits, just spinning your wheels. Most of you already know this and I am not going to re-hash it here.

Last week and many previous weeks we have been talking about food. It is often said if you can be 80% compliant with your eating (and drinking) plan you will be OK. And that is true…if you just want to be ok. But it is in that last 20% where the magic lurks!

You see when you lapse that last 20% your body begins to expect those not so healthy choices to appear and it begins to dial down the optimum response. It is in that last 20% the part where you want to be where you are going to get the results that you really want.

I understand it is hard to stay on the path 100% of the time. But just do this math…if you get 80% of your results in that 20%...the extra effort of just 2% is going to yield massive results in proportion to the effort it takes. Your first 2% gets you very little but your last 2% are going to turn your world upside down.

What are we talking about here? In the course of 1 week you have 7 days of meals…if you are 80% then there will be 4 or 5 meals you will go off course. Instead of 5 “cheats” or not so great choices what would happen if you only had 3 meals like that? That would be an exponential improvement. And how hard would it be? It isn’t going to be any harder to make those choices…after all you are doing it 80% of the time and now those last 2 meals just aren’t that hard. And in those 2 meals you will find results greater than imagined.

We aren’t talking about perfection; we aren’t talking 100% compliance. We are talking about 82-85%. You can do that. You want to do that to have your results go from blah to Boom. Just 2 meals that’s all I am asking for.

One small change for a few weeks, a massive shift in results for your entire life.

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Food (again)

Yesterday the Hydrostatic Fat Testing truck showed up here. Many of us hopped into the tub and got our lean muscle mass measured (notice how I changed the wording on that?) Some people received a rather rude awakening and others a pleasant surprise. Hopefully, the results motivated you in some way to make some changes, especially around what goes on in your kitchen (and what goes in your body).

The problem most of us have is that we look at those changes as being on or off. I am on a diet or not. I am eating clean or not. I am doing Paleo or not. When I am on I am doing what I think I should. This will get you results but it won’t get you permanent results.

Increasing your lean muscle mass (and decreasing your fat %) is not a sometime proposition. It isn’t something that we do once and forget about. Once we get where we want to be we need to maintain it. You don’t fill your car up with gas just once do you? Or change the oil? You maintain your car regularly. You need to maintain your body regularly as well.

Rather than going ON a diet or eating plan, decide you are going to commit to nourishing yourself for life. Rather than just slogging through another 12 week challenge of abnegation and self-denial decide to explore and adjust the way you are eating. You don’t have to be perfect but you do need to learn what works for you and your loved ones. If something doesn’t work you learn what doesn’t work, it isn’t a failure, it is a learning experience.

By using this way of thinking you are deciding to make the effort to integrate your new habits with all of the other parts of your life. If your family always has Pizza on Friday night is there a way to make the pizza better, healthier, or something else? A tradition only becomes a tradition because you make it one. There was a time when you didn’t eat pizza on Friday night. So do something different…your family will still love you!

Find ways to enjoy the journey, embrace your new culinary skills, learn to love your fitness community, find a community that supports your goals rather than thinking fitness is something we do once like putting gas in the car, it is exactly like putting gas in the car…something we must do regularly and often in order to enjoy the life and the body we have been given.

On the concrete side:
Eat more protein
Eat more healthy fat
Eat less refined carbohydrates
Eat real food (all the time!)
I leave you with this:

The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work … He conserves his energy. He prepares his mind for the long haul. He sustains himself with the knowledge that if he can just keep those huskies mushing, sooner or later the sled will pull in to Nome. — Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Get it done

I have written about commitment before. Let’s face it…commitment is hard, held back by the twin demons of finite time and hard work (as in I don’t want to do it.) There is no way to success without commitment. There is no change without commitment. There is no goal that gets achieved without commitment.

Once we have committed to change some things are going to change in order to get what it is I say I want to get. You can’t stop drinking in a bar, starting a diet in an ice cream shop is ill-advised, and becoming fit isn’t going to happen sitting on the couch with your friends. You are going to need to change your environment and your time allocations.

So start with the easy stuff; look around you. Are you surrounded with people who are positive and supportive of your goals? Is your life filled with people who, even if they won’t join you, will be on the sidelines cheering for you? If not you are going to have to fire those people. You need to be in an environment that raises you up, not pulls you down.

When we look at time the mistake so many of us make is to add the new thing. This is a huge error. You need to subtract something to make room for the new things. Trade television watching for your new work out time. We all get 168 hours a week. There are some things you must do…sleep, eat, and work. If you are going to be truly committed you are going to have to take the carving knife out and cut something out to make room for the new ones. Be brutally honest with yourself but there are sacrifices to be made on the way to getting your goal achieved.

Environments are going to need to shift. If it is fitness you are after you need to spend some time in the gym, on the road, in the pool. You can’t avoid it but if you think you are going to knock out a 40 minute workout in the corner bar, you are kidding yourself. You need to create an easy path to success. Clean eating takes planning that is going out the window as soon as you are tired from working a 12 hour shift and that double mocha macchiato with a cupcake calls your name because you failed to prepare a meal in advance. You can’t change by wishing it so, it is going to take planning and making sure you set up an environment of support.

You are going to need to do the work…the down and dirty work. When the alarm goes off, when it is time for class, when practice is scheduled you strap on your grown up pants and go get it done. You need to start. You don’t have to be great or perfect to start but you have to start. It won’t always be fun and sometimes it will suck but you do it in the face of no guarantee of success. You do it because it committed to doing it. You do it because you made the time to do it. You do it because you planned on doing it.

Want success? Be committed. Follow that commitment with a blueprint for making it work. Cut out stuff to make time for new, more important stuff. Set yourself up for success by doing advance planning. Get down in the trenches and do the work.

This will not be easy, there is going to be sacrifice, struggle and pain. It isn’t going to come any other way. But there is no time other than now to begin. Slaughter the unnecessary, slash the time with impunity, create new by removing the old and do the work.

You can beat mediocrity. You can be better. You can change your life. You can change the world.

Namaste

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