Sunday Story…Get Discomfortable

Once upon a time, not so long ago, in a place not so very far away I used to smoke and drink (a lot) and eat lots of not so good food. I was in my middle thirties, had the standard extra 25 pounds and thought I was in OK shape since I could still move a few bales of hay around (if there weren’t too many and they weren’t too heavy) to feed the critters.

Somewhere around this time I started TaeKwon-Do training and then into the gym. This started the journey that has had lots of pit stops on the way including a 6th place finish at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit games. The journey isn’t over. But my point today isn’t the training. My point today is change…transformation.

You can change. You can transform. Your future does not have to be the same as your past. But you can’t change or transform without discomfort. You can’t do the same thing and expect different results. If you are perfectly happy where you are you can just keep on keeping on. But if you want to make change you are going to get comfortable with discomfort.

If you want to be in better physical condition doing 20 minutes on the treadmill at 60% of your maximum heart rate is only a start if you haven’t done anything at all. After about 3 months of that something is going to have to shift if you want more results. You will need to get your heart rate up higher. You will need to run faster or longer. If you want to get stronger you are going to have to pick up heavier weights. You will never get stronger using the same light weights week in and week out. You don’t have to believe me…just look at some of your friends who have been going to the gym for years with little to no change. Still overweight, still on medication, still sick and tired, still no change…they aren’t going backwards but they aren’t moving forward just like that treadmill or stationary bike isn’t going anywhere. They aren’t showing up to work out with a goal in mind…an endpoint.

When I start a workout I have a place I want to end up…and yes, that is usually on the floor in a puddle of my own sweat. After a year of training I want to be better than I was a year ago…stronger, faster, and fitter than when I started. Maybe there is a point where the gains are harder to get, the personal records are further apart and fitness gets measured in smaller increments but there is no reason I can’t be better tomorrow than I am today.

Change is hard. Change is uncomfortable. If it was easy everyone would do it. Most people are not willing to get discomfortable enough or long enough to get what they truly want and deserve.

Embrace discomfort, enjoy the journey!

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

Most to you? Stop and ask yourself this question. Do it now and do it often. Is what you are doing right now what you should be doing according to what you think will matter?

What we do on a day to day basis is rarely what will really matter. The time we spend away from our purpose, away from our true calling is time we can never get back. And it is easy to get off track. There are so many distractions in our modern world. It’s time to set those things aside and decide what is meaningful to you and your life. There are so many things you could choose…Family, Friends, Health, leaving a legacy, or ? Write those things down as they come to your mind and let’s focus on those things.

The fact of the matter is it will all come to an end and maybe sooner than you think. There is no guarantee on the number of your days you have left. I will leave you with this quote from Michael Josephson of the Josephson Institute:

“What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories,
but the memories that live in those who loved you.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.”

It’s up to you to determine what matters most to you. Figure it out and then get after it!

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story...Make your Bed

As a child my mother insisted we make our beds. It was a chore we were expected to do every day. My young self thought it was stupid…after all, you are just going to get back in it in a few hours, right? It turns out my mother was right (wasn’t she always!) But I never really figured out why until recently.

Today, every morning, I make my bed. It is one of the first things I do after arising. You should as well. Here’s why.

It isn’t an “I told you so thing”. Making your bed serves several purposes:

1. You make sure you accomplish at least one thing every day. The bed is made. You can check that one off your list. No matter what else happens the rest of the day you got at least one thing done.

2. You have taken control of your environment. We can’t do anything about the weather or climate change or the seasons but this part of my environment I can control. No matter how old you are you can make your bed.

3. It tells your inner self that you are important and valued. This is the most important reason. You got something done, you took control, but most importantly you say to yourself: “I am important and having my inner sanctum, the place where I spend so many hours of my life, the place where I expect my body to heal and rejuvenate, is important enough to keep neat and orderly. This place deserves my respect and I honor it in this simplest of ways."

Let’s be honest how long does making your bed really take? If it takes me 5 minutes, I probably wasted 3 of them. It never takes me very long. It is a task I can’t fail at unless I just don’t do it. And, when I go to bed in the evening, my space is neat and orderly. My sleep can be deep and restful as my inner self has been respected and honored.

Make your bed. It’s important.

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…do as I say

Not as I do.

A woman brought her son to Mahatma Gandhi and asked him to tell the boy (who was eating way too much sugar) to stop eating sugar. Gandhi told her to come back in a week. When she returned a week later, he looked at the boy and told him “stop eating sugar.” The mother, puzzled, asked Gandhi why he she had to bring the boy back a week later…why not just tell him to stop eating sugar the week before? Gandhi replied, “I had to stop eating sugar myself first.”

Lots of us are guilty of this…telling someone to do something we aren’t willing to do ourselves. We do it with our children a lot. If the advice you are giving is so good for someone else, doesn’t it apply to you as well? Granted, there are some exceptions but if you are going to tell me to not drink alcohol and you are still drinking it yourself aren’t you caught on the horns of a dilemma?

Recently I wrote about 5 magic bullets surrounding nutrition. One of those “bullets” was telling you to chew your food…as a matter of fact to chew it so long as to liquefy the food in your mouth. Put the fork or spoon down and chew your food mindfully and completely. After writing that very good advice I realized that I don’t do that myself. I find myself guilty of giving good advice and not following it.

But how hard is it really? Just chew your food. I mean you have been doing it for years; you should be pretty good at it by now. But most of us chew our food while we are loading the fork up for the next bite. And then we just chomp down a couple of times without really thinking and go on to the next bite.

This robs the process in a couple of ways…digestion starts in your mouth and with poorly chewed food your stomach and the rest of your system has to work harder; valuable nutrients are not released and lost as the process gets compromised thus the great organic food you are eating is no longer as valuable; and maybe most importantly, you have lost your connection to what you are really doing which is feeding your body with great food prepared well.

So I started chewing my food more mindfully. It takes longer on side of the equation but I get much fuller sooner. So I eat less. I think about what I am eating and all the gifts that food is providing. Honestly, however, I don’t always remember. Old habits are hard to break and it is harder to teach an old dog new tricks.

Here is my challenge to you. Do it for one meal a day. If that shows up as too hard do it for the first bite of each thing on your plate. Load your fork and chew it completely replacing the fork empty while you chew…just one bite, you can do that. I can and I did.

These things matter. Mindfulness is a habit to cultivate throughout our lives. Give it a shot. You will be pleasantly surprised…I was.

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

To the 2015 CrossFit Games has ended for me. It ended early this year, earlier than I really wanted, but the journey is at an end. I ended the Master’s qualifier in 27th place worldwide which was 7 places and 34 points out of the top 20.

This has been a tough year. After two years of training that resulted in a #6 finish in 2014 and two years of relatively injury-free training this past year has been injury riddled. These injuries can be laid on a number of doorsteps. The worst was purely accidental…tripping while handstand walking that resulted in a spiral oblique fracture on my right hand…on January 11th. Oh well…that sort of thing happens. I put most of these problems on a couple of factors under my control…I didn’t rest after the games last year. I came home fired up to really kill it in 2015 and my body rebelled. I lost focus on my diet. I lost focus on my sleep as well. These two areas are being re-tooled as I write. And due to the injuries I have no choice but to rest.

Next week I will be re-setting goals and creating a plan with my Coach for continued progress and next year’s campaign.

There are some people who I need to acknowledge and Thank for their help and support over the last year.

First, my partner Ellie McKenzie…She has been walking this journey with me every step of the way. And she has had to put up with my bad moods and cranky nature way more than anyone should. I know it’s hard to believe but I am a little difficult to deal with when I am hurt. Ellie…Thank You so much. Your love and perseverance got me here and keeps me here in the game.

Second, the CrossFit Odyssey community…I have been blessed with some of the greatest people in the world here in our box. You support me in ways I never thought possible. Even though my results were not what I wanted I still feel successful and loved. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

Third, my coach Tino Marini and the entire team at CrossFit Invictus. I know I am pig headed and don’t always listen the way I should but with your continued guidance and gentle (ha-ha) insistence I am getting better!

Fourth, my sponsors, KinetikChain…Drs. Clayton Hall, Landon Webster, and Ed Le Cara who have managed to keep my broken body on the playing field at my insistence, Joan Gould (and Loren Bertocci), Proanox and Bio-complete who have kept me in “PR” juice all year and Box Command the software guys that power the good ship Odyssey.

Fifth, CF masters, J.D. and Tigers Den CrossFit, CrossFit Dallas Central and the entire Dallas CrossFit community…without all of you this thing just wouldn’t be any fun at all!

You have seen this quote before but it really is true and never more so than now:
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Postures of Defeat

You’ve seen it numerous times…head down between the knees, hand on the thighs or cupping the face, struggling for breath, and maybe with tremors running throughout the entire body. Maybe it’s on the knees, face in the hands or seated with the head cradled in the arms of flat on your back gasping for air and rolling around in pain. They all symbolize the same thing…beaten. Beaten down by an opponent whether live and in person or by a work out or something else. Beaten.

When we assume the posture of defeat we are telling our mind, body, and spirit that we have been beaten, that our opponent has gotten the best of us, even if that opponent is just a workout. We often find ourselves in this position by default. It feels good, I will just get a couple of breaths and get back after it but you never come back with quite the zeal you had before. Somewhere in your psyche you have admitted defeat even if you don’t think you have.

And when you next face that opponent or that workout somewhere in the back of your mind will be a nagging doubt, a residual knowledge that this opponent owns you and not the other way around.

Even if the score board says you didn’t win, even if the white board lists you lower you must never assume the posture of defeat. That’s right…Never. You must always stand tall, breathing deeply, eyes forward and posture erect. You must tell your psyche that you win…always. The scoreboard only reflects the outcome of today’s contest, not whether you are a winner or loser. Losers assume the posture of defeat. Winners assume the posture of strength…unbowed, unconquerable, undefeated…every time.

Find your posture of defeat and eliminate it. Cut it out like a cancer…it is costing you points every time you go there. Points your psyche needs to win this time and every time. And thanks to C.J. Martin of Invictus for pointing this out and hammering the point home!

Get out and win. Or at least look like you won. It matters.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Nutrition and the 5 Magic Bullets

Let’s be honest…we all want the magic bullet, the magic pill. We want that one thing we can do that will melt fat, build muscle, and improve performance.

Last weekend I had the pleasure and privilege to attend the Invictus Athlete’s camp. We were coached by some of the best in the CrossFit world, led by C.J. Martin whose vision has created CrossFit Invictus. C.J. has coached some of the best athletes in the CrossFit world including the 2014 Team Champions, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet the 2014 fittest woman, and Josh Bridges the 4th fittest man in 2014. I have been a remote coaching client for over 2 years and lay my success firmly on the programming C.J. and his team have provided.

Here are the 5 magic bullets C.J. gave us for success around our nutrition programs. Notice only one of them is what we would consider “traditional” nutritional advice.

#1 Eat a high nutrient density diet. This is best defined as follows: eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that support exercise but not body fat. This phrase comes from Gregg Glassman’s world class fitness in 100 words quote. If you are not eating this way all the supplements, all the proteins powders, all the tricks won’t help. This is the bottom rung of the ladder. If you don’t do this you will have a really hard time climbing very far.

#2 Chew your Food. Put your fork down between bites. Chew all the food in your mouth into a liquefied state before you pick up the fork again. I would add that you should be “mindful” during this process. In other words you are eating not texting or watching TV. This will make sure all the nutrients in the great diet you are consuming are available to your digestive tract.

#3 Hydrate. Drink water and maybe some electrolytes. If your urine isn’t almost clear all the time you are not drinking enough. Simple, not easy.

#4 Get Quiet. Take 5 -10 minutes every day in uninterrupted quiet time. Meditate, be silent, listen to the rocks move…whatever you want to call it just get into your head to get out of your head and let all the chatter fall away.

#5 Sleep. 7-9 hours every night in a dark, quiet, cool room. 7 is the bare minimum for an athlete and 9 is better. Set up a ritual before retiring that does not include electronics or other mental stimulation. Kill two birds with one stone and do your 10 minutes of quiet time before you retire.

There you have it. 5 magic bullets some of the best athletes in the world are using to maintain performance, keep energy levels up and look good doing it. Thanks C.J.!

If you need some help, call me!

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