I read an article that was provided in one of my recent seminars called “A path with a Heart”, here are a couple portions of the article to ponder;

“Your central issue is a life worth living.  The test is how you feel each day as you anticipate that day’s experience.  The same test is the best predictor of health and longevity.”

“We have been brought up to live by rules that mostly have nothing to do with making our lives worth living, some of them are in fact guaranteed not to.  Many of our institutions and traditions introduce cultural distortions into our vision, provide us with beliefs and definitions that don’t work, distract us from the task of building lives that are fully worth living and persuade us that other things are more important”

“Adults distinguish between work and play.  Work is something you have to be “compensated” for because it robs you of living.  Play is something you usually have to pay for because it is often someone else’s work.  Children have been taught these distinctions carefully, for they make no sense to anyone whose life is fully worth living.  as one philosopher put it:

A master in the art of living  draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body. his education and his recreation.  he scarcely knows which is which.  He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing.  To himself he always seems to be doing both.”

Th efull articel can be found here - and I think it is worth a read.

“Hey man it could be worse”

800m run @ 92-95% - rest 3 min
4 rounds

- 800m runs - maintain runs to within 3-5 sec of each other - learn to pace.  The street is sure to be muddy so we will run on Duchess tomorrow (in front of the gym) - come prepared with appropriate clothing depending on your class time.

** Thoughts on the snowball effect of our thinking;

“A powerful technique to becoming more peaceful is to be aware of how quickly your negative and insecure thinking can spiral out of control.  Have you ever noticed how uptight you feel when you’re caught up in your thinking? And, to top it off, the more absorbed you get int he details of whatever is upsetting you, the worse you feel.  One thought leads to another and yet another, until at some point, you become incredibly agitated.”

An example of this is wakign up int he middel of the night with a thought of task you need to do or remember for the next day.  This one thought then explodes like a bomb that ends in you wondering if the tasks and to-do’s have will eber stop and if you will ever find peace.

“The solution is to notice what’s happening in your head before your thoughts have a chance to build any momentum.  The sooner you catch yourself int he act of building your mental snowball, the easier it is to stop.  Instead of obsessing on your upcoming day, you say to yourself  “Whew, there I go again,” and consciously nip it int eh bud.  You stop your train of thought before it has a chance to get going.” - Richard Carlson, Ph. D

You can then focus, not on how overwhelmed you are, but how grateful you are to have remembered the task for the next day.  You might even consider a pen and paper on your night stand to write down your thoughts when they come to allow you to get back to the task you were on (sleeping).

Please watch this video as it will change your perspective - Nick Vujicic has a message that all need to hear.

Visit Nick’s blog here.

Kaizen principle:

Borrowing from Japanese philosophy, this itty-bitty and usually overlooked principle can help  you begin seeing gains every workout!

“Anyone who has has been training for along time eventually reaches a point of diminishing returns, making it difficult to produce even a five pound increase in a particular exercise.  Although the increase is only five pounds, it’s still too much.  The problem is even more pronounced - and frustrating with exercises that use smaller weights (ext rot).”

“in the Japanese language the word Kaizen means “constant and never-ending improvement”.  This word is used in all aspects of Japanese life, whether it is in relationships, learning judo, or improving the balance of trade.  The point here is that the Japanese look for constant and gradual improvement.  The Japanese believe that very small refinements made on a daily basis will compound with interest to bring about in the long run progress that most people will envy.  Interestingly, there is no equivalent in English for the word Kaizen.”

” Applying the Kaizen method to weight training means that instead of making a jump of five pounds, you can make an even smaller jump (such as by just one pound).  this makes the weight both physiologically and psychologically easier to handle.  Imagine if you could increase the weight for reps by half a pound a week - in one year that would be a 26 pound gain!  Gets you psyched, doesn’t it?” - Charles Poliquin

I speak of this in class often so think about it next time you are facing a heavy press or a DB ext rotation, maybe 1 pound is something to cheer about or one extra rep. 

Go get ‘em Milo.

I was almost late getting to the gym to teach the noon hour class and I did not even care….why?

..because I was having an awesome day.

I was listening to John Gormleyand he was speaking to Neil Pasricha the creator of the blog “1000 awesome things“.  This is a blog created to take note and reflect on all of all the awesome things in life that we do not usually stop and think about, the more they talked the more excited I got.  I was so excited that I rushed to the book store to get my own copy of the new book “The book of awesome” only to find out that it was not on shelves yet.  This is why I was almost late for class, but I did not care because I was so happy with all the awesomeness that surrounded me.  John and Neil spoke of babies first smiles, freshly zambonied ice, the cold beer, a perfect golf shot, etc.  I started thinking of all my favourite things and the one that came to mind was Roachie, when I leave Roach kenneled for any amount of time (5min-5 hours), it does not seem to matter how long he greets me with such enthusiasm and love that I think I should lock him up again just to let him out of his kennel to be greeted one more time.  Simple things in life can make the biggest differences, a slobbery smack on the face of a young puppy, a smile from a stranger on the street, fresh fallen rain, the first snow fall or perfectly grilled steak - all of these things are great and make life worth living.  I was very happy today to have heard the conversation on the radio and brought that happiness to the gym, where we discussed awesomeness and what it meant.  Some thought playing hooky to go golfing (Keith), having the one task you hate most at work taken off your shoulders (Brooke), waiting for a call from your wife who is expecting child birth at any moment (Knibbsy), or simply loving the clear skies and sunshine (CamJam) was awesome.  It does not matter what is awesome as long as it is awesome to you!

Sorry if i am rambling, but I am still living high off awesomeness from the energy filled noon hour class.

I also brought out one of my favourite books (it is a picture book mostly) “Guardians of being - Eckart Tolle, and showed the class a few great pics of animals and their ability to just ”be”.

Waht is your favurite thing?

These may be a few of my favourite things;

1. Greeting from Roach

2. A gym filled with energetic, ready to get at it people.

3. Women who think being strong and healthy is sexy.

4. Sundays after class, when everyone is goene I get a moment to sit back and just ”be with the gym” - a little piece of heaven.

5. A freshly made bed

6. A new bar of soap

Like I said it does not matter what is awesome, but if it is truly awesome to you.

 - have a good day all!

Chaddy “Peace, Love and Harmony” B