Next Chapter!

I wrote this in 2009 for the company newsletter that went out to all our members.  I was looking ahead as I closed a chapter in my work-life at the Competitive Training Center and started a new chapter towards becoming a physical therapist:

If you are fortunate enough to stumble down your life’s path like I do you will or have fallen unexpectedly on some very intriguing topics of study.  Most of my last decade on earth has been seeking out in one way or another how the Human Body functions in athletics and sometimes how it dysfunctions as well.  I truly enjoy this path because of what I have learned and because of the medium through which I learn, very amazing people.  If a painter did not appreciate paint he or she would not stick to painting for very long.  And I would not stick the Human Performance business very long if I didn’t really appreciate all of the people I get to work with everyday.  Thank you all for being my paint.

To press on in my quest to further understand how we physically function and what to do when someone is having challenges in functioning I am pursuing a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.  I am starting back at school part-time for the next 10 months and thusly I will be whittling my time at CTC to Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and the occasional Saturday Kettlebell clinic.  This will commence in mid August. 

Things will probably run smoother in my Tuesday and Thursday absence.  Please shoot me an email to tell me how great the other AP Coaches are doing without me there.  At CTC the adult athletes are seeing remarkable results in their body composition and their general athletic performance.  The Young Guns boys (middle school athlete program) are diligently preparing for 7^th grade Tackle Football and basketball in the winter.  The High School Elite athletes, who are competing in everything from Lacrosse, Volleyball and Wakeboarding are capitalizing on their summer “Offseason” to raise their foundational athleticism.  And the Youth Development (elementary school athlete program) boys and girls are setting the stage for future sports prowess by building the muscle memory for efficient running, powerful jumping and razor-sharp agility skills. 

We greatly value that you have entrusted your physical fitness and athletic performance into our hands.  I encourage you to figure out what it is you want to accomplish and then execute!  We want to help you and be there cheering when you succeed.

Things come to those who wait.  But only things left by those who hustle.

-Abraham Lincoln

Now I have completed my doctorate in physical therapy and it's on to the next chapter.  Below is a pic of a "window" seen from the first day's hike in Big Bend Nat'l Park.  Its a sunrise and the analogy of the image and the beginning of a new pursuit should be obvious.  If you receive updates on this blog there will be more content coming soon.  Keep pursuing strength!

Don't just think it, Ink it!

Check out my friend and former client, professional baseball player, Matt Kata recalling how he used his training journal to get to MLB.

Part 1
http://baseballthinktank.com/inside-the-mind-of-a-ballplayer/

Part 2
http://baseballthinktank.com/inside-the-mind-of-a-ball-player-part-2/

-Writing and performing action in 2013

Not Yet

There are times when friends, family, classmates inquire as to the nature of my pursuit (strength training).  And they ask to what end do I daily toil.  I usually tell them simply that I aim to get stronger (leaving specific objective goals unless I see the spark in their eyes).  And then they sometimes reply that it seems I have arrived at that goal.  To which I respond, "I am not there.  Not yet."

Get Stronger,
MG


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF9C3cklVIQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAuzCjipF00&playnext=1&list=PLC2C80DD5CD50C8D4&feature=results_video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBh-OS7gSr8

Fathers, Gun Control and the Pursuit of Athleticism: Part 2

I strongly believe that the vast-reaching, positive changes occur due to a significant shift of the individual’s locus of control.  Someone’s locus of control is their deep-seated perspective of how events unfold, whether life is happening all around them or the individual actively has control over daily events via choices.  If an individual believes that “It is what it is and there’s nothing I can do to change it,” they are said to have an external locus of control.  If someone wakes each day deciding how he or she should or could affect the events that will transpire they are said to own an internal locus of control.  The baseball players that recently pushed themselves on a regular basis to cover ground faster than they did the previous week consciously or unconsciously connected the dots.  “If I consistently put in some sweat and concentration towards this goal and I succeeded, then I can probably improve other things through similar means.” 

Physical strength is defined as the ability to exert force on an object in order to move it a measurable distance.  If you remember your Physics 101 this reads as Work = Force x Distance.  If the object doesn’t move no work was done.  For my baseball athletes, they learn to move kettlebells, barbells, dumbbells and medicine balls, as well as their own bodies from point A to point B (at top-end effort).  Ergo, psychological strength could be defined as the ability to affect change on a circumstance.  If the circumstance did not change, then no mental work was done.

Today boys and young men are starving for this type of strength and they need to learn it and then work it out.  They need to exercise their psychological abilities.  While I understand and lean towards physical training as a means of learning mental strength there are plenty of other ways to skin the cat.  If a young man is interested in computers he should solve the problem of building a CPU from scratch.  If a young man enjoys music encourage him to master the guitar or drums.  Whatever the path, it should be challenging and relative mastery should be the goal.  Simply "trying" a sport or other skill-based activity is not adequate.  When a young man learns he possesses the power of intention and follow through, eagerness and confidence grow towards the rest of his life.  

Some foundational questions in a young man’s soul get answered when he learns of his mental strength:

• Can I come through in a pinch?   
• Am I equipped to handle the inevitable challenges of life?  
• Is my confidence merely posturing or indicative of real strength?  
•  Can I walk or am I just all talk?

Answers to these inevitable questions can only be truthfully found in the crucible of a challenge.  A challenge is the opportunity to meet, exceed or fail to meet the demands of a given task.  Those three outcomes (meet, exceed, fail) all provide feedback.And therefore they are all valuable to the young man.  Who is the most attentive student in the karate class on Tuesday night?  It's the 12 year old who got his nose bloodied last week by a larger neighborhood kid.  Failure is extremely valuable.  I should not need to explain the atrocity of giving all participants a trophy at the end of little league baseball season.

"Well, that's a great idea Matt, but what about the teenager you wrote about last week, who had a lack of motivation to do much of anything?"  Glad you asked.  Tune in next week for Fathers, Gun Control and the Pursuit of Athleticism: Part 3.

-Pursue Strength

Fathers, Gun Control and the Pursuit of Athleticism: Part 1

Just over a month has passed since one of the most horrific events that has taken place on our nation’s soil and I pause to think about how the heartfelt words of two athlete’s parents apply to current events and opportunities that are right in front of our faces.  Juxtaposed to the cacophony of opinions, misguided executive orders and general fear boiling over in the collective conscience of America stands our sons, grandsons, our neighbors sons, our nephews, our little cousins that most likely “surprised” our aunt and uncle.  These boys and their strength, or lack there of are the prime ingredient to the betterment of our nation.

At a Christmas (not “holiday” or “winter break”) party I enjoyed getting to reconnect with old friends that have moved away and neighbors I had not seen since I lived with my parents.  While there was a distance to be closed in order to catch up with many of these folks I found that through my parents and siblings I had kept up some kind of knowledge of where the people were in there lives.  At least enough to get the conversation ball rolling.  One neighbor in particular, who had moved to Houston with his wife and her children, mentioned that he was having a bit of a challenge motivating his adolescent step-son to do “anything” with his free time worthy of the verb, DO. This piqued my interest because I considered the past neighbor to be an upright man who had served in law enforcement and through correspondence with my father would be someone I would turn to with this type of challenge.

“I remember being pretty worthless at times as a teenager,” I offered up.  The neighbor questioned, “but when did the light bulb come on for you?  You went to college and earned a athletic scholarship, you don’t do that sitting around, playing video games.”  Choosing to compete in NCAA track and field is a difficult transition of mindset to describe to others, not because I don’t remember what I was thinking twelve years ago, but because I keenly remember that I resisted actively making the decision to DO something with myself.  I believe my dad saw that I was mentally backing down, going into a retreat, and he firmly warned me that it was a great opportunity and that I would regret not taking it.

I remember feeling a pull towards the opportunities before me, but at the same time weighing out the time commitment and the struggle that I knew those opportunities entailed.  I felt that because it was going to be challenging that it was the right thing to do.  I do remember dwelling on the idea that I enjoyed putting in work and seeing my race performances improve.  That cause and effect was the carrot tied to the stick for me.

Fast forward another month and we are into the New Year, 2013.  Baseball season is coming soon and a small group of high school baseball players are hoping to improve their strength and speed.  These young men consistently attend my biweekly training sessions, working to shave tenths of seconds from their 60-yard sprint time and add ounces of muscle to their frames.  Through witnessing their weekly investment of time and effort since late November I can appreciate their sincere love for baseball and their desire to improve themselves. 

After 6 weeks of training, which happened to be when the athletes re-tested in their 60yd sprint (ALL of them dropped 0.5 seconds or more off of their times) a mother of one athlete commented on how the training produced positive changes in her son other than the obvious physiological gains.  While I enjoy hearing from parents of my athletes for confirming home adherence to the nutritional guidelines and the sound sleeping patterns, I simply like to see parental involvement in general.  The mother’s words of praise led me to map out the path of carryover from strength and speed training to seemingly unrelated areas…

Check out PursueStrength.blogspot.com next week for Fathers, Gun Control and the Pursuit of Athleticism: Part 2