The Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

What strong emotions run through the veins of competitors!! Whether winning or losing, emotions run wild. There is fire inside those who give their best, regardless of the results. Anyone who watched the Olympics over the past few weeks surely saw some favored athletes falter and some long shots take home medals. Nothing is for sure.

I remember the exact circumstances when I first read the above words by Teddy Roosevelt. It was posted for all to see by our unit commander after a few of us team members returned from a poor showing at a state SWAT team competition.

I was one of a handful representing our unit in the competition. As first-timers in the multi-day challenge, we had no idea what to expect other than it would surely be a test of firearm skills, physical fitness, teamwork, and mental stability. We were right. It was a test of all those things. And we failed! We left imagining how we let down our brothers who were at home across the State.

Upon our return to town, we discovered our then-commander had posted this passage by Roosevelt. It completely turned my sense of melancholy, embarrassment, and failure. I instead returned to a focused and mission-driven state of motivation, stronger than before the competition. I told myself I would never accept myself to sulk in the sorrow of a loser, nor would I allow my apprehension keep me from participating again. Several of us competitors committed to return the next year. We trained with an intensity that could not be outdone. We returned and won FIRST place! And repeated in the following years!

One of our teammates uses a phrase that summarizes the vulnerablity of competitors: "putting yourself out there." It means that when someone accepts a challenge subjecting themselves to a stopwatch, a panel of judges, a hit/miss target, or any sort of challenge, that person presents him/herself for all to see. As if on stage or television, results are published for all to Monday morning quarterback. And there will surely be critcal judgements if the performance is not flawless. This teammate of ours puts a lot of stock in those who "put themselves out there." To him, it's a peek into that person's character....one of confidence, dare, effort, challenge, preparation, and resilience.

I have learned worthy lessons at both ends: Victory and Defeat. I'm not sure anyone can ever say I'm a cold and timid soul. I might be called slow, weak, uncoordinated, or a failure, but never one who shuns a good competition. My phone always rings when someone is looking for a partner for TREVOR, MALTZ, MURPH, 300, half marathon, adventure race, I.D.P.A. match, 100 Day Burpee Challenge, or whatever crazy event is going on. Sometimes we win; sometimes we lose. But we always go home knowing we each did the absolute best we could!

I guess I love jumping into the arena and "spending myself in a worthy cause."

What's your arena?

Luxury versus Survival (Part 3)

Now look at some mental issues:

Mental

Two bare-bones modern mental tasks are reading and writing. Even in these two arenas, the path of least resistance tends to be taken. Instead of educational books and articles, the most popular reading materials have become daily and weekly publications profiling the scandalous lives of celebrities. This is an unhealthy practice that entertains purely for pleasure. Reading for nourishment is seen as boring and technical. Not only does reading filth rob one of time to read something more productive, but it also pollutes the mind. Reading trash is not neutral...it is NEGATIVE!! An opportunity to learn something that could help down the road has been wasted!! Even most self-help books are about "feeling good," not BEING good...another example of how society says it's okay to be mediocre. Why? Because it's too damn hard to be good.

The historic art of letter writing has deteriorated into sloppy emails and instant messaging. Educational television shows have taken a backseat to mindless reality shows focusing on the undignified lives of others. There is a consensus that educational, worthwhile television shows are boring and call for thought. They require the watcher to actually involve themselves into the show instead of merely being entertained. Oh my!

One survival skill losing the battle to technology is navigation. Whether called orienteering, compass-reading, or LandNav, the skill is fading into the shadows of GPS units. The technology of GPS is a wonder. It gives real-time feedback, course-plotting, and exacting pinpointing of position. However, it is so relied upon, motorists feel "lost" without it. A motorist or hiker no longer has to determine North, South, East, or West....that is until the batteries die out. Then panic sets in. The luxury has been taken away. And without the skills of a navigator, one finds himself truly LOST.

The above photo is of two Sloppy Hogs during a day-long adventure race. The photographer captured the pinpoint focus of the racer....chin up and looking ahead as if finding another waypoint in the distance (the embodiment of a great navigator...confidently resolved to his current position and concentrating on the horizon). Adventure racing demands participants be in peak endurance shape, but also be competent at orienteering skills. A team of Olympic-caliber athletes will crumble if they cannot navigate themselves through the unmarked course or find the hidden checkpoints. Conversely, a moderately physically fit team with elite compass and map skills can make up ground with little effort. Adventure racing is a great survival challenge because it demands MENTAL fortitude as well as physical fitness.

This is a skill is rarely taught outside Boy Scouts or the military. Not many outside the "survivalist" movement can read a topographical map, match terrain features, strike an azimuth, determine position by resection, or plot a course. With the mass availability of GPS, these skills are dying. This is a perfect example of how maintaining the mental skills of LandNav are critical to survival....not only in the back-country of Nowhere USA, but navigating through the urbanized cities of today. Folks who KNOW the ins and outs of the antiquated compass and map system understand the math and geometry behind it. It's hard to argue against having these all-to-neglected abilities. Are the skills necessary to modern life? If there was a randomly-chosen life challenge or hardship, who is more attractive to have as a partner? The navigator, or the guy who can't even fold the map?

Reliance on GPS can be lumped together with an over-dependence on calculators, palm computers, and spellcheckers. The technology is fast and convenient, but allows most users to forget the basic skills hidden inside the circuitry. What would one do without them? Could one solve the problem WITHOUT the technology?

100 Day Burpee Challenge: Day 25

After 25 days I can see this is going to get more and more difficult, more quickly than I originally thought. According to Ann M's schedule, we've done 325 total burpees, with a remaining balance of 4725!! Now for the math:

We are 25% done with regards to number of days.

We are only 6.8% done with the work.

This is a little depressing. I keep reminding myself that as each day dawns, I take a bigger bite outta the cookie. But still...to balance this with half marathon and adventure race training, it's more than mildly affecting my training and REST schedule.

Tomorrow: 26.

Wednesday: 27.

Luxury versus Survival (Part 2)

Examine the bookends:

LUXURY
Extravagance
Impulsiveness
Comfort
Pickiness
Indulgence
Pampering
Spoiling
Entitlement
Blue-Blood
Rigidity
Bourgeois
Permissiveness

SURVIVAL
Self-denial
Restraint
Discipline
Moderation
Frugality
Restriction
Deprivation
Endurance
Hunter-Gatherer
Tolerance
Resilience
Adaptation

This is not a charge against all things comfortable. It is about practicing the all too neglected ways of the survivalist…in body, mind, and spirit....physical, mental, emotional. This is a return to those simple little childhood lessons. First, physical:

Physical

Of course most people see surviving as sustaining life during an extreme hardship. There are tales of shipwreck, avalanche, and disaster “survivors.” But the same term can be used to describe a marathon or triathlon performance….”I barely survived the race. It was grueling.” Enduring volunteered physical hardship is the most common sort of survival for most Americans. Multi-day hikes and mountain climbing are two such events. Survival can also be seen as something much less dramatic, such as being able to live an active life as an elder or withstand sickness, illness, and injury.

Physical fitness is another avenue of survival. If the challenge to life so happens to be a physical one, who is ready? The one who has conditioned his/her body on a regular basis in the gym or on the track? Or the one who prefers to sleep in late? Physical survival hinges on an ability to perform and endure. Joking about drinking beer or smoking cigarettes rather than lifting weights or running is a testament to how popular culture is split on how important physical fitness is to life. Again, the path of least resistance seeps in. No pain, No survival!

Imagine that only three generations ago inside the United States, it was commonplace for coal-fired home furnaces and boilers, and air conditioning was but a pipe dream. People simply adapted to their environment. This is not the case today. It’s not even an option to buy an automobile without air conditioning! If someone’s home or apartment doesn’t have cooled air in the summer, they are immediately pitied and labeled as destitute. For most, the perfect indoor climate is only a thermostat adjustment away. During a day or week when the air conditioning or heating goes out, who is more able to withstand the variances? The one who as been accustomed to absolute comfort, or the one who has been doing without already?

Does anyone think World War II veterans ever imagined the day when people would buy bottled water? Or pay $5 for a cup of fancy coffee? These modern trends are turning Americans into snobs, turning their heads at any food or drink that is not up to the lofty standards set by contemporary culture. At the dinner table, absent are the meals of meat, starch, vegetables, and bread, replaced by what tastes best. Dinners now consist of hydrating or reheating packaged and preprocessed foods. The modern family dinner is the perfect example of how wants (tastes) have triumphed over needs (nutritional requirements). Does anyone think a WWII veteran would ever expect something “purer” than tap water? Of course not. Yet current culture constantly witnesses its members turn up their noses at water that comes out of a sink faucet rather than a sealed plastic bottle. This snobbishness is cultivating a weakness….inability to drink water that has the slightest taste or odor.

Lastly, our modern culture has been charged with being over-medicated... being prescribed drugs for any and all ailments and sicknesses. Gone are the days of chicken soup and a good night's rest. It seems that medicine has surfaced as the first and only remedy for even the slightest of physical (and now mental and emotional) issues. This over-medication has been identified as a cause of weakened immune systems...creating an even bigger problem than before.

These are just some of physical aspects of how fitness and nutrition have been altered in recent generations. It’s plain to see that modern luxuries are weakening the survivability of the human race. Hardship is more difficult to endure when the disparity among daily routine and the disaster is such a leap!

Team IronCop shirts - version 2

I have a limited supply of the new Team IronCop shirts. (Click here for the post on the fancier design shirts.) The new shirts are royal blue loose fitting moisture-wicking short-sleeve t-shirts. The screening is is gray. The "Team IronCop in Pursuit" is across the front, and the wild pig is on the back. Same awesome design!!! The photos don't display the actual color. The flash has washed out the darker royal blue, and makes it look lighter than it really is.

Soon-to-be-IronMan Joe G from down in Champaign, IL, tells me he still has some of the original multi-colored triathlon and biking shirts on hand. He's also going to send me some multi-colored loose fitting t-shirts (similar to the original color scheme). Email me if you'd still like one of these specialty shirts.

Cost of the royal blue shirts is a very reasonable $20. Cash only. The sizing I have on hand this minute is:

one L

zero XL

three XXL

Email me, or post a comment to this post to get your IronCop shirt!

Luxury versus Survival (Part 1)

At one end of the spectrum, there are folks who shower themselves with all the luxuries of life. At the other end live those who practice an existence focused around survival. Most people, if asked, would identify themselves somewhere in the middle of these polar opposites. Unfortunately, many who see themselves as disciplined with a life of moderation tend to fade with the tide into that gluttonous world of empty impulsiveness.

Age old truths still run strong. Basic fundamentals learned in childhood must be reinforced. At young ages, children learn some simple lessons:

-Life is not fair. Good is not always rewarded; bad is not always punished.
-The difference between Wants and Needs is not a black-and-white distinction.
-There’s not always someone next to you holding your hand.
-The path of least resistance rarely takes you to your destination.

Parents of every generation want their children to live better lives than they themselves did. While on the surface that’s a sentiment of selflessness, that slippery slope might be a path to spoil. Children need to hear “No.” The best gifts to ensure “the better life” are not tangible items. They are instead a proper skill set, attitude, mindset, and education on how to appreciate life’s fortunes and how to overcome its obstacles and challenges. Children showered with modern luxuries are cheated out of some of these basic truths, and robbed of opportunities to overcome stress and hardship.

“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”

The man who is gifted a fish will go hungry tomorrow. On the flip side, being forced to learn how to contend with his hunger by learning to help himself allows him to survive! We can change the above excerpt to fit into today’s culture. Not many people fish for food anymore. Making dinner and desserts from scratch is dying alongside a previous generation. Now of course in modern culture it’s not reasonable to ignore some basic fundamental comforts such as running water or canned foods. Overindulgence in extravagance breeds long term impotence.

Reliance on luxuries breeds weakness and inadaptability. Likewise, practicing survival skills and living a life of reasonable self-denial increases one’s chances of enduring hardships.

So, are you luxuriously surviving? Or surviving luxury? Stick with this series.

Repost: Renaissance Men (and Women)

Sorry for the lack of recent postings. I'm diligently writing a series of posts that's taking a bit longer than I had originally estimated. This is a slightly-editted repost of the very first post on the Trinity Training Group. It fits quite well with the current series I've been working on about the antagonistic views of Luxury and Survival. Without giving ourselves the opportunities to learn and better ourselves, there will be no advancement. If we settle for our current physical fitness levels, is it good enough for the challenges that suddenly arise? Who among us has the willpower or determination to continue to educate ourselves beyond the classroom? Is the only time we think of religion or spirituality on Sundays or when we need help? It is a constant "fertilizing" of our bodies that allows us to reach full potential.

It takes a special commitment to begin down the Road to Renassaince. It requires a decision to exercise, read, write, pray, inspect, discuss, practice, think, learn, focus, share, and examine. And with all this extra duty, one must begin to rid life of unnecessary excesses and wasteful habits. Limited are the days of watching mindless TV, gossip, sleeping, gambing, sport drinking, and whining. It's been a rough road...difficult to ignore the temptations of luxury, the easy life, and being entertained. And just as hard to keep up with all the positive practices!

Check back often. I hope to have a part or two up within the next few days. Lou

A rebirth of personal excellence here in 2008? Sounds somewhat odd, doesn't it? We live in an age of dodging obstacles and taking the paths of least resistance. The most popular current self-help resources are those that inflict the least personal pain...diets with no hunger, workouts with no soreness, and religion with no guilt. But going back to Eurpoe a half-millenia ago, quite the opposite was occurring. The Renaissance was in full swing. It was a cultural shift that brought us advances in art, science, and religion. Scholars and artists led the charge to be the best they could be as whatever cost.

We at Trinity Training Group are asking the same today...a "personal Renaissance." When we enrich our Minds, Bodies, and Spirits, we see great benefits. Imagine a day with time spent equally in a gym, a library, and a church. That sort of well-rounded attitude is what pushes the human experience to new levels. Mental and emotional healths tend to be overlooked these days, with a focus instead on only physical wellness. But even physical strength and stamina cannot reach full potential without proper effort spent in spiritual and mental exercises. This blog will address different ways to challenge the Mind, the Body, and the Spirit. We make Renaissance men and women!!

“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” -Orson Welles

The Hard Routine

Courtesy of CrossFit Delaware Valley's website, here is the CrossFit Journal article entitled "The Hard Routine."

Fights Will Go on for as Long as They Have To is a website by Daniel Morchat. Here is Daniel's main post on the Hard Routine.

Please read these articles, as they are the foundations of some thoughts I'll post throughout the next week. And of course, think about the design of your own "hard routine."

"300" and Half MURPH

Yesterday, a handful of coworkers decided to complete the now-famous "300" workout. Well we had more takers than originally thought, so there was not enough equipment to go around...even with our staggered starts. To save time, some of the group opted out to do a Half MURPH instead (1/2 mile run, 50 pullups, 100 pushups, 150 air squats, 1/2 mile run). While the times are fairly comparable, I'm not sure which is tougher. Any comments? My first answer is MURPH because the 300 requires at least some rest periods during the 50 reps at most stations.

Here are the results. I hope this post will serve as a log entry for our performance on these benchmarks. Now that the times are etched, we must beat them!!



"300"

• Tom L 34:37
• Tony J 38:03
• Lou H 26:11

Half MURPH

• Jason C 17:35
• Paul L 21:45
• Mark L 37:20
• Jason W 37:50

Great job all!!

Functionalism: A Conclusion (Part 6)

I've strung you all along for quite a long ranting series of posts on Functionalism. I figure it's time to wrap this up before the dead horse gets beat anymore! Here's a little summary of the series:

Functionalists. Part 1. The garbage man story. Why can the scrawny trashman lift and carry bags and cans with ease? His body had been conditioned and adapted to succeed at certain physical skills. He performs better than muscular men who are all-show-no-dough. However, there are other physical attributes that the garbage man lacks...those that his JOB does not "require." He is excellent and most efficient at what he does in his career, but is he prepared for the other tasks that life dishes out?

Functionalist - Defined. Part 2. A Functionalist is one who prepares for a life strewn with physical tasks, efforts, and obstacles (both planned and unexpected), by learning, mimicking, and perfecting those body functions and abilities necessary for survival, completion, efficiency, and victory. There are movements each and every one of us must master to live a productive physical life. We're not all trench diggers or SWAT police officers, but we are all human animals required to do physical tasks...with some basic fundamental level of fitness. Even if our jobs do not require physical fitness, our lives do. We lift, carry, bend, twist, rotate, grab, and squat.

Functions. Part 3. The more tools in the handyman's toolbox, the more he can fix. Likewise, the more physical fitness attributes one possesses, the more able or prepared s/he is for physical tasks. The various dimensions of physical fitness include: Anaerobic Capacity, Aerobic Endurance, Coordination and Agility, Strength and Stamina, Flexibility, Power, and Speed. Unless we are competitive athletes, we should avoid polar extremes of bodybuilder or endurance athlete...striving instead for a compromise as a jack-of-all-trades...one who can do it all.

Functions - Input versus Output. Part 4. The math lesson. Input is a list of movement patterns in the exercise routines and drills we do. Output in the physical realm refers to "what I need to get done" or "the end product." Identifying what end product you'd like will help you decide on your Input. If you have no sport or physical aspect to your job, then maybe the ability to live a healthy EASIER life is the output. There are basic fundamental exercises to help you reach that Output. Now, what Input?

Most Functional Movements/Exercises. Part 5. There are certain movements and exercises that replicate, simulate, or have the most cross-over value into reality. These include: Air Squat, Turkish GetUp (TGU), Kettlebell Figure 8 to a Hold, Sumo Deadlift High Pull (SDLHP), Thruster, Inverted Row, Pullup, and Deadlift ...among others. High fitness can be had with not much more than this fully-integrated list of moves. As this list begins to expand, isolation and specialization slowly begins to seep in.

Summary. Becoming or being a functionalist is about returning to the basics. It's Old School. It's efficient. It maximizes the human potential. But first, it's about determining goals: Why are you exercising? What tasks do you wish to complete, or to be ready for? What is your desired Output? Tailor your fitness system around those goals. Then, make a commitment. A commitment that includes the most basic of human body movements. These are exercises from which ALL humans will find great benefit. Life's challenges require we possess a well-rounded or multi-dimensional approach to physical abilities. If we specialize, we will find failure in another aspect. Instead, strive for excellence across the board.

Life is about performance. You can't fake ability. You either have it or you don't! Go out and get those skills and win! Address your weaknesses. Most importantly, prepare yourself by doing movements that replicate reality...the way YOU live it.

Road to MURPH

Pictured above is US Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy. He is a hero, but he is also dead.

Mike Murphy's heroics are immortalized in not only the Medal of Honor, but the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by teammate Marcus Luttrell.

And one more memorial to Murphy was the naming of a CrossFit workout in his honor. The rules of MUPRH are simple: Run 1 mile. Complete 100 pullups, 200 pushups, and 300 air squats. Run 1 mile.

As some of the readership of this blog prepare for a MURPH this Fall 2008, I will make some points about training and strategy to complete MURPH:

For me, the hardest part is the guts. The meat in the sandwich. The gymnastics between the miles. I've identified what I call "MURPH Prep" in my workout journal. It is comprised of various sets of pullups, pushups, and air squats. No running.

I first toggle between how much of the "meat" I'll chew in a given WO. I've done Half MURPH, 3-Quarter MURPH, and Full MURPH Prep sessions. And before I got up to those workloads, I did what could only be named something like, 20% or 40% MURPH. I still do a lot of Halves and 3Qs with my training...which each allow me to press myself to break into a more efficient strategy.

Then I decide how my "rounds" are to be structured. I began maintaining the basic proportions of 100-200-300, and as a newbie went with 3-6-9 (that is 3 pullups, 6 pushups, and 9 air squats). This worked out well for me when I really struggled with pullup numbers. But it meant that my "recovery" time before the next batch of pullups was pretty short. And the time spent moving stations was essentially wasted.

I then bumped my numbers up to 5-10-15. I tried this many of ways: do as many rounds with 5 pullups as possible, then when 5 was no longer attainable, drop down to what I could do, but keep the Max-10-15 format. The problem with this was that I ended up finishing my balance of pushups and air squats before pullups, leaving me with a hefty balance of pullups to complete the gymnastics portion.

Another 5-10-15 strategy was to complete 5 pullups even if I dropped off the bar for a quick rest. I could stay with 5 complete reps for about 7 rounds or so...which meant 13 rounds of pullups with sets that looked like 4-1, 3-2, 3-1-1, 2-2-1, 2-1-1-1, and so on. But this strategy seemed to be easiest on the MIND to calculate and account for reps. Twenty rounds sounds like a lot now, and unfortunately seems like more during the exercise!!

I have since my first (and only official full MURPH) been playing with various techniques to complete the guts faster, based on my strengths and weaknesses. I have been experimenting with plans of 8-16-24, 7-14-21, and 6-12-18 to reduce the number of transitions between movements, thereby reducing the total time. I am still calculating the differences to see if it is better to move more quickly through with a 5-10-15 strategy, OR to take a few more rests during a 7-14-21. I know for sure it is not smart to go all the way up to a 10-20-30 plan just yet, although the time in transition is half!

I have seen and heard some wacky, yet successful tactics. I saw a man get done with his first mile and break immediately into 50 air squats. I saw another man finish up with his squats and pushups, leaving a balance of 37 pullups to complete.

I caution you against breaking from a strategy and going with an unpracticed or unstructured format. The havoc it wreaks on the mind is terribly distracting. After having completed MURPH, I highly suggest doing as many of these MURPH Prep sessions as possible, both with and without running. The pace and structure of how one completes "the guts" cannot be dictated. It must be decided upon by the participant him/herself. For only s/he knows the capabilities of their own body, and what the capabilities are regarding the numbers of reps of each movement.

We regularly ask each other: What sucks more than doing 2 miles separated by 100 pullups, 200 pushups, and 300 air squats? Answer: Dying in Afghanistan!

Keep their memory alive. Do a MURPH.

100 Day Burpee Challenge

Our friends Tom M and Ann M are promoting a 100 Day Burpee Challenge. Here's a link to their website.

Here's the challenge: Start TWO DAYS AGO with one burpee (yeah I know I'm posting late, but Tom and Ann got it to me late so blame them!). Add one burpee each day until you do 100 burpees on November 8th!! Since we're getting a late start, anyone beginning after August 1st must "buy in." I just "bought in" with my 6 burpees for the past few days' worth, so I'm good to go with my 4 tomorrow.

The burpee form standard is posted here. Many people conveniently forget that pushup at the bottom!

Send Ann an email at ann@magdziasz.com so she can put your name on the list of participants.

Post Script: OK, so I'm thinking that 100 burpees isn't all that big of a deal....then I realized that this is after a day of 99, after a day of 98, after a day of 97....you get my point. This is going to be a wicked 97 more days!

Poll Results / New Question Posed

The results are tabulated for the most recent poll question. What kind of CrossFitter are you?

• Die-Hard Purist: 30%
• Gettin' Militant: 30%
• Cherrypickin': 15%
• Easing into It: 10%
• CrossFit? What's that?: 15%

There's a new question posed in the right column What's your MAIN reason for exercising?

• For a race/competition
• Career requirements
• Stress Relief
• Pure Fitness (self-betterment)
• Weight Loss/Control
• It's Fun!
• I'm Bored!

This question was posed by Joe R, my swim partner. I bet if I allowed it, he'd vote on all seven choices!! ;)