Educators abound

Sometimes people enter our lives for the sole purpose of being our teachers. In some situations, it's incredibly easy to discern who these teachers are - they usually are our mentors in some form or fashion, on a physical, mental, and/or emotional level. These mentors are precious, and if you can open yourself up fully to absorb what is unknown to you, you will be all the greater for it.

What I'm referencing in particular though, are those people that just piss you the fuck off; that wound you with hurtful criticisms that are completely seemingly unfair or unfounded; that sadden you with abusive displays; that cause you to puff your chest up and lift your nose high with self-imposed superiority. These people can be drifters that pass through your existence but briefly, or can be rooted deeply in your layout of important individuals.

The truth is, we can never control another human being, nor can we expect them to be any other than what they are. We can try to pick and choose who we want to be our friends; but, let's be honest, most of us don't. And perhaps, maybe we shouldn't.

Unless someone is being abusive or leaves you feeling drained of your vital energy, then, more often than not, any interaction can serve to be educational and beneficial.

The other day I was in a grocery store, grabbing a bag of lettuce for dinner, and was standing in line with my motorcycle helmet in tow. A man got in line behind me, and said in what I perceived to be a rather condescending, belittling tone, "You know, you could have just left the helmet outside with your bike. It's not like anyone is going to steal that thing." I turned and looked at him and asked, rather prickly, what the hell that was supposed to mean. And he responded, sharing a look with the cashier like he was in on some little secret, "Oh, I can't imagine what I could mean by that." I responded that my boyfriend was circling around on the bike, and had to take my helmet, and so he apologized. I turned back to the cashier, whom was looking rather chagrined at this point. Grabbing my bag of groceries, I turned back to the gentleman in line behind me and coldly said, "Next time, you might want to think twice before you open your mouth." He smiled, and wished me a good day, and I left, feeling my feathers continue to ruffle.

I'm still not entirely sure why he said what he did -- aside from the fact that my helmet is rather badass :), I couldn't understand what he would go out of his way to say that, unless I somehow interpreted it wrong. Yet my initial response was defense, and I chose anger, rather than embarrassment or melancholy.

The truth is this: that's something I needed to work on, and I failed to recognize this man as an educator, but rather, saw him as an instigator. I don't take criticism well, and I certainly wasn't fond of some stranger offering it as I saw it. What better way though to become more well-rounded and more complete as a person than to seize every opportunity I can get to iron out the wrinkles? The less I feed the superficial ego, the more the underlying depth and substance can be nourished. What I don't feed the ego will certainly feed my being, and that's all those inflamed responses are: my ego trying to protect itself. Whose ego ever truly made them happy, though? Just a thought.

So next time, even if I don't say it outright, I'm going to try to think, "Wow, thank you for giving me an opportunity to work on this! How awesome."

I gleefully carved a pumpkin on Sunday, the second one of my life. Doug and I went to a pumpkin patch in town, and I took a good 15 minutes to pick out my pumpkin. We came home and went to carving; I might have been a bit obsessive about mine, so thanks to Doug for his tolerance and good humor :) It's so important to partake in play with abandon!

Rawr. :j

The Nepodal Pull

The rarely seen Nepodal Pull.

Tough Love - of the pulling variety

Holy crapola. Training tonight was diverse and rough. Since we've been training at Fueled, we've had access to a lot of nasty tools: huge tires, sleds, rubber plates, etc.

Tonight's lineup:

-Warmed up with 2 sets of armbars; Get ups with 24kg kb, 3 sets of singles each side; 2 sets of deadlifts, 225 lbs., for 5 reps.
-4 sets of 16kg snatches, 10 reps each set. I've been pretty mellow with the snatches, easing back into them because my hands still feel a bit tender at times (particularly after deadlifts)
-The Circuit of the Eve :)
1) Goblet squats, 16kg
2) Sled pulls, 50 yards (this was the timer)
3) Hot potato, 16kg

A little elaboration on the sled pulls: For one other participant (Dale) and myself, we had to pull a 45 lbs. plate - oh, and yes, for the first 25 yards, we had to pull Doug on the sled as well :) So... 235 lbs? That's tough love! And oh so excellent. (The owner of the gym liked the spectacle, so I should be getting a video of that posted soon).

Completed two sets this way, then did two sets of the following:

1) Military press, 16kg
2) Sled push - 45 lbs.
3) Swings, 16kg

The pushes did not include the Dougie mass this time, but were very difficult. Everyone rocked it, though!

-One-arm, one-leg planks. 2 sets on each side, 25 seconds a set.
-Hardstyle sit ups, 2 sets of 5 reps

Finito.

The variation from the norm was a killer, but it felt awesome. And I will definitely continue to feel it tomorrow, I'm sure!

This is interesting...

I was just perusing my blog, curious to see where I was at a year ago in my training. Coincidentally, I came across a post that was made on October 11th, and found these goals within it (whatever is in bold are comments I've just made):

-Get RKC Certified in August, 2009. Check
-Train for the RKC Cert. I plan on doing a damn good job of roasting that beast and eating it whole. Passed. Turns out I was the one to be roasted in 102 degrees, though.
-Snatch the 24kg 20 times with each arm. I'm at 9 right now. Check
-Barbell Deadlift 285 lbs. After that, 300 lbs. Check, and check (305 lbs)
-Cut. I've made a lot of progress, but I keep hitting this plateau. My diet keeps slipping back into maintenance. Outline of the abs ain't enough -- I want the whole package! Check-ish. Have lost and gained and lost since then. Still losing.
-Increase shoulder and chest strength. Everything else tends to get stronger without any problem and I maintain that strength, but these two areas need particular attention -- so they'll be getting it. Definitely gained strength, though more is on the way.
-15:15 Max V02 Protocol. I have not delved into this one much.
-Master the pistol. Still working on this one, too.
-Incorporate more pull-ups into my routine. Check, as of recently.


So, overall, I'm actually quite pleased with that. Within a year, I have accomplished the majority of the goals I had then set out to undertake. Honestly, that feels quite good; I can't help but feel like I'm stagnating on gains and hitting plateaus every so often.

I've come to the conclusion that I haven't been writing enough. Not on this blog, but more importantly, not on a creative level. I definitely need to get back into that, and keep those juices flowing strong.

Workout last night consisted of 5 minutes of TGU with 16kg, followed by 4 sets of 10 yards of tire flips with 20 swings at the end (16kg). Did pull up/press ladders 1, 2, 3 x2, pressing the 16kg. Had some assistance with pull ups, especially at the end. Finished the workout with some good ol' Russian twists and a couple sets of hot potatoes.

Anyway, I intend to be posting more. I also plan on getting a video up of me deadlifting 305 lbs. or more.