Test to Embed Video Stan Rogers

Kyle Maynard Address Click here!

From the link above click on a video format below the picture of Kyle. I don't think I'll have a better post than this for the rest of the challenge!

On February 12-13, 2008, a CrossFit HQ staff went to Alamo CrossFit in San Antonio, TX for a special Level 1 certification seminar. Members of the Warrior Transition Battalion from the Brooke Army Medical Center gathered to learn the basics of functional movement and how to scale for any starting point.

In this video from CrossFit Again Faster, Kyle Maynard addresses the athletes from the perspective of someone who has had limited physical abilities his entire life. This, he acknowledges, is very different from having full capacity for most of their lives, and having some of it taken away.

Kyle talks about his own interest in military service, about finding the inspiration to keep going, and how this group inspires him. He points out that this event may be the first of its kind, where 20 guys, each with a different disability, train and workout side by side. Twenty different sets of modifications, but the same drills and the same ethic. It was a weekend he’ll never forget.

January and February Reflections

A couple of months of hard work went by really fast and at the same time, where I was in December seems like so long ago. The 2 things that have made the greatest difffeence in my successes are 1) I got help from others by joining a Crossfit gym, subscribing to their journal, getting coaching at our work gym 2) drops in the bucket : a little bit each day adds up. Each day I spend a little bit of time reading or listening about the exercises I am working on, the eating plan I am following etc. Each day we do the same warmup routine which has been full of teachings.

THE CROSSFIT WARMUP http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/08_03_Better_warmup.pdf began as a workout in itself. I was often ready to puke after the first 2 rounds. The tools that can be used to help anyone scale it are awesome. For example there is a tool used that will allow ANYONE do a pullup and feel great about it. As progress came it became a confidence builder when I could finally get through it all (like most the pullups took me a while to get used to). Peeling a layer deeper I began to notice that it was also a great time for learning movements. I could take each exercise and break it down into components to be worked on and progress in (for example 10 pullups vs. 10 good kipping pullups to chest). This aspect of learning something, practicing it, using it and then re-learning what you think you know with an open mind, is central to Crossfit. Further I’ve noticed that these learnings within the warmup all transfer directly to other movements that are performed (shoulder press, squat, overhead squat, power cleans) and that those who consistently do the warmup properly have had great successes in other areas. Although I say “directly transfer”, it is interesting that a direct transfer is never what you expect it to be. For example deadlift has made my pullups stronger, pullups have made my sholder press stronger, squats and deadlift are probably the best exercise for abs. This is intriguing and frustrating. For example when someone comes and tells you your pulllups are “cheating” because there is too much swinging and kicking your legs up, it is hard to argue. Pullup work is no longer about latissumus dorsi isolation, and so we are not even coming from the same place so any argument on either side is essentially invalid. Though I can see this a little clearer now, the guy/gal on the other side cannot so it provides a really cool challenge to make him/her understand…which often brings us back to the warmup. Thus begins the aspect of community, looking outside of your own workout, what are other people doing?..what are people doing right, wrong, what can I learn from watching them?...as we all do the warmup together we critique each others’ form and ask each other questions…open ourselves up to being wrong…others often come in and ask questions, practice movements add to them from their own experience. It becomes a wholesome experience…each person, from the 23 year old naturally strong wipper snapper to the 40 year old mom who can kick his but in many areas he has never gone to bring something to the table. The lady who has awesome flexibility from practicing correctly every day, the 100 pullup man, the handstand gymnast girl, the tire flipping deadlifting strong man, the kung-fu grappler, the jump rope queen, the two year old pretending to be a cat….with our minds as one we give thanks. I'm ready to get going this spring! I should have some measure-ables in a few days for the numbers aspect of this.

3 Zone Breakfasts

3 Different Zone Breakfasts (4 Block, typical male)

1) Berry Shake (blended in majic bullet)
1 Scoop Protein Shake (4 Tbsp EAS Vanilla)
1 Cup 1% Milk
1 Cup Walmart frozen berries (straw, rasp, blue, black)
¼ cup OJ
4 Macedemias

2) Kashi Cereal Plus
3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal (note one cup has 14g protein!)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 Scoop Protein Shake (3 Tbsp EAS Vanilla)
¼ cup blueberries
4 tsp slivered almonds

3) Eggs and Apple PB English Muffin
2 eggs scrambled
2oz chicken mix with eggs
1-2 Tbsp salsa put on top of eggs and chicken

½ Thomas English Muffin
2 tsp peanut butter (other option is to put slice of cheese on eggs above)
1 sliced apple ( I like the slices on the muffin with the PB)

Wife Swap

I got caught up in wife swap tonight (friday 1-30-09) and was son nerved up I signed up on ABC and had to comment on it. My link above may work if not here is my blabbering text. If you happened to see it let me know what you thought.

During the first few minutes of tonight's show I really thought this was going to be just another ego vs. ego bash. I saw the midwestern dad mouthing and mocking his new "wife" and the British guy doing the same. I expected the show to end pretty flat with both dads and moms being disgusted with each other. Oddly each dad reacted strongly in two different directions. One became child like, using name calling and truly hurtful tactics to protect his own way. I was surprised and inspired to see that the other day somehow found a way to chill out and consider changes to his way of life. Imagine the impact that those two reactions have on the future of the kids living in those households and how they will treat others in their lives. I applaud "Podunk" dad (and I mean that term in with no disrespect) and his willingness to at least address the situation. I hope his sons learned from that. I hope they follow their passions and come out far beyond where they are now. Paintball has a huge potential for physical fitness. Sprint, jump, roll and then try to think at the same time? Hmm their is a group that trains like this...navy seals...I'm no military man but I sure don't doubt their general physical preparedness!! Certainly his son needs to get in better shape and to get more training in, but I'd love for him to realize he could still follow things he is already passionate about. I hope he continues to be willing to give fitness a shot and realize how much more intense that could make his experiences. In reality, I don't know either family so I have no way of knowing that one dad is a great guy and the other is a jackass all of the time. I think it more a great lesson to help us all think about making the choice to be the jackass or the hero in each moment. We can make the choice to be babies and call each other names or we can step outside our egos and at least try to listen. Its too bad because that British dad probably has a lot of knowledge and skill to help people but he has no awareness of spirit. I heard the work awareness thrown around a lot by his faimily and I assure you he lacks it in the worst way. An aware person would never destroy some onle like he did simply to appease their own ego.

Barriers to first goal- Eating Healthy

I feel like I should post, but I also feel very calm and quiet and have no idea what to say. I'm in the thick of it and working hard, spending a lot of time creating ways to get around the barriers of eating healthy. The "Zone" plan has been very impressive, shedding pounds, getting stronger and providing a very level and constant amount of energy. I can talk more about the measures that give me a good feeling that it is working some other time. My basic path so far has been as follows. These things have helped me to getting around my early barriers to eating better.

1) Read/listened to Barry Sears "Enter the Zone" and other resources on his website.
2) Figured out how much I would need to eat according to his system
3) Began journalling when and what I actually ate and how it compared to his plan
4) Tried to wing it and follow the general rules of his plan, this worked pretty good, 10x better than nothing for sure
5) Began to create meal plans each night on my computer for the next day's breakfast, lunch and snacks now have many meals created to chose from and a much better ability to create on the fly.
6) Used Sundays and one other day a week to cook up chicken, eggs, and vegetables for the week.
7) Began doing the shopping for my wife and explored new fruits, vegetables and nuts
8) Bought a new oversized lunch bag and some glass corning dishes for packing my meals and snacks, cached a few bags of almonds, macedemias and walnuts in my lunch bag as well
9) Used dinner (regularly cooked by my wife) to practice my "on the fly" ability to eat the right amounts to meet my requirements

For some reason, I was moved very easily by this book. I have one idea why but don't really know how to say much about that yet. Some next progressions for me are to begin making more recipes. I tend to just piece meals together (i.e. one piece of chicken, 2 cups vegetables with 6Tbsp salsa, one apple for dessert and 12 almonds) I've honestly enjoyed all the food but I could see how others wouldn't. Even further I'd like to look a little deeper into the quality of foods as well as their proportions (Paleo diet ideas etc, fish oils etc) Another stage would be to begin looking at what are the barriers for other people and how I could help them to get beyond them. Do they not want to read the book? Do they want me to design some ideas and plans for them? Do they not have time to cook? Do they hate vegetables? Do they think it is a "Diet" for losing weight? Do they have other needs to eat healty (exercise, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, cancer depression, addiction and or risk of any of these)

Do you have any questions?
What kind of barriers are stopping you from getting going on a goal?
Hmm what are the barriers stopping me from working as hard on my other goals?

G is for Goals and Guacamole

Mind --Finish Kamana Two The Path of the Naturalist, this will involve the practice of some core routines, sit spot, journaling, research, skills work.

Body-- Reduce Body Fat % to 7% I will do this by following Crossfit and their recommended eating styles (Zone Diet, Paleo Diet). I will return to train at SECT crossfit for a solid 3 months twice a week. I will read, take notes, discuss practice and perform within the Zone and Crossfit routines

Spirit-- Follow the challenges provided with reflections to better understand what spirituality is.

I took a new approach this time. Instead of coming up with big ideas and plans, I decided to just nail the goals down. I chose them on what I was denying and trying to avoid in terms of my mind saying "I may not be able to accomplish that". Most of my reflective thinking was trying to reason out using something like bodyfat as my indicator. I have experience that tells me when that comes down exercise, diet and mindset are in a better place. Likewise I kept thinking about how many of my mental goals would fit in well with the Kamana program but didn't want to pick that knowing I may not actually do it AGAIN. So I decided to quit reflecting and follow my gut a little. Don't get me wrong, I do have a general plan, for example in the Kamana Naturalist training plan I just have to follow along and do the exercises, journals etc. For body my plan is to continue with Crossfit and explore the Zone Diet. For Spirit, I don't have any plan.

Where I am:
Mind: I have started and paused K2 twice. I even paid for the student services and it expired. I've been mostly a failure at it. Its always so dark and cold when I have time to go out. I think I need to get to a couple group learnings to get myself motivated. I am thankful for the abundant friendly resources available to me.

Body: 158ish lbs and about 14% bodyfat. Update that I tested today and I'm actually 156.5 and 11.5% fat. I feel good about what I've done to get started but have a ways to go before June. I
am thankful for the abundant friendly resources available to me.

Spirit: I'm not sure how to measure this. I am thankful for the abundant friendly resources available to me.

I guess that is it, pretty plain. I'll write more as I do it. Best of luck to all in the new year!