nehal : Aug 26, 2009
[Also posted on CrossFit Genesis ]
I’ve had the pleasure of attending a couple of seminars where Brad Kearns was a speaker. One of his ideas that really resonates with me is that your best results come when your motivation is pure. When you train because you actually enjoy it and you’re not wrapped up in how you’ll perform at your next workout or event, you simply do better. You spending less energy fretting about performance and letting your body and mind just perform. Think back to school – when you got yourself all worked up about an exam in a subject you didn’t particularly enjoy, how did you do? Compare that to a subject you actually had a keen interest in. Did you even worry about those exams?
Do you worry about how you’ll perform in your next “Fran” or “Fight Gone Bad!”?
My best triathlon performance came when I told myself to just go and have fun. Prior to that, I had hired a coach who laid out a training program which I tried to follow for 6 or 8 months. I got myself wrapped up in my performance, missed workouts, worried more, missed more workouts, and the cycle continued until I showed up for the Auburn International Triathlon (and didn’t finish). I had psyched myself out and got so worked up about training that I didn’t actually train. After that, I took a little time off, got my head on straight, and just decided to have fun with it. Training came more naturally and my workouts became fun again. Fast forward one month to my performance at the San Jose International Triathlon where I still remember having a smile on my face for most of the race.
The next time you find yourself anxious about how you’ll perform on a workout or at an event, take a deep breath and remind yourself to just enjoy it.
nehal : Aug 12, 2009
[ Also posted at CrossFit Genesis ]
Looking back at this year’s CrossFit Games, I was very impressed at the variety of workouts the competitors had to perform; winning required doing well in all aspects of fitness – cardiovascular, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. That got me thinking about how that notion translates to real life.
Because we have so many demands on our time, attention, and energy, it seems we are all in a constant struggle to find and keep balance in our lives. We work. We go to school. We exercise. We socialize with friends. We spend time with our families. We recreate. We have friends or relatives who spend countless hours working only to see their health and relationships suffer. We had friends at school who spent more time socializing than they did studying. We wonder what elite athletes and CEOs do for fun. And the interesting thing here is there is no single, static balance point; there will be multiple equilibria depending on who or what is demanding the most time, attention, and energy at various points in our lives.
Personally, I’ve only been able to maintain a sense of equilibrium temporarily – a week or two, at best. It seems something always happens to tip me off balance – an illness or injury, a demanding project at work, an upcoming competition, a family emergency, a night out with friends (and the resulting hangover), or simple boredom. Sometimes it is a little nudge and easy to recover, and sometimes it is a shove that requires me to find a new balance point. But that’s what keeps things interesting.
What do you do to find or regain balance in your life?
nehal : Aug 5, 2009
I’ve signed up to participate in Fight Gone Bad IV to raise money for Athletes For a Cure and the Wounded Warrior Project. We will compete on September 26, 2009.
“Fight Gone Bad” is a CrossFit workout consisting of 3 5-minute rounds, with a 1-minute rest between each round. Each round consists of the following circuit with 1 minute at each station:
- Wall-ball shots, 10 ft. target, 20lb ball, (for Reps)
- Sumo dead-lift high-pull, 75 lbs (for Reps)
- Box Jump, 20” (for Reps)
- Push-press, 75lbs (for Reps)
- Row (for Calories)
Your score is determined by the sum of all your reps and rowing calories. I have yet to break 200 points.
Donate to the cause
nehal : Jul 31, 2009
I found this workflow over at Digital Photography School and thought I would share it. I have a workflow for sorting, tagging, etc, but am still looking for a good edit flow. I’ll give this one a shot and see how it goes.
Do you have a Lightroom workflow that works for you?