Thanksgiving is a unique holiday in our culture. I personally LOVE this holiday because my wife is totally in her element, my house smells good and the kids are stoked. As with most holidays they are a contemplative time; of years that have past, a reflection on ourselves and the relationships we keep dear to us. We are all similar in the desire to physically care for our bodies through fitness and nutrition but the spirit is many times overlooked and neglected. This Thanksgiving while you sit in reverie amidst the food and football, I challenge you to spend some time on this aspect of optimal health, your spirit.... and practice Loving Kindness.
Loving Kindness is a Buddhist Principle and meditation which involves a centering of yourself, an appreciation of yourself, and then an appreciation of others around you. Now, if you have not meditated before or have not gone to the depths of true Loving Kindness, let me explain the HOW and WHY this needs to be a priority.
First the HOW of Loving Kindness Meditation:
Position yourself in a seated position and take a moment to calm yourself. Release any tension, any idea of plans or other preconceptions of necessity. Once your heart is soft, your mind is open, then begin to recite the following lines.
May I be filled with Loving Kindness
May I feel Happiness.
May I know that I am safe.
May I be well in Body and Mind.
This may take 10 or so recitations before it really sinks in. That is ok and if you fall out of focus that is ok too. The point is you begin this mediation with an acknowledgment of yourself and your being.
Next you can extend your loving kindness to others. Recite the lines but include others names where your "I" would be. First begin with someone that you know and love well. The familiarity of that person will make it easy to give love and to honestly say the recitation. After you have felt your spirit grow then you can extend further to someone who you have little interaction with or no great responsibility to extend Loving Kindness . When you have reached beyond yourself and your "inner circle" of love, then you truly have unfurled your spirit.
WHY we meditate is something we in the western world don't grasp very well. We love tangibility, we know touch and see and smell. Eastern cultures and ALL primitive cultures conceptualized and assigned meaning to the ATMA or Spirit. This spirit was not only a recognition of your own value but it keep the door open to the EMPATHY you feel to others. Today we extend empathy only as long as the video is viral! We move too fast and don't appreciate ourselves let alone others in our lives.
Not surprisingly, Loving Kindness Meditation has been studied and found to have profound effects on the brain. Science has shown through neural brain scans that mediation and empathy are actual correlates of emotional processing in the hypothalamus. Recently I watched Russell Brand on "Real Time with Bill Maher" and he summed up the human need for LOVE. WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE . We use drugs to achieve it, we try to get it through physical perfection but its all false hopes if the mind and heart are not aligned.
I hope Im not losing too many of you. I appeal to your greater self as we move back to Thanksgiving.....
This week we celebrate a wonderful holiday which is rooted in the Thanks given to those who make our lives bearable. I ask of you... mean it when you say it to others. Create the Loving Kindness needed to keep these personal connections growing by simply spending some time thinking deeply about it. When was the last time you actually sat and contemplated??
Do not avoid it out of fear or because you think you don't have time. Engage and transcend your spirit and your life. I love you all and have a wonderful Holiday!!
E
Programming Notes 11/20-11/24
11/20
Baseline:
0:2:00
Run 200m
AMRAP Burpee Pull Ups
2-4:00
200m Run
AMRAP (for Quality)
PVC Overhead Squat
——Repeat——
4-6 & 6-8
Snatch Warm Up:
7X @ Each
-romanian deadlifts
- snatch high pulls
-muscle snatches
- tempo overhead squats (OHS), tempo 23X1
- snatch balances
- power snatches to OHS (receive each rep a little deeper, pause 2 seconds in receiving position)
- snatch pull unders
- hang (squat) snatches
*Spend 5 Minutes building to Workout Weight
WOD:
3X 5 Min AMRAP
1 Snatch 185/135
1 Round Cindy
(Cindy= 5 Pull up, 10 Push Up, 15 Air Squat)
Rest :90 Between Rounds
11/21 (A-ARON HOFF’s Birthday WOD)
Baseline:
*Mobilize Sub Scaps and Teres w/ lacrosse ball
3X
250m Row
10 Barbell Good Mornings
8 Push Up W/ Shoulder Tap
6 Barbell Hang Cleans
WOD;
“Adam Brown”
2 Rounds For Time
24 Deadlift 295#
24 Box Jump 24/20
24 Wall Ball Shots
24 Bench Press 195# (Sub Floor Press from Rack)
24 Box Jump
24 Wall Ball
24 Clean 145#
*Scale weights accordingly, each athlete should only have 1 bar
Cool Down:
Pigeon Stretch
Cobra Stretch
Couch Stretch
11/22
Baseline:
3 Mins of banded Hip Distraction/ hamstring pulses
400m Run
Squat Flow: Kang Squat, Internal Rotation, Hip Bridge, Ankle Roll Outs, Boot Straps, PNF, Squat W/ T Spine Rotation
400m Run
BacksQuat:
5-5-3-3-1-1-1
*This is week 1 of testing our max Squat.
*Feel it out and challenge yourself, failure is A-OK!
*We will retest next week as well.
Conditioning:
30 Burpee
30 OHS 95/65
30 Chest To bar Pull Ups
20 Burpee
20 Front Squat
20 Chest TO bar Pull Ups
*sub 8 Mins is optimal
11/23
Baseline:
6 min Partner Warm Up
P1- 300/250m row
P2- 12XKettlebell Overhead walking Lunge , 12X Kettlebell Swings
-Ipsalateral Deadbug Hold 1:00
-Side Plank Hold 1:00
-Banded Lateral walk (partner holds band around waist, athletic Position is held and lateral walk commences)
TURKEY WOD;
23 Min AMRAP
11 Cal Row
40 Wall Ball Shots
17 Cal Bike
40m Single Arm Farmer Carry 70/53#
*may use a weighted axle bar for more challenge on the farmer carry
11/24
Baseline:
Baseline:
Banded Good Mornings
Banded Hip Activation
Banded Squats
Banded Trunk Rotations
Banded Pass Thru
Banded Press and Rip
6Min Quality AMRAP
8 Barbell Sumo Deadlift
8 Shrug and Pull Under
8 Kip Swings
8 Divebomber push Ups
Skill Development:
3X8
Deficit Tempo Deadlift (1,1,3) 3= eccentric
Bent Over Row
*Ascending
WOD:
“DT”
5 Rounds For Time
12 Deadlift 155/115
9 Hang Power Clean
6 Shoulder to Overhead
**COMPARE TO 7/25/17**
