Today’s installment of “CrossFit Blog Central” isn’t actually from an actual CrossFit blog. It is, however, an article written for “The Human Factor” column of CNN.com’s website. “The Human Factor” is described as “profil(ing) survivors who have overcome the odds. Confronting a life obstacle – injury, illness or other hardship – they tapped their inner strength and found resilience they didn’t know they possessed.”
Yeah, I know you thought I’d like it, too! Stories, and people, like this are the motivation and inspiration behind a lot of what keeps me going. The author of this particular piece is none other than Kyle Maynard. Kyle is, in my mind, a CrossFit Celebrity because he has been featured all over the CrossFit website over the 3+ years I’ve been following the program. He is one of those athletes that if I were to see him at an event, I’d get nervous and want a picture with him. Yep. I’m that guy. There’s another obvious reason why Kyle is so inspiring in what he does. The CNN article introduced him like this: “Despite being born without arms or legs, Maynard has played football, wrestled, and he’s hoping to hike Mount Kilimanjaro.” Yep.
When I came across this article that was posted by CrossFit, I knew the next hour or so was going to be spent “Maynarding”. Just watching videos and reading articles about this amazing man!
Ok, so enough about how I feel about him, let’s share the good stuff with you! I’m going to share a few of my favorite quotes from the article, and then obviously let you click on a link to read the full piece yourselves!
One of the reasons we require so much motivation to start on the path to improving our health is that we build up a huge lie in our minds of how improbable or even impossible reaching our goals will be. We think about how hard it’s going to be to resist dessert or how much time exercising is going to take away from our lives.
I try to talk to my athletes about this all the time. Instead of setting this HUGE milestone that will take months/years to accomplish, I prefer to set mini-milestones along the way so we give ourselves REASON to celebrate! Positive reinforcement from YOURSELF is so key to help you stay motivated and “on the path”.
It’s always going to be the same in your life too. We’ll never be where we want to be until we learn to slow down and enjoy our individual journey. As long as you are doing something to move towards the direction you want to go in your life and your health, you cannot fail.
Read those last three words. If we get to the place in life where we can ENJOY THE JOURNEY… where we embrace the process and enjoy the steps we’re taking to improve ourselves (in ANY venture), you cannot fail.
There you have it, folks. This is hands down one of my favorite posts I’ve written, and it’s all because of Kyle Maynard and his positive impact on EVERYONE! To us his line, his motto… his mantra that he’s had for his whole life… No Excuses. You’re the man, Kyle!
Click here to read the full article!
For more info on Kyle, here’s and AWESOME video from when he was featured on Oprah. Please take 13 minutes and watch it so you can learn more about why and HOW Kyle got to be where he is today. So. Cool.
Finally, as a CrossFitter, Kyle also owns a gym. No Excuses CrossFit. The video below is a Testimonial from some of his athletes talking about how (not only Kyle, but) CrossFit training can help change lives in a variety of ways.
I’m inspired today! I hope you are, too!
Smashby's Training Blog 