Posts Tagged ‘Thought of the Day’

Thought of the Day: 1/7/12

Posted: January 7, 2012 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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What are you afraid of?

That’s a pretty simple question, huh?

I would be willing to bet that most of us have at least one thing we have been wanting to do, to try, to say that we just haven’t had the courage for lately. This question kind of keeps the theme of some of the other things we’ve been discussing this week, too!

I came across this video from a friend on Facebook, and absolutely loved it! Dr. Seuss was an incredible author, and if you haven’t gone back and read some of his stories over the past few years, you should. They may seem like children’s books on one level, but the topics he discusses are oh-so-very-real.

This video was taken at Burning Man 2011, and I absolutely LOVE the creativity of it!

We cannot predict where life will take us, but we do know that wherever we go, it will be an adventure.

CrossFit says one of the ways to get fit is to “regularly learn and play new sports”. Let me take that one step more and say, “regularly learn and do things you’ve never done before!!”

Here’s to living it up, and having a great time on this adventure of ours!

Thought of the Day: 1/6/12

Posted: January 6, 2012 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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Today’s Thought of the Day is on:

Self-Expression. CONFIDENT self-expression.

One of my favorite shows “growing up” (when I had cable at home) was Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. I absolutely loved watching the “Spoken Word” segments, watching how people got on stage, grabbed a microphone and just talked. About what THEY believed in. About what was IMPORTANT to them. Man, that is such a powerful medium to express yourself!

There is one video, from Taylor Mali, I remember explicitly from my time watching the show:

I remember it so clearly because I got yelled at a lot growing up for, “Using the word LIKE incorrectly!” Soooo funny.
But hearing Taylor talking about the fear our culture has seemed to impose on people for speaking their mind and MEANING it made me stop and think. Why? Why don’t we use the incredible individuality we’ve all been given to express ourselves. Not the things we think OTHER people want to hear us say, but the things we truly feel.

That entire concept translates over into MY “job” (I feel weird calling it that because I absolutely love what I do) as a “personal trainer.” I hate that term to describe a CrossFit Coach. I think it’s because I put so much more responsibility on myself to try to help people change their lives for the better. By default, in my mind, I think the stereotype of a “Personal Trainer” is the overweight, out of shape person who sits there reading a magazine while his athlete walks slowly on a treadmill. My point = The stereotype makes me think of Non-Effective Change Agents in the lives of their athletes.

The Self-Expression that I’m talking about is being able to say that I consider myself (and try VERY HARD to be) a TEACHER, a COACH, a POSITIVE impact on the lives of people who I come in contact with.

But you know what? It’s not always “sexy” to say you’re a personal trainer.

What do you do? I’m a Doctor.
What do you do? I’m a Lawyer.
What do you do? I’m an Architect.

Those professions, to me, lend more to our American Culture’s “expectation of impact” that we all “should” have.

What do you do? I’m a personal trainer.

I feel like that warrants a response more similar to, “I got a puppy this weekend” ~ “Awwww, how cute!” than “I perform complex surgeries” ~ “Wooow!”

But you know what? I’m ok with that. I don’t do what I do because of what other people will think about me. I coach because it makes me feel GOOD. It makes me proud to help people identify and THRIVE on the potential they (many times) never even THOUGHT they had! I’m smiling like a goon here thinking about those moments as I type this post!

So, when I saw this video below, also by Taylor Mali, I smiled, I got goosebumps and I HAD to write this.
I am a personal trainer, a CrossFit coach and it FILLS me with PRIDE to say that.

Self-Expression at it’s finest.

BOOM.

Anything like that in YOUR life?

Thought of the Day: 1/5/12

Posted: January 5, 2012 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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Today’s “Thought of the Day” is a quick one.

Life Is Short.

I think that’s a statement most of us can agree on, right?

So, are there any BIG THINGS in your life that have you down? For me, I stayed in a job for “far too long” and let myself get really bogged down with the negative sides of day-to-day life at work. (I’ve already apologized to many of you for being such a whiner all the time about it, too.)

The point of bringing that up is to say there may be some things going on in our life that bring us down. Many times, instead of trying to address them, we’ll just leave or ignore them.

My challenge to each of you today is to see if there’s something in your life that is weighing negatively on you… and after you identify what that thing is… really stop and think whether or not you can do something to either CONQUER it, or the alternative, Let It Go.

Human’s are creatures of habit. And for better or worse, many of us “like” to stay in our comfort zone, even if those zones are UNcomfortable.

Life will be begin to change when we’re willing to step out of that zone and take some chances.

If you’re willing to share, what are the things you’re going to try and change?
(Mine was my job… which I left! I’m now VERY happy in my day job. Yay, me!)

Thought of the Day: 1/4/12

Posted: January 4, 2012 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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It’s a new year! That means that lots of people establish new fitness goals for themselves. Do you have any?

I do. The big one for me is to GET STRONGER!!

That made me think of some things, though. First and foremost, many people think that getting stronger means gaining MASS. I have zero intention of gaining size. In fact, I’d even like to lean out some more (and an improved diet should help me do that).

The thought of the day today is to remind people getting stronger doesn’t mean looking like Leonardo and his friends below. (photo obtained from 9laughs.com)

crossfit, smashby training, mutant ninja turtle bodybuilder

Who wants to get "Turtle Power" Big?

And as a woman, lifting weights doesn’t mean that you’re going to “turn into a man”, either. I use that example because that’s hands-down the #1 reason I hear female friends say they don’t want to lift. Check out the image below (from this site), and see what actually happens when most women lift weights. 🙂

crossfit, smashby training, whatwomenthink

I think most people prefer the bottom image.

So…. 2012, the year of getting STRONGER.

Anyone with me?

Thought of the Day: 12/16/11

Posted: December 16, 2011 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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Dr. Mike Evans posted a video on his YouTube page a few weeks ago of a speech he gave entitled “23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?”

I’ll leave you with only three quotes from the video, along with a brief note to put it in context. Please watch the video and gather the rest of this amazing info yourselves.

This is POWERFUL STUFF, everyone…

As always, please leave your own thoughts, comments and questions at the end of this post!

~ Discussing what can be done to most effectively improve certain aspects of peoples’ lives. (Reduction of progression of dementia, reduced progression of diabetes, anxiety, and blood pressure increase in quality of life, to name a few)
“The best thing you can do for your health is spend half an hour being active, maybe an hour…”

~ Explaining a finding in “Aerobic Centre Longitudinal Study, by Prof. Steven Blair
“So LOW FITNESS was the strongest predictor of death.”

~ Ok. Exercise is good. We get it.
“So if exercise is the medicine, what’s the dose? … essentially, more activity is better. But I must say that the rate of return seems to decline after 20 or 30 minutes per day.”

Thanks to my friends at Alpine CrossFit for this one!

Thought of the Day: 10/14/11

Posted: October 14, 2011 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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I got this video from a buddy of mine, and had to share it with you guys. For those of you who have had the distinct privilege of visiting me in one of my apartments, one theme has been consistent: Boxes.

I’m a bit (understatement) of a “Pack Rat”, and believe it or not, it’s getting MUCH better every time I move. BUT…. it still needs to be addressed on a much larger scale.

The Thought of the Day for this Friday afternoon:

With MOST things in life, can “Less” truly = “More”?

Let me know what you think.

Thought of the Day: 10/13/11

Posted: October 13, 2011 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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Today’s “Thought of the Day”:

Live an EPIC life.

The bro’s over at LifeAsRx shared this video today, and it made me think a lot. For one, I love doing fun things with fun people! I also love doing crazy things with fun people. Basically, I enjoy living a life that is not plain jane, if you will.

I would like my life to be LESS:

CrossFit, Smashby Training, boring lecture

Boooooooringggggg


(photo from this site)

And MORE:

CrossFit, Smashby Training, crazybaby

Yeah, Crazy Baby!


(photo obtained from photobucket.com)

SOOO…. when I saw the video below, it pretty much blew my mind.

CrossFit, Smashby Training, amazement

Say Whhhhaaaaaa????


(photo from this place)

This is my informal announcement that I am going to start doing more epic things in my life! So many people are talking about how short life is, and making the most of every day. I think I do a lot of pretty awesome things, but not enough! 🙂

Giddy-Up, world. Let’s do this.

Thought of the Day: 10/12/11

Posted: October 12, 2011 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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Lindsey Smith is amazing.

Yeah, that’s the thought of the day.

Ok, fine… the real thought is about dedication. I can promise you Lindsey wasn’t able to just walk in the door of her CrossFit gym on day one and complete this movement. In fact, I’d like to guess that MOST CrossFitters aren’t able to do what she just did. Not only a single strict muscle-up, but THREE in a row!

Dedication comes in many ways in regards to CrossFit.
~ How often and how smart you’re willing to train your BODY
~ How often and how smart you’re willing to train your MIND
~ Your willingness to focus the necessary time on flexibility and mobility work
~ Taking your diet into account and realizing that food can (should?) be used as FUEL
~ Resting when necessary so your body can recover and come back even stronger
~ the list goes on…

Like I say, CrossFit can be more than just 1 hour of working out a few times a week. How important is it for you to continually improve?

Thought of the Day: 10/4/11

Posted: October 4, 2011 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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Dear newscaster,

I get it. You want to be cute, and come up with witty little one-liners. But in my opinion, you are the only bad part of an AWESOME story about Brianna Amat, the first girl to make the varsity football team at Pinckney Community High School in Michigan (from Jezebel.com)!

This girl not only dominates the kicks during the game, but during halftime was asked to come out of the locker room… to be named Homecoming Queen. If THAT’S not cool enough, she then kicks a career-long field goal to beat the #7-ranked team in the state and win the game for her team.

In my crew, we call that an Epic Win.

Then, the newscaster comes back on the air with this gem, “And it’s tough to kick a field goal in high heels…”

Oh, local newscasters. One day, you’ll learn! (probably not, actually)

AWESOME story, though! Go Brianna!

Here’s a link to the full story on Jezebel.com, and here’s the link to the video on the Wall Street Journal site!

Thought of the Day: 9/26/11

Posted: September 26, 2011 in CrossFit, Media, Training
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One day I was talked to CFLW athlete Casey Polk and trying to help her through a difficult situation. A quote I said to her has stuck with the two of us ever since that day:
“Awesome does not mean perfect. You are awesome ALL of the time.”

Well it turns out I’m not the only person out there who believes that we’re all awesome.

Check out the post that my awesome friend Molly King shared on Facebook today (below). The blog/website is called “Redefine Girly” and it prides itself on being a blog for “Pigtail Pals” and the empowerment of young girls and women. It’s a wonderful blog and a great place where parents can come together to share ideas on how to not let their daughters feel the “pressures” that this society puts on girls these days in our “hypersexualized girls’ marketplace” (from the site). This post, however, I feel applies to every single one of us out there!

I hope you guys read it, follow it…. and BELIEVE IT!

Seriously, after you read it… take a second… breathe and reflect. Let all of your insecurities go for JUST ONE MINUTE. Realize how awesome, strong, beautiful, confident, etc you should be, and then try to carry that feeling on for as long as possible today. Give it a shot, and let me know how it makes you feel!

Happy Monday, friends.

Waking Up Full of Awesome

August 3rd, 2011 | Author: melissa

There was a time when you were five years old,
and you woke up full of awesome.

You knew you were awesome.

You loved yourself.

You thought you were beautiful,
even with missing teeth and messy hair and mismatched socks inside your grubby sneakers.

You loved your body, and the things it could do.

You thought you were strong.

You knew you were smart.

Do you still have it?
The awesome.

Did someone take it from you?
Did you let them?
Did you hand it over, because someone told you weren’t beautiful enough, thin enough, smart enough, good enough?
Why the hell would you listen to them?
Did you consider they might be full of shit?

Wouldn’t that be nuts, to tell my little girl below that in another five or ten years she might hate herself because she doesn’t look like a starving and Photoshopped fashion model?
Or even more bizarre, that she should be sexy over smart, beautiful over bold?
Are you freaking kidding me?

Look at her. She is full of awesome.

You were, once. Maybe you still are. Maybe you are in the process of getting it back.

All I know is that if you aren’t waking up feeling like this about yourself, you are really missing out.

CrossFit, Smashby Training, Redefine Girly, Waking Up Full of Awesomeness, Amelia

The author's adorable daughter Amelia, full of awesomeness!

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