FGB Episode IV - A New Hope

As we stand on the doorstep to the coming new year, I look forward to all the beauty,change and growth that await us. To usher in the new year, the folks at www.crossfit.com give us the classic FGB workout for the day. Developed for UFC Champion BJ Penn, its a workout that can really help you reflect and measure yourself.

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point. Since I did this by myself, I put 5 X 1 minute long songs on continuous loop.

I substituted a 45 lb plate thruster for the Wall Ball, and 95 lb barbell row for lack of rowing machine. I also made the mistake of using 95 instead of 75 lb for the rest. 20lbs came make serious difference! That shouldn't come as a surprise but I was really curious as to the difference, it was a nice experiment. The mental aspect of working out always fascinates me. How best to utilize my own mind to produce the best results. I was watching a show on Discovery channel where they did a study with Navy Seals, utlizing some simple steps to help increase pass rates from 1/4 to 1/3. Setting goals, self talk, visualization, and breathing - pretty amazing stuff.

They said we talk on averagae to ourselves 300 words per minute!?! If most of that talk is positive it can have huge affect. Interestingly, I've also found negative talk to have a positive effect. A sort of reverse pyschology to get me amped up if I'm too low.
I've been thinking alot about energy, what is it? how can it be best utilized? I've been looking at emotions as energy, can they be used as well in working out or performing tasks? I've tried various emotions - from anger to happiness with varying qualities and intesities and I'm still working on it. But it seems pretty clear that each emotion has its own 'energy' and can positively or negatively affect an outcome based on each situation.
A new book I've been reading, called ChiRunning, has pretty good take on not only running, but the movement of the body in general. That it should flow and be effortless.
At first glance this may seem to indicate you don't to workout any more...but I take it to mean we must be more mindful of what we do and how we do it. That technique is critical. People seem to assume that we all know how to move, and that seems to be true for children, but somehow we lose that. Kids run and play effortlessly. The even smile while the do it. In fact, the author points that out in the ChiRunning book, just getting people to smile while they run is huge.
So I made a mistake perhaps in not smiling during todays workout, I need to incorporate this idea of effortlessness into things like FGB. I wonder which emotions might help best..I'm not sure, but I do have hope.

Happy New Year!

Body
Crossfit WOD FGB
3 X 5 animals + 5 elements
continuing Zone like meals

Mind
3 Chapters in Redwall
Started filling out Daily Diet pocket log book
2 chapters in Zone - How to Eat in the Zone

Spirit
25 minute sit spot with awareness exercises
Fox walking 10minutes
Parkour rail training 25 squats, 25 jumps

Spirit Challenge

The Spirit Challenge will be in 3 parts this Jan:

1) Know Thyself

Knowledge of yourself is critical to spirituality.

"A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may
be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of
cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of
gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!" -Scrooge from A Christmas Carol

How do you know the difference between something spiritual and a bit of undigested beef?
How do you know its not something altogether different than you believe?

If you haven't already, check out Keith Barry's TED talk on brain magic, and take some time to think about what that might mean about how we look at the world - conciously and unconciously- and how that affects our perception and explanation of reality .

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/keith_barry_does_brain_magic.html

Take some time to write a list of things you might categorize as 'spirit'? When your done, check to see if there is a theme of common thread that runs through the list. Take a list of experiences that you might categorize as 'spirit' and what about it made it spiritual -a feeling, color, texrture?


2. I know that like the Back of my hand....is that a good thing?

Maybe years ago knowing something like the back of your hand meant you knew it pretty well. Draw and outline of a hand and fill in what details you know about the back of your hand. Just spend a few minutes.
Over the course of the month take a few minutes every now and again to examine the back of your hand, and also to draw it every so often.
Think about other aspects of yourself that you hold to know very well, you can explore or substitute that.


3. Religiousness
People most often link religion with sprituality, so write a list of all the religions you can think of, and even a short description.
Over the course of the month, take a few minutes to add to the list and invrestigate a new (or old) religion.

Let it snow

The first winter snow storm has been a blast from the past. It reminds me of snows of years ago, back when this amount seemed to be a normal snowfall.

I remember these appearing back then too. I never actually heard of anyone using these to successfully build a snow fortress. That's until Brad and Sifu were talking the other day, turns out Sifu's neighborhood that he grew up in had the whole organization thing down. Got me to thinking that perhaps more is possible than I had thought. With enough people working together, the possbilities are endless...



Mind
read 2 more chapter of Guardians of Ga'Hool


Body
3X -5Animals/5Elements form
Corssfit warm-up

Spirit
Relaxing meditation 15 minutes




THe Holiday's are upon us! The goals are coming along nicely and I'm looking forward to putting them into action!

Happy Holidays All!

Scientists Baffled!

It's not like scientists to be baffled, at least not the one's I know... So anytime I see signs of bafflement on the part of scientists, I make sure to pay attention. Here's and interesting article, entitled Scientists baffled by mysterious acorn shortage that really leads into the mystery of nature.

Story Highlights

Naturalists are baffled this fall by a shortage of acorns in the eastern U.S.

+ Residents in some areas report plenty of acorns, while others have seen none at all

+ Acorn growth runs in cycles, so a lean year may be normal after last year's big crop

+ Some scientists fear the shortage will affect squirrel populations

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/12/acorn.shortage/index.html




Natures ways are mysterious to be sure. Many scientists now believe the mast cycle is an evolutionary adaptation; that over the eons oaks and other nut-bearing trees have developed an on-and-off mast cycle to ensure their reproductive survival. The theory makes sense. If oaks produced a consistently healthy crop of acorns every year, populations of nutloving animals would rise to the point where all the acorns would be eaten no matter how numerous.
Interestling, this only works if all the nut tree co-operate and synchronize together. In forests with more than one oak species, the number of acorns varies from year to year; some species take one year to go from flower to acorn while others take two, and each species produces a different amount of acorns. The effect of weather on acorn production also varies with each species. But every so often, most or all of the oak species in an area produce either a bumper crop or a paltry crop at the same time.
Surely wildlife is intimately connected to the trees and mast cycles. But what about the interconnectedness to humans, a man's role in mast cycles? The word itself may give us a clue

mast - fallen nuts; food for swine," O.E. mæst, from P.Gmc. *mastaz (cf. Du., Ger. mast "mast," O.E. verb mæsten "to fatten, feed")

(taken from Muck & Mystery - Loitering with Intent)

As a kid, I was always under the impression that scientists pretty much knew everything. If not all scientist, then at least collectively or maybe just the best scientists. As an adult, not so much. Nature has proven to be very hard to figure out, very humbling.

Hmmm..humbling,... human ...coincidence?

HUMAN - c.1250, from M.Fr. humain "of or belonging to man," from L. humanus, probably related to homo (gen. hominis) "man," and to humus "earth," on notion of "earthly beings," as opposed to the gods (cf. Heb. adam "man," from adamah "ground").

Free Running

One of my goals is to move forward with Free Running/Parkour. The hard part will be deciding which area to put it in.
The obvious choice is Body. Clearly the demands of Free Running are tremendous, most of the Free Runners seem to have a strong background in gymnastics. If that's not enough, the official workout of the American Parkour (APK) is www.crossfit.com .

But what about Mind? if you head up to the APK website you'll find a nice section on how to start and even an excellent set of developmental exercises called Demon's Drills. One of my favorite was one that worked on the sense, planning routes and body movement in real time. Such mental gymnastics are impressive to say the least, it gave me a new appreciation of what is required mentally from Free Running.

Hey, what about Spirit? Watching clips of Parkour harken me back to tales of Tom Brown's Scout training as a young boy. Moving through environments (natural and man made) smoothly and silently. Such a fusion of Mind and Body must surely include the Spirit...

Dec 14,2008 - Time in a Bottle

Mostly clear and cool - lower 40s full moon

I was listening to John Tesh (seriously) the other night, he reported a study showing that married couples who asked each other for 'small' changes ended up being happier together than those that ask for 'big' changes. Interestingly over the long haul, the big changes actually took place.

The next day I was watching Noggin, its like preschool on TV, and Cedric the Entertainer told the Tortoise & the Hare story. The moral of which he said was- slow and steady wins the race.

With goals and the Challenge, this may be a good mantra for seeing the kind of changes that are both small & large, lasting over the long haul. I like the idea of making small changes everyday, or doing a small amount each day.

When I was making up my list of negative things I don't want to happen , there was a common theme - sustainable change so that I can be of more help and service. The negative voice we have fore ourselves can be pretty brutal and unrelenting, it's important to give yourself a break and not get too down (or too up). I think I'll continue to the negative list periodically to see if it changes. I imagine it will, just as my positive goals will change over time.

Mind- Read a few NY Times article -.5 hour
listened to 2 chapters of the Guardians of Ga'Hool Book2
Listened to 1 chapter of the Zone (abridged)


Body - light stretching - 3X Tiger/Crane & 3X Five Animals/Five Elementes (up to Panther fist)

Spirit - Long form meditation
SEVMRATC -color blue

Thurs Dec 11, 2008 - Reaching goals

Cloudy, rainy upper 30's ,10mph wind NE. 3/4 waning moon
SR-~7AM-SS ~4:15PM



"To reach our goal, a straight path we will not follow." Yoda

Goals are definitely changing and redefining themselves with each new day. As I was pondering this earlier this morning, the words from Yoda brought me some understanding. The path to get where we want will change and grow as we ourselves grow. The journey that we take is what's important.
I've had some goals for Tracking and Awareness kicking around in my head, but I've been unable to define them until this passed weekend. I met up with some old friends and was introduced to whole new concepts in the art of Tracking that I didn't even know exhisted. Though these were exactly what I was looking for, I couldn't have concieved of them until then. I suspect this will continue to happen, so I'm leaving wiggle room in my goals for these kind of insights and changes.




Draft Scoring Template
(example)
Mind
Activity Description Pt -

Read 20minutes of Danielle Steel 1
Crossword 12 minutes 1

MIND Totals
Day 2
Month 5
Challenge 12

This may work well, will look at again.