get ready...

Its about to get sentimental all up in this joint...

Gather round and let me tell you all a story..

It was a dark and stormy night at the Invictus gym (not really, it was actually yesterday afternoon in sunny California) and inside the gym, there was me and M (my roomie and one of my favorite people on this earth) getting our pump on..cause thats just what we do when she isnt trying to clean and jerk me    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUj-3CL-aO4

CJ, who is pretty much the meanest/non merciful/greatest coach ever, was putting us through workouts (yes.. there was more than one) that a)made me throw up (literally..) b) made me truly believe with my whole heart that death was the most appealing thing EVER and c) despite how much i love him, made me want to punch CJ in the face until my knuckle bones were exposing themselves. 

So anyways, we were doing these workouts from hell and I found myself slowly start to slip into my normal "I'm really doing bad. I'm getting a horrible time. I'm feeling sorry for myself" mode. I could feel myself falling farther and farther into that negative mindset and before I knew it, the workout was over and I didn't have time to snap out of it and "man-up" and switch back into thinking positive.  So, the workout was over and I was stretching (which i never do.. BUT ya'll betta! ) and I was feeling disappointed not so much in my performance, but in myself for letting all that doubt and negativity consume me.  I ended up leaving the gym, a place where you go to workout and release endorphins, shake off stress, and have fun with the people you love (all while feeling better about yourself), more upset than when I arrived. 

I knew I needed to do some major self evaluation, so I went home and tried to think about what separates me from all of those amazing crossfit athletes that KILL workouts day after day.  The first person that came to mind was my roomate and best friend, Michele, who competed in the Games and is officially the 23rd most fit person on the planet.  I thought about how she came into the gym after weeks of not training and was still smoking the workouts left and right. And throughout her smokage (yes thats a word) a glimmer of self doubt never crossed her face. Thats when I realized that Michele looks at a gym and working out for what it truly is: a place where you go to workout and release endorphins, shake off stress, and have fun with the people you love, all while feeling better about yourself. She doesn't make working out her life and she DEFINITELY does not let her performance in a workout dictate how she looks at herself as a person (something I, myself, am extremely guilty of).  

I guess my whole point of going on this rant is to encourage you all to not be so hard on yourselves. It's ok if you don't finish first in a workout.  Don't beat yourself up if you dont get a PR on a day when you're maxing out. Don't put so much pressure on yourself to be the best ALL the time. Look around you and realize that you are with amazing people and you're just sharing one moment in time with them via working out.  You can't enjoy the product, if you don't truly enjoy the process.  

WELL! now that I have THAT out of my system.. I will answer one of the questions I got when I asked what to post about on this sucka..

"Why do I jump forward on the snatch balance? Oh, and how do I quit that crap?"

- When you find yourself jumping forward on ANY movement, it typically means that you are kicking your hips horizontally rather than getting them vertical.  Us human beings generally think that, for whatever reasons, speed is generated through a stupid hip thrust forward.  This is NOT the case!! You generate speed by jumping and shrugging and letting your hips pop straight up aggressively.  

So, lets just say that you are jumping forward on a snatch.  What that means is that your hips are going horizontal which makes the bar kick out in front of you and then you have to jump forward so that you are able to get under the weight. Bad Bad stuff.  

SOLUTION!!!!!!! (too many exclamation points?)  Get some chalk and draw a line on the ground (nothing more than a line because then you'll just piss your gym owner off and then you'll end up saying "Sage told me to" and then I'LL be the one getting in trouble. And if that happens, I'll be pissed) Line your toes up with that perfectly straight line and then do your snatch (or whatever movement you're doing) and focus on not jumping over the line.  Usually that will get you moving in a vertical fashion rather than a horizontal one.  

WHEW !! That was long!! THE END!

keep it sassy