The Rewards of Fatherhood, Fitness and Frugality

This girl has so much confidence. I wish I had half of what she has. I could learn from her. Confidence is such a big part of our success in life.

I often tell the girls, speak up! Folks tend to believe and respect those who speak with confidence. I hope they will remember that as they get older. Seems they’re off to a great start.

The ropes at Guerrilla Fitness

All the cool kids are doing it so I figured I’d join in on the fun.

Today’s wod:

Strength
Front squat at 5 – 5 – 3 – 3 – 2 – 2

Metcon:
4 rounds
3 rope climbs, 15′
15 static lunges @ 95#

Result:
Strength: 255/255/275/275/305/305(1)
Metcon: 6:30

I haven’t done any sort of strength based squat in a while. So this felt good. But it’s clear I need to build my strength back up in this area. I think a strong squat is essential in Crossfit as well as life.

I failed my last rep and I could feel my knees buckle in a little. My coach pointed out that little flaw to me. So next time I’ll bring my feet in a little and hopefully that will help me out with my knees.

The lunges in the metcon were a challenge especially after the squats. But I’ve worked hard on my footwork with rope climbs and feel comfortable with the movement now. It used to be I could only climb the rope using all arms. It goes to show you a little perseverance goes a long way.

breakfast of champions… sort of.

Just a thought. But the dude with the XXL one-pack, ordering the plain egg white omelette and raisin bran muffin, might think twice about telling the dude with the six-pack that bacon is unhealthy. I’m just saying.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you have to look a certain way or possess a certain something to know what you’re talking about. Not at all. [Digression: The one-time Miami Dolphins kicking coach, never actually kicked a ball because he was bound to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. His kickers were All-Pros.] What I’m saying is you have to know what you’re talking about, to know what you’re talking about. Too often, folks are ready to go off half-cocked and shout advice or declare a position having done no reading or research from credible sources. Or even for one second carefully mulled over the information in front of them. Information floats in the air, penetrates their ears, gets passed around like one of those funny hand-rolled cigarattes and it becomes “common knowledge”. Eventually, everyone knows you’re not supposed to do this or that, or that thing over there causes cancer or take this and you’ll get all the girls. Whatever, man.

In my humble opinion, if you’re going to share your info, at least have tested it in the world or on yourself. Has the maple syrup and lemon juice diet helped you get a body like Jessica Biel? If it hasn’t, and you thought or were told it would, you have to question the diet. Did flipping single family homes make you yacht, private plane and trips to the French Riviera rich? Or did it leave you with a negative net worth? Either way, do your research. Experiment. Before you share.

The ironic thing is had my friend in line been a Paleo Pusher, he would have attacked my meal from the butter-loaded bagel angle. He would have told me that Paleolithic man would never eat bread and we are not built to do so. He would have said, bagels (wheat, gluten, et. al.) are a slow death and butter only hastens the inevitability. If I was in the mood, which I wasn’t with the bacon dude this morning, I might have asked Mr. P. Pusher, “Are you sure Paleo man never never EVER ate bread? Are you sure? I mean do we even know what Paleo man was let alone what he ate? Is butter really all that bad for you?”

Hopefully, Mr. P. Pusher would have based his viewpoint on something he read and experimented with instead of hearing it from the guy who heard it from the guy at some other guy’s son’s bar mitzvah. Hopefully too he’d be open to an opposing point of view and open to testing his presently held belief. Had the bacon dude asked he would have learned, I’ve been through the internal bacon battle and back. I’ve done the research and the experimentation on myself. I have eaten it and not. Praised it and scorned it. And after the long drawn tug of war, what I’ve concluded is, life is just better with bacon!

Now, my battle is with bagels (grains, wheat, whatever…). Butter-loaded bagels. With mounting evidence against continuing my relationship with my beloved, I have to consider the possibility she is no good for me. But, I will not just except what the dude, who knows the dude, who knows the bar mitzvah dude says. I’m doing the research and the experimentation before I make any judgment or completely break it off. Until such time, if it ever comes, we will go on the occassional date.

I am baffled why you put yourself through this. I do not know why you insist on putting yourself through the mental torture. Why is it even a part of your life? It never tells you exactly what you want to hear. And it’s likely you’ve answered for yourself before you even ask it the dreaded question.

Am I fat?

You don’t know it but what a ridiculous question. And the only reason you’re asking is because you think you are fat. No matter what number pops up on that scale, it will not convince you otherwise. Whether the number that pops up is “high” or “low”, you will see the phrase “big fat fatty”. But don’t confuse this for chatizing. I don’t blame you for asking a silly question. I don’t even blame you for your self-defeating self-perception. You been conditioned.

Throughout your life, you’ve been sent subliminal and overt messages by a plethara of sources; movies, magazines, your girlfriends, your mother, your rabbi, your coach and I’m sure many other well meaning but ignorant folk. Their message to you has been you should be obsessed with your weight. These messages even go as far as to have you believe your self-worth is inversely correlated to the number that shows up on the scale. The smaller the number on the scale the better the person you are. But let me let you in on a little secret. The number on that scale, no matter what it says, is a crock of shit! And the question, “Am I fat?”, that prompts you to step on to such an abominable device in the first place is a bigger crock of shit.

STOP! [Read more →]

Most of you know I love CrossFit. Well the first two weeks of the CrossFit Open have really kicked my butt. Honestly I didn’t expect much different. I was unable to meet any of my CrossFit goals in the months leading up to the Open in terms of training and injury prevention. My performance is where it should be. At least week 3 gave me a little something to hold on to. Although still not a performance I’d say meets my full potential, at least it was a reminder if I put the proper effort into my preparation, good things will come.

Watch more video of The 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games on sicfit.com

Check out a sneak peak of the upcoming docu/series From Fatherless To Fatherhood. The Kobie Chronicles will be featuring today’s fathers and getting their perspectives on what fatherhood means to them. I and the girls will be one of the featured families. Should be fun.