Crossfit, Kung-Fu, and Most Importantly…

Dinner!

But let’s save the best for last! First, the exercise…

It was a terrific day at Crossfit for me. As I’ve said before, I think the most important thing that it is doing for me is to make me constantly question my own ideas about my limitations and capabilities. Since two out of three days, my buddy Eric works out on the same day I do, I generally know what the workout is going to be. Trust me, I was really dreading this one:

• 800m Run
• Five Rounds:
  • 15 x Deadlift @ 185lb
  • 30 Situps
• 800m Run

The instant I saw running involved, I knew it would be a rough day for me. It’s definitely not my forte, but as my coach, John says, you have to reframe things, change that voice in your head that says it’s not your thing, into one that says that it is your thing. I definitely did the running leaps and bounds better than I had previously, a point of pride.

The deadlifts were brutal. I am still learning the correct form, so I did them a little bit slowly, with a pause at the top (which, as John yelled at me, isn’t exactly rest!). By the 3rd set, my hamstrings were screaming obscenities at me. This exercise, for all the bewildering brutality it beset upon me, was where I made yet another breakthough.

The Recommended weight for the deadlifts today was 185lb. I didn’t have much confidence in myself to complete five sets of 15 reps at that weight. I made a bargain with myself. I would do the first three sets at the prescribed weight, and then knock it down to 135. After the three sets, I was tired – exhausted even – but I didn’t feel an absolute need to knock the weight down.

I ended up far surpassing my own expectations and doing all five sets at the recommended weight. Then, it was off to the races again. The first 400m lap of the last run was basically a hobble for me. The second half though, I seemed to regain some energy (from god knows where) and finish strong. Go me!

Kung-Fu was a little bit of a different story. Although not as exhausted as last week, I was still pretty tired. A sparring match with the always-game Scotty nearly set me down for the count. I still managed another round (that I phoned in out of exhaustion) before settling in for the teaching portion of the class.

Lately, I’ve been trying to be more hands-on and involved in the martial arts development of the students in my class. Although I don’t own the school at which I teach, I still feel that I have a lot to offer, and a unique perspective on sparring, and the martial arts in general, so I have started doing as much as I can to gently offer my opinion, without being overbearing.

Being a beginner at something is difficult. It takes a lot of guts and determination to survive the initial ego blow of simply not being competent at something. In my mind, a good teacher is there to not only slow your fall, but to help you pick yourself up and dust yourself off, and start climbing the ladder to mastery. I want to be that teacher.

Now the moment you’ve been waiting for: A description of my delicious dinner! Tonight my roomate cooked one of our mutual favorites: Chicken in a curry-lime butter. In general, the aforementioned butter is served with small chicken wings, but this time we served it with skin-on chicken thighs. Since it’s pretty much scientifically provable that the skin is the best part of eating chicken, this served as a cullinary delight.

Seeing as I burned enough calories today to power the entire west coast, three chicken thighs left me less than sated. Remember those steaks I cooked up yesterday? Well, half of one sliced over a bed of delicious mixed greens, and some sliced cantaloupe finally conquered my hunger.

Tomorrow I am going to the Crossfit gym to see about the Affiliate team. It would be an honor to be on it. Frankly, I am pretty sure that I don’t have the chops yet.

But I will, oh yes, I will.