giving thanks.............

A roof over my head,and
a means to pay the bills to keep it,
a body that still works pretty well,despite my
aches and pains,
a circle of friends who listen to me bitch about my
aches and pains,
a family legacy to honor,
a significant other who continues to be the landscape
upon which i try to build a better,more productive life,
the privilege of belonging to the world of
teaching,music,fencing,fitness,and so much more....
knowing love when life seems really loveless,and
knowing that,as long as i can start another day,
i've got another chance to "get it right"!
..To everyone who helped make this another great year:
THANK YOU,and HAPPY HOLIDAYS.....

CROSSFIT or SEIZURE..Thanksgiving LAUGH!!!!

With all the talk about Turkey day gluttony flying around..
I had to share this vid(EXPLICIT !,a little..) from my FB Friends....enjoy,and when you
hit the gym Friday to"burn off" all that "bad" food..look for these two:

..have a great,thoughtful holiday!!

One more taste of FOOD PORN-Last BBQ,'promise!!

This is a hideous sauce.
There’s so much wrong with this sauce, it’s hard to begin. A noxious taste is still in my mouth, like a mud pie – but worse. I’d rather eat dirt than this stinky, synthetic blend of cheap ingredients. I’d rather drink oil (not car oil, more like olive oil which isn’t so bad…)

HA!!-I had to share,because,when dealing with a lower-carb diet,commercially bottled BBQ sauce is right up
there with,i dunno,what HE said(read the whole review,and see if YOU have a bottle of this famous brand
on YOUR refrigerator door!!)
Anyway-my little video speaks for itself:this place was on Food Network,and it put the 'hook in me..
Look,a Bentley's a car...a Yugo's a car....there's food,and there's PORN...take time to cook it yourself,or
at least seek out the best places you can !!!

What's YOUR favorite "treat-day" freak-out?

FOOD PORN-LIVE(and with BBQ..)

Too often we hear clients lament the start of the holiday season-y'know
Halloween:"leftover candy"..Office parties,Chanuka,Turkey-day,Xmas,New Year's..
PLEASE!!!!
If you:
1.LOOK at your schedule/calendar for Nov.Dec.,Jan.
2.PLAN your "treat"(NOT "cheat")days...and
3.EARN your 'carbs/extra calories...YOU ARE GOLDEN !!!
..An example(me)might be Sat.11/13-See Video(and pic below)
...i trained long and hard for Sat.11/13..
..had dreams about it..watched the Food Network 'clip a million times..EARNED IT...
My next "treat day" will be Thanksgiving...from now to then,i WORK,i eat clean,and i
train to enjoy that day..then look fwd. to 12/14(de-loading the training),then Xmas,etc..
That's 3 days over the next ,what,7 weeks?NOT 1 "fail" a week...
.and,IF you "fail"--you just make the NEXT meal a good one,do NOT "under-eat"..or
toss all your work to that point away!!

best....BBQ....EVER.......

....Have a great holiday season,dust off that calendar....

X-MEN comfort zone?

ok-made ya look!-some ramblings about dealing with improv training while on the 'road..
The palm trees INSIDE that closed movie 'set(shooting?:"x-men:FIRST CLASS")..were trucked in from who-knows-where,and
are lifted by forklift to meet the needs of the 'shot,as dictated by the director or production designer ..each one in it's own wooden box!

Too often in our weekly training we can get so deep into that same controlling/structured place,which is fine:
"this week=M W F=kettlebells,Sat. will be TRX,etc."--Familiar,comfortable,defined...BUT...
what if we find ourselves OUTSIDE the fence-as i am, on the road this week?--Do i panic and toss away all my hard work  because i have no kettlebells,no therabands,no gym?
The palm trees this week are really the same as the ones i was around last week..So, i do bodywt. workouts,
use water bottles,stones,whatever is handy to get my training in...y'know-improv....looking around us,re-evaluating our goals,needs,and limitations,we often will trip over the "palm trees"that we never even noticed before!
Hey, about that "comfort zone" -if we stop pushing at it's "walls?--it gets SMALLER..and smaller.....

Time for a BREAK..(in the KB 'road...with prettty MUSIC !!)

After an eval by my (great) PT,it was determined my hip issue stems from too much of a good thing-
I'm hyper-mobile(lotsa stretch )which ,in my case equals a real weakness on my Right side.
No lifting for 2 weeks,thera-band work to get my strength up in the external rotators.
The great thing about a really experienced practitioner is the ability to ask the right questions,and not just take a shot at a general conclusion..
Now,my guy used to be my boss,and the first thing he questioned me on was my mvt patterns,"had i been
FENCING?"--Since my Left foot points straight ahead like a normal homo-sape,but my RIGHT foot?
"en garde" dude...i walk @ an angle of 15*(years of lunges,advances,retreat,all to my Right!!)
20 mins. of ROM and strength tests later,i was actually releved to have a "script" to throttle back my training
for a while.Don't get me wrong--i'll workout every damn day,just differently,that's all..



The reason for this"farewell" vid.(relax,i'm back to hit it in 2weeks..)was to drive home my "lesson" this week":You don't get what ya WANT,ya get what ya DESERVE...which,in my case,is the KB gods of Aasgard telling me to earn my BBQ without the 'bells....Maybe i'm sensitive to it,but the video shows a
'jerk doin' jerks without getting Greedy(good thing)but without Drive to push(not good thing).
Ahh,rest/recovery/return--sounds like a plan!!

Kettlebell jerk set--goes better with LAUGHTER....

SO,i'm grinding out a "light" KB Jerk set,and
these guys start talking about "30 Rock"..
You can see how much more fluid my tech becomes as i get distracted
and more relaxed!!

click HERE to hear it in  Alec's own voice..
Thanks,Coach!(and 'Kev!)..and PS,it's NOT SNOWING in Seaford yet....that's
Mag-chalk flying around!!

GOLDIE still waves...

Among my regular weekly travels,i teach a lesson out in Lido Beach.
Every time i make the trip,at the same point i open the window,wave,and beep my horn.You see,
outside the "we-buy-gold" store stands a figure who is as constant as the dusk following the dawn.
If the US postal service gets through despite rain,snow,and gloom of night,if the FBI always get
their man,if the phone always rings after you get in the shower,then this figure is i-damn-conic.
A person(man,woman,child?) dressed as a giant GOLD BAR...waves to the speeding traffic...

goldie still waves!!!

I have zoomed past his greeting all seasons of the year,most memorably last March,when,in a blinding
snowstorm,he had competition from another jeweler who hired a guy to dress as Santa and wave,only
1 block South...unreal.The nerve..
.My question is..
What must these 2 working stiffs have been thinking,out there,freezing,waving,waving ?
Anyway,when i get down on what i think are hard times,i'm reminded of what i heard last week,at the end of the big Washington rally"these are HARD times,not END times" great line..
..and i think of GOLDIE,out there,,,waving,,,,
and i smile.......

FOOD PORN,well,kinda.

In the course of eating right to train right,i like to think we ALL have days of
indecision..when that "treat" day(not "cheat day") cannot come soon enough...
There is NO question that,when my recovery is insufficient,my resolve wavers..
Someone once said"hey,if you eat well 90% of the time,a 10 % lapse is NOT
going to derail you...and i tend to agree.
What 'bout YOU? Are there 'triggers that give you the "just-1-triple-chocolate-muffin"
shakes? Love to hear what constitutes a "freak-out" treat...
Discuss....me? I've got chicken breasts to get out of the oven.....DAMN you,BETTY !!

..these are not the leaves you're looking for.....move along.....

Sometime when you stop looking for a little tranquility,it presents itself to you from outta
left field..
To say i've been STRESSED of late would be an under-damn-statement,and a holiday can be a 2-edged
sword,biz-wise.Training revenue evaporates,you start questioning why you do what you,and if any of it matters,but then...today...
I gave a fencing lesson to a really sharp student who seems to be listening to my teaching....then ..
I gave a music lesson to another really bright young man,who blew me away by playing mvt.1 of the
Marcello E-minor,when i hadn't even asked him to practice!(that's a double bass piece)..
..and i wound up finding time to rake the front yard !

When i realized i had absolutely no where else to run off to,no traffic jam to sit in,no meeting to
prep for,no other clients to work......every 39 gal. bag i filled seemed to be another small return to...
what? Sanity?Calm?..
Whatever it was,it felt good...gotta get those last 5 bags stuffed before dark....ahh....