Saturday, February 16, 2008

New Strengths and Weaknesses


A picture of my friend Matt Volpert. Both him and I are co-owners of FreeBirds Delivery (the reason I can pay for all that is CrossFit). He hadn't been in the gym for 2 years before I got after him and now he's way into Crossfit. I'm pumped that he's into it and proud to be his trainer!

But now I have a story:

Here I was, on Valentine's day, heading to the gym for a hot date with "Cindy". At least from what I had remembered with previous dates with her, she must have been hot, because after that 20 minute date, I was drenched with sweat and had to lie down for a good 30 minutes after. That last time I tried Cindy, I got in 18 rounds with her. I was a little disappointed with the score because I felt I could do better.

Now, It was Feb 14th and I was determined to show her what kind of man I am. I was mentally prepared and ate the healthiest choices I could think of in perfect zone measurements. I was a little scared I hadn't fully recovered because I still had a bad cough. I got to the gym, warmed up, rowed, and claimed the cable machine from the rest of the mindless meatheads at the gym. I told myself 3, 2, 1, GO! as I clicked the stopwatch and jumped up to start the pullups. Those 20 minutes went by so fast, the only thing I remember is seeing a lot of weird looks from people doing bicep curls and triceps extensions. Then 20 minutes was up. My score? 24 Rounds! I was so pumped, I even managed a smile as I collapsed to the ground to slow down my heart that was about explode.

Now today was a different story. It was Diane's turn and she was not so nice. Its seems that Deadlifts followed by hand-stand pushups is not my strength. I wasn't tired during it, but my muscles just wouldn't produce as much power as I needed to fly though it. It took me 10:04 minutes to complete and I am not too happy with that at all. I need to work harder on these exercises in the future. It looks like the next time Cindy comes around, I'm gonna pass right by her and try her evil twin Mary instead.

The point of this story, is that we all have strengths and weaknesses that we are not yet aware of. There will be times when we will be shocked about how far we have come. There will also be times when we feel disappointed and weak. It is important to pay attention and make an extra effort to improve on your weaknesses. Use your strengths as benchmarks to where your weaknesses should be. Your only as strong as your weakest link.

Have a great Presidents Day weekend! Sorry to those who expected to see me in SC this weekend. My ride flaked out and I'm really disappointed I couldn't be there. I promise I'll make the trip soon!
-CJ

2 comments:

T Miller said...

wow 24 rounds, that's really good. I've never done a full Cindy before, we did a 1/2 Cindy once and I got 14 rounds. Hopefully we'll do that one of these days......
-T

Patrick D. said...

I bet you regretted that rendezvous the next morning!




... You know, when you were so sore you could barely hobble down the stairs.