P.S. Thanks for this Jordan.

I don't really know who Jordan is, but he made this sweet picture and emailed it to me requesting permission to use it. Sweet, yo. Couldn't be more appropriate for my training philosophy either. Dunno if I'd call myself average or elite, but cool pic none the less.

This week I want to be a tough girl.

Too tired to blog... or really even think *just ask my professors.* However, this week has brought some harsh realizations:

1. Working 8-5 doing actual "work" with your body + training = tired and sore like I've never felt- in a masochistic "good" way.
2. The flu has set me back about 2 weeks in training, both boxing and jiu jitsu.
3. Your body goes to shit way quicker than in comes into strength.

Fortunately, I have channeled these things into constructive outlets which will, in turn, remedy the way I feel right now.

Since I got back from IL and spending time w/ my mom- who's doing AWESOME by the way, I have done little training (of others). I got really focused on my own training, and just never picked back up. And, I was recently offered an awesome opportunity to do something that I love (working on Jeeps). All that being said, I just got over the flu, and I am bouncing back slowly. Still running, working KB's (lat strength does a lot for slinging tires from the bed of a p/u truck), and fighting. Not much can stop that. I am regaining my strength in areas I lost it being beaten up by the flu strain that was apparently not included in my flu shot and starting to work outside and with my body. It's a welcome change that I needed, and I absolutely love doing it.

I guess if its not one thing, its another when it comes to changes, gains, and set backs. Such is life, but all the cliche crap about standing in the face of adversity (in all forms big and small) is not so much cliche crap as it is really an important concept.

Looking fwd to posting more workouts, training, random thoughts :)

P.S. I've found sweet ways to incorporate my own silly fitness shit into my job. You can deadlift leaf springs and axles, do weird looking swings warming up to sling a tire into a tire pile, and you can sure as shit squat with anything (heavy tires, transmissions- lil too much for me, etc.) There is a way that it all comes together. Maybe you'd just have to see it. How lucky am I to work out in the sunshine on gorgeous days like the ones as of recent! Sunshine is good for you dammit.

The Gym and Passing Judgment.

Sooo... tonight boxing was cancelled, no jiu jitsu, and I had already run with Emily and Gator (the fine canine running specimen that he is becoming), so I was planning on hitting a really good workout in the living-room a la kettlebells. But, one of my friends that I box with called me to ask if I wanted to got to the gym and "lift" since practice got canceled. So, I obliged. Now, I love relentless gym bashing (almost as much as Republican bashing... no, not as much) since the gym is only good for the Olympic lifting platform- that I would also install in my living-room if I could afford to do so- as far as I'm concerned. :) Maybe I'm a hypocrite or maybe it was just for nostalgia, being that it is the same gym I used to teach aerobics to whiny, dependent wives at. Either way, I went with and didn't have a bad time... till I left. Nothing was wrong with my workout: I can enjoy about 20 different modifications to the deadlift, and squats, and all the super-duper new "ab machines." But, some things are only entertaining for so long. The TT gym = one of them. As we were leaving I began to think (that's usually 1/2 the problem right there).

I am very lucky to have such wonderful people and facilities to train in. I am grateful for all of them everyday. But, I do jiu jitsu in a pole-barn style building that also serves as the county fairgrounds that's an hour from my house. I box in an old, run-down, 1/2 torn apart boxing gym. I run... um...on the sidewalk. I play with iron kettlebells in my living room trying to dodge the dog and three-year-old... and I love it- all of it! I wouldn't ask for better places to do any of those things. And I utilize them all, voluntarily, on a pretty-much daily basis. The reason I point all this stuff out is this: What possible reason could a Marine or dependent-spouse have for not being in shape. Of all of the excuses that exist, unless you are physically not-able to get yourself there (walking, running, driving, or riding a bike), none of them are acceptable. There is all of the super-duper equipment provided (to include a machine that assists in medicine ball sit-up tosses- WTF?!) for free, free personal training, free group fitness classes, free usage of the locker rooms, even free towels to wipe your sweaty self off- none of which seems to be enough to get some of these folks to want to go. Apparently, therein lies the problem- They don't want to go. Period. They would rather sit on their butts when they get home and eat Doritos and drink Mountain Dew than go use all the nice free shit that the government is trying to taunt them in to good (or better) shape with. I don't get it. I understand we don't all have the same schedule (its open almost always) or the same priorities (but I'll go ahead and call you screwed up if good health isn't in your top 5), but give me a break. Barring any legitimate medical issue, there's no reason any military family member should be out of shape- point blank.

This phenomenon needs to be explained to me, scientifically. So many military spouses are notoriously out of shape, overweight, or both. Nothing I've read thus far, even attempts to breach this topic. Does the means not justify the ends? Who doesn't want to look and feel better if you presently look and feel like shit? Like I said before, the DoD is practically doing a fitness strip-tease on base housing. I doesn't get any easier or more convenient. I suppose the point of failure is the point at which you actually have to sweat. Hmmpf. You can lead a horse to water...

Okay... off my soapbox and off to bed ;)