Deal With It

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day who is going through a rough time and it got me thinking about a lot of different things. She made one statement that stuck out above the rest and it was this: "The opposite of love is not hate, but rather fear". To me, this was news. I much prefer the idea of being able to write things off as hate rather than deal with the fears that the hate stems from. With that said, let me bring it back toward the track. What are your greatest fears on the track and how do you deal with them? First off, to all of those of you that are like me and whose gut reaction was "I am not afraid of anything there because I am in my element", I am calling BULLSHIT! We all have fears and insecurities, whether our egos will show them outright or not. For myself, I was never very naturally athletically gifted and that was an issue for me that I would cover with the largest doses of bravado that I could muster which, for the record, was extensive. To compensate for this shortfall, I was reckless with my body and generally mad in every sense of the word. The truth is that I was afraid of losing my position to someone more talented so I tried harder and then I was afraid that my body wouldn't hold up so I began to subtly hold back. If I am to speak plainly, most of my career was riddled with fear that nearly destroyed me. In my case, it has taken me many years to come back to the love that I felt for the game that I once lived for and even watch it again. To put a point on it, deal with your fucking fears because the alternative is not pretty for anyone. How do you deal with your fears? Well we all have a slightly different method for this but, in short, the best way is to deal with them is to face them until they are beaten into submission. My friend mentioned that this is easier when you focus on the love you feel for something that you fear and apply your energy into growing that love until the fear seems small and manageable compared to your love. I find myself laughing, whether s a defense mechanism or a sign that I've rounded the bend, whenever fear shows up and that works for me. All I can tell you with any certainty is that living paralyzed with fear rather than relishing in your love is not worth it. Deal with it as soon as you are aware of it and if you have any advice on dealing with fear then share it.


Cheers,

J

5 min warm up
Stretch
2x 12 pushups
2x 10 DB chest press
2x 12 inverted rows
2x 10 bent flys
2x 12 step up to over head presses
2x 10 single leg squats
2x 12 upright rows
2x 10 lateral raises
2x 25 reg crunches
2x 25 straight arm twists
5 min cool down
Stretch

On A Dime

Most of the time in life you can at least attempt to plan and prepare for what is coming. Not much different than a derby bout, situations typically unravel in a certain fashion or follow a certain pattern that can be taken into account and responded to. In short, you can usually approach life with a strategy and manage pretty well basing your actions around these plans. But what about the the times when things don't follow the rules? What about the surprises that you just couldn't account for? What do you do when someone flips the script on you so fast that you don't realize what has happened, let alone what your next course of action is? The truth is that these things do take place and there is never any specific plan that you can run that will handle the situation cleanly. Every now and then things just change on a dime and leave you wondering what happened. Rather than stay vague, I will tell you the root of my line of thought is in a relationship but the principle applies to every situation, especially in athletics. Injuries, discord among teammates, or a good beating in a game that you should have won are all examples of this. So how do you survive and regain your clarity of thought to make it out of whatever the situation is? First off, you get to your feet. You cannot come back if you refuse to get up. The only way to ensure that you will fail when surprised is to stay down. Wallowing and worrying about what has just transpired will not do you any good and the longer you stay down the worse off you will be. After your on your feet, control your emotions!!! This is the biggest key to all of it. There will always be an emotional response but that is seldom the best course of action as far as righting the ship goes. Rather than going with the pain or surprise that accompanies an emotional response, look to get your bearings quickly and figure out how bad of shape you are really in, no matter how bad of shape feel you are in. This is possibly the hardest thing to do but it is what separates the the amateurs from the professionals. Lastly, when you have realized that you are backed into a corner, get out of the corner by the cleanest method possible and regroup in the process. In life times are transition are the biggest areas of vulnerability but the are also the greatest opportunities to capitalize on. You always want to come out better than you went in, even if that just means lesson learned and not repeated. Hopefully this make some sense. My head is still spinning a bit but I think you'll get the gist.

Cheers,

J

5 min warm up
2x 20 squat jumps
2x 20 burpee push ups
2x 20 box jumps
100 jump ropes
2x 20 step up to overhead presses
2x 20 back flys
4x 100 meter sprints
4x 30 sec planks
5 min cool down
Stretch

Too Long Away

You may have noticed that my posts have become less and less frequent as of recently. This can be attributed to many different things, some more desirable than others, but none of them valid enough to qualify as an excuse. Though it has been good to step away for a bit, it is time to tighten things back up and get on track. One thing that I have noticed through this process is how easy it is to continue growing when you are practicing good habits and how quickly things will fade when you step away from them. Over the past few months I have had a number of my favorite roller girls remind me that no matter what is going on in your life, you are still in control of your own reaction and preparation. In short, everything in life is a choice. I have seen this in my own life many times and am excited about the implications that this holds for all of us. Just for a brief update as far as my end goes: I will be focusing more on injury prevention and rehab in the coming months as it has become one of the most blatant issues in the derby community as well as in my own life (torn ligaments in my knee) and the competitive spirit that drives us all in sport. I am in the middle of launching several ventures back into the realm of athletics, specifically soccer, and it feels good to be back on the pitch. Overall the whole mess is a pleasant reminder no to take too much time away from that which you love, the things in life that strike up the passion within.


Cheers,

J

5 min warm up
Stretch
2x 20 narrow grip push ups
2x 20 lateral raises
2x 20 high rows or chin ups (either or will work)
2x 20 rockstar jumps
4x 60 sec planks
2x 25 straight leg crunches
2x 25 frog kicks
5 min cool down
Stretch