Warning

I've debated back and forth whether or not to write this post and finally am just going to go for it. Roller derby is a sport with larger than life personality. As with many sports, some of these personalities will follow you off of the track. For some this is no issue at all. For the record I sometimes envy the people that are able to take a win or a loss and walk away unchanged. I have never been able to master that art. Many of the athletes I speak with regularly aren't able to do this either. Many times I have looked at this as just being committed to something that is both fulfilling and great than myself. Here is the dangerous part: You will become a slave to the personality that you create for yourself. For some, this will not matter at all. For others this should serve as a warning against presenting yourself anyway other than you would care to live with for the rest of your life. I am writing this now because it is relevant for me right now. On the field, I was more than nasty to deal with. There was very little enjoyment in any game that blood was not drawn and to win wasn't always enough. I took great joy in absolutely demoralizing an opponent. On one hand, some of these are my finest memories. On the other, it is tough to live that way off of the pitch. What many of my teammates and I have realized now that our careers have passed is that it is hard to have any form of relationship with anyone if you cannot kill the idea that it is a competition. We, as many of you have, walked before thousands of people and were hailed for our physical abilities. Tremendous hits, incredible scores, and amazing team efforts are what defines so much of an athletes life. Living the persona of a badass who can not only take a hit but give one with twice the force in return and smile doing it is often what defines us as athletes, gives us our identity. While there are times that this is perfectly justified to revel in, eventually you will not be able to turn it off. As some one with experience in this I offer only simple advice. Do your best to not allow yourself to be defined only by who you are on the track. The painful realizations that come when it's over are not really worth it and neither is the effort it takes to come back to life. If this doesn't apply to you, thanks for humoring me anyway. Now let's go to work!

5 min. warm up
Stretch
50 meters of karaoke steps(grapvines) (each side)
2x 20 squat jumps
3x 10 inverted rows
2x 20 medium box jumps
2x 20 fire hydrant leg lifts (each side)
2x 20 donkey kickbacks
3x 10 wide push ups
3x 10 tricep dips
3x 10 bicep curls( sometimes it's all about looking good, I'm just saying)
3x 20 calf raises
4x 60sec. planks
5 min. cool down
Stretch

Enjoy!

J