Doug Kelsey's Blog

Lindsey Vonn's Workout Makes Me Want to Quit My Job

"What's your goal? What are you hoping to achieve? my golf teacher asked.

"I just want to be consistent; be in the fairway and not splaying the ball all over the place," I replied.

A short grin grew across her face as she said, "Well, then, you better quit your day job."

********

I like to think that I'm reasonably committed to my health and fitness. I train often and usually fairly hard. I've been doing that for a while and have been feeling pretty good about my frequency and duration of sessions. Even now while my right shoulder is in rehab, I still train. Usually 4 days per week and an hour or so per session.

But, what I do pales in comparison to competitive athletes.

If you're inspired by what world class, elite level, competitive athletes can do or what they look like, and think you might like to perform like they do or have the bodies they have, you had better quit your day job. 

The Wall Street Journal reported on the workout of Lindsey Vonn, the highly decorated US skier: "Red Bull provides Vonn with two trainers who travel with her around the world ensuring she sticks to her regimen. Vonn trains six to eight hours a day, six days a week. Most days she gets in three hours of cardio, usually on a bike."

And, she follows a very rigid diet and deviates from it very little. That's a job. 

And most other athletes at her level train the same way. Hours per day.

It comes down to what you want, knowing what it takes to get there, and what you're willing to do to get it.

Me? I had two brownies last night after dinner.

If what you're after is the body image of an athlete, remember this - athletes don't train to get the bodies they have. They train to compete and their bodies develop as a result. It's a fringe benefit. 

So, give your self a break and a reality check.

Now, if I could just quit my job.....

:-)

Three Steps to Better

I've come to a conclusion. After spending a lot of years studying, teaching, making mistakes, having some wins, some losses, I think there are just three major steps to getting better at, well, anything.

1. Introduce your self.
2. State your intention.
   
3. Commit.

By introducing your self, it means you're not alone. It means you know who you are. To get better at something, you have to know and be aware of your self.  Getting better at anything all by your self is extremely difficult to do. You need support, feedback, laughter. You need people to push you and to slow you down and hold you accountable. You need people.

Your intention is to get better - at something. So, say it. Out loud. To the people you're working with. To acknowledge you want to get better, you're declaring the truth out loud. You're giving it a voice. By declaring your intention, you open your self up to admitting you don't know everything; you don't have all the answers. Maybe you're skill is not what you want it to be, or you don't know certain things like you thought you did, or you don't have what you really want. State your intention clearly and simply. I want to get better at ______________________.

Commit means you give your self entirely to the task. You're taking ownership of your results. You stick. No one else owns the responsibility. Others may support you, help you, but you do the work. When you commit, you take action. You give attention to your intention and create action. You're willing to do what it takes to get better and because of those actions and behaviors, you get better.

Introduce your self.
State your intention.
Commit.

Get better.
DK

A Fit Head & Heart?

What does it mean to be fit? Is it a hard body? Ripped abs? Popeye biceps?

Fitness is not about how you look; it's about what you can do. What you do can change how you look but evaluating fitness by appearance is like assuming a car is fast because it's red, sleek, and has cool tires.

What you can do - how well you move, how long you can sustain movement, how fast, how much you can lift, push, pull, carry - is a function of your physical capacity (and this includes your joint strength and endurance) but that's not all of it.

My definition of fitness then is, "being suitably adapted for a task, situation, or environment." If fitness is about what you can do and what you do is an extension of what you think and feel, then fitness has at least three dimensions - physical, mental, emotional - all of which must be "suitably adapted for a task or environment".

Have you ever found your self unable to recall a name or place or person even though it's someone or something you actually know? Sometimes that's just a goof; sometimes it means your mental fitness has slipped a bit.

Or, what about having to confront someone about something that you really don't want to talk about but you know you should? That's your emotional fitness at work.

Your fitness strategy should include mental and emotional "training" as much physical and maybe even more.

Are you training your head and your heart along with your body?

DK