Testimonial from a 61 year old man/ aka Tommy D/ aka my Dad

This is something my dad wrote a few months ago. It's a testimonial from a 61 year old for the coaching and training we do at North Shore CrossFit. Thought I'd share.

It is almost 2 years ago that I decided at age 59 that it was time again for me to get myself into good physical condition. I had experienced some lower back problems from moving furniture several years ago and it essentially disabled me enough that I stopped working out and playing sports. I finally found a good chiropractor and he got my back problem corrected and now it was time to get back into shape.
I was looking for a personal trainer that could ease me back into shape with out my hurting myself and David Picardy at North Shore CrossFit was exactly what I was looking for in a coach.
It was perfect! The CrossFit concept got my strength, cardio, and reflexes back into "playing" shape..even at my age!
I lost some weight while adding muscle size and tone to my body. I worked out about 3 to 4 times a week. The beauty is I never got bored, it took only an hour for an intense workout, and the coaching was superb. It taught me things that I never learned in the gyms with cables and machines. My biceps are bigger and I haven't done a single curl in 2 years! Total body workouts! Period!
I'm now 61 and I am stronger and in better shape then I have been in over 10 years. My cholesterol count went from 205 to 165 and my ratio is now 3.7. My blood pressure is 115 over 70 and my last heart rate count was 50! All good stuff. No medication either.
And lastly, the camaraderie that I enjoy at CrossFit during these workouts with other members helps to inspire me to get even more enjoyment out of pushing myself to the max!
If your my age, then you too remember this is how we use to work out. You know, before the fitness industry went into machines and glorified "look at me" gyms.
I guarantee that you will move better and feel better then you have felt in years.

Training Log

Wednesday 8/20/08
(am)
ran 3.3 miles 25 mins
I did this same run back in March of 2007 in about 34 mins. I've done more than 1 mile once since then and that was only 2 miles. CrossFit works! And I did my best to POSE while running and I maintained a pretty good pace the whole way.
(pm)
Overhead Squats- haven't done these in over a month.
10 reps at 45#
5 reps at 95#
5 reps at 125#
5 reps at 135#
5 reps at 145#
5 reps at 155#
5 reps at 165#
3 reps at 175#
3 reps at 185#
1 rep at 195#
1 rep at 205# (previous max from 4/08, failed push press)
1 rep at 205# (good)
1 rep at 210# (good, new max)
1 rep at 215# (almost, mother f 'er)
Again, CrossFit works! You don't have to specialize and work on a specific thing to get better at it. Work on everything, your overall general fitness and skill-sets, and you'll continue to get better at everything.

Earnest - The Patient Man

Earnest Graham has arguably the most fitting name in sports and in life for that matter. I stumbled upon this story as I was looking through ESPN the Magazine. I used to watch Earnest play, six and seven years ago, for the Florida Gators, my favorite college football team. Last season, in the NFL, he got his first opportunity to start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because of injuries to Cadillac Williams and Michael Pittman. He was first introduced into the league in 2003 as rookie, and was cut three times in that one year. The most I ever new about the guy was the college he played for, the number he wore and that in watching him in college, I thought he was a pretty good running back. Today, I am very thankful to have been properly and fully introduced to Earnest Graham. I am always touched, and I guess, just happy to know and find more examples of good, honest, hard working human beings, with inspiring attitudes toward life and it's challenges. Of course I don't overlook the importance and beautiful spirits of the people who supported Earnest(his girlfriend(now wife), friends and family). Please take the time to read this story. Earnest Graham is a great example for all of us, as so many of us struggle with the virtue of patients. I love how he says, "patience is a form of open-mindedness." So true, I had never really looked at it that way. This strong character man epitomizes the true meaning of patience, perseverance and earnest.

TEN MIL THE HARD WAY

Like a lot of NFL journeymen, Earnest Graham had to go for broke to get his big break.
by Justin Heckert

The patient man comes home to another hotel room. In a borrowed truck, he comes home to his girlfriend and baby girl; to suitcases with clothes that used to hang in the closet of the apartment from which he was recently evicted. He comes home in a borrowed truck because his car has been repossessed. His mom and his friends lend him money, while his girlfriend covers the diapers, groceries and $10 drive-through dinners.

He can scarcely afford the $150 per week for his daughter's day care. But the patient man pays it, because if he were to look after her himself, he would have to wave good-bye to those long workouts at Bally's and the dream of playing in the NFL. The time in the gym doesn't pay a dime, but his girlfriend, patient woman that she is, drives him there anyway. He has to borrow a phone to call her to pick him up, but he is not ashamed. He has blind faith in his ability, although sometimes he wonders if what he's doing is for the best.
He and his girlfriend move again and again, out of Tampa, beyond the infinite strip clubs and gas stations. They follow hotel signs that stretch high above the road, taking the cheapest deals they find. His first big pro paycheck—$25,000 from the Buccaneers—is long gone, and since he has been cut three times in his short career, the patient man, Earnest Graham, will live this way until his family has nothing to fall back on but the virtue of patience itself, nowhere to go but the two-bedroom apartment of a friend who's agreed to let them live there, with three other men, for free.
In these spring months of 2004, Graham drives his girlfriend, Alicia, and daughter, Aiyana to the beach, away from their problems. To Clearwater, where they sit, still as sand dollars. Sometimes he and Alicia don't say a word. They just watch the dwindling sunlight as Aiyana sleeps in her stroller.
The NFL is not a place for patient men. It's not a league anxious to give players their first big chance five years down the line. There are no guaranteed contracts, only 16 regular-season games for men who have something to prove.
Graham talks about this in June 2008, drinking a cream soda, his legs dangling from atop his pool table, while he watches his children swim outside his brand-new house in suburban Tampa. The 28-year-old running back is medium-size, stocky, with a cleanly shaved head and a pointy goatee. A short-sleeve tee exposes ink on his left forearm: "Struggle Builds Character."

click to finish story

Lesson Learned

Update on my hip: I learned my lesson very quickly. I have a very tight hip(already new that). But as I was going through the pain on Wednesday and Thursday, I listened to my intuition that where I was feeling the pain probably wasn't the route of the problem, as is the case with most every symptom we experience. So if the pain was felt in the adduction of my hip, then I had to look at the issue in the abducting muscles of my hip. Like I said I know it's tight, but good god when I laid on my Trigger Point "Quadballer," as it's called, what a great pain that was, that went all the way down my leg. After about 10 minutes of rolling into my glutes and all the way around to the front of my him flexor(the side of my hip being most painful on the roller), I stood up and started testing the movement of my leg. I had far more range of motion before I felt the pain I had earlier, and the pain was much less. So I did more rolling throughout the day and by the end of the day Thursday, I had no pain at all. What a nice miracle that was. The best thing I did was never got down or felt like I was going to experience any setbacks with the injury. Injuries are part of any athletes life. I just figured it happened for a reason and some good had to come from it. I'm rolling everyday now to prevent this from happening again, as I know I'm not out of the woods yet, I need a more balanced and flexible hip, actually both hips. Most important though, in learning more about my body, I can better serve others in sharing the knowledge I confirmed through my experience. I hope you all had a great weekend. Next week I'll try to have posts that have nothing to do with me ;) But I hope any of this was of some help to you. Even if it just gets you rolling and stretching more, as these are important and often neglected aspects of our training. Let me be your example of what happens when we avoid areas of weakness, but also what happens when we maintain a healthy focus on the bigger picture during times of misfortune. Basically, we create our own fortune with a healthy mental attitude.

"An Ode to America"

My father emailed this to me yesterday. It was good to read while I was reporting for jury duty and sitting in the jury pool. Anyway, I liked it, and thought I would share. Everything in quotations was written by my dad.

"We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about the USA.
This article was written on September 24, 2001. (I verified this on Snopes 8/6/2008) Once again, it takes someone from the outside of America to remind us about our inherent greatness as a nation in spite of our imperfections.

(To Michelle Obama: We are not a mean spirited people.)

Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper. The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title 'C'ntarea Americii, (meaning 'Ode To America ') in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei 'The Daily Event' or 'News of the Day'"

~An Ode to America~

Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs.

On 9/ll, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the Army, or the Secret Service that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about. Instead the Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.

After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a government official or the president was passing. On every occasion, they started singing: 'God Bless America!'

I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.

How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put into collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy.

What on earth can unite the Americans in such way? Their land? Their history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace, I thought things over, I reached but only one conclusion... Only freedom can work such miracles.

-Cornel Nistorescu

"It took a person on the outside - looking in - to see what we take for granted!"

Training Log

Tuesday 8/5/08

200 pushups

50, 30, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20

(later on)

4 mins "long cycle"(clean&jerk) double kb's (53#)

25 reps(cannot put kb's down for the 4 mins)

rest

6 mins single kb clean&jerk (53#)

46 reps(Left for 2 mins (switch), Right for 2mins (switch), L for 1 min, R for 1 min)

70 ring dips

18, 9, 8, 5, 5, 5, 7, 6, 7

rest

25 handstand pushups

6, 6, 5, 4, 4

Wednesday 8/6/08

Power Snatch

1x3x 135#

1x3x 145#

1x2x 155# (failed 2nd rep)

1x2x 155# (failed 2nd rep)

1x2x 155# (both good)

1x1x 165#

1x1x 175# (failed)

1x1x 175# (failed)

5x3 front squat

255#

on the last rep of my last set I badly injured my left hip flexor. when driving up out of the hole(bottom of squat) my knees adducted(drove inward), so naturally I forced them out, but clearly too late in my squat as I felt a very noticeable grind go through my left hip. drive those knees out all the way down in your squat and keep them driving out as you begin driving up, and all the way up(my advice to you). in my assessment my injury is not muscular, but much deeper in the socket of the hip joint, hopefully no serious ligament damage. you will see me walking gingerly, feel free to bust my balls(especially when you see me getting in and out of my car). funny thing is I can still do air squats, as long as my knees constantly abduct(drive outward) and my hips reach back as they should, and I am in my heels as always. so basically, if I do a very good squat I have no pain, if my knee adducts at any point during hip flexion, the pain can literally put me on the floor(joy!). all in all, I will not be doing anything, but pushups with my left leg resting on my right, dead hang pullups, ring dips, and presses for, I'm assuming, a good bit of time.

It's all good though :) Blessings will be found in every crisis. And let me say that this week has not been one of the best in recent memory, but that's why it's important to be present in the moment and not follow one emotion, or the other(pleasure, pain/elation, depression). It's all love when you grant yourself the wisdom to see the balance and have gratitude for all occurrences, good and bad(what lessons can be learned?, how can we grow from this?).

(I know everyone loves when I get to philosophizin' ;)

Dustin Pedroia: "170 Pounds of Mouth"

Great article from ESPN The Magazine on Dustin Pedroia.

170 POUNDS OF MOUTH
As Boston's relentless agitator, Dustin Pedroia dishes out a never-ending stream of smack. Good thing he can back it up.
by Jeff Bradley

This is just one of 162. Every day is pretty much the same. It's not quite 4 o'clock, three hours before the first pitch at Fenway Park, and Dustin Pedroia is in the Red Sox dugout, ranting. "No one's going to separate us," he says to backup catcher Kevin Cash. "I'm telling you, when we win the World Series, I'll high-five everyone, but then you and me are going into the outfield, and we're going to have a fistfight. And no one's going to separate us!"
Although Pedroia keeps a straight face, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek cannot. Cash just looks straight ahead and with a slight smile says, "That's fine by me, man."
There's not going to be any fistfight. Not even a shouting match (at least not a two-way shouting match). Pedroia has no real beef with Cash. His only problem right now is that it's quiet. And that's got to change. You've no doubt heard the expression "Manny being Manny." Well, this is Pedie being Pedie. He's a little loudmouth punk. And in a clubhouse full of superstars, he's also the guy who energizes the defending champs—with a never-ending stream of smack.

click here to continue reading

Training Log

Friday 8/1/08

rest day for real

just playin' around: max turkish getups 96# left and right (both pr's)

static hang: 2:05

Saturday 8/2/08

max deadlift 485# last time I maxed out, about a month and a half ago it was 405#. a year ago it was at 525#, maybe someday I'll make it back there.

Sunday 8/3/08

NSC WOD

200m lunge

3 rounds

30 wall ball

20 power cleans 95#

15 burpees

200m lunge

33:00

What the f...!

Monday 8/4/08

NSC WOD (modified) subbed double kb swings for double unders

21-18-15-12-9-6-3

Double KB swings 35 one hand, 25 other hand (that was all I had)

pullups

elevated pushups

didn't time this: no watch