August 14, 2017

My daughter's birthday is tomorrow so I wanted to make sure to get in her namesake workout this week.  We hit it this morning:

Hanna

10 Hang Squat Cleans @ 45lb dumbbells

10 Clap Pushups

x 10 rounds for time

I have a love/hate relationship with this workout.  I love it because it can be done in a short time with equipment that most hotel gyms have.  Looking over my notes, I saw that I once did this workout on lunch break during interviews for Saltwater Experience.  Because it is such a beautifully simple workout, it deserved a good name and that is why it is called Hanna.  The workouts that get my kids names are always good ones and this one could be the best one I came up with and named for one of the kids.

The dislike of this workout is obviously evident in about the 3rd hang clean of the 3rd round.  All of the sudden you kind of realize that this thing is no joke.  Today, I was pouring sweat heavily by round 2 and finished all reps unbroken until round 7.  I then split the cleans 7/3 for the rest of the sets.  My time today was 15:07 which is pretty good after looking at my history.  There were several entries where I dropped weight after a while but there were also several entries where I used 50's instead of 45's.  Ill take 15:07 though. 

This week is also my birthday week.  On Saturday, I'll turn 49.  At 49, I am extremely pleased with my physical condition and do not feel that I have stopped climbing towards further enhancing my strength, flexibility, mobility, endurance or speed. As an athlete in high school, physical fitness was just always there.  When I went to college, however, that all changed and physical fitness was not anywhere on my list of priorities.  I gained alot of weight, didnt move much and ate anything, literally anything I wanted to.  At some point, I noticed a tire forming around my waist and decided that if I quit eating red meat, I might stay away from fast food a little and so I did that for a while. It was not effective as I drank more calories than I would have taken in through fries and milkshakes.

During college I became a fishing guide in Jackson, WY in the summers.  I loved it immediately and knew I would be doing this in some form for the rest of my life.  Everything went into fishing and I never thought about fitness for a long time.  While rowing, I sustained my first back injury ever and tried to resolve it in different ways.  Finally, I went to a chiropractor who helped me right away.  I was fascinated that his care could have such a major effect.  How had I not heard about Chiropractors before?

He also told me about core strength and how that could help to avoid injury in the future. 

As I became a saltwater guide, I found it hard to stay on the water all day without becoming overly tired.  This was simply a matter of paying attention to my diet and mostly my hydration levels.  Once I was drinking adequate water and covering up with clothes, I was doing much better.  It was these little things I was learning that were making a huge difference in my life and my business.  All of the sudden I saw that if I was fit, strong and healthy, I could go longer and for more days than I had before. This meant more money in my pocket. 

I decided that I would regain my fitness.  This was about 23 years ago.  Running occupied my fitness for many years and then I found more of what we are doing today. 

This year, I read a book called The One Thing, by Gary Keller.  This is an excellent book and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone.  It's basic premise is that you examine what you are trying to do or accomplish and chose the ONE THING that will make everything else unnecessary or that makes everything else either much easier or possible to begin with.  
I think about this daily and prioritize my schedule to accomplish the biggest things first.

Rusty and I were talking about this book and he commented that he thought the one thing was physical fitness and health.  With it, everything else is easier and possible.  Nothing is impossible.  Without it, everything is more difficult or impossible.  Paying attention to your health as the main priority of your day, every day, is the one thing that will keep you going towards success in any endeavor.