Dan John: Wandering Weights, Issue # 67
Wandering Weights
Our Epic Journey Through All Things Heavy, Issue # 67
I’m sitting in an airport lounge, which seems to be what I do on Monday mornings. I was honored to be part of the RKC certification with an amazing group of instructors and participants. It was fun: there was no drama, no awkward moments and lots of information, training and fun.
Chris Holder is just excellent. His insights on using the lats in practically everything was a huge takeaway for me this weekend. He and Chris White are coming out with some research on strength that will probably, if one pays attention to it, change the way we approach strength and strength training in the future. Quick hint: you must address the “other side” when trying to get stronger and stronger. We all know recovery, but active recovery might trump it.
I had an insight about why kettlebells made such an impact on sports when they were reintroduced in 2001. I have all the old Strength and Health magazines, and they would included articles on KBs as late as 1962, with a reference in the 1968 Olympic issue (Hungarian Hammer Swings), but looking back you can see that KBs were used for mostly circus tricks.
The modern use of KBs focuses around six basic movements, and three of them are hinges. In a sense, the kettlebell reintroduced the explosive hinge to many of us. Goran Swenson and Stefan Fernholm once spent the better part of two hours working with me on the standing long jump. As a “quad” guy, I couldn’t catch the point. KB swings would have taught me quicker perhaps.
Among other things, here is what I was reading this week. Our first two items off the net are not really articles or blogs. But, both of these will stimulate some interesting conversations.
If you find yourself with too much time on your hands, play with this fun idea maker here. It’s a lot of fun. Type in something and see the dots connect.
Mike Brown sent in this video, where Dr. Andreo Spina reminds us that getting things to last is much different than simply getting things to change.
Bret, “The Glute Guy,” is always a fun read. This blog made me laugh at lot, mostly at myself.
“Make sure you use plenty of impressive vocabulary to win over the common newbie – you can easily do this by pairing up a word from the first list below with a word from the second list:
Quoting:
Structural, fascial, primal, functional, asymmetric, rotational, contralateral, rhythmic, compensatory, 3D, tissue, serape, synergistic, diaphragmatic, postural, distortion, kinetic, reciprocal, myofascial, proprioceptive, sensorimotor, energy, elastic, kinaesthetic, spiral, dynamic, neuromuscularintegration, integrity, evolution, movement, planes, trains, meridians, slings, fabric, reciprocation, sequencing, flow, release, mobilization, tensegrity, effect, dominance, breathing, inhibition, linkage, patterns, transmission, leak, syndrome, chain, lines, stabilization, facilitation
Stalking his blog, I found this.
This point keeps reappearing. I’m undoing liver damage right now!
“Compared to no coffee consumption, researchers estimated one cup a day was tied to a 22% lower risk of cirrhosis. With two cups, the risk dropped by 43%, while it declined 57% for three cups and 65% with four cups.”
This next article makes things pretty simple about attracting money to your life.Problem solving has had the biggest impact on my wallet and seems like pretty good advice for everybody.
“Hear and solve peoples’ complaints and you can get very wealthy.”
The blog linked me to this article and video and it is simply amazing. A great illuminating TED talk. I can’t think of a better reason to continue doing the morning Intentional Community (Coyote Point KB shout out!)
I enjoy first person stories and this one had a nice dialogue between performance and personal finance.
“Maybe you’ve found yourself at a similar point financially. I know I have. For me, it was waking up to the amount of credit card debt I had. ‘At what point did I think it would be a good idea to use these cards like this?’ For you, maybe it was a job that didn’t work out. Or you thought there was no way that real estate investment could be bad. Or you were sure you could double your retirement account in that IPO.
“Once you’re there, though, it doesn’t do any good to quit. You aren’t the only one who has blown it financially. So lastly, remember that, like me on the ridge, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, get through the position you put yourself in, and learn not to be there again without being better prepared.
“But don’t sweat it too much — doing what is right financially can hurt, but it’s a beautiful thing. My run was worth every step, because by sticking to my plan, I found what I was looking for in the first place.”
I am just realizing the focus I have had on money this week, but this article really is a simple system to keeping ahead of finances. Great athletes seem to be able to allocate resources for performance and survival and this article taps into the same idea.
“Once I implemented this system, the process of tracking expenses wasn’t so cumbersome anymore. Separating expenses into fixed and variable categories meant I didn’t have to worry constantly about checking account balances. Having fewer transactions in each account also made it easier to see the bigger picture of our spending.”
My publisher slash PR rep slash friend won’t let me finish a section on finance without sending you to read my recent article on personal finance, which seemed to strike a nerve in a lot of people. Turns out I use the same tools with money as I do in coaching.
So, I’m off to Perform Better in Dallas next weekend and then I just keep going. I am working daily on my next book on programming…at least, the way I do it.
Until next time, keep lifting and learning.
Dan
DanJohn.net
