8/19/2010
It is an ordinary day. Nothing too spectacular about it… but a simple saying for me has turned into a personally helpful chain of thoughts. Not thoughts that I hope to enforce upon your psyche, but thoughts I have found to be true. I don’t want to question anyone’s life, I just want to share what has made me so happy today.
Chase a dream, not a lifestyle
As a newly single man, and maybe with the case with other men who have found themselves one half short, I have been forced to deal with a sudden drop of self perception and self esteem. As much as I like to feel that I am mentally strong, there is no doubt I’ve had to face some demons. I wouldn’t say that my particular case of failed romance would be a direct correlation to this the above italicized statement, but rather it did get me thinking. You know, how two things can spur from one another but aren’t necessarily related? Anyways, on I go.
All day this “chase a dream, not a lifestyle” blurb has been echoing in my head. Yeah, sure, it sounds good (a bit cliché), but it did ring a good bell for me.
More and more have I realized today, that for most of us young people who aren’t such poor victims of circumstance (much like the circumstance of people with many liabilities), I feel that we must dream and pursue things of which we are most passionate. Only then are we being ourselves and only then can we contribute at our highest potential to the world and to the ones we love. Let me use the example of the professional athlete. Now, there is no doubt, professional athletes make amazing amounts of money…some of them make more than twenty million dollars a year. But if you look at each athlete on a case by case basis, you will find some athletes who make a lot of money doing what they love, and some athletes who have made a lot of money chasing a lifestyle. Those who have committed the latter tend to have had many personal issues, or didn’t have good careers, and didn’t contribute nearly as much as someone who was purely passionate about their sport. For professional athletes who make a lot of money doing what they truly love doing, well, that’s just a beautiful marriage of a dream meeting a highly desired lifestyle. But I will assure you, the players who are undoubtedly passionate about the sport would still feel their passion burn inside of them even if they got paid minimum wage…those players end up being the greats of the sport. There are cases everywhere and an obvious modern case of a truly passionate athlete is Brett Favre.
Why do I write this? Because I have definitely fallen into the trap of confusing what I should be most passionate about , the dream or the lifestyle. I definitely drive around my neighborhood and fantasize about what I am going to do in order to afford a house that is worth as much as that one around the corner. Now, I’m not quite saying that it is a fault to desire wealth. In fact, I have concluded that the acquisition of true wealth is a very smart desire to have but it shouldn’t drive nor leak into what I am most passionate about….and my passion should never be confused or blurred into the same train of thought as anything else. When my passion ever became crossed into my desired lifestyle, then I have only found results to be negative and just absolutely wrong. When we dream, when we love, and when we have an undying passion for what we love, then we know what it is that we need to pursue. As a result, we can truly exist in our most pure self.
I’m about to accuse something, and this is probably the first time I have accused anything when writing. But I do find that outside influence such as terrible music and media have a big impact on how we tend to lose a sense of ourselves and how we become confused. Very rarely do we see something on TV or hear things on our ipod that that encourages us to keep painting a picture within ourselves which will depict our passions. The media that accompanies us encourages such a broad mainstream filled with generic thoughts and ideals that is so strong that people are afraid to step out of it. I mean, even individuality is no exception to the bland holdings of mass media. Originality and personality now have a certain dialect, clothing, and way to walk. Its pathetic.
It is truly a shame when we lose ourselves and it not only hurts us, but it hurt those around us.
The life of a freelance musician is a life of hustle. You have to make opportunities for yourself and for every opportunity that comes us, you have to have a relentless mindset of taking advantage of it. Some gigs pay well, some gigs don’t pay well. It is my dream one day to play in a symphony orchestra. I can’t begin to explain how beautiful that would be.
But, whether being payed to play as a freelance musician or a more higher payed symphony musician, I doubt that the happiness felt on payday will be nearly as abundant as the happiness I have felt knowing that I do love music and I do love sports. I know this, I do it for a living, and nothing could make me happier than the joys I feel while I am on the job. Sometimes I lose myself…not by forgetting what I do…but I lose myself when I get off track. Then after that , its like a domino affect of other things that go wrong.
I have met many people who have put behind what it is that they are passionate about and thought that a certain lifestyle alone would make them happy. I'm so sad to see it, especially when they share such cases of regret. People will tell themselves that they love the lifestyle and in retrospect, realize that what they loved, they left behind.
Now, what I will not deny is the fact that people will sometimes become victim of circumstance and liability and the pressure to be able to function in a society. So yes, sometimes the man who dreamed of being a folk artist might have to go an be an engineer. Or maybe the street musician might have to get some hours at the local bookstore. I don't find that to be wrong. What bothers me is when people let themselves be sucked into what it is that merely employs them. Some feel the pressure of letting go of their passions due to competition and their perception as defined by others. That is when its a shame...when the core of you diffuses.
You must be true to what it is that you love. The moment that is swayed, then there is great danger on the horizon.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
How Tro Train a Football Player (continued...)
So, I'm back to where I left off as far as the training regimen of a football player (a defensive lineman to be exact). As a refresher, I chose defensive lineman in particular because of the amazing capabilities that a d-lineman must depend upon. Not only must they be big, they must also be strong, explosive, and just about as quick as anyone else on the field. The characteristic of the defensive lineman is truly a culmination of all positions into one.
Obviously, the most important thing for any athlete to do is be highly proficient in their skills and to bring a lot of heart and passion to what they are doing. In my efforts to illustrate my own views of training, I am exploring ways to expand the dimensions of an athlete away from the practice field in order for them to truly feel a sense of never ending development in their game.
When I last wrote on this particular subject, I parted after stating the essential elements of a defensive lineman. They include:
-possessing very strong core strength
-outstanding amounts of athletic explosion
-high amounts of strength and the balance of body
-light, and quick feet
And here is my proposed training regimen for these types of results. In just about any sport, your training will find you in many different venues and scenarios as you would fail to maximize your potential with just strictly staying on the field or court. In this case, I will divide the training between work in the weight room, work out on the field, and work with boxes and medicine balls.
First,
The Weight Room:
It is imperative that a defensive lineman possess super-human strength. Now this isn't achieved by simply lifting a routine 10-12 reps, breaking a little sweat and going home feeling like you've worked out. Strength building, muscle stacking workouts should make you leave the work out feeling like you've just repeatedly run into a brick wall. Trauma is how it should be summed up.
The typical semi-heavy lifting routine does have it's benefits however but that is more towards the off-season. For the sake of this blog, I would like to focus more on the preparation phases through mid-late season.
The lifting should be heavy, and it should require a good grunt and some serious sweat. Your muscles, your body, your mind must get acclimated to the fact that you need to have the capability of running through a wall. What lifts? Big, compound lifts! Not some light weight biceps work that some whimp at the gym is doing trying to look good for the ladies. We're talking about big barbells stacked with plates of weight! '
Bench Press: multiple sets of no more than 4-6 reps.
Squats: stack the weight, the bar should bend around your back
Power cleans: the weight room's best choice for working on explosion
Barbell rows: build a huge back
Deadlifts: build huge hamstrings...ones that will help you blow through your opponent
That can pretty much be it. Of course, there are more lifts that might benefit you but these are the lifts that must take a very high priority.
next is,
Field Work
So now you have a body that is extremely strong...assuming you did some real work with the weights and didn't lift like a little wiener. But with great strength comes great responsibility to be able to translate your newly found power into your athletic movements. Building a lot of strength doesn't mean that you will have automatic gains in your athleticism...the two can be very closely correlated but it cannot be assumed. More muscle, more weight, and in some cases, worsened flexibility can really bog you down. Time to go out the the field and reconnect your brain to your body.
Sprints: focus on light yet powerful strides. really work on the ability to move your body and jolt into high speeds.
Shuttle Drill: a drill that helps your lateral quickness. You're heavier now, your brain might tell you that you are heavier but you've got to clench your fist and accept no excuses...you must be lightning quick...go!
Leap Frogs: a great heart bursting exercise that helps you strengthen and quicken your horizontal leaping ability. More leaping ability means more power. More power means you will be doin the hurting instead of the opponent.
Plyometrics: again, your body is more bulky. Retrain your twitch fibers and leaping muscles to handle more weight and more usage of power
and lastly,
Box Jumps and Medicine Ball Work
Box Jumps: doing this increase your vertical leap. Working on your vertical leap is an undoubted way of improving your athletic ability
Medicine ball work outs (various): do these to truly strengthen the core and develop muscles to help operate your body in the most optimal manner. Doing a million crunches may be good for the next star of the Twilight Saga but it shouldn't be of prime importance to an elite athlete. Being able to be strong and sturdy is the priority in the core muscle chain.
there you go.
next up? How to train a volleyball player
until then,
James
Obviously, the most important thing for any athlete to do is be highly proficient in their skills and to bring a lot of heart and passion to what they are doing. In my efforts to illustrate my own views of training, I am exploring ways to expand the dimensions of an athlete away from the practice field in order for them to truly feel a sense of never ending development in their game.
When I last wrote on this particular subject, I parted after stating the essential elements of a defensive lineman. They include:
-possessing very strong core strength
-outstanding amounts of athletic explosion
-high amounts of strength and the balance of body
-light, and quick feet
And here is my proposed training regimen for these types of results. In just about any sport, your training will find you in many different venues and scenarios as you would fail to maximize your potential with just strictly staying on the field or court. In this case, I will divide the training between work in the weight room, work out on the field, and work with boxes and medicine balls.
First,
The Weight Room:
It is imperative that a defensive lineman possess super-human strength. Now this isn't achieved by simply lifting a routine 10-12 reps, breaking a little sweat and going home feeling like you've worked out. Strength building, muscle stacking workouts should make you leave the work out feeling like you've just repeatedly run into a brick wall. Trauma is how it should be summed up.
The typical semi-heavy lifting routine does have it's benefits however but that is more towards the off-season. For the sake of this blog, I would like to focus more on the preparation phases through mid-late season.
The lifting should be heavy, and it should require a good grunt and some serious sweat. Your muscles, your body, your mind must get acclimated to the fact that you need to have the capability of running through a wall. What lifts? Big, compound lifts! Not some light weight biceps work that some whimp at the gym is doing trying to look good for the ladies. We're talking about big barbells stacked with plates of weight! '
Bench Press: multiple sets of no more than 4-6 reps.
Squats: stack the weight, the bar should bend around your back
Power cleans: the weight room's best choice for working on explosion
Barbell rows: build a huge back
Deadlifts: build huge hamstrings...ones that will help you blow through your opponent
That can pretty much be it. Of course, there are more lifts that might benefit you but these are the lifts that must take a very high priority.
next is,
Field Work
So now you have a body that is extremely strong...assuming you did some real work with the weights and didn't lift like a little wiener. But with great strength comes great responsibility to be able to translate your newly found power into your athletic movements. Building a lot of strength doesn't mean that you will have automatic gains in your athleticism...the two can be very closely correlated but it cannot be assumed. More muscle, more weight, and in some cases, worsened flexibility can really bog you down. Time to go out the the field and reconnect your brain to your body.
Sprints: focus on light yet powerful strides. really work on the ability to move your body and jolt into high speeds.
Shuttle Drill: a drill that helps your lateral quickness. You're heavier now, your brain might tell you that you are heavier but you've got to clench your fist and accept no excuses...you must be lightning quick...go!
Leap Frogs: a great heart bursting exercise that helps you strengthen and quicken your horizontal leaping ability. More leaping ability means more power. More power means you will be doin the hurting instead of the opponent.
Plyometrics: again, your body is more bulky. Retrain your twitch fibers and leaping muscles to handle more weight and more usage of power
and lastly,
Box Jumps and Medicine Ball Work
Box Jumps: doing this increase your vertical leap. Working on your vertical leap is an undoubted way of improving your athletic ability
Medicine ball work outs (various): do these to truly strengthen the core and develop muscles to help operate your body in the most optimal manner. Doing a million crunches may be good for the next star of the Twilight Saga but it shouldn't be of prime importance to an elite athlete. Being able to be strong and sturdy is the priority in the core muscle chain.
there you go.
next up? How to train a volleyball player
until then,
James
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Beauties of this Life Shall Guide Us
With billions of people on this Earth it is easy to embrace our uniqueness but it is too often that we overlook a deep common feature which is the human experience. No one is a stranger to joy, happiness, and growth. The same is true with sadness, heart break, and coping at the expense of unexplainable pain.
What should comfort us is the fact that a whole human race can identify with you no matter what and that nature never stops it's course. What dies will go away but when there is death there can assuredly be life. New roads, new beginnings, new people, new approaches, new everything. The hard part is letting things die and take their course but only then will new beginnings be true and possible.
What should comfort us is knowing that you have brothers and sisters in this life that span back thousands of years and for many years to come that will share your world with you.
We are all a part of experiencing life and the nature of this vitality (and how true we remain to it) is what shall give us peace.
Thank you God.
Below: You know when our existence can be wrapped up in nature when witnessing a miracle such as what Debussy wrote. Please listen, with your heart open, feeling the presence of something beautiful.
What should comfort us is the fact that a whole human race can identify with you no matter what and that nature never stops it's course. What dies will go away but when there is death there can assuredly be life. New roads, new beginnings, new people, new approaches, new everything. The hard part is letting things die and take their course but only then will new beginnings be true and possible.
What should comfort us is knowing that you have brothers and sisters in this life that span back thousands of years and for many years to come that will share your world with you.
We are all a part of experiencing life and the nature of this vitality (and how true we remain to it) is what shall give us peace.
Thank you God.
Below: You know when our existence can be wrapped up in nature when witnessing a miracle such as what Debussy wrote. Please listen, with your heart open, feeling the presence of something beautiful.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
The Training of a Football Player
The next installment of me acting I like I know what I'm talking about is my thoughts on how to train a football player...and to be more specific, a defensive lineman. I chose this particular position as I have become continually impressed by people such as Mario Williams and Jared Allen who are athletic freaks of nature for more than a few reasons:
-Usually an NFL defensive lineman is between 6'2''-6'7'' and weighs somewhere in the ball park of 250-310 lbs (depending on which part of the line you are on). Usually taller and lighter as you head to the ends of the line and thicker and heavier as you look inward.
-These men are big but they are put on defense due the fact that they have fast reflexes and footwork to be able to limit reaction time to the movements of the offense.
-The men are STRONG. They have to push offensive lineman around who usually weigh in between 300-315 lbs at the pro level.
So, how do we go about turning an athlete into an optimal defensive lineman?
Well, one obvious thing is to teach them the skills of the game, that is a given. But what can we do to augment these skills and make the happen in a more explosive and powerful manner?
There is no shortage of big people and strong people who play football. What is the edge? What is the best player going to do in order to set himself a part?
Have a Strong Core
For any type of athletic movement, you can pretty much count on the need for a very strong core. Defensive lineman hardly ever have ripped six pack abs but having a strong core doesnt just mean sculpted abs...sculpted abs just means you have low body fat thats about all. Defensive lineman need to have the ability to contort their bodies, make sudden explosive movements, swing their arms to bat away offensive lineman...etc. Having a strong core will enhance these needs and will promote the use of more force and muscle.
Be Extremely Explosive
The action starts when the ball is hiked and you must be able to register that and shoot your 250 plus pound body towards the offense as fast as you can. Not only must you have lightning reflexes and lateral dynamics, you must also possess a very strong vertical leaping ability that will translate to more power from the legs when creating contact.
Be Extremely Strong and Balanced
You can't go out there and just have a good looking torso. We're playing sports here, not modeling for the cover of some teen magazine. Yes, you must have huge arms that will devastate your opposition but you will only be half as effective if your lower body doesn't posses a tree trunk like character. Your legs are your base and you need to have two pillars driving your body forward. You need to be skilled at squats as well as the bench and the musculature should be a result of heavy lifting and thrusting...not countless reps while staring at yourself in the mirror.
Posses Quick and Light Feet
Yeah, you're big...but your gift is to be able to be as quick as a guy half of your size.
the training plan coming soon...
-Usually an NFL defensive lineman is between 6'2''-6'7'' and weighs somewhere in the ball park of 250-310 lbs (depending on which part of the line you are on). Usually taller and lighter as you head to the ends of the line and thicker and heavier as you look inward.
-These men are big but they are put on defense due the fact that they have fast reflexes and footwork to be able to limit reaction time to the movements of the offense.
-The men are STRONG. They have to push offensive lineman around who usually weigh in between 300-315 lbs at the pro level.
So, how do we go about turning an athlete into an optimal defensive lineman?
Well, one obvious thing is to teach them the skills of the game, that is a given. But what can we do to augment these skills and make the happen in a more explosive and powerful manner?
There is no shortage of big people and strong people who play football. What is the edge? What is the best player going to do in order to set himself a part?
Have a Strong Core
For any type of athletic movement, you can pretty much count on the need for a very strong core. Defensive lineman hardly ever have ripped six pack abs but having a strong core doesnt just mean sculpted abs...sculpted abs just means you have low body fat thats about all. Defensive lineman need to have the ability to contort their bodies, make sudden explosive movements, swing their arms to bat away offensive lineman...etc. Having a strong core will enhance these needs and will promote the use of more force and muscle.
Be Extremely Explosive
The action starts when the ball is hiked and you must be able to register that and shoot your 250 plus pound body towards the offense as fast as you can. Not only must you have lightning reflexes and lateral dynamics, you must also possess a very strong vertical leaping ability that will translate to more power from the legs when creating contact.
Be Extremely Strong and Balanced
You can't go out there and just have a good looking torso. We're playing sports here, not modeling for the cover of some teen magazine. Yes, you must have huge arms that will devastate your opposition but you will only be half as effective if your lower body doesn't posses a tree trunk like character. Your legs are your base and you need to have two pillars driving your body forward. You need to be skilled at squats as well as the bench and the musculature should be a result of heavy lifting and thrusting...not countless reps while staring at yourself in the mirror.
Posses Quick and Light Feet
Yeah, you're big...but your gift is to be able to be as quick as a guy half of your size.
the training plan coming soon...
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