Friday, January 28, 2011

Rest Day Read Wednesday January 26, 2011

Rest Day Read (SR-72)
Are Americans Wusses or Just Fond of Trash Talk? 
by Jeffrey Zaslow in Wall Street Journal
[Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell belittled the NFL for postponing an Eagles-Vikings football game because of a snowstorm. "We've become a nation of wusses," he said.]
[Gov. Rendell says he was stunned by the interest in his comments, but on reflection, he now understands why his words stung. “Our country was founded by incredible risk-takers," he says. They were an army of farmers and shopkeepers, and they fought knowing that if they lost, they'd be hung. We seem to have lost our boldness."]
[The United States defined itself by its pioneer spirit. "We were the brash Paul Bunyan nation with a don't-tread-on-us culture," says John Strausbaugh, author of the 2008 book SISSY NATION.]
["We're now a culture focused more on safety than freedom," says Steve Olson, a 41-year-old IT manager in Savage, Minn. He dates the change in America to sometime between 1984, when "baby-on-board" signs were first seen on minivans, and 1988, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned lawn darts.]
[Ms. (Lisa) DeNoia was bothered by coverage of Gov. Rendell's remarks. In a letter to him, she wrote: "We're not a nation of wusses. We're a nation of fearless, bumbling morons in pickup trucks who like to drink beer, go shirtless in the freezing cold for football, and drive in blizzards." She argued that true leaders are mature enough to make unpopular decisions to protect the public's safety.]
 
"Did you just call me a wuss? Meet me back here then in 20 minutes, I need to get my gloves, my mouthpiece, headguard, my inflatable body suit and my Chuck Norris SAFELY KICKING ASS, THE WALKER TEXAS RANGER WAY manual. You are getting a good old fashioned butt whipping today, my friend!

Have we gone too far in America? Have we swung too far to the side of trying to make everything as safe as humanly possible that we actually have become weaker? Safety is good, don't get me wrong, but have we taken it to the point where we are worried more about complete prevention from bad things rather than preparation for bad things. We work to completely prevent the bump on the head, the cut on the arm or being bullied in school but we do not work to prepare ourselves and those we love to deal with these things. 

We will fail, we will lose, we will get hurt. These things are all part of life and part of living in a great free society as we do. We need to be prepared to deal with these things so that we may learn and move forward as better individuals and society. 

If we give everyone a trophy, we basically give no one a trophy.

Tuesday January 25, 2011

Fam-Fit
Mile Run

Monday, January 24, 2011

Monday January 24, 2011

Fam-Fit
100 Swings (@ 50 lb. weight)

Sunday January 23, 2011

Fam-Fit
30 Minutes of Movement

Saturday January 22, 2011

Fam-Fit
100 Push-Ups

Rest Day Read Friday January 21, 2011

Rest Day Read (SR-71)
Pancakes, Well Done. by Mike Hays
We decided to have breakfast for dinner.  Frick and Frack had things to do so we needed to get it on the table quickly.  Frick made potato pancakes, Frack sausage and scrambled eggs, the Mom pancakes.  All was good in the world.  The table was set and the Mom put the last four dollops of batter on the griddle.  Being in a hurry, we sat down, said grace and ate.  Stories from the day were told, with jokes and laughter sprinkled in between.  Also around the table, brown dog and black dog begging for food.  It was the usual Hays family dinner.
About 25 minutes into dinner, Frack gets up to leave for his event.  He walks into the kitchen and says, "Umm, I think we forgot the pancakes on the griddle."  We turn to see smoke billowing from the griddle on the stove.  The Mom ran into the kitchen and pulled the griddle from the burner.  Those pancakes were burnt, burnt, burnt black.  The Mom, with a few choice words, took the griddle outside and dumped the pancakes onto the back porch.
She returned and sat down at the table wondering why none of us noticed the pancakes burning.  Dead silence pervades the table.  I looked to Frick, no comment.  I looked to Frack, no comment.  I looked to black dog on my right hip, I looked to brown dog on my left hip and say the only thing that pops into my head,
"Nice job of warning us of eminent danger, dogs!  Maybe you two need to watch a little more Lassie."
Laughter takes over.
Four things I learned from this incident:
1. Pancakes may be an effective and cheap insulating material to protect the space shuttle on re-entry.
2. I LOVE breakfast for dinner, especially when potato pancakes are involved.
3.  Dogs, especially ones not possessing Lassie-like rescue skills, will eat anything.  Even very crispy, blackened pancakes.
4. NOTHING beats laughing and talking around the dinner table with your wife and kids.  Well worth being engaged to the point where pancakes are forgotten and subsequently burn on the griddle.

Thursday January 20, 2011

Fam-Fit
M.O.M (Move One Mile)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Wednesday January 19, 2011

Fam-Fit
Was going to Move One Mile
But ended up moving a whole lot of snow.
I like moving snow.

Tuesday January 18, 2011

Fam-Fit
Ring Pull-Ups
5 Rounds of Max Reps

Monday January 17, 2011

Fam-Fit
100 Air Squats

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Rest Day Read Sunday January 16, 2011

Rest Day Read (SR-70)
"I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr
“I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”

I know we have all heard and seen excerpts from this great speech many times, but we must continue to listen to the message. We must remember, so that we may never forget.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Saturday January 15, 2011

Fam-Fit
Uphill Both Ways
-15 minutes on treadmill
-Max incline, as fast as you can go.

Friday January 14, 2011

Fam-Fit
Push Jerk
3,3,3,3,3

Friday, January 14, 2011

Thursday January 13, 2011

Fam-Fit
30 minute run

Wednesday January 12, 2011

Fam-Fit
Ski Machine Intervals with Push-Up/Air Squats
10 Rounds
0.1 Km ski machine sprint
Air Squat (10 reps round 1, 9 reps round 2 ...1 rep round 10)
Push-Up (1 rep round 1, 2 reps round 2 ... 10 reps round 10)

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Rest Day Read Tuesday January 11, 2011

Rest Day Read (SR-69)
Coach Lane's Creations: Ball-On-A-Stick
Back when I was coaching football, if we coaches needed something, Coach Paul Lane would always find a way to take care of us. Always. The admins gave us a budget and support that could generously be described as nada.  But Coach Lane made the most of every penny, quite a few which were his own.
If I said, "Coach Lane, I could sure use a measuring stick to check offensive lineman splits on the fly during practice.", lo and behold, a 5 foot long "T" PVC pipe Split-O-Meter would appear with a "T" piece our standard split length of 3 foot.  Plus he added a feature of a painted black region in the middle of the PVC pipe for measuring our shorter split of 2 foot.  Amazing!
If I said, "Coach Lane, I could sure use some pull-up bars that connect to the steel roof supports of the wrestling room."  Presto!  I would show up Monday morning and there are half a dozen pull-up stations, made of iron pipe securely connected into the supports.  Remarkable!
When I needed some way to hang homemade gymnastics rings from those same supports, the chains disappeared from the Lane home's porch swing and found themselves placed into action. (Poor Mrs. Coach Lane's beautiful porch swing was temporarily out of commission. Sorry Mrs. Lane.)
But, one of the greatest Coach Paul Lane's feats of engineering was the Ball-On-A-Stick.
Ball-On-A-Stick.  A ball, on a stick, that we used to simulate football snaps for defensive line drills.  We wanted our d-line to react to ball movement cues and not verbal or sound cues from the opposing QBs, so we used the Ball-On-A-Stick in our drills.
A few weeks ago, one of the last remaining players that I coached stopped by the house one evening just as I was arriving home from work.  He stopped his truck right in the middle of the street and got out smiling ear to ear.  He opened his toolbox and pulled out the Ball-On-A-Stick. I was so happy I was virtually moved to tears.  I thought it would be long forgotten and discarded.
"I saved it, Coach. Out of the trash" he said. "Thought you might want to have it back." (Can you see why I loved coaching these kids?)

Well, ole' Ball-On-A-Stick has seen better days.  Coach Lane made a beautiful marvel of football technology with the fresh-off-the-showroom version.  New and shiny NERF football silicone sealed to a brand spanking new broomstick (Sorry, again Mrs. Lane), a real work of art.

The ball is held onto the stick with athletic tape now.  Why you ask?  Because a certain young center who will remain nameless, once thought of the Ball-On-A-Stick as a golf club.  But, #58's golf skills were lacking, his golf stoke similar to a rusty gate and he duffed his attempted swing across the ground breaking the silicone seal and sending the NERF ball fluttering to ground 20 yards away.  To say I was mad, well...
The Ball-On-A-Stick has been tossed, slammed, fought over and trashed.  The poor handle was even bent one practice during a Coach Hays temper tantrum incident.
But it survives.  The Ball-On-A-Stick now sits next to my desk.  It is a reminder of how much fun we had.  It is a reminder of how well Coach Paul Lane treated us, the coaches, the players and the entire Tiger Football Program.
Now, if we could just locate that Split-O-Meter...

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Monday January 10. 2011

Fam-Fit
M.O.M (Move One Mile)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Sunday January 9, 2011

Fam-Fit
Pressing Issues
Standing Press
Push Press
Push Jerk
4,3,2,1 reps/round

Saturday January 8, 2011

Fam-Fit
Power Hour
-60 minutes total of movement

Friday January 7, 2011

Fam-Fit
Deadlift
3,3,3,3,3

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Rest Day Read Thursday January 6, 2011

Rest Day Read (SR-68)
Josh Hamilton's The List Cover
from ESPN the Magazine The List Issue, September 20, 2010
As we start the new year and re-evaluate ourselves, I thought the photo of Josh Hamilton's arm tatoo, modified with his list of life priorities, is an excellent place to start.
GOD
HUMILITY
FAMILY
SOBRIETY
BASEBALL


If you don't know Josh Hamilton's story, he went from teenage phenom baseball prospect, to drug addict, to recovery, to determination-fueled comeback, to MLB MVP.  Quite an inspiring story.  
Stay humble and don't allow yourself to get too high.  Never give up when you get too low. ALWAYS trust in God.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Wednesday January 5, 2011

Fam-Fit
Squat Cleans
3,3,3,3,3

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tuesday January 4, 2011

Fam-Fit
Swing-It
Sets of 20 in 20 continuous minutes

Monday January 3, 2011

Fam-Fit
Back Squats - 3 Reps
Row Machine - 20 strokes
-5 Rounds

Sunday January 2, 2011

Fam-Fit
30 minutes of movement

Saturday January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

Friday December 31, 2010

Fam-Fit
Rest and Recovery Day
-click here for details on why a recovery day is needed