Reached Level 38

Time to celebrate and have an amazingly awesome birthday. A couple workouts here and there, some good food and the best company a man can ask for. This past year has had its ups and downs but you keep breaking down walls and shattering the glass windows that send you into the world of the unknown. Some don't celebrate their birthday, others make the best of what they have and plenty just treat it like any other day. 

Thought I'd get a few poses in to show my progress and although I have ways to go, I'll take what I can get at the moment because that's really all you can do and keep making small improvements. I'm currently at 257 lbs which isn't bad, wanted to be at around 249 but I'll get there, just not today bro. Even in the past couple weeks since I took pics, I do seem to have a smaller waist, definition coming in and keeping the back strong. The bulk of my training has been the Overcoming Isometrics and staying active especially since we went camping and chopping wood was the big factor in staying strong. 

With all the shit going on in the world and guys my age are dying out of nowhere like a lot of athletes and bodybuilders, we still need to keep pushing forward and do our best to look out for one another. I know I've had my fair share of crap with people lately especially one guy that we'll just call Rahul. I confronted him in a lie he said about me and to be honest, it was a dumb move on my part I admit that even though he ended up writing several posts that were so one sided in his favor (which in my opinion is the coward's way instead of coming to me directly) that we both wasted precious time bickering. Overall, it is so freakishly stupid and childish to go after someone whom you'll never see in your lifetime, we both need to just move on and I'll do my thing, he'll do his despite our disagreements. He's got a good business going which he can make improvements on little by little

Every year, there are small hints of wisdom we develop and gain some knowledge on how we proceed throughout the rest of our lives but also reflect on how we can improve ourselves physically, emotionally and mentally. Make each day a little bit better than yesterday, not a ton, just small increments because as each one gets better, it builds up to a huge explosion. 

Birthdays may not be as important to some and others look at it as just another day of still breathing but for me, I take it to heart. Before the age of 2, my parents came close to losing me because of the meningitis. I've had to fight ever since then from speaking to motor skills and brain function, therapy and a whole mess of things. I'm grateful for what I can do even now and I wasn't always alone, I had a great many people to give me inspiration and creative ideas to improve myself. 

Turning 38 is really just a number but in other cases, it makes me appreciate that I'm still here and I still have people in my life that got my back. My birthday wish from all of you, is to take a moment out of your day and just say I love you to somebody. No need to give people a hard time or try to make others feel miserable especially if they're going through things you have no clue about. Three words that can be so powerful, it brightens up a person's day. Just be careful who you say it to but other than that, show some love, some compassion and bask in the glory that you have opportunities to be better little by little even down to the smallest fraction. I'll start, I love you all. Even the haters because despite your obsessions and terrible descriptions, you're a person too and I hope you have an amazingly awesome day.   

Practice Develops Knowledge & Wisdom

          We develop certain things that make us unique. Sometimes it comes naturally for us but the rest of us have to practice these things in order to be really good at them. What do you desire to do? Do you want to be a great athlete, a business man, a writer or better yet a better coach, well in order to make that desire is to practice and believe you’re practicing more than anyone else. My desire was to be strong, and a hell of a good writer. I practiced by applying the things that helped me reach my goals and not only did I get strong but I kept it consistent in various areas of my life but writing has been my love for a long time next to fitness. I was telling stories and writing about people long before I became an athlete. I learned my writing from my mom and I expanded what I learned to create my own style, I was determined to be great at it in my own right.

            To learn is to practice. It’s like if you never touched a kettlebell but wanted to be great at snatches, juggling and presses and so on but in order to do them you have to actually do them. Now there are those that say “Practice makes perfect” but what does that really imply? If you practice and its consistently terrible, does that mean you didn't practice enough, no it means you just have a consistent application at being perfectly terrible so it’s time to switch things up. There are certain things that we’re not good at and no matter how hard we try to perfect them it’s not always going to come in our favor. If we find something we love then the practice of that might be better and you’re going to get better because you’re mind is in the right place and it’s going to happen.

            Should you practice what you want to do more or less? That’s actually a tricky answer but I believe I might have an insight to how both work but one will do more than the other. Personally if you want to be the best at something you should do more of it because if you practice more and learn how it can make you better greater things will come and you developed that knowledge by understanding how it’s applied yet you also did it and have that experience. For less practice, there are those that have certain gifts and even though they practice a little, it still has that mindset that just translates to how their bodies move, the way they think and how aware they are with that natural instinct. Both have good qualities but the more you apply the more you develop and it becomes a second language to you.

            To be strong, is to simply practice. It’s not how strong you are physically or mentally, it’s the strength to apply the things you want to be really good at. Some of us can’t be huge and have a 700 lb bench press or be able to do certain feats of strength like tearing a deck of cards or bend wrenches and rip phonebooks in half, but we can get strong in areas for those who can’t because we end up practicing differently and that’s the beauty of it. Practice what you love no matter what it is and never stop learning it. Be strong at what you do and apply it the best to your abilities no one else’s. Knowledge knows and understanding, wisdom is how you apply it into action and doing it, mastery takes a lifetime but day by day practice makes it all that much sweeter. 

A Day With A Legendary Strongman

 Just before Thanksgiving, there was a strongman traveling to a town to do a show, when I found out he was going to be heading only an hour away from my city, I couldn't pass up telling him I was near there. After his show we met up and trained outside in my backyard smashing tires with my Thor Hammers along with his Stronger Grip Sledgehammer and after getting my ass kicked while needing a few breaks this dude finishes with 1000 swings in 21 min. We ate dinner down the road and the first half was how awesome his son is doing, the other half was about training, putting knowledge and wisdom into my head and even talked some stories about Strongmen and even about his time with Matt Furey. We said our goodbyes but the story doesn't end there, there’s more to come.

 After Thanksgiving has passed, the strongman came back because he had some traveling to do shows and I caught up with him again, this time it was more than just a few hours, it was for more than a day. He did a show no more than a couple miles from where I lived, I got to help out with the show and be apart of it by ripping a phonebook in front of 400 kids plus their teachers. It was an experience I’ll never forget and being a performer from a different era of my life it was nerve-racking but exciting at the same time. I learned how he performed and spoke in his shows and how to get an audience’s attention but getting his own message across in different types of situations. I’m sorry you’re probably wondering who the hell I’m talking about, my apologies. This is Professional Strongman and Motivational speaker Bud Jeffries.

 After the show, Me and Bud packed up and were about to grab some food when he needed to get his oil done for the truck so we stopped at a shop and sat in the truck while we talked about wrestling, the old-timers and even about a cousin that was legendary in his own right, it was the Boxing Legend Jim Jeffries. He told me a story about him and Jack Johnson that was pretty awesome. After the oil was done, just before we left, he rips up a deck of cards just for kicks for the mechanics and one guy even said jokingly “Thanks for making me feel afraid of you.” We get a bite to eat at Subway and before we did this, this powerful and humble strongman tries to hook me up with a pretty girl not once but twice. Messing with him calling an a-hole it was pretty funny and I literally nearly turned purple from blushing really hard. We get dinner than its back home for the evening.

 Before I continue with this story I just need to point out that being in his presence and admiring him for years it was like if a baseball fan spent the day with just a Barry Bonds or a Albert Pujols, it was that awesome. Training alongside him was an experience you can’t comprehend, not even at a workshop and I’ll tell you why later on. I couldn't keep up with him at times but how can I? I’m just learning the tip of the iceberg on conditioning and here he is just pounding on those tires. For the most part despite needing breaks quite frequently, he just about literally broke me down because I had jut gotten my ass handed to me and although he never said it I kept thinking of him saying “Come on man, keep going.”

 This guy I felt took me under his wing and wanted to help me put things in perspective and understand what you can do to help people even more than what you’re doing now and make something happen. Learning from him was surreal and it gave me something to use for the rest of my life and do something nobody can do. I’m still young and I have far more to learn but for one night, it has given me a lifetime to use.

 Continue on with the story, we’re eating and decided to put on the Expendables 2 and while watching this, we broke into little conversations about the actors and than for a brief pause during the movie we got to talking about each other’s obstacles and sharing funny stories and let me tell you and I know he may not admit this but Bud had stories that made Jeff Foxworthy sound dull and I just couldn't stop laughing at times because the way he expressed them was just priceless. If you truly want to know Bud, making you laugh is one of the best things he can put on you and it shows that we as strongmen are not big, tough and demeaning guys; we’re just like everyone else with different backgrounds and finding ways to make each other laugh.

 After the movie was over we set everything back up, sat in the lounge chairs and went over stuff about the old-timers, steroids, guys in the upcoming Superhuman Workshop and helping me move more forward with my passion for Physical Culture and although it lasted only a couple hours, it felt like a lifetime in a good way just listening and sharing knowledge and wisdom. He truly is one of the best guys in this business and I’m proud to call him one of my brothers. He’s not just a mentor or a guy who helps you out a little bit in time, he was like an older brother and passing on his words of the business onto me. It was one of those things you just never forget.

 Before I end this I want to tell you the difference between being in an idol’s presence one on one vs. being at a Seminar or Workshop. Being at a workshop, you connect with them and get to learn what they know so you’ll get better but no matter how you slice it, there’s another person sitting right next to you getting the same teachings and doesn't have that same feel if it was just the two of you. One on one however is a whole different experience, it’s not even the same league as being taught at a seminar, it’s just the two of you and going into much deeper levels of knowledge, stories and getting to know your idol on a very different level to the point where it’s not just a few conversations, you literally feel compassion and hold a place in your heart for them that you just can’t get anywhere else.

 With Bud it wasn't just being with one of the strongest guys in the world, it was like being with that older brother you wished you had growing up and being apart of something that has a mystical feel to it and feeling like you’re a part of a family that you’ll always be happy with. Spending time with him was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I’m already getting a bit emotional just looking back on it and it’s something I’ll never forget until the day I die. I hope I get the chance to do it again in the coming years and learn from him as much as I can stand and pass on to my kids because he’s one of those people that you can’t help but like and get to be apart of something that you love and cherish. Thank you Bud and I’ll always be there if you ever need me, you truly are one of my dreariest friends and you’ll always welcome. Stay strong brother and never stop what you’re doing, you are an awesome friend, a loving husband and a damn good father to Noah, he is the luckiest kid in the world.