The Age of the 'cop-out"

The Age of the 'cop-out"

starts with the word can't.

Personally I hate the word can't, and hate is a strong word. I hate it when I use it accidentally, when my athletes use it and especially when they are using it reference to an obstacle like a lift. It burns me up. It makes me hurt inside hearing people say they can't. It means they've shut down and given up before they even tried. It's an easy cop-out, and I hear it all the time. If they fail after they say that "they can't" do something it's not a big deal cause in their minds that couldn't do it anyway. It's much more scary to tackle an obstacle with "the best that you have" than it is to sit back and not believe you can in the first place.

In 1969 a man went to the moon. I wonder how many people said it couldn't be done. People used to say no one would be able to break past the 4 min mile mark. Roger Bannister ran a 3:59.4s mile in 1954 and many others have done it since. In fact just 46 days later John Landy broke that record with 3:57.9s. Within that year close to a dozen others would run under 4 minutes. A time that was said to be impossible. Belief is a powerful deal.

People used to say that no man will ever be able to run 100m in less than 10sec. People said the body could not withstand such a feat. As if it would just fall apart. Well, Usain Bolt just did in 9.58s, and he thinks he can break 9.5s, of which may be true. How about that?

Can't.....Such a terrible word. Such a defeated attitude. Such an easy way out. There is no victory in 'can't' because you're already done, out, beat.

The interesting thing is, I also secretly love the word can't. When other people are trying to use it against me. It drives me. I remember a few instances where I heard people say I couldn't do something and I was very young. They said "He can't....". You know what it did? It pissed me off. Looking back it's amazing the people that said these things. But it motivated me in a way that's stronger than anything I've ever felt.

You know what it led to? It lead me to find what I could and could not control and use what I had. I could control my attitude, my presence, my tenacity and I could be resilient. It lead to some great things and taught me a lot along the way. One of which is that, if you have any one of those things, then you are going to do well. You may not be the best in the game but you'll go far, and you'll be proud of it. If you attack every moment with everything that you have.

This one word is powerful. It can destroy and build great things. Be careful how you use it.

Give me a break

These are a few things that I've been running into lately where all I can do is think "Oh, give me a break". Sometimes they are funny and sometimes they're just downright annoying. I try and deal with them in a very nice diplomatic way, but typically I just want to squish it right there. But in all honesty if there's one person with a question there's usually many others as well so this is my attempt to be slightly entertaining and informative. Here you go. Enjoy.

100 calorie snack packs.

1 lb of nails and 1 lb of feathers weighs the same. Just like 100 calories of fecal matter is the same as 100 calories of anything else. Just cause it's 100 calories makes it no more healthy than anything else. How about 100 calorie packs of ice cream, syrup or bacon grease. Give me a break.

Les Mills systems

I honestly did get asked by a body pump instructor if I'd ever done 5 min of squats straight. I laughed in her face cause I thought she was joking. Turns out I'm a jerk on accident. Oops. But seriously. Give me a break.

There's no way that doing squats with a barbell on my back for 5 minutes is ever going to contribute to any goal I've ever had. As far as that goes the only goal it could possibly help with would be doing squats for 5 minutes. But doing technical lifts for extended durations is not going to be a good idea. Actually it's a very bad idea. I'm not saying the word 'never' but I've not come across a situation yet nor can I think of one. It would be hard enough for an experienced lifter with incredible body control to pull this off without breaking form, hitting depth, and holding good position let alone the random gym goer, of which almost 100% of them have some sort of joint, postural, or functional dysfunction.

Flaring your elbows while doing pushups.

This is another les mills exercise that I can only describe as FUBAR. Seriously, if you have an instructor/trainer/coach that tells you to do pushups with your elbows at 90 degrees to your torso don't say anything just walk away, check that, Run away and fast. Why? Cause it's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard of in my whole life. Unless your goal is bombed out shoulders and pain for the rest of your life.

With the body form follows function always. The shoulder girdle sits in a position relative to the humerous and thoracic spine that allows the muscles to track in a very specific way. Go against that and it causes problems. You're looking at impingements, GIRD (gleno humeral internal rotation deficit), rotator cuff fraying, etc...all are bad bad bad.

I explain this one daily! It's ridiculously annoying. People, PLEASE pass the word along about this and Give me a break!!!

How about that diarhea yogurt stuff?

Yeah Jaimie Lee Curtis used to be hot back in the day, but biffidus regularis??? Give me a break. Any yogurt has cultured bacteria (that's what makes it yogurt, so does cottage cheese) and yogurt is healthy as long as it isn't chalked full of sugars.

This container is just a gimick sales pitch so they can make it more expensive. Of which seems funny considering they're selling you on pooping more. You want something that'll actually help you, eat more celery. You can even toast to it,"Here's to pooping".

EasyCurves.com

This might be the most funny one of all, but in all actuality it holds about as much water as any of the others. This stick somehow performs miracles. Give me a break. Click here and you'll see what I mean.