I can only assume that it started off like any other day. I was living with my best friend at the time and he was out at an appointment. I was being lazy and vegging out on the couch and consuming some sort of cereal or something else that was not worth my time. A few minutes before 9am my friend returns home, busting in the front door yelling at me, did you hear, turn on the news, turn on the news we were just attacked. I looked at him somewhat in disbelief and confused as to what he meant by, "we were just attacked". I flipped over to the news and looked on in shock and horror as I see a building in New York with a pillar of smoke pouring out of it. Trying to figure out what I could do if I was there another plane entered the screen and crashed into the other tower of the World trade Center. My jaw dropped open and a feeling of sickness in my stomach washed over me. With people trapped in the towers unable to get word to their families and being so desperate, they begin to jump from the building, and surely to their deaths. I can only assume that to them, the fall was more humane then burning or suffocating to death. We watched the news for who knows how long... I saw the second plane crash into the building and I watched as the buildings weakened, eventually collapsing. Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of that tragic and historic day. I saw a video and wanted to simply share a picture from it.
Among all the chaos and destruction of 9/11, while they were in search of survivors, some rescuers came upon an open area in the rubble. One fireman said it looked like a cathedral. Rubble had formed the shapes of chairs and the walls, or at least what was left of them circled around this large cavern. In the middle there was a large metal cross formed with two I beam supports. Almost as if a message from God saying I Am Here.
Although my research is far from over I stumbled onto something today that I had never heard of. There are plenty of people out there that have made claims to Christianity being based on a pagan religion, so I started to search around on it and what I found is amazing...There is a Persian religion that predates Christianity by about 200 years, and has some similar beliefs or stances. Its called Mithraism. Here are a few similarities that caught me off guard at first.
-Both Mithras and Christ had virgin births in the sense that they were conceived without any sexual union between man and woman. -Both Mithraism and Christianity emphasized mankind's redemption resulting from a sacrificial death followed by the god's ascent to heaven. -Both emphasized purification through baptism -Both have flood stories
There are more but these were just a few. The funny part is,.... well here read for yourself.
On the Virgin birth:Both Mithras and Christ had virgin births in the sense that they were conceived without any sexual union between man and woman. Christ's father was said to be God, while Mithras was said to have had no father or mother, having emerged as an adult from a large rock.
On the payment for Sin:Both Mithraism and Christianity emphasized mankind's redemption resulting from a sacrificial death followed by the god's ascent to heaven. In the case of Christ, it was the god himself (or his son) who was sacrificed; in the case of Mithra, it was a sacred steer that Mithra sacrificed.
On Baptism:Both emphasized purification through baptism, Mithraists by washing themselves in the blood of sacrificial oxen. While dying oxen bled to death on lattice floors built over their heads, initiates both drank and washed themselves with the blood that dripped on them.
Flood:Both told of a major flood, in the case of Mithra through his having shot an arrow into a stone cliff to quench mankind's thirst. Unfortunately, the entire world's population was drowned in a flood produced by the water spout that gushed from the hole his arrow produced. One man alone (a Noah figure borrowed from the earlier Sumerian myth of Atrahasis) was warned in time and could therefore save himself and his cattle in an ark.
Definitely some "similarities" but some very large differences as well. Seeing as to very little is known about the beliefs of Mithraism before the 2nd century, which by that time Christianity was well on its way, mithraist may have changed their beliefs to mimic more closely the ever growing popularity of Christianity. By the time Christianity came around as a religion, Mithraism had been changed from its Persian roots. Was Mithraism around first? Yes and no. Before Christ's ministry here on earth, yeah,.... before the accounts of the Old Testament??...Well since the accounts go back to creation I dont think thats possible. My faith is based on the bible, and the bible being the word of God has continuously passed the test of time and it will continue to do so. Check out this site for a little more info on it...
"Excellence is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends." Brian Tracy
I agree wholeheartedly with this quote... I know nothing of the man that said it but I like it. Read it again... You cannot become excellent, it is something to constantly strive for. I am sure there are a 1,000 different ways to look at something like this, and I am most certainly not a philosophy guru.
Lets look at this in the light of 3 areas of life. . 1st- Your work. What do you do at job to be better? Do you strive to improve for your sake as well as your employer? Or do you sit at your desk and surf the internet or play games, wasting your time and ultimately stealing money from your employer? Maybe you dont have a desk. Do you hang out at the job site and just chat or let some of your work slide because no one will ever find out?
2nd- What about yourself? Do you take time to continue your learning? What just because you dont have to go to school anymore doesnt mean you dont keep reading, and learning. Are you trying to be a better person? Constantly trying to improve as a husband, a wife, a father, a mother? If not you shouldn't be one. Do you workout? Do you take a little time each day to try to make yourself healthier so that you can be with your family longer? Provide for them better? Get off your lazy butt and play with your kids or take your wife out? Make all the excuses that you want, but everyone has time to exercise, they just have to make it.
3rd- Spiritual life. I dont know where everyone stands that reads my blog here, but this one done correctly will help the rest fall into place. Actually if you really look close enough all three of these are intertwined. You cant really have one without the other. As a Christian I cant help but to relate that the pursuit of excellence is a pursuit for Christ. To attempt to model your actions and your life after God himself, is to constantly try to reach the unattainable, but you still reach, and you try to get a little closer each day, making yourself a little bit better every day.
Just as the quote says there is no end to that journey, it is your responsibility to keep trying. Sometimes you will lose, or do something stupid, but its only failing if you stop there. Pick yourself up, stop wining, and keep going.
When you set out to not only improve your life but to improve the lives of all those around you, you create something wonderful, and people from all over will come to be a part of it.
Today I am going to address all those out there that like to walk for their exercise. I applaud you for not sitting so comfortably on your couch but actually getting out there and doing something. After all something is better then nothing, right? Yes it is better then nothing, but is it worth the time to really see any benefit. When you are out and you see the people out walking for exercise, do they look like the fit model on the cover of a magazine or do they look more like what is standing in line at the all you can eat buffet? Thats right, most of the time there is no distinction between the buffet master and the "walker". Why is that? Because walking is easy. It takes little to know coordination, barely increases your heart rate, and is for most people sustainable for a very long time. With the exception of stopping because your feet hurt, you could probably walk for a couple of hours before you even started to get really tired. This is in direct conflict with Crossfit, and in my opinion real fitness. If you are not injured then there is no reason not to train with the up most of intensity. That doesnt mean that your intensity level and mine has to be the same, it just means that you are pushing as hard as you can at that point in time, and walking isn't pushing. People who walk may find some initial results. A pound here a dress size there but it will stop and they will plateau. Up the intensity and watch the fat melt off. Your results are a direct reflection of your intensity. (No intensity = No results.) So, is taking a walk for 30-40 minutes worth it? It is if you enjoy the walk, but you can take 10-20 min of high intensity training and see better results in a shorter time. That leaves you more time with the family and more time to get that list taken care of. Walkers, if you are tired of walking all over town and not getting anywhere check in to your local Crossfit Box and let them introduce you to the intensity.
Nothing too exciting to report. Eating has been going well, really well. I find myself craving things like fruit and especially french toast, so I think this weekend for my cheat "meal" I will allow myself about a 2hr span to eat crap but as for the rest of the day its just like normal. Weighed in yesterday at 233 and today at 234, so I am fluctuating right around there. I had meant to get my BF done this week but didnt get a chance to but last time I had it done I was still sitting at 16%. Not bad but I still want that 12%. The Crossfit Games are going on this weekend so that is going to be awesome. If you have time go to Crossfit Games and watch the events live, it will be worth it.
Where are we headed? I mean what will our futures look like? With all of the breakthroughs in modern science, the drugs and other things that are helping to keep us alive for so long, what will ultimately be the outcome.
We have long since given up on common sense to tell us what is good and what isn't. So much to the point where those lines are blurred now. There is an ocean of knowledge out there and yet we still rely on Doctor, never exercised in my life, to give us advice on being fit and active. We let the same guy that had the #2 off the value meal on his way to the office tell us how to eat. So we take their advice, does it help? Depends on how far gone you already were. If you weigh 500lbs and they restrict your calories well duhhh of course you are going to get healthier. Besides that they prescribe you with drug after drug, never really getting to the root of the issue. Here is one to help lower your cholesterol, oh and make sure you are getting plenty of grains too. IDIOT!!! I am not saying that certain drugs dont have their place, but I bet that the majority of people out there that are on drugs for one thing or another could come off of them if they wanted to. Our food is a drug. It is the most plentiful drug out there. There are enough cases of people overcoming illnesses that were supposed to be life long, by simply changing what they were eating. If you are tired of taking meds all the freaking time or just want to get healthy here is a site worth following. CLICK HERE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE . There is a movie that came out a few years ago. It is a really good movie and it portrays the future of our race in a way that is far to close for my comfort.
Starts around the minute mark.
Earth has been destroyed and everyone lives on a giant space ship that has everything. You dont even have to walk at all... There is a line toward the end of the movie where the ships navigation system tells the captain that they cannot go back to earth and that its his job to make sure the humans survive. The captain tells the robot, I dont want to survive, I want to live. If you are relying on medication that you have to take everyday and your not getting any better, maybe its time to start living and stop surviving.
90 days has come and gone... Now its time for a new challenge. I still have a goal BF% of 12% and am about 4% away from that, so the question comes, what do I do to shave off this last 4%? I am going to start with some experimentation. I usually do a cheat day on Saturday's but over the next few weeks I am going to change that to just a cheat meal. At the same time that I am doing that I am also going to start weighing and measuring all my food again. I have stayed on the diet very well but only eye balled the amounts, I feel it is time to dial that in a little more and see how that goes... Beyond that I have to make sure that my Workouts are staying on track... At least Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and if time allows some type of skills work or focus work on Saturday. Thursday will be reserved for gymnastic practice. I will post updates every couple of days and continue blogging things that I find interesting on the other days.
What motivates you to try?
I saw this poster and thought that it was just funny... At first. Then I got to thinking, maybe if we looked at life a little more like our fury little friend here we may be better for it. Its not that we should do something stupid, its about seeing what you want and going after it. Just because the problem looks like it is going to be a big one or that you might not be able to win, who cares, do it anyway. Give it a shot and learn from it. Hopefully you wont be ripped apart by a bald eagle in the process.
I serve as the strength and conditioning coach at a local high school and run a Crossfit Affiliate. Needless to say I run into a lot of people on any givin day. With all of the conversations about fitness and nutrition and things of that sort that I have, it is inevitable that someone will bring up, "well so and so says grains are ok and he is a Doctor", or " I heard this lifting program is not as good as this one, and this guy has a PHD", or any number of combinations. Why is it that we put so much credit in what a doctor says about fitness and nutrition? In this when I refer to a doctor I mean an MD. I do not mean to belittle their accomplishments but these area's are not their area's of expertise. Lets visit the main reason for doctors, at least the majority of them. They are there so that when we get sick they can examine us and determine what type of treatment is best so that we can get healthy again right? Yeah some, but not all. Most people in the medical field have either been brainwashed or just ignorant when it comes to the effects of exercise and nutrition. Doctors constantly want to write out prescriptions and keep people dependent on medicine instead of getting to the root problem and curing it. Most medications out there only treat symptoms and rarely actually cure the problem anyway. If they were actually curing us then they would be working themselves out of a job and the pharmaceutical companies are just too influential. The basic truth is that if you want fitness and nutrition advise dont ask your family doctor. Chances are he had a semester of it in college and thats about it. Talk to someone in that profession. A trainer, a nutritionist, or someone like that. You are bound to get different information depending on who you ask but chances are it will probably be better then the phd. This is a small example of what Im talking about... Justin is a Pharmacist, but at the same time he is a Crossfitter and "Paleo" enthusiast, along with Josh and myself we own Practice Crossfit.
On my way to work in the morning I tend to reflect on the day before and think about the day to come. Usually my thoughts turn towards God and why it is I do what I do. Typically this means why I screw up, or what am I supposed to be doing. Now I dont always get it right, heck I'd say I probably get it wrong most the time. Then a song comes on the radio that really puts things in perspective. The song is a great overview of what Jesus did for us, and is doing for us.
This is part of the song...just the first and second verse but play the vid for the whole thing. The video is fan made, its ok but the song is great its worth it.
One day when Heaven was filled with His praises One day when sin was as black as could be Jesus came forth to be born of a Virgin Dwelt among men, my example is He Word became flesh and the light shined among us His glory revealed Living He loved me, dying He saved me And buried He carried my sins far away Rising He justified freely forever One day He's coming, oh, glorious day, oh, glorious day One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain One day they nailed Him to die on a tree Suffering anguish, despised and rejected Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree And took the nails for me 'Cause living He loved me, dying He saved me And buried He carried my sins far away Rising He justified freely forever One day He's coming, oh, glorious day, oh, glorious day
It is a new day, at least it is every morning when I get up and out of bed. But it is also the new name of my blog. Why did I change it you ask? Well my 90 day challenge is over so I didnt think that title fit any longer. Now dont worry, I am still kicken you know what and taking names, but that is not the only thing I want this page to be about. The subtitle is life, diet, fitness and the like... Basically I want to leave it open to things about improving life in general, through physical, mental, spiritual and any other "al" you can think of. So if you have a topic you would like to see or want to know my opinion on something please let me know. Make a suggestion. I am not done posting my progress as far as my own fitness, nutrition and spiritual battles go but they will not be the only thing to read about... With that. I was measured about a week ago and am hanging out at around 16% BF. I am playing with diet stuff and workouts to try to get me beyond that, so wish me luck. Or better yet get on board and do it too. In the mean time....Enjoy this This is an old video of me playing with one of my favorite pieces of equipment...The Kettlebell.
