The New Path

Welcome back for another weeks update! This week has been quite the eventful one and there is lot to unpack. At times I think of life like a path, at times it will be nicely paved and easy, while others will be less travelled and treacherous. 

Training Focus

This past week I had off to recover from the meet. In this time off I looked inward to think about what I truly want out of competing in powerlifting. At times it is very rewarding and others I feel like I am getting no where. My goals are still the same, I wish to be the best in the world at something. This has been my dream ever since I was a kid. I want to represent Canada in some way shape or form. For the longest time growing up it was hockey. That ship has sailed because truthfully I did not put in the time. It was hard to come to that realization that I was not 100% in. I would train my butt off every chance I got at practice and off ice team sessions but on my own time I slacked. I did not practice shooting, there was no individual training, and my eating was terrible. The realization was hard to accept, I wish I could say I did my best but in the end I can only blame myself.

Looking back critically at the meet, yes I won my class and overall but I am very far from what I desire. My training looked good but once again my eating was poor. I took time to recover, study my movements, and put in hours of work to simply be beat by myself in the kitchen. This is where I say no more and go all in. I have only till the end of this year, 7 month, to achieve what I want in the junior class. I will then be in the open division and things become even more competitive. I want the Ontario Junior 83kg squat record at a sanctioned meet. That is my goal and I will not let myself get in my way of achieving that. It is time to get serious about nutrition, recovery, and every tiny nuance of my training. 

It is time to be purposeful in everything I do for my training. 

Teaching Thoughts

This week was busy and I got the opportunity to try some new games and activities. They were not all 10/10 and will be making it back into this weeks program with a new class. There are many tweaks and progressions that I have make to try to improve the lessons. All in all the classes this week were a success and had students engaged that usually are off to the outsides of the class. I was proud of that simple accomplishment and wish to carry that over to next week.

One thing that I have taken some time to try and digest is how much of an influence social media has on students. My girls class is so obsessed with tiny waists that they do not want to perform some activates worried that they will get to big of quads or other such muscles. I am not here to pass judgement of any kind but I want them to physically fit and physically literate. It comes from a place in my heart where eating disorders and body dysmorphia ravage the fitness world. I cannot speak much on it because I will force feed myself at every meal trying to get enough food in me to recover well. The flip side could be said that I never wanted to eat in high school because I was worried it would make me fat and unathletic looking. It can be an extremely hard balancing act and I have not yet come to a break through on how to empower these students to live their best and healthiest lives.

As a teacher I want to bring happiness to my students. I want them to feel comfortable in their own skin and have the skills to enable them to live their best lives. How I get there is still a work in progress and always will be. I think the most important thing for now is to be critical in my thinking and proceed with the best intentions in mind. 

The Path Less Travelled

I saved this section for the end. In my thinking and break down of my own faults I realized that if it was easy, everyone would do it. It is up to us as the seekers of greatness to push ourselves and hold ourselves to a high standard. If everyone could eat 5 balanced meals, drink enough water, improve their cardio vascular health, and physical strength day in and day out without any sacrifice they would. It is in the sacrifice that you find success.

Society today is focused around instant gratification and doing what is rewarding in the moment. I challenge you to fight this norm and choose the path less wish to travel. Find a goal and accept that you will have to suffer and travel down this path for some time before there is a reward. I promise if you do you will find that there is as much gratification in the journey as there is in the reward. A long term goal demands sacrifice and that is what will make that goal so much sweeter in the end.