The Weekly Word: June 6, 2021

Fitness Tip of the Week
What's old is new! This week I finished reading Bob Hoffman's Daily Dozen. This book was written in 1958 by the incomparable Bob Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman was a man who held many hats. He was an olympic coach, founder of York Barbell, author, sport promoter, and the list continues. In addition to that, he was also an ambassador for physical fitness and member of the President's Council of Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. The concepts he outlines in this book are timeless. 

He wrote this book at a time where machines were beginning to do the work that men once performed and the television set was becoming more prominent. Because of this, he felt it important to seek out ways to not only maintain your fitness but improve upon. His advice are things like walk as much as you can, spend as much time outside in the fresh air and sunlight, get 8 hours of sleep, and of course, perform his Daily Dozen with regularity and consistency.  

In my opinion, the importance of having a personal "daily dozen" is a good tool and one that requires accountability. It doesn't have to be 12 things but if you know that everyday you will do something that makes you feel better. This could be a few exercises, stretches, meditation, walking, whatever!  Just remember that these things must be non-negotiable. You do them everyday no matter what. Like Bob Hoffman states, "Persistence and training regularity is necessary to your success. Try not to miss an exercise period". If you want to be successful, you must be consistent! 

What I've Been Watching...
Free Solo on National Geographic Channel
I just finished watching this documentary from 2018 and it was crazy. To climb mountains like El Capitan is a feat in itself. To do it with no equipment is practically unbelievable... but not to Alex Honnold. He climbs all of these things with no ropes. That is right, if he slips, he is dead. Like the documentary outlines, all free soloists eventually die. It is just the nature of the beast. 

This film has a moral conundrum for those involved. The film crew, who were also close friends with Alex, felt that they may be a distraction. Distractions on the mountain lead to some serious consequences. During most of the climb, they couldn't watch. Some of these men said they will never do this again. There were tears of joy when he reached the top!

One more thing, the director Jimmy Chin is also involved in another great climbing documentary Meru which is arguably more unbelievable than this film! 

What I've Been Thinking About
I had a talk with some of the guys that work here on the farm. These are some young gentlemen that I used to coach in high school and now, as college students, have been a huge help getting the farm ready for what the future holds as well as helping me work the kids. At some point in the last week we were having a talk and I shared a quote with them I had heard years ago but didn't quite grasp the concept until recently. The idea is this: the way you do anything is the way you everything. 

I believe this idea applies to the military's strict discipline with taking care of themselves and their gear. There is a system for cutting their hair, cleaning their boots, checking their firearms, and more. They must have the discipline to do this on the regular. If they don't, there are consequences. Some may say, who cares what their boots look like? My answer to that would be the person next to them in combat cares. If the individual doesn't have the discipline to take care of his boots, how do we know he will he have the discipline to follow directions on the field of battle? If he doesn't care about the little things how will we know that he cares about the big things?

What I've Been Up To
Kettlebell training, walking and running!
Each summer as the schedule fills up I have found that the kettlebell is the ultimate tool for getting in a lot of work in a short amount of time. Right now, the bulk of these sessions include the kettlebell clean & press and the kettlebell snatch. By performing these exercises, you are able to check off a lot of boxes and get some serious bang for your buck.

In addition, I started running a few weeks ago. Thursdays have become my longer run days. There is a very hilly 4ish mile loop near the farm and I thought this week would be a great week to test it out. Unfortunately, I didn't look at the weather and got drenched by rain for about 20 minutes! The end result was that I completed the loop but not without some serious leg soreness. I am still feeling the effects today!

Quote of the Week
"I can defeat you physically with or without reason. But I can only defeat your mind with reason" -- Jim Lau

I hope you all have an awesome week!
Chris Fluck