One of my favorite authors, Robert Ludlum (author of the Bourne Identity trilogy, most notably), always had an uncanny ability to paint a scene, in almost vivid detail. Known for his meticulous research, Ludlum would take his protagonist (and the reader) across the globe, describing car chases in Prague, double agent debauchery in Moscow, breaking people’s faces in Paris, and anything and everything in between in terms of spy and espionage thrillers.
He did this all while keeping the reader engaged with pristine imagery from what the buildings looked like to how narrow the streets were.
I say all this, because nothing can describe the look on Chris Howard’s face when I turned around early Saturday morning and saw him standing there in the middle of the office with a WTFAIDH? (WTF Am I Doing Here?) look on his face.
To give a little background, we generally train before clients show up to CP during the week. So, while we open our doors at 12 PM for business, we arrive around 10-10:30 to train beforehand. Except for Saturdays.
On Saturdays, because we open earlier (9 AM), we typically wait till later in the afternoon to lift heavy objects off the floor. The thing is, though, waiting until 3 PM to train (which means I don’t get back home till 5, sometimes 6 PM) on a Saturday kinda puts a damper on the whole “spending time with the girlfriend, lets make dinner reservations, so I GUESS THIS MEANS WE’RE NOT GOING TO IKEA TODAY!!!!! ” scenario.
In short, she’s not a fan – neither am I.
So, long story short, I made an executive decision last week that I was going to try a little experiment to train earlier on Saturday. For a little incentive, I recruited both Chris and Pete (Dupuis) to come in as well so I’d held accountable to them.
Accountability. I really wish more people would take that word to heart. We’re always so quick to push blame on someone (or something) else, when the truth of matter is – it’s the person looking back at us in the mirror that’s the real problem.
YOU – no one else is the culprit.
To that end, I certainly didn’t want to be “that guy” who decided not to show up when everyone else got their ass out of bed – talk about the ultimate case of douchebaggery.
So, there I was, sitting in the office at 7:45 in the morning when I heard the front door open and Chris was standing there with a “FU Tony look.” It was priceless. Fifteen minutes later, after foam rolling, going through our dynamic warm-up, and firing up fratmusic.com “Broin Out” station, and it was go time.
Taking a page from Dan John, we’ve been dedicating Saturday’s as “Carry” day. Basically, all we do is carry heavy things back and forth – pretty simple. It kind of looked like this:
A1. Kettlebell Crossbody Carries (Suitcase and Racked position) 3×2 trips
A2. Kettlebell Swing 3×10
B1. HAS (Heavy As Shit) Farmer Carries 3×1 trip (1 trip = 40 yds)
B2. Hate Life
***Here, on our final set, we worked up to 210 lbs in each hand for a total of a 420 lb carry.
C. Farmer Carry + Sled Drag
All told, I had 240 lbs of weight + a Matt Cooney (another 220 lbs) on the Prowler while carrying 110 lbs in each hand. I’m not saying it’s the most manly thing I’ve ever done at 8:30 in the morning, but I’m going to somehow incorporate a live grenade in the mix next week.
Finishing up, I think the main point I’m trying to make is this:
1. Holding yourself accountable to other people (training partners) goes a loooooooong way to keeping you on task.
2. Farmer Carries are the shiznit
3. My biceps are huge.
