Category: Recovery

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Underground Strength Conference: Part 2

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  I am so incredibly blessed. It’s 11:30 on a Saturday night and I just got back from a late night training session at Zach’s gym.  It could not have been a more perfect ending to an indescribable day (but I am going to try). The conference began with a talk by the Ultimate Warrior.  Most of you might not know who he is, but Warrior (that’s his legal name) was a pro wrestler from the days of the WWF.  He fought guys like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.  Today Warrior is a man of passion who uses his… Read More »

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Underground Strength Conference: Part 1

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Wow. What an incredible day. For those of you who don’t know, I’m in Edison, New Jersey at the first ever Underground Strength Conference 2012. Today was an amazing day. Zach Even-Esh gave us a history of his career that began with training clients for $5 an hour in his parents’s basement and has led him to a place of prominence in the fitness industry. Jason C Brown spoke of his new project the PathFinder Method and the importance of play in our lives. Brendan Gilliiam shared a very personal story of his up and downs in the fitness business,… Read More »

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Strengthcamp, May 2012

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“FUCK YOU!  FUCK YOU!  I HATE YOU!  FUCK YOU!” I am screaming at the top of my lungs.  With every shout I am hitting a padded massage table with a tennis racket, as hard as I can. After several minutes of doing ungodly violence to the table with the racket I switch to pumping my elbows behind me, with force and velocity.  A violent shrugging meant to do harm, “GET OFF MY BACK!  FUCK YOU!  GET OFF MY BACK!”  Again this goes on for an uncomfortably long time.  Part of me wonders what the guys deadlifting in the other room… Read More »

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Attitude is Everything

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We’ve seen this slogan everywhere. Attitude is everything. Many of us are turned off by it. Part of the reason is that it’s often associated with winning and the attitude of being a winner. Which of course means that there must be a loser and for some of us that’s just too much conflict. Yes, winning and losing are consistent concepts of life and we move in and out of these states in an ever flowing dance and as such becoming too attached to one state or the other only invites its opposite. Just not in the way we might… Read More »

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Strengthology 101: Part IV

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Often when someone returns from a trip abroad or somewhere significant we want to know things like, “What was your most memorable moment?” or “What was the coolest thing you saw?” I think a better question is, “How have you changed?” or “What’s different now that you’re back?” It’s cool to go away and see stuff we’ve never seen before, go places we’ve never been but the experience itself is fleeting.  Once it’s gone it’s gone, no matter how many pictures you take.  So the real take away from travel or any other similar experience is how that experience has… Read More »

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Strengthology 101: Part III

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It’s Thursday morning after the cert and my forearms are healing. It kinda makes me sad. Stone loading does quite a number of the soft (virginal, in my case) skin of your forearms. I came home with two three inch long scrapes, badges of honor, that everyone wanted to know about. “What did you do to your arms?” I felt like Caine from Kung Fu after he moves the brazier to leave the temple, a dragon and a tiger permanently branded into his forearms. I had a mark that set me apart and spoke of my accomplishments. Oh well, that’s… Read More »

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Just Who Do You Think You Are?

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“Just who do you think you are?” My mother asked me this many times growing up. Usually it was in the context of giving me a dressing down. Basically jumping my shit for something I had done that she didn’t like. The appropriate answer, of course, was, “Nothing.” “Nobody.” “A worm.” The whole point was to break me down, to make me feel bad about what I’d done and to recognize that she was bigger, badder and meaner than me.  And above all else below her. It’s this and other things that explain why we don’t talk anymore. But it’s… Read More »

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Busy vs Productive

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One of the things that I’m working on this year is learning the difference between being busy and being productive. When I was in high school I had a job as an office intern. Being a teenager there really wasn’t much they could give me to do outside of what I felt was “busywork.” I hated it. I saw no point in doing work just for the sake of work and really wanted to get my hands into something that mattered. Now that I’m “all growed up” and working for myself, I find that I still have this same problem.… Read More »

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Agoge Defined

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So what does Agoge mean? How the heck do you say it and why on earth did I pick such an unusual name for my business? Second things first. Agoge is pronounced ə-ˈgō-gē (ah-go-ghee). And first it was the name that Spartan Greeks gave to the school or camp young boys joined in their sixth or seventh year. Spartan society was, well, spartan. There was only one career track for a citizen and that was soldier. If you weren’t a citizen then you were a slave and responsible for meeting all the necessary requirements of civilization. Citizens voted, trained and… Read More »