The Soft Good bye

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Mobility:
Shoulder Prep

Warm up:
2x
10 jumping squats
10 Bar Taps
10 deadlifts
10 power cleans
10 push jerks
10 pull ups

Load up and rest as needed

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes:
3 Clean and Jerks (135/95)
4 Pull ups
5 Jumping squats

If you cannot maintain the minute interval, AMRAP the remaining time.

Cool down:
400 meter jog
Quad on the wall, 1 minute per leg
Cat on the box, 30 seconds

It began with the now infamous picture of our nerd shirts.  I was modeling the back, while he modeled the front.  One of our members asked how we got a picture of Zeb from the front and the back AT THE SAME TIME (thank you Mr. Gortikov.)  And ever since then, he and I have been mistaken for each other both in and out of the gym and at various CrossFit competitions.  People even got mad at me because, thinking I was him, I didn’t say hi to them, and vice versa. 

It’s so easy to confuse one of us for the other, but the truth is more illuminating:  Younger, faster, better looking, darker in rock music taste, more patient in video games (though I’ll always be an FPS guy, while he’s a RPG/MMO guy.  Nerds!), down for any cause at a moment’s notice, a veteran of our armed forces with considerable overseas tours, and chomping at the bit to go back, Sean DeGuzman represents everything I wish I was at 24 years old.  Not the verbal type, I envied his ability to turn 10 words into 1, and 1 word into nothing at all.  He was always attentive and engaging when I had the honor to help him grow as a trainer, never complained, rose to whatever hairy occasion I threw at him, was always honest with me on any topic, even if he knew it was something I didn’t want to hear, and even more honest with himself.  Please join me in wishing him good luck on the next step in his journey as he goes to Colorado to pursue corporate security training.  It’s a soft good bye because he will hopefully return in around 3 months to visit, by which time I will be better at burpees than him!