Inspiration Point

Monday, December 17, 2012

FREE Intro Classes are back starting this weekend!  Tell your friends!

Click HERE for the weekly programming!

Track Night will take place at the Gym this week!

Mobility:

Ankle Mobility
Overhead Band Distraction
Groiners with a Band
Sampson Stretch

Gymnastic Warm Up

Spend 20 mins working on progressions:

3-5 Strict or L-sit muscleups
1 minute Handstand Walking practice
10 alternating pistols

Notes: Don’t worry about keeping to the rep scheme. Spend the time to work on the progressions for the movements you need most work on.

Conditioning

Choose one:

Row 3x1000m – 1:1 Rest

Run 3x 800m – 1:1 Rest

Notes:  This will be just like the past two weeks.  The efforts should be all out, with a 15 or 30 burpee penalty per round if you deviate from your fastest time by  more than +/- 5 seconds.  All burpees are to be performed at the end of the 3 efforts.

Midline Strength

3 x Max Effort L-sits
Rest as needed between efforts

Inspiration Point from the Holiday Hike!

Yup, I am one of many Americans that can’t seem to stop thinking about the events from last week.  While I am not a spiritual individual and I do not yet have children of my own, I took the President’s words to heart last night:

We as a nation, we are left with some hard questions. You know, someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent of having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around.

With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves, our child, is suddenly exposed to the world, to possible mishap or malice, and every parent knows there’s nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm. And yet we also know that with that child’s very first step and each step after that, they are separating from us, that we won’t — that we can’t always be there for them.

They will suffer sickness and setbacks and broken hearts and disappointments, and we learn that our most important job is to give them what they need to become self-reliant and capable and resilient, ready to face the world without fear. And we know we can’t do this by ourselves.

It comes as a shock at a certain point where you realize no matter how much you love these kids, you can’t do it by yourself, that this job of keeping our children safe and teaching them well is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community and the help of a nation.

And in that way we come to realize that we bear responsibility for every child, because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours, that we’re all parents, that they are all our children.

This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.

And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations?

Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?

Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know they are loved and teaching them to love in return?

Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?

I’ve been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer’s no. We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change.

…

We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.

We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this.

…what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine.

Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?

Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?

You know, all the world’s religions, so many of them represented here today, start with a simple question.

Why are we here? What gives our life meaning? What gives our acts purpose?

We know our time on this Earth is fleeting. We know that we will each have our share of pleasure and pain, that even after we chase after some earthly goal, whether it’s wealth or power or fame or just simple comfort, we will, in some fashion, fall short of what we had hoped. We know that, no matter how good our intentions, we’ll all stumble sometimes in some way.

We’ll make mistakes, we’ll experience hardships and even when we’re trying to do the right thing, we know that much of our time will be spent groping through the darkness, so often unable to discern God’s heavenly plans.

There’s only one thing we can be sure of, and that is the love that we have for our children, for our families, for each other. The warmth of a small child’s embrace, that is true.

The memories we have of them, the joy that they bring, the wonder we see through their eyes, that fierce and boundless love we feel for them, a love that takes us out of ourselves and binds us to something larger, we know that’s what matters.

We know we’re always doing right when we’re taking care of them, when we’re teaching them well, when we’re showing acts of kindness. We don’t go wrong when we do that.

This is not about gun control laws or your opinion of President Obama.  This is about how we can all make a difference.  I feel lucky that through all of you and Paradiso CrossFit, we have found a way to make a difference.  Through involvement with local schools and government, we can begin to improve Health and Fitness education programs and provide better fitness facilities for the community.  We can not only improve the physical but also mental health of our children and communities moving forward.  We can fight for this change everyday and lead by example!  Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to improvement of yourselves and the community at large!  We are making a difference!