Never Save Anything for the Swim Back!

If you never have seen the movie “GATTICA” with Ethan Hawke and Jude Law, it’s a good one to watch. In the movie, children are conceived with genetic aid selection. Ethan Hawke’s character is born through natural birth without the genetic aid – different than his brother. His younger brother surpasses “Vincent” (Ethan Hawke’s character) in many aspects, including a game they call chicken – where both swim out to sea, and the first to give up and swim back to shore is the loser. Anton always wins due to his superior physical stamina. Vincent dreams of a career in space, but is constantly reminded of his genetic inferiority. Vincent challenges Anton with a game of chicken when they are both older. This time, Vincent swims farther out than his brother, while Anton runs into trouble and begins to drown. Vincent saves him, then leaves home shortly thereafter.
Toward the end of the movie, when Anton and Vincent meet again – they challenge each other to a game of chicken so Vincent can prove that he is worthy for a space mission he has been selected for and not have his brother, who is now a detective, turn him in for fraud – acting as a genetic selected individual. As they swim out to see, once again Vincent saves his brother – who in amazement asks how he has done the remarkable. Vincent simply states to his brother, “I never saved anything for the swim back!” In everything he did, Vincent gave everything he had.
How often do we hold things back? How often do we wait to see what others are doing before we jump in with both feet? Do you lead the pack or wait to see the direction everyone is heading and then work your way to the front of the line?
It takes a lot of strength and courage to “never save anything for the swim back”! I spoke to a Navy Seal who said one of the hardest things about going through the program was that many times you were given a task to do - but didn’t know the parameters. “Get your gear on, we’re going for a run”. If you were given these orders or instructions, what would be some questions you would ask? “How far are we running”. “How fast are we running each mile.” The list and questions could be long. What if you didn’t know the time, the distance, the path you would run? What if your life depended on your effort? Could you give it all you have on each step? Could you keep giving it everything you had after the 1000th step, the 10,000th step? That is the challenge.
Success is like that. We push, pull, struggle, battle and “give it our all” – and many times give up when the going gets tough. After all, we have gone through a lot! My question is, what if you would have gone another step, worked another day, put in 1% more of effort would the outcome be different?
Tomorrow, when you get out of bed, have our mindset be to “hold nothing back for the swim back!”. See if having that approach for the day makes an impact on how your day goes and the opportunities that come your way. Live your life like there is no tomorrow!
To your success!
Coach Rozy

Happy 4th of July

Are you ready for the 4th!! Have the grill ready, stocked up on drinks, brats, burgers, bottle rockets and fireworks? Invitations have been mailed, e-blasted, texted, messaged or posted on facebook?! We plan to put together a great weekend - and with the holiday on a Monday, it gives us 3 days to rock, roll and rout!! It really is amazing how we spend so much time getting ready for the next three days!

Now my question of the month for you! What plans have you put in place to prepare, prime and position yourself for success the last half of the year! 1/2 of 2011 is gone! Today is the half way point - only 6 months to accomplish all the dreams, goals and expectations that you set at the New Year.

I heard a speaker say once that most of us prepare more for a family vacation than we do fo life!!! How sad - but how true. Found myself in that "rut" the last few weeks...getting up, going to work, working out, going home to go to bed to do it all over again. I had lost my faith, focus and dropped the effort I was used to putting into LIFE!!

For me, I had to take a weekend and sit back, do some soul searching and "re-boot" my system. Just like computer gets jammed up and can't function, and you need to shut it down, turn it off and restart it, you might need to do the same for you!

What I'd like you to do today, or over the next few days is to take some time to reflect on the last six months, and then set down what you plan to do over the last half of the year. It's not to late to make 2011 the best year ever. That's what I did, and when I did, not only did my energy level change - my life changed! Opportunities opened up, new people entered into my life, I was able to move forward with the energy and passion that I normally have. What was funny is, my attitude needed to change before my situation did. Once my focus changed, I approached each day with the faith that great things would happen and I put in the positive energy that we should all have on a daily basis - the energy around me changed.

Make this 4th explode with a new vision of what you can do the rest of this year....you might just find that the fireworks and celebration can last for months instead of days!!

Wishing you the best 4th and the best in life.

Over and Rout until next time.

Rozy

PS - will be sending more blogs over the next week with more information and details on the changes and path my life is taking! Never a dull moment! Which makes life ROCK!!

Time to Move

Today is a big day! Giving two finals at the University - heading to K.C. for the College Strength Coaches Conference - oh, and moving to Cleveland, OH!!!
I'm just like everyone - I'm excited about what is ahead, the great new possibilities, the adventures that are ahead. One of my best friends called me this morning and said how great it is that I have this opporunity ahead of me! He is right. Excited! Thrilled! Amazed! Fired-Up!!! And a little scared!
Not afraid of moving to a new place - been there done that. Not afraid about the job - great place, great people, great things that are ahead. What has me a little on edge is CHANGE! A little bit, we are all creatures of habit. When things change - when we face the unexpected - it rattles our cage just a little.
One thing to keep in mind - IN ANYTHING WE DO - if we want to move ahead, see progress and make things better - WE NEED TO CHANGE! So it's off to Cleveland to rattle a few cages, shake a few sleeping giants, and to take another step in this great adventure we call life!!!
Looking forward to keeping in touch with all my old friends - and reaching out to make new ones!
My best to all.
Coach Rozy
PS - I'll be writing from KC next!!

Faith Based Fitness

Was talking today with a friend about if they were going to Easter services today. His response we that he has "given up church for awhile, it's just not giving me what I want!". Thought his response was funny - and made me think about faith and fitness! Both are actually pretty similar.
I think we believe that if we go to church - amazing things will happen; and when they don't, we question the church, we question our faith and we question what is going on! After all, didn't we "sign up and sign on"!
Just like signing up at a gym! When I had my own training facility, would have folks all the time talk about how they signed up - but they were going to drop their membership because, "The gym never really helped them reach their goals!". I'd check their "visits" and find out that they signed up, paid their membership - BUT NEVER PAID THEIR DUES!!
What I mean is that they didn't do what was necessary to achieve physical fitness and improve performance; they didn't commit - to following a nutrition plan, to doing their stretching and flexibility program, follow a resistance training routine or do their cardiovascular workout on a regular basis...they thought the magic was signing an agreement! The signing is only the first step - the magic comes with the motion!!!
Just like our faith - just showing up on a Sunday doesn't make us holy or give us the spiritual fullfllment we are looking for. My grandpa use to day - "Just cause you sit in a chicken coop for an hour on a Sunday don't make you a chicken!" Just because we go "to" the gym doesn't mean we will have success. Both in the church and in the club, it matters WHAT WE DO when we are there, when we leave and during each moment that makes the magic.
With our spiriutal pursuit - it's prayer, reading, getting around the right people, making the right choices and even going to church to get lift your spirits and get around like minded people that can help when we hit the bumps along with way. With our physical track, it's reading, getting around the right people, making the right choices with our exercise and diet and even going to the gym to find those that can help us along with way and keep us on track!
Can we get fit - both physically and spiritually on our own!? Of course, people do it all the time. Does it take more commitment, dedication and motivation - it doesn't take MORE - but it takes consistant faith, focus and effort to get us where we want to get on our journey!
The road can be tough, the road can be long - success is never easy and it will never be easy! By having the faith that putting in the time, committment and energy needed to see the results of our pursuit is the key to finding the answers we are looking for.
If something isn't giving you what you are looking for - maybe you are looking at the wrong place and direction. Maybe we need to be looking into the mirror and looking back at ourselves to find that the best place to find what we are looking for is right inside of us! Look inside and you'll find success - for your faith and your fitness!!