Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

2010 what a year.  For me personally the year has been a difficult one, one filled with lost and regret.  But also a year full of small personal achievements.  Throughout the year I found solace in training and achieving things physically that I wasn’t able to before. Looking back those were some of the best times of the year for me.  Where if just for a few fleeting hours I was able to let go of all my worries and just enjoy the simple pleasure of working out.

This quote has been an overarching paradigm for me through out the year.  It is when we push ourselves that we find that we really have no real limits.  I started out the year not being able to run for more than 1 mile.  By the end I was able to run for a half a marathon every weekend, with 5 miles every other day on the weekdays.  I started out the year not being able to front squat,  by the end I was able to front squat for 185.

I had a lot of help though from some good friends, my cousin Howell who I would run those half marathons with every weekend with and Joey who I would do strength, mobility and conditioning training with throughout the year. Joey taught me a lot of things that I will able to use throughout my training. From those mobility drills I still do every pre workout, to teaching me how to front squat, to helping me perfect my dead lift, to teaching me how to use kettlebells.  He help me tremendously in achieving my goals.

And one of my main goals was to lose some weight.  I started the year around 195 and at one point I got down to 165.  I did this by running, lots of running.  My favorite route is going over the Williamsburg Bridge (willy b) taking the east river drive, then head over to city hall and then over the Brooklyn Bridge and back. This is a really fun run to do.  Just be careful with the bicycle jerks ;).  After losing 30 pounds I decided I needed to gain more strength and muscle.  So I trained with Joey almost everyday for a few months.  During those months I put on 5-7 pounds of muscle while still losing body fat.  Nutrition is a must when training and Joey helped me out on that too.  Putting me on a good plan that complemented my individual needs. The training with Joey was very difficult and demanding.  From doing high intensity interval training, to lifting really really heavy. Nothing is easy when it comes to training with Joey.  But real results take real effort and it’s good to have some one to push you to achieve your maximum potential.  By the end of training with Joey I was stronger then I ever been at any point in my life.

If you take anything from what I write here it should be this, take a deep breathe, take everything in, and enjoy the journey.  Sure we all have goals when we train, from losing a few pounds to putting on more muscle.  But the thing that kept me coming back was the experience of it all, not just the results.

One of the most memorable experiences of my life is seeing the sun set over the golden NYC skyline while running over the Williamsburg Bridge, and the time I did trail running and ended up all over peoples backyard in Queens, and doing intense kettlebell training in Ally pond park to the point where we had a crowd watching us.