Cindy Present | Get Out Girl

I was teaching a TRX class of "transient" clients today, people I only get to teach a single class to while they are on vacation. I asked a woman to squat a little deeper, challenge herself a little more. By looking at her, she was average height, weight, cute little $$ workout outfit, matching shoes, coiffed hair. But as soon as I asked her to get out of her box and challenge the depth of her squat, before I could get the words out of my mouth, she said that "fingernails on the chalkboard", debilitating four letter word, "I can't". And she then followed it with, "I will never get back up." Can't. Never. Ouch. I knew I would probably not see this lady again - or at least in the next six months. But there was so much I wanted to tell her that she said that was setting the stage for the second half of her life in two very short statements.  "I can't." Well, yes, actually, you can. Your arms are connected to two straps

My clients, friends and family know there's one word that gets under my skin more than any others: "can't". I should have been counting, but over the past 2 1/2 years in any training groups I have coached, if I heard that sneaky little word, as a team, we have all done 50 push ups as a reminder of how we use our words. I kid you not, we have done thousands of push ups during that time, hundreds in certain workouts. I'm a believer of mind over matter. What you tell your mind your body will live out. "I can't do 50 push ups." "I can't reach down to tie my shoe." "I can't keep from drinking diet coke." "I can't run 1 mile." When I hear the "c" word, I literally cringe because I know that the user is debilitating themselves with one little four letter, contracted word: "can't". Ouch. My mom is 85. In a conversation with her yesterday, I bet she said "can't&q

My parents are now in their mid-80's. It is so odd for me to think of my parents nearing the last chapters of their lives. To me, my timeless memories of my dad will always be racing me on horseback up canyon walls that had my stirrups dragging the ground and my face buried in my horses main we were at such a steep angle; him pushing me down so I'd have to get back up to win a sprint across the yard with him; building a backstop so he could teach us how to connect with a baseball; and always telling me "If you're not falling, you're not learning." My lifelong mom memories are of her nurturing us and our friends - weekend after weekend, feeding us almost every other hour when we'd come in off the lake "starving"; always making sure the fridge was stocked to host the revolving door of lake friends that would come over; and then when my kids were born, having never-ending energy to be the first one up and over at the house checking in on what th

Friday I read an amazing article about the  Marathon Monks.  (and will definitely be getting the book by John Stevens, The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei.)   If you haven't heard of these monks, I'm quite certain there is no comparison of any individual "endurance athlete" I've ever heard of. These Buddhist Monks of Japans push the boundaries of endurance limits in search of a higher plane of spirituality. And after five full Ironman events, I can definitely say that 140.6 can become quite "spiritual" - I cannot even fathom the level of spirituality that this would send you into :) Here is the 7 year commitment they make: 1st year: 100 consecutive days of 26.2-mile marathons, beginning at 1:30 a.m., each day after an hour of prayer 2nd year: 100 consecutive days of 26.2 mile marathons 3rd year: 100 consecutive days of 26.2 mile marathons 4th year: 100 consecutive days of 26.2 mile marathons - performed twice 5th year: 100 consecutive d