You may be wondering what the heck the two things above have to do with one another. The truth is nothing really. I have two ideas on my mind and I will write about both. It’s as simple as that. If you’re more interested in the body and some of its workings, read the second part. If you are into success and your attitude, read the first part. If you want to be the best of both worlds, read them both (my recommendation).
I’m a physical education teacher by day and a strength coach by night. Two different worlds, two complimentary worlds. Many times I take what I learn from one discipline and apply it to the other.
One of the key points I wanted to make to my third graders last week was how important it is that our hips are loose in the present and especially when we get older. I can’t talk to the kids like I would talk to another strength coach, but I often find that how I explain issues to my kids is how I explain issues to my athletes and clients. Before I demonstrated the core stretches for the hips, I put myself in a wall sit to demonstrate how most people sit for most of the day. I highlighted that the area of the hip flexors is shortened, the shoulders are rounded, and the back is rounded. I explained that when the hips are in a shortened or flexed position for a period of time, our posture will suffer. I explained that if our hips are tight all the time and not stretched, the muscles will become glued down (not literally but remember these are nine year olds) to the surrounding bone. I also explained how strength coach Joe DeFranco utilizes the hip flexor stretch when getting his athletes ready for the NFL combine, something that can lead to millions of dollars for these athletes.
Anyway, the kids got the point and so should you. Stretch the hips and the entire region, most notably the hip flexors, quadratus lumborum (lower back), hip rotators (glutes), and lats. You will feel like a new person in the morning.
And now on to a completely different topic. I had a meeting with an old friend and partner of my mastermind group this weekend in Manhattan before I gave a seminar in Harlem. We were out to watch the Boise State game on Friday night when we got to talking about our goals. I’m not sure where he came up with this analogy, but I loved it, so I asked him if I could share it.
Imagine that we had a dropper with red dye in it right next to our glasses of water and we put one drop in each day. You wouldn’t notice anything on the first day because the red drop would be diluted in the water. On the second day, you still might not notice anything. But if you keep this process up for the entire year, the glass would be completely red by the end of the year. We can use this analogy for our training, diet, and life. People want immediate results, but this isn’t reality. Once we realize that 99 percent of the people will never get started on their dreams because they think their dreams are going to just happen, we have a huge competitive advantage over them. If we go at it every single day, we’re taking advantage of the eighth wonder of the world—otherwise known as compounding interest. Are you going to live your own dreams or somebody else’s? The choice is yours.