Thursday, October 2, 2008

Inspiration and making the connection

If you think you're the alpha and the omega, the greatest thing there ever was, if you think you don't have any room for improvement you are wrong. We all need a guiding light, a poster on the garage wall, a theme song. We have to strive toward something ahead of us.
A while back I found a photo of some guy on the Gym Jones website dragging a sled through the snow while carrying a 100 pound bag of rock salt. I thought this was the baddest ass thing I had ever seen.
Back in March-April of 2007 pre-deployment spin up I made a habit of dragging an 80 lb. tire three miles twice a week as part of my training program. I would return to this photo pre-drag for motivation. I figured what this guy was doing was waaay worse than what I was doing, so I would be just fine.
I met Dan John at the UCLA RKC and we had a couple of conversations about Corn Husker's lotion and the fact that apparently his brother lived down the street from me. He's one of the most genuine no B.S. people I've ever met. I remember thinking he must be a good role model for his students at the college and high school he teaches and coaches at.
This morning I found myself back on the Gym Jones website and saw a bio for Dan John. I clicked on it and lo and behold... it's that guy. It was Dan John dragging the sled thrugh the snow and inspiring me to keep dragging that stupid tire.
It's funny how things come full circle.


6 comments:

  1. Blog post of the month!!!

    Okay we're only 2 days into the month... ;) but I have no doubt this will hold.

    I think you should put this one on the forum, it's super cool.

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  2. Thanks Nikki. I'm pretty happy with it. :)

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  3. I usually have done some sprints with the tire, but never long distance like that. It actually sounds like fun. I'm gonna give it a shot tomorrow, but I'll probably start with a mile and work my way up depending on how I feel. I'm sure the legs will feel the joy. ;)

    How did you get started Jordan? How long did you do this for and how strong did you believe this made you?

    Was this before ever beginning with kettlebells?

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  4. This was before I got serious with kettlebells, but I was still using them. The tire in the photo is over 100 pounds and I only did short distances with it. The 80 pounder I started st three miles with. the surface really makes a difference. Gravel or sand is easy, pavement is brutal as it sticks to the tire. It's great for building mental toughness as it's a long, hard slog. It definitely made me a lot stronger, particularly my legs. I strongly recommend getting a real harness like the draft horse. The one in the photo was rigged from an old camelbak and ended up tweaking out my shoulder.

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  5. Hi Jordan,

    Pretty cool. You should post it on his forum:

    http://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showforum.php?fid/73/keyword/Dan+John/

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