Gorilla Pit Athletics

I am not a victim. I may complain to my closest friends or my woman from time to time, but in general, I am where I am because of the choices I have made or because of my genetics. Now, according to some, I can't be a victim anyway. I am a straight, white, male and therefor I cannot experience anything negative in life or if I do, I somehow have it coming to me because insert SJW cause.

Here is the reality of that situation though. I am human. Just like my black friends, my gay friends, my Asian friends, my female friends, and even my children. Like all of them and all of you, I experience the whole of human emotion and am susceptible to the pains and diseases that the whole of the human population is.

I grew up in a home that was riddled with violence from my father and fear mongering religious insanity from my mother. I was frail and sickly, insecure and scared of my own shadow. I had no self esteem and often thought of killing myself.

As an adult, I have been betrayed, lied to…

Life isn't fair.

There it is. Get over it. Not everyone can dunk a basketball. Not everyone can run a four minute mile. Not everyone can squat 1000lbs raw. This is reality. It doesn't mean that you're a victim. It doesn't mean that the world and the system and the white man is out to get you. It's just how it is. Life isn't fair and life isn't here to give you a participation trophy. In fact, if you are expecting one and fighting to make everything fair for everyone, you are going to soon receive a serious dose of reality.

Life simply is.

That's the basic truth of things. Life isn't set up to make you feel better about yourself. Life isn't set up to make you taller, thinner, stronger, or more beautiful than whoever it is that you are currently jealous and feigning victimhood from.

You are not a victim.

If you think you are a victim, you have made yourself so. Unless you are an actual slave, being shipped out of the coast of Africa or a child se…

Here’s the deal, big is simply put, not beautiful. No matter what the thought police try and sell you, no matter how sweet and kind that person, he or she, may be, when it comes down to facts, being overweight is killing you. There is no fat but fit; that’s a myth. Now before you run screaming for antifa to come burn my house down for fat shaming, actually read what I am saying. I don’t hate fat people. In fact, I don’t hate anyone. I find hate is usually self reflective. The hate we direct outwards is typically a sign of our own inner struggle.

As a trainer and an athlete, seeing people who are overweight makes me sad. I see squandered potential, a slew of health issues, early death, and friends and family suffering...much like that of a drug addict. Poor choices, like anything in life, have consequences.  Being fat is one of those choices we make, no, it’s not your genetics, that will kill you. While there are genetic markers that make us predisposed to storing fat, it takes work and…

If you’d have told me when I was in my early-30s crying in my bathroom over the condition of my thighs that I’d be teaching a dance fitness class and in the best shape of my life when I am 44, I’d have thought you were mad. Simply mad. It all started in 2009 when I was 36. I’d just moved to Florida and needed to make friends. I signed my then 5 year old daughter and myself up at the local YMCA. Surely we would meet people there. Except, I found myself back on the treadmills and not interacting with anyone. Passing the Group Fitness schedule I saw the word “Zumba.” What in the world is Zumba? I can’t recall if I asked the front desk or if I Googled it, but I convinced a mom-friend from our kids’ gymnastics class to go with me. I was terrified to go to my first class. Oh the anxiety of it all. It was confusing. I love Latin music, but the fitness part was baffling and I think the instructors hips weren’t actually attached to her spine. I was determined, however, to figure it out. Eventua…

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the delay in getting these out. I started a new job last week and have been in training so have no set schedule yet. I was up and out early but once I am settled in, we should be back to normal. Hope you guys still did the challenge and redid some older ones to keep moving forward.

I've been healing up still from my calf tear but luckily I am okay on stationary movements. I hurt my flexor tendon do it only hurts when I am pushing off of the toes to step forward or go an an incline. Squat and deadlift seem to be okay but I've been staying light and doing more rep work.

I was able to hike today after 15 sets of deadlift yesterday (Saturday) and before it was over I had swelling in my ankle and mid shin area so, I am sure I will be hurting in the morning...but I am mobile without being in total pain.

So, I am posting these in the evening now the night before so, here is Monday's training for those who wish to keep going.

Push-Ups 10
Seated Shoulder P…

Good morning everyone!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are rested and ready to go!

Now  that we have been at this for a few weeks, we are going to be moving from the daily tip and challenge, into more full blown mini training sessions. Instead of a challenge to add to your workouts, these can be used as your workout for those who so desire.

Today's challenge is the 3x100 challenge. While I am prescribing the exercises today, it is an interchangeable program. Any three you like for 100 reps each and you can section them off, doing 10 or 20 of each one in a round fashion.

Today is weighted overhead squats, push=ups, weighted row. You can do these with sandbags, dumbbells, barbells, weight plates, a child (lol) anything that puts you under load and makes this harder.

So think 10 OH squats, 10 push-ups, 10 rows for 10 rounds. Try and keep your rest between rounds limited and the same throughout the session I would say 30-45 seconds between rounds or up to 60 seconds if your condi…