Tissue Work: Massage gun

Muscle tightness and soreness is a regular part of everyone’s lives. Lots of people don’t realize how important it is to address muscle tightness in a timely manner. Muscle tightness mean less oxygen/blood flow throughout the body. We need a good flow to heal and rebuild. The process becomes delayed the more tightness/soreness we have.

Stretching alone is old school

Tissue work (massage gun therapy) specifically increases blood flow and smoothes out the surface of tissue and loosens up ligaments and tendons. Chronic pain develops lots of the time from unattended to areas that lack blood flow/healing. Over time, joints rub against each other and cause some crackling. Massage therapy can help bring some longevity to those areas. On top of that, tendons and ligaments are also loosened. This is important since many injuries results from ligaments being stretched beyond what they can handle.

MY PERSONAL REVIEW + USE

For a several months now, the massage gun has been a necessary add to my protocol for health/longevity of my body. When I get to the gym, I warm up on the tread mill, 5 minutes of massage gun on the muscles i’m working, and afterward I use bands to bring more blood flow to target areas. The massage gun not only primes my body for training, but I also use it at nighttime before bed (Most nights). I try to use it for about 12 minutes at night before bed. I can tell the difference with how things feel in the mornings. It really helps with the neck/shoulders/legs. Flexibility has slowly increased in several different areas because of my pairing of massage gun therapy and stretching combined. There are several areas that need more attention than just your average “reach to the toes” stretch. My body has never felt so great. I highly recommend this to be used in a protocol for average humans and also athletes both.

Leadership: My Next Plan Of Action

One thing today that I want to work on the most: Question asking more and learning about others. I already know everything about myself. It’s in my head. I’m already thinking it. Why would I spend time talking about myself in casual convo? Wait until people ask questions. Building rapport is about asking questions. Making people feel comfortable. We don’t accomplish this by talking about ourselves. To some extent. Especially if they aren’t extraverted, they’re going to feel even more uncomfortable if we talk about ourselves. Get them to open up by staying curious. Practice this now and moving forward. Make it a point. As a leader. You will leave people with a feeling, and thats what matters. How do you feel when you leave someone’s presence? This says a lot about someone. I want to be a person that leaves people with a feeling of fire. A feeling that they’re accepted just how they are. A feeling like everything they want is possible to achieve. A feeling like they deserve the best no matter what circumstance in life has made them believe. I like to show people how valuable plans of action are. Taking small steps and building momentum. It doesn’t matter how much $ is in our bank account, what we’ve accomplished, who we know, or any other type of power trip that we want to play. It’s about who we are now. Are we treating everyone with respect, strangers and loved ones equally. When you’re alone and run into someone in public, are you still treating them with respect even when the lights and cameras aren’t on you? Be consistent with your character. Sure its okay to be goofy, crazy, high energy, chill, and you name it; But there are fundamentals that need to always remain present. Ones that stick with you. Be curious. Be respectful. Share kindness with people. Let them feel that energy and take it with them. Leave them with a feeling that helps them spread the same type of feeling. Leadership is what I want to continue and improve on. Leaders are the ones that leave something so strong with you that you feel it for days after you engage with them. Sure, treat yourself with you. Treat yourself like a king or queen. But when you engage with others, make it meaningful and make it less about yourself. This is what I want to improve on. Little things like this change the world. It’s time to put this into play. 

Luke 5: 31-32 Perspective on Pain

Jesus answer them, “those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those we are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Devotion by John Michalak:

“Some people are really sick, but you’d never know it.

They may suffer from cancer or chronic pain, but they hide the fact that they’re sick from anyone around them.

Some are sick and they themselves don’t know it. Their symptoms may be obvious to others, but they live in denial of their illness.

Jesus related physical sickness to sin.

He said His mission was to perform “spiritual medicine” on those suffering in sin. He also said He couldn’t treat people who pretended they were healthy when they really weren’t.

The truth is, all of us are spiritually sick and need a doctor. But no doctor can treat us if we don’t first admit our sickness and make an appointment to see Him.

Are you afraid of going to the doctor? Do you know you’re sinful, but hide your weakness from others? Or do you simply assume you’re healthy and that no sin dwells in you?

Jesus wants to heal your diseases, both physical and spiritual. Don’t be ashamed to seek the divine medicine every one of us needs.”

Reflection

Could I suffer from areas of spiritual sickness of which I am unaware? I will go to God in prayer right now, asking for His diagnosis and treatment.

Prayer

Dear Lord, Please show me where I may be spiritually sick. Give me the humility to seek Your healing hand. I repent of my sins. Please heal me and make me whole. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

David Goggins “Challenge #1”

The Format to Journal on: (written by David Goggins):

“My bad cards arrived early and stuck around a while, but everyone gets challenge in life at some point. What is your bad hand? What kind of bullshit are you dealing with? Are you getting beaten? Abused? Bullied? Do you ever feel insecure? Maybe your limiting factor is that you are growing up so supported and comfortable, you never push yourself?

What are the current factors limiting your growth and success? Is someone standing in your way at work or school? Are you under-appreciated and overlooked for opportunities? What are the long odds you’re up against right now? Are you standing in your own way?

Break out your journal- if you don’t have one, buy one, or state one on your laptop, tablet, or in the notes app on your smart phone- and write them all out in minute detail. Don’t be bland with this assignment. I showed you every piece of my dirty laundry. If you were hurt or are still in harm’s way, tell the story in full. Give you pain shape. Absorb its power, because you are about to flip that shit.

You will use your story, this list of excuses, these very good reasons why you shouldn’t amount to a damn thing, to fuel your ultimate success. Sounds fun right? yeah, it won’t be. But don’t worry about that yet. We’ll get there. For now, just take inventory. Once you have your list, share it with whoever you want. Fo some, it may mean logging onto social media, posing picture and writing out a few lines about how your own past or present circumstances challenge you to the depth of yolursoul. If thats you, use the hashtags #badhand #canthurtme. Otherwise, acknowledge and accept it privately. Whatever works best for you. I know it’s hard, but this act alone with begin to empower you to overcome.”

My Response:

It’s time to put it all down in words. It’s time to let it out. Keep in mind, our journeys of introspection and self reflection will never stop. However, there are some things that sit with us for longer than other things. One of those things for me is abandonment. It’s developed lots of strengths within me and also some weakness. Throughout adolescence, I did not have the typical Mother and Father in the household type of situation. My Father was not present and my Mother disappeared about half a dozen times up until the age of 18. At this point, myself and my siblings would live with other family in the time being (grandparents, grandma, aunt/uncles, cousins). The cycle would repeat every could years for all of my sibling’s adolescence. I am going to say that we were blessed to at least have family to live with when our Mother was not around, but obviously there are social development, mental, and stress variables that all change drastically when living situations change frequently for adolescence. I know each of my siblings took this trauma on in a bit of a different way. I’ll speak about it from my own perspective, as I don’t want to speak for anyone else at the moment. The pros to the situation were as follows: It allowed me to become adaptable to stressful changing situations. It was natural to me since that was how my life had been for the first 18 years of my life. it allowed me to gain this sense of “don’t sweat the small things.” When your household is changing frequently and you’re pulled from your siblings and mother, nothing else seemed too crazy to complain over. I noticed I would start to gain an extreme appreciation for consistency; with routines (cleanliness, places I sit things down, morning and nighttime routines, bedtime routines, you name it). I found my safety in my own personal self care. I didn’t know where I was going to be, but I knew I could stay strict with my own routines which were unchanging. Also, every time we reestablished with our Mother, its almost as if we were starting right where we left off. back to the being a family. Never discussing the process or how it affected any of us. Just back to living with a superwoman Mother enforcing routines and constantly smiling and manifesting positive attitudes into our forefront. Obviously there are negatives to the whole situation also. Through lots of the household changes, it took a hit on my confidence. It made me feel like I didn’t deserve greatness. I always compared myself to others and before committing to something long term, I would find every reason why I couldn’t be the best or couldn’t make it all the way to the top. I eventually stopped football and stopped baseball. I continued Tennis thankfully, but I didn’t see a reason in committing to things when my life lacked consistency and commitment at the roots of it all; the home life. For a majority of my life, I didn’t take relationships seriously with women. I remained distant and refused to talk about things. Was this because this is how it always was when my mother disappeared? Never talking to anyone. Always acting like everything is okay. I don’t have anyone to blame, but it was built in me to not deal with emotions, not talk about emotions, and not openly communicate when things were bothering me. There obviously comes lots of challenges when trying to get closer to people. I would get close enough, but I would back off at the same time. Nothing personal to anyone else. I would just go back to working on me, sticking with my disciplines and routines, and being proud of what I was in control of. Something I’ve battled my entire life is being able to lean in enough because I think I will lose everything I’ve built. I know I’ve personally put that hurt onto intimate relationships. Relationships require a level of need. A healthy level of need. letting someone else be needed. Letting someone else need you. Relationships and built on openness and being able to offer the right support. I know something I will always struggle with is needed someone to the extent that they want to be needed. I also fight some isolation at times where I work so hard on what I’m doing that I put blinders on these intimate parts of my life. I make sure I don’t lose the one thing I didn’t have for the first half of my life: consistency. As I’ve gotten older, it’s became an obsession for me to make sure that I’m leaving people with a positive energy. Treating strangers just the same as I treat my own family. I like to leave people with a good feeling. Being into coaching kids/families for a full time job has held me accountable to an even higher level. its forced me to pickup those little pieces of trash on the ground, notice the little detail, give the little complements, give appreciation when its deserved, and so much more.. But what is it that still eats at me since I was a kid? The thought that I do want to get closer to people, have consistency in relationships, but also wanting to have my distance. Will I perfectly find the balance someday? I know it requires action and requires me to put action toward the right people that I truly do want in my life. I find the balance with myself through my in depth self care activities, self dates, moments alone, reading, exercise, mediating, outdoor exposure, baths, chiropractic/massage care, journaling, and the list goes on. But I know that if I want to get really close to anyone, they’re going to have to be let in one some of these things. Let in on the things that I kept for myself and myself only. let in on my safe places. let in on my routines. Let in on my consistency. Lets reflect back to the intention that I focus on every day. What I am in control of right now. The thing that drives me.

MY PURPOSE: Living Quality by remaining present. Through meaningful preparation and putting actions into play with discipline, all while staying true to commitments I truly value, all while inspiring others to value personal growth and appreciate true value behind motives, actions, decisions, and moments/experiences created. 

I want to leave this world knowing I was kind to my body, mind, and soul… that I was respectful and a positive impact on everyone that I came into contact with, and that I’m inspiring and showing people how valuable experience and putting ourselves out there is. This coaching journey that I’ve finally stepped foot on has changed my life. Slowly but surely.

For now I ask myself: What am I in control of? What am I doing or have planned that is keeping me on track to get better? We all can be better.

Men’s Physique Prep (16 weeks): The challenges faced/mindset

Exhausted. Aching from head to toe. Flu like symptoms. Weakness felt from standing up, opening the door, walking up stairs. Low energy to even speak. Throat is tired. Eyes hard to stay open. Multiple moments of feeling like crying during the day. Overwhelming anxiety for no apparent reason. Waking up in the morning and feeling like you didn’t even sleep. Partially isolated from other humans because of lacking energy to engage or put forth emotional energy. Pulling over on the side of the road after work because of almost crashing my car from being so exhausted. Taking a fast nap in my vehicle every chance I can get to regain mental clarity. Operating on such low calories for weeks on end and continually dropping them lower and lower.

Still have to do 45 minutes of cardio a day. Still have to work 40 hours at work. Still have to lift at the gym. Still have to get 5 meals in. Still have to get 2 gallons of water in. Still have to do stretching/tissue work. Still have to practice posing routines.

Above was a brief context of what the last 2 weeks of competition prep feels like to get stage ready for a bodybuilding/physique show.

Currently I’m 7 days out from the NPC Columbus Championships. You might be asking yourself, “why would you put yourself through all the struggle? Why would you make life 10 times harder and put yourself through so much physical and mental struggle?”

There are always lessons and perspective to be learned from commitments and struggles. Like my Brother Aris said:

“believe it or not, you’re building up your resilience. If you keep enduring and climbing through, on the other side of the mountain you’ll realize how much more you’re capable of because of what you put yourself through.”

I’ve loved fitness for a long time. It started with lifting weights in high school. I then began to look at the food/training a bit more seriously as I approached the end of college. By the time I came out of college, I was really get a grasp on everything related to fitness. Cross training, explosiveness, bodybuilding, powerlifting, cycling, boxing, orange theory, 5k races, swimming, and you name it. I tried several forms of training, different tempos, different styles of lifting and tried eating different ways (high fat, high carb, high protein, moderate protein, heavy amounts of greens, paleo, etc). It’s taken a long time to realize where my middle ground is. Where I personally like to operate and flow. I gained all of this experience and it better helps me put more intention and goal focused efforts toward what I do.

Now, for the past few years, I’ve been more focused on bodybuilding. I’ve packed on lots of muscle and continued to keep my caloric intake high. I finally thought it was time to put the bodybuilding lifestyle to the test. Coaching has always been something I’ve been fascinated with and I knew a great way to gain credentials was to commit to excellence, and to be able to say I did it. I wanted To do this prep to prove that I can stay committed to the plan, but I also wanted to do this prep because I wanted to take something with me that I’ll forever have. That I hope I can affect others with. To realize I resisted when it was hardest. Delayed gratification. To still get the job done when things didn’t feel right. To prepare and plan ahead so I was setup for success. Sticking to the plan.

If we did things when it felt right, lots of the time, it would not get done. This is something huge that I’ve reflected on for a long time now. How do I battle this? I make sure there is a plan in place. I love to use my calendar on my phone and my reminders tab. Both places that allow me to put a date and accountability on something. Just being able to check that off and know where and when its going to be done, leaves no room for anxiety. trust the plan you put into place. This goes with cooking, plans with friends, personal tasks, and you name it. How do we plan to remember all of these things we have to get done? The overwhelming thoughts and anxiety that comes along with it all can be eliminated when there is plan in place. We create a known. Creating knowns in my life has been a huge step forward for me. It allows me to have intention and take action in the ways that are impactful and meaningful to me.

I know some of my isolation on prep has caused me to remain a bit more quiet. A bit more low energy. Not on purpose or for any reason personal to anyone else. Only for the reason that I’m trying as much as I can to keep my cool. I’m trying to not react harshly. I’m trying not to treat anyone with disrespect. Sometimes for me, that comes off in the form of quietness and stepping back from the situation completely. Some may view that as emotionless or distant.. some may view it as mature and considerate.. It could be a blend of both. I don’t mean for either to be 100% true, but only to know that I want to finish this and check every box on the list. ‘

How do you want to look back at things in 3 months and remember them by? I try to keep this intention close.

I want to give my best. This is all that matters. My best effort.

Confidence Awareness

Habakkuk 2:4

Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

The Positive side: Healthy self confidence is more about reflecting intrinsically the motivating “doing” attitude.

However: Pride can alter communication and connection with people. When you put yourself on a pedestal, the ability to be vulnerable and gain trust with others will be compromised most likely. It will make you appear even more distant from others .Pride and vulnerability can easily butt heads.

How do we find a healthy balance of self pride and arrogance? Possibly focusing on you and not comparing yourself to others; Be interested in other’s achievements/interests just as much as your own (stay curious). Its natural for us to compare ourselves to others. It can unfortunately hold us back. We lose focus as soon as we put too much attention toward the external. It took a long time to master focusing on the internal and not being distracted by outside noise. Do what matters to you and only you. If its really important to you, I know how it can feel natural to want and impact others with your experience. Find the balance between sharing that experience and also keeping some of the experience to yourself.

Dont Forget: You walk into your bedroom at night. You turn off the lights. You go lay down. Realize, does what you say/did matter to you and only you? Did it matter that you talked about yourself? did other’s opinions matter? did you really have to make it known to everyone? Intrinsic motivation is the main area of focus. Do it for you and only you.

Prayer: Dear God, please shield me from the temptations to be arrogant about the accomplishments you have allowed me to achieve. Cover me with your righteousness and strengthen my faith. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen

John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins

Erica Cosgrove:

“Love and life: two things we crave and are afraid to lose.

We want to live life to the fullest and to love and be loved deeply. Yet, these ideas we have in mind are often a far cry from what we experience.

We don’t know how to fully live or deeply love. We experience a shadow of what we were created to experience. Eden (as described in Genesis) shows us what the Creator intended for us: living and loving in direct relationship and communion with Him and with each other.

Our poor choices physically separated us from our God, leaving us with the desire to return to true life and love. We may not always love well, but it isn’t up to us to make ourselves loving.

1 John 4:10 tells us that God makes the first move. He loved us first and promises to continue loving us. Because of this love, we will get to experience the meaningful life and love we desire. We focus on getting love, but Jesus focused on giving it — to the point of also giving us life.

Jesus sacrificed Himself so we would be able to re-enter a direct relationship with Him. His sacrifice is our lifeline, a promise of the everlasting life we’ll have with Him if we only accept His gift.”

Reflection

What does it mean for me and my relationships to know that God loved me enough to give me the hope of eternal life?

Prayer

Dear Jesus, I accept Your saving sacrifice. Thank You for loving me first and for giving me the hope of eternal life with You. In Your name I pray, Amen.

Do Not Wait

Disclaimer: What you’re about to read may be a brutal reality.

Personally, I will not share how I evaluate each of these in my own life. This is meant to be a reflection that is only to be shared with yourself. These are things to evaluate when you’re alone and getting deep into thought.

Facing the honest truths of each and every one of our lives:

Top 5 things said on people’s death bed

1.I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

My recommendation is to read one of these and wait 5 minutes until you read another. Ask yourself, “what does this mean to me?” “Am I finding this balance in my own life?”

Do not wait. All of us know we could find a better balance. The question is, “whats next?”

Delayed Gratification: How it makes me better everyday

What is it

According to Kendra Cherry from “Delayed Gratification and Impulse Control” (verywellmind.com), The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment What discovered, “that the kids who were able to delay gratification had a number of advantages later on over the kids who simply could not wait. The children who had waited for the treat performed better academically years later than kids that ate the treat right away. Those who delayed their gratification also displayed fewer behavioral problems and later had much higher SAT scores.1”

We all know this doesn’t just apply to children. Take a look around you. Observe the patterns of habits of humans in your surrounding.

Sometimes it is easy to make a quick instant decision based off of the feeling of the unknown since finding that desired comfort is a natural defense mechanism.

It’s easy. It’s convenient. Its fast. A few popular phrases I hear pretty often from humans. A few phrases that are reenforced by the services and products that lots of companies are offering today (uber, door dash, smoothies, fast food joints, tik tock and other social media platforms, self checkout at grocery stores, algorithms with websites that ask you survey questions to adjust the adds you see, 30 second abs and magical weight loss pills, pharmaceutical drugs in lots of instances…. It can be hard when surrounded by all of these instant gratifications to realize that its okay to drag things out. its okay to wait. its okay to trust the process and for things to take 2,3,6,12 months to improve. Quick is most of the time not the long term solution. its an instant answer that comes with other side effects.

What happens when we don’t have instant results but expect instant results? Overwhelming feelings start to arise..so how do we move forward?

“we don’t know when these long-term rewards will arrive—or even if they will ever arrive.”

We must CREATE and TRUST realistic timeframes/Deadlines

A prime example is my competition prep that I’m currently on for a Men’s physique show. This requires 16 weeks of strict dieting, training, sleep, tissue work, stretching, and posing practice

Sounds extreme and very overwhelming doesn’t it?

Currently, I have about 5 weeks left until my show. I’ve been sticking to the plan for 11 weeks already. Here is my testimony thus far:

Before this started, everything had to be broken down into chunks to make things less overwhelming. Several chunks. for EX: 35 specific meals a week-5 meals per day-grocery store twice per week-cooking twice per week-cooking at 8PM-9:30 at night each time-keeping a cooler bag/ice pack to take meals on the go. the system is CREATED. It now appears more realistic and more manageable. So I TRUST this timeline. I therefore create less feelings of overwhelming thoughts because I do not have any variables that are unknown. I know what 5 meals I will eat each day. I know they will accelerate my fat loss and help me come closer to my goals. I don’t even have to THINK about what they’re doing.

This is not easy. This is not quick. This is not Fast. BUT, 1.5 hours of cooking twice a week does sound easy correct? How about 8+ hours on the cell phone per day that I observe on some people’s “iPhone usage category.” Time consuming huh? This really puts things into perspective.

SO now what?

INTENTION. One of my favorite words. When we focus on intention, we break the pattern of our automatic response such as finding quick comfort or quick answers/solutions. Intention reminds us WHY we are choosing to do what we are doing. Again, when I feel overwhelmed, I focus on deep breathing for a solid 30-60 seconds and I remind myself that I am taking care or those little “chunks” of the plan and I remind myself that I trust the process. It is normal to worry. It is normal to have doubts. BUT, the power of intention and trusting the process is by far STRONGER.

WHERE DO I START?

Take a look at your life and the things that are repetitive. The things you do every single day. The things you choose frequently. Ask yourself, “is this giving me the results that I NEED in my life?”

It won’t feel good at times. It won’t be easy to face head on. Own the feeling. Own the moment. Breathe slowly for 30-60 seconds and be proud that you didn’t respond instantly. Be proud to feel overwhelmed. Be proud to wait on that feeling to subside. Find the manageable amount of chunks needed to make your decisions less overwhelming. Break it down into 30 pieces if need be. We all have a different amount of chunks that we need to focus on to make things seem more manageable. Maybe it takes putting all 30 steps on your reminders tab on your phone and checking them off as you complete them during the day. This is what I do at times, and this is very EMPOWERING to know that Im getting small WINS. The small chunks are wins. They’re progression. They’re what we need to know and trust that the process is working.

Accept this statement: It’s always going to be hard. Either way.

We view the word “hard” as overwhelming or not worth it. How about we shift that perspective and decide to think, “I want it to be hard. I want it to be challenging.”

Watch your entire life change when you can shift the paradigm life has made us believe which is: Life quick, live easy, live fast, instant this… switch it to: Be patient, wait, trust your process, its the little things, day in and day out, it takes years, today matters and it starts today.

I’ve watched all of these things transform my life. I just want to see the same for others.



Bible Reflection: James 1:5

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

Question of the day: Am I in the habit of asking God for wisdom? What impact might it have on my life if I asked more often?

Some people read this and think God is supposed to be a Magic Genie with a lamp and will grant wishes when we ask him for help… This thought is half way true… think about what a relationship is. A relationship is mutually beneficial. We can ask for help for our benefit, but what are we doing to benefit God? I believe we are expected to take action. To live with intention. For example: We can be in times of struggle and ask God for help or wisdom with our relationship, work, family, etc… BUT, what are we doing to take action and show God that we truly want to make an impact in those areas of our lives? How are we doing our part to live more God-like and show God that we not only are asking for help, but we are willing to work hard to facilitate those changes in our lives? Some people go to Church on Sunday and see it as a check on their to-do list. They come to church to apologize to God for their weekly sins and they go back to repeating the same actions on a day to day. Remember, how is this benefiting God? How are we furthering our relationship with him if we ask for forgiveness or wisdom but we do nothing on our part to change our actions afterward? Sounds like a one sided relationship to me. We are asking for all of our problems to be forgiven, but they continue to reoccur in our lives after Sunday when we acknowledge them. Its never about just showing up to church, but also practicing being more God-like everyday in our own lives. Integrity. Instead of doing whats right when no one is looking, do whats right like God is standing there watching you.

So coming back to the question, What impact might it have on my life if I asked more often for wisdom from God?

If I more frequently reflected on the intention of reaching out to God, I would stay more in the moment with my struggles, challenges, and life’s unknowns. I would be able to acknowledge my faults, understand the impact and how I can move forward and make changes in my life that put me more in line with being God-like.

Like Andy Frisella said, “life is going to be hard either way. Be in control of how you react.” In 2 months when I look back, I want to be proud of how I respond. Just trying to be better. It’s a work in progress. When I have faith in God, I mutually benefit him by trusting him when I reach out, practice delayed gratification, focus more on patience, and how I respond…in turn: I live more God-like.