Kron Gracie

Kron Gracie . . brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion . . shedding some light on mindset.

Perspective is everything

Anthony Robbins interviewing 108 year old woman survivor of a Nazi concentration camp

No matter how bad you think you have it . . 

You always have a choice . . 

To laugh . .

To cry . . 

To get pissed off . . 

To be grateful . . 

You will ALWAYS have control over how you choose to feel about this wonderful life we are lucky enough to be brought into . . 

"Everything is a present."

George St-Pierre's training

Be the person you wish to attract.

Every single conversation that you allow yourself to be apart of, further develops your values & beliefs, moulding you into the person you are tomorrow.

If you're surrounded by money driven people, you’re going to slowly take on those same habits & mannerisms, & turn into one of them yourself.

You are who you choose to associate yourself with.

Funny thing is though, that YOU attract the kind of person YOU ARE.

If your personality is quite aggressive & prominent in nature, your friends are probably going to take on that persona when they’re around you .. because you bring that out in them.

If you choose to dress provocatively, with your ass hanging out of your skirt, somehow i don’t think you’re going to be attracting any life long romance there.

The problem with human beings is everyone chooses to look EXTERNAL of themselves for everything that doesn’t make sense in their lives & everything that goes wrong in their lives.

. . When we need to look internally to find the solution.

“What package am i presenting to the world?”

“Who do i choose to associate myself with?”

The world is your perception of the world . . the world is not 100% exactly the same to any two people . .

Which means another person is not going to be able to fix your world, because they’re not looking at it with the same eyes.

YOU need to fix your world & invite those deserving into it.

Ya dig?

Moderation?
It's mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise.
It's the devil's dilemma.
It's neither doing nor not doing.
It's the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy.
Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence-sitters of the world afraid to take a stand.
It's for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die.
Moderation...is lukewarm tea, the devil's own brew.
- Dan Millman

Giuliano Stroe "STRONG"

this little dude is amazing . . amazing . . amazing . . don't try this at home kids . . adults . . or do !!

the talking barbell.

Alloy steel. 2.05m long. 15kg. 25mm diameter.

The biggest enemy of the state.

It lies completely motionless on the ground, but it knows you. All of you. It knows you like no one else knows you.

It knows your fears . . It knows when you’re afraid . . It knows by your body language . . The way you look at it with those cold eyes of desperation . . by the heaviness of your breath . . the twitching in your fingers . . the nervous stomping of your feet . .

And it talks to you. Small constant talk in your ear.

It tells you who you are . . who you’re not . . what you’re capable of.

It tells you no. It tells you there’s no way. It tells you to fuck off, go home . . don’t bother coming back.

It tells you you’ve tried all this before . . but you lost . . what makes you think you can do it AGAIN . . you’re just going to lose AGAIN . . why would you put yourself through that AGAIN . .

It tells you you’re dead meat on a barbell plate if you choose to go to battle . . it tells you to call your partner and tell them you won’t be making it home tonight . .

It hisses like a snake . . slithering its words into your ear. . filling up your head with its venom . .

But all that talk . . it doesn’t matter.

Not tonight.

I step up to the platform . . to the enemy they call the barbell . .

Yeh you can talk barbell . . but so can I.

I’ve got a lot to say . . so you best buckle up.

keep on keeping on . .

It's funny . . sometimes it's SO much harder to remind yourself what you're doing . . why you're doing it . . other times you have tunnel vision . . you know EXACTLY what needs to get done . . WHY you're killing yourself over it . . but your body still may not respond the way you want . .
Sometimes the minutes spent training feel a lot longer than they should . . sometimes it feels like it’s flown by . .

Sometimes you feel like you have all the support in the world . . you thrive on that energy and put it into your training . . but there are times when even though you may have all that support . . you still feel like you’re out there all alone . . it’s just you on the edge of the cliff . . going through the motions . . no one or nothing can make you feel better . . no motivational quotes . . no slap on the ass . . no amount of stimulants . . so you just go through the motions . . like a zombie . .

No one understands what goes on in your head before . . during . . or after a training session . . no one knows how much passion you have inside of you . . how much energy you have . . when you have your ups . . your downs . . when you feel totally depleted . . how much effort you put in when no ones around . . when you don’t know think you can do it . .

No one knows your thought process . . how scared you really are sometimes . . the fear of failure AND fear of success . . fear of not knowing the end of the road . . what it will take to get there . . if you’ve put in enough time . . enough effort . . fear of letting yourself down . . fear of letting others down . . fear of not reaching your own expectations . . others expectations . .

But through all this training . . the thoughts in our heads . . the things that encourage us and discourage us . . we learn SO much about ourselves . . what makes us tick . . what makes us click . . and sometimes the things we discover we don’t want to see for ourselves . . but we become better all the better for it . .

I question myself every day . . yes I feel ALL of these feelings . . I go through ALL of these times . . but that’s what I find motivating . . I don’t have the answers . . I don’t pretend that I do . . I just keep fighting and maybe something good happens . . maybe it doesn’t.

Who are you without your job title ??

Whenever we meet somebody new, the topic of conversation almost always steers towards the question . .

“what do you do for a living?”

And when we’re kids, we tell Mummy & Daddy what we want to be when we grow up.

It’s embedded in our brains at a young age that career comes first, & then you build your life around THAT.

Because of that, we have the tendency to attach others, and especially attach OURSELVES to job titles to such an extent that we allow it to define who we are.

I’m not talking about being passionate about something .. or wanting success in something . . but the point where you allow your work and your success/failure at work to dictate the type of person YOU are.

If your job was no longer there for you when you woke up tomorrow morning, how would you react ?? what kind of emotions would you feel ??

Would you feel depressed . . ??

Would you feel lost . . ??

Would you feel empty . . ??

Would it change the way you see yourself as a person . . ??

When you define your own self worth by something EXTERNAL of yourself (like your job), you give that external thing control over your emotions, over your way of thinking . . over your way of feeling . . you’re basically giving it permission to hijack your life.

. . and when the time inevitably comes where something doesn’t go to plan, you stuff up, that loss doesn’t just effect your career anymore, it has a carry-over effect and begins to mould and shape how you view YOURSELF. And that’s when shit starts to get ugly.

The fuck ups that happen at work are not reflections of who you are.

You aren’t a regional manager . . a lawyer . . a sparky . . an athlete . . you are YOU. You were this before your title, you are you now, you are going to be YOU after this title.

In the military, you are not your rank. Rank is INFORMATION. You are not information.

You’re not the games you lose . . the tasks you fail . . the positions you don’t get.

Accomplishments are in the past . . you AREN’T in the past . . so how could you possibly be your accomplishments?

Your morals . . your values . . your belief system . . what you will fight for . . what you will die for . . the very essence of your being . . THAT is who you are . .  those aspects of yourself need to live on a different island and be locked away . .

. . and you need to acknowledge them every single day that you’re alive and kicking on this earth . . because when you lose all the tangible things in this world . . your job . . your money . . that’s all you’re left with.

And if your whole life value is based around your 9-5 job . . if you’re attached hook, line and sinker . . when that fucks up, you fuck up too . . you’re left with this VOID that can’t be filled . . because you’ve trained yourself to become all about that ONE external thing. . and when that goes . . you go too.

When shit happens externally of ourselves that we’re not prepared for , those things shouldn’t effect how you view yourself as a person . . that shouldn’t be the test of your self worth . . of who and what you represent as a person –

instead, your morals . .  your values . . that belief system you have with yourself, should prove to overpower any sticky situation we get stuck in, because in essence, that’s all that is REAL in this world . . and if you mix that in with the fake stuff . . you’re in trouble.

So how do you not become your success?

Easy in theory . . hard in application . .

1) Figure out what your beliefs, morals, and values are.

. . and never, ever stray from them. These babies are the backbone to every single decision you make in life.

2) Redefine success.

Success doesn’t mean having your mates acknowledge you . . success coincides with your values . . if you fail, it shouldn’t affect how you view yourself as a person and the person that you are. It’s its own separate entity, living on its own separate island.

3) Figure out what else turns you on. Don’t get attached to one thing and one thing only. Enjoy lots of things. For every outlet, you should have another outlet.

4) Spend time on your own everyday.

Whether it be in the morning, or lying down in bed before you nod off . . rediscover what’s important in your life . . spend time inside your own head.

5) Write.

Once a week allocate a time to writing whatever it is that’s on your mind . . WHATEVER comes out off the top of your head . . ideas . . concepts . . emotions . . frustrations . . grocery lists . . it doesn’t matter . . you’d be surprised how invigorating it is to empty some of that storage space inside your brain.

If your job can survive without you, you can survive without your job.

COOL TRAINING VIDS

Anthony Gatto is a juggler for Cirque du Soleil . . jugglers are SO underestimated . . the hand/eye coordination, visual reaction time, peripheral vision that gets developed when you train this way is advantageous in ANY sport . . i’ll have to write out a post specific to jugglers soon . . AMAZING ATHLETES.

 

Chad Vaughn, 2 time Olympian weightlifter, 6 time National champion, & is currently the American record holder in Clean & Jerk at 190kg (77kg weight class). Flows like ballet.

This dude makes one arm push ups look girly . .

1150 TYRE FLIPS @ 230 bodyweight.

One-Legged High Jumper wins world record .. this dude is amazing. Sorry . . what were you saying about your problems?

Awesome conditioning/strengthening drill by Glenn Pendlay for the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, lower back) & abs.

Awesome Triple Jump Drill . . .

PARKOUR TRAINING . . lot of respect for these athletes . . very underestimated. 

all or nothing VS something - my AHA moment.

One quality about myself that i'm constantly working on is this concept of "ALL OR NOTHING".

I've always been the type to either put my all in something, or nothing . . ESPECIALLY when it comes to my training.

So in the past, when i've been injured, i wouldn't train that body part at all if i couldn't train it 100% . . i would simply train another body part or not do anything.

I've had CONSTANT issues with my hamstring . . and i've now strained my biceps femoris (hamstring muscle) AGAIN.

Last night . . after being pissed off with the mother fuckin world, i was analyzing my current situation with my hamstring . . and reflecting on past injuries . . and my reaction to past injuries . . and it's always been me being pissed off . . and me feeling like i'm at effect of the injury . .  i've always seen injuries as my body rebelling against me . . & being the reason why i'm not getting to where i'm endlessly trying to get with my training . . i've seen injuries as some sort of road block . . the devil.

I'm slowly (when i say slowly, i mean slowwwwwwly) coming to realize that maybe my body is simply trying to help me . . warn me that i need to back off . . it's trying to work WITH me, not AGAINST me . . that my body isn't ready for what my mind is necessarily ready for . . that i need to spend a little bit more time working on a particular movement before i up the weight . . or spend a little bit more time learning about my body & its weaknesses  . .

I've always been the impatient type when it comes to my goals . . i want to know everything now . .  i want to do everything now . .

But i think i'm coming to really realize that this whole training thing is a marathon, it ain't a sprint . . i have all the time in the world to achieve what i want to achieve . .
I think we learn our life lessons in different forms & my training is me learning the act of patience & that doing SOMETHING is a necessary accompaniment to doing "ALL OR NOTHING" . . and the two have their place in your training . . at different times.

VIKING LAWS

VIKING LAWS

1. BE BRAVE AND AGGRESSIVE

BE DIRECT

GRAB ALL OPPORTUNITIES

USE VARYING METHODS OF ATTACK

BE VERSATILE AND AGILE

ATTACK ONE TARGET AT A TIME

DON’T PLAN EVERYTHING IN DETAIL

USE TOP QUALITY WEAPONS

 

2. BE PREPARED

KEEP WEAPONS IN GOOD CONDITION

KEEP IN SHAPE

FIND GOOD BATTLE COMRADES

AGREE ON IMPORTANT POINTS

CHOOSE ONE CHIEF

3. BE A GOOD MERCHANT

FIND OUT WHAT THE MARKET NEEDS

DON’T PROMISE WHAT YOU CANNOT DELIVER

DON’T DEMAND OVERPAYMENT

AGRRANGE THINGS SO THAT YOU CAN RETURN

4. KEEP THE CAMP IN ORDER

KEEP THINGS TIDY AND ORGANIZED

ARRANGE ENJOYABLE ACTIVITIES WHICH STRENGTHEN THE GROUP

MAKE SURE EVERYBODY DOES USEFUL WORK

CONSULT ALL MEMBERS OF THE GROUP FOR ADVICE

References:
http://arikjohnson.posterous.com/the-viking-laws

the law of vibration . .

I was at the supermarket yesterday, doing my what seems to be daily rounds lately . .

and the cashier performs the oh-so monotonous “Hi, how are you?” . .

as usual i play along with a . . “great thanks, and you?” . .

. . . and he goes on to say “i’m tired . . nearly end of shift . . just want to home” . .

This raised a point of awareness for me:

That particular attitude of “i’m tired” exists more and more throughout conversation every single day. .

“I’m angry”

“I’m tired”

“I’m in a shitty mood”

When you acknowledge that you are feeling a particular way, you give that emotion, that vibration within your body, additional energy . .

Everything in this universe is energy.

Everything in this universe vibrates.

Nothing rests ever.

Everything vibrates at a particular frequency/speed.

Vibrations constantly alternate between high and low frequencies . .

When you’re feeling tired or run down, your vibrations are heavier, slower and low.

When you’re having a laugh or kissing your boyfriend, your body’s vibrations are lighter, higher and faster.

In other words, when you’re thinking negatively, you vibrate at a lower frequency.

Additionally, that vibration in your body draws in those similar vibrations around you . . bringing it into your own energy field.

You’re literally feeding yourself with energy . . what energy? it depends on your vibration.

Over time, if you’ve attracted all this negative energy (through anger,sadness,fear,jealousy,criticism) into your own personal energy field . . all those vibrations are operating at a low, slow speed . . they’re practically dead.

Which means they’re unable to attract those higher vibrations of frequency because it simply doesn’t have that kind of strength.

That’s why it’s SOOOOO important that you’re constantly aware of what’s going on inside your head, that internal talk is VITAL to your success . . bringing playfulness, happiness, that kid-like mentality to situations draws in those fast, high vibrations.

Check out the vids below for a little bit more depth:

Bob Proctor below talks about how the law of vibration works:

So how do you get yourself in the right vibrational tone?

So enough with that “i’m tired” bullshit . . acknowledge when you are manifesting those negative vibrations . . don’t give it a name . . just let that negative feeling/vibration come and go . . over time, it will become easier to channel in those awesome high speed vibrations.

Mel.

 

PALEO RECIPE: MEATZA (PIZZA WITH A MEAT CRUST)

PIZZA WITHOUT THE CRAPPY STARCH.

For once, you don't have to feel guilty for hogging all the pizza . . i mean meatza to yourself.

These babies are so yummy you could have them for BREAKFAST . . DINNER & LUNCH !!

There's over a million variations in terms of toppings. . so i've picked a few from various websites but get creative with them !! . . use whatever ingredients you have in the fridge (as long as its fresh & paleo-sexual) . .

GO NUTS!!

OREGANO - http://primalnut.com/2011/08/23/meatza-pizza-with-a-ground-beef-crust/

SHRIMP & VEGGIES - http://library-rss.crossfit.com/free/rss/pdf/CFJ_Meatza_Recipe_March2011.pdf

MUSHROOM - http://paleohmygoodness.blogspot.com/2011/05/meatza-my-way.html

Let me know what variations work for you so i can try them !!!!

References

http://freetheanimal.com/images/2011/04/500/Meatza.jpg

http://paleohmygoodness.blogspot.com/2011/05/meatza-my-way.html

http://library-rss.crossfit.com/free/rss/pdf/CFJ_Meatza_Recipe_March2011.pdf

http://primalnut.com/2011/08/23/meatza-pizza-with-a-ground-beef-crust/

battle with the mind . .

I’m always looking for ways to tune up the old brain . . make it work better then it did the day before . . it’s like a bank . . i want to build up interest over a certain amount of time . . 100 years from now my brain is going to be worth it’s weight in gold

BUT .. it’s a constant battle to train or reprogram your mind to think a certain way about things that happen in your daily life.

How you mentally approach what happens to you .  . the choices you make, the lack of choices you make . . how you handle a situation . . the negative thoughts that run through your head . . negative association to things . .

We’ve been programmed with so much EMOTION as people . . to feel a certain way when something happens to us . . be sad when someone doesn’t call . . be happy when someone makes the effort . . be angry when something doesn’t go our way.

We give WAY too much power to others & external things. 

We gotta learn to let go of the belief that “without this, i cannot be happy.”

“Without this person in my life, i cannot be happy.”

“Without this opportunity, i cannot be happy.”

Happiness doesn’t lie in these things.

People feel emptiness and then rush to fill that emptiness with someone or something.

We go through agonies over things WE create in our own heads . . we convince ourselves our happiness depends on certain things.

If someone lies to you, are you upset because they lied to you?

No.

In your mind, you’ve put this person on a pedestal and based your happiness on their actions . . so now that they’ve let you down, you’re upset.

I’m reading this book by Anthony De Mello “Discovering Awareness”, and here’s an analogy that i really, really like that i think sums us up to a T:

“You’ve got a concert hall. Symphony is playing. You’ve settled down nicely in your seat. Dark atmosphere. And you’re getting ready to enjoy it. And then suddenly you remember you forgot to lock your car. You can’t get out, too disturbing, you can’t enjoy the music, caught in between, that’s the image of life for most people. Constant anxiety. What am I going to do now, what’s going to happen next, How do I cope with this, how do I cope with that.”

I just think that’s so true, in SO many ways.

MENTALLY, we need to reprogram our brains to not be so emotionally drained by the external . . and program our minds to subconsciously deal with things in a calmer state. . not go into that “fight or flight” mode . . that anxiety and stressful emotional rollercoaster in our heads when “negative” things happen to us. Whether it be related to work . . relationships . . partners . . whatever.

It’s a CONSTANT struggle . . everyday . . but i know that i’ve come a LONG way in how i react to things mentally now . .  it’s just about making that conscious effort to make that shift in your head & detach yourself from those reactions that drain you.

LITTLE BITS & PIECES

1) Be wholly perfect

i think that we’ve been raised at a society to spend our lives trying to be this definition of “PERFECT” . . when we’re really this live sculpture of art . . that when you look at it, it appears perfect to the eye.

But when you look a little closer, you can see the workings behind it.

The lines . . the minor chips . . the carvings . . the imprints . . the hours, days, years of hard labour that has gone into making it what it is.

All we can ever be and try to be is whole. Not perfect, whole . . in all areas of our lives. Being whole is being happy with what we have . . but still angry enough to want more.

2) Just bloody do it already

End of the day . . you KNOW what you need to do to lose that extra person you’ve been carrying out for 20 years. It’s not rocket science. Eat that little bit healthier and exercise that little bit more. Your choice. 30 pounds of fat . . or 30 pounds of excuses?

3) Pick something . . and stick with it

You can’t possibly do heavy ass weight sessions mixed in with 2-3 days of MMA . . with a side salad of tennis. I mean really. . what the fuck! Pick ONE thing . . and tailor your training around it. If you don’t, you’re going to get injured. It’s not IF, it’s WHEN.

4) Open your eyes

Reading the label on something is not enough. 98% fat free does not mean 98% sugar free. Labels lie, ingredient lists don’t lie. Read the INGREDIENTS LIST, not the label. And get familiar with the various names of “natural” sugars, because even the ingredient list will try to trick you! Tricky bastards.

5) What can you get away with?

When it comes to training, you don’t want to be changing too much too soon. Jumping from no cardio to 2 hours cardio is stupid. Your body is going to plateau and ask you to give it more than you are more sooner than later. . then what are you going to do ? 3 HOURS ?? Your body will react to little changes, especially when you start working out . . no need to go nuts.

6) Stop with the questions

Asking 1000 questions is a BIG warning sign that you’re not starting something you know you need to. If you’ve spent months, years on forums, reading magazines featuring the “shredded in 7 days" workouts, meanwhile plonking your ass on the couch – you need to take responsibility and admit that you’re just being a lazy procrastinator.

7) Drop the all or nothing . . and do SOMETHING

Unless you’re an athlete or you have a particular goal you’re aiming towards, exercise doesn’t have to be this “structured” thing.

Sometimes people look too much into it . . the amounts of planning and preparation is SO EXTENSIVE . . so much so that people see it as a “chore” because the funs taken out of it . . majority of people don’t function best like that. Because when circumstances change, say if you’ve got a track session on and it’s raining, mentally you say to yourself, if i can’t do track today i can’t do anything else . .  you’re going to constantly look for a “get out of jail free” card.

Circumstances are never going to be 100%. Just do your thing . . go for a run . . go for a walk . . go for a skip . . who cares . . long as you’re active and you’re out there DOING . . don’t let anybody tell you what is “good” or “bad” because being active does not mean training till you puke.

being alone with yourself (the PG RATED way)

When you’re working late on a Saturday night . .

When you’re in the gym at 12.00AM . .

When it’s 2AM, everybody is asleep and you’re catching up on new research . . to make you that much wiser . .

Those are the times when you know you’re doing it for YOU.

When there’s no one around you to look pretty for . .

no one around you to impress . .

to talk to . .

to make the time fly by . .

It’s just you and your mind.

The only energy that resonates is through your mind, body and soul.

And a lot of people are scared of that . .

And a lot of people don’t KNOW they’re scared of that . . because they don’t spend enough time with themselves.

They don’t want to be alone with themselves for too long . . because they don’t like what they feel DEEP DOWN . . you know those people who are always with somebody else .. scared to venture out on their own . . their core beliefs and values are messed up . . they don’t like what they see . . they’re afraid of what might happen if they fail . . there thoughts go back to “what will people think of me.”

But what you learn through spending quality time with yourself . . like you would your best mate . . really knowing yourself from the inside, out . . getting inside your own head for a little bit . . is the EPITOME of success . . it’s the only way that you’ll truly know if you’re doing what you’re doing for the right reasons . . if you’re doing something for yourself . . or if you’re doing it to score points with the girl next door.

Being alone with yourself can be the loneliest place in the world, or it can be the happiest place in the world.

Your choice.

real life motivation . .

i needed motivation today . . not from a magazine . . not from a youtube video . . not from those cliche quotes of the day . . REAL LIFE motivation.

So i went down to the track.

Over the past couple of weeks, that place has been sanctuary.

It’s so peaceful down there.

Nobody yells . . nobody lifts heavy things . . but there’s a silence there that speaks so loud.

You can always spot that one body in the midst of all that ground.

You know that they train from the heart on that track . . because they don’t think anybody is watching . . but they’re training like EVERYBODY is watching.

They’ve got noone to impress . . no bets to settle . . but they run like it’s the last time they’ll ever run again.

They leave their footprints in the ground.

They may not be  a “professional athlete” . . but in that moment, they trained like one.

In that moment, they inspired the hell out of me.

Sometimes you don’t have to be big the biggest in the room to make a positive change in someone’s life . .

Just in doing what you’re passionate about, doing it with as much force as possible, you have the ability to change someone else’s world.

And that’s a BIG thing.

So thank you track star !!