I was never what you would call a natural athlete growing up. In fact, I pretty much sucked at every sport I tried – baseball, basketball, soccer, kickball, tennis… you name it, I sucked at it. To make things worse I was also ridiculously shy and introverted as a kid, so that combination, on top of having little to no athletic skill, made things even worse!
The one are of physical culture that captivated me ever since I can remember was martial arts. When I first began Tae Kwon Do in 3rd grade I found that I actually did have some level of natural ability to perform the techniques and kata (forms), but the fitness part was always difficult and somewhat eluded me. I always used the small measure of confidence in my techniques to make up for the fact that I lacked any kind of high degree of fitness and athleticism. In my immature mind it was perfectly acceptable to not be fit and/or athletic because I had other “deadly skillz”.
In my freshman year of high school I decided to go out for the cross-country team. All the pretty girls were on the team, so I figured – why not? I mean, how hard could running be, right??? Well, it turned out pretty quickly that I sucked at running too. I ended up injuring myself in the first week and subsequently allowed that injury (even after it had healed) to be an excuse as to why I always lagged behind on the practice runs and never was quite able to finish the course. The coach tried to give me a kick in the ass to let me know he knew what I was doing and to suck it up, but at that age of being young and stupid, I thought he was a bully and an idiot (apparently I knew everything at 16…). I decided I would show him, so I quit! Yeh, that showed him. But, hey, I was the damn Karate Kid – what did I need running for?
Next I tried my hand at wrestling. I figured that was a sport I could succeed at since it was combative. Wrong again. Nothing in my Karate training background prepared me for the rigors of freshman high school wrestling conditioning. So, rather than embracing the suck and putting in the work to make myself physically prepared, you guessed it, I quit again. Once again my ego consoled me. I had karate skillz, plus had just started training in the ancient Japanese art of Ninjutsu. Who needed athletics???! (or so I thought)
Getting Warrior Fit
It wasn’t until college that I began to take my fitness semi-seriously. Thanks to a bodybuilder roommate, Chris, and my other roommate, Jason, who was on the college swim team, I began to train regularly. Running, lifting, and martial arts training became the rhythm of my weekly training plan during all 4 years.
After college, while working at “real” jobs in corporate America, training Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu twice a week and teaching once a week, and starting a family my passion and intensity for unconventional fitness methods grew. By 2000 I was training all sorts of bodyweight exercises, Russian Systema, and bought my first kettlebell in 2001. I was hooked. 2004 saw me certified as a Circular Strength Training Coach under Scott Sonnon and officially kicked off my fitness teaching/coaching career. My system as it exists today, began back in 2008 with the publication of my first book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts.
Now, in 2014, after 14 years of dedicated, consistent, hard training, study, learning, and working I finally consider myself an athlete. I am strong, coordinated, conditioned, agile, mobile, and hostile (well, maybe not hostile…). My journey to become a “natural athlete” was a 14 year long overnight success story.
And, it’s still going. The process of becoming who you are never ends.
Leave A Response