It's All About State of Mind

I was out the other day for a brutal interval session on the bike. The workout for the day was to do two intervals of 20 minutes a piece at 105% lactate threshold. This was one of my toughest sessions to date this year. If you're wondering what lactate threshold is, it's the maximum sustainable effort that you can hold for 60 minutes on a bike. This is not the maximum effort you feel like holding for 60 minutes. This is the maximum effort your body can physically maintain for 60 minutes. Most people will never experience this level of suffering, and to be honest, why the hell would you want to? It's absolutely miserable and requires a ridiculous amount of mental strength to push yourself that hard for that long. You have to go way beyond the point where your head is telling you to back off because it hurts so much.

When I race my bike up Mt Washington I need to be at lactate threshold for about an hour and ten minutes if I'm going to meet my goal. My training is designed to increase the level of power I can put out at threshold so I can get up Mt Washington in an hour and ten minutes. I have a power meter on my bike which tells me exactly how much power I'm putting into the pedals at every point in time. It is the single most unforgiving coach I have ever dealt with. It just sits there on my handlebar showing me a number. I know where my numbers need to be and the power meter forces me to destroy myself to make the number go up and it doesn't give a shit how I'm feeling or what the conditions are. Ever. One of the ways to increase my lactate threshold is to do intervals at or above threshold. Thursday's ride had two of these intervals that took 20 minutes each at 105% threshold. I got through the first one in a lot of pain and then I recovered for about 20 minutes before starting the second one. I was one minute into the second 20 minute interval when my mind started telling me to back off and that there was no way I was going to hold this level of effort for another 19 minutes. The next 19 minutes were super miserable and seemed like an eternity, but when the timer hit 20 minutes I had maintained my target output power for the entire interval. It was an incredible test of mental and physical strength and I passed. I was feeling nauseous and ragged, but very satisfied that I got through it.

I got home and texted my buddy, Chris, who's a former ultra-marathoner and knows all about suffering. I asked him why we continually do this to ourselves? He reminded me how happy I'll be at the top of the mountain knowing that my effort was all worth it. He's absolutely right, but it's more than that for me. And to all the people that come to Dynamic Strength and Conditioning and push themselves to their limits on a regular basis it's more than that to you too.

This is what it's all about. It's about state of mind. When I complete a ride like I did the other day, or if I go off on a solo break in a bike race and hold on to win, or if I do 100 burpees as fast as I can, or get on the power wheel and try to crawl 200 yards without stopping, or try to see how many times I can snatch a kettlebell in 10 minutes.... these are all things that improve my state of mind. These things test me at incredible physical levels which gives me an incredible fitness level that continues to get better each day, but more importantly these things give me a state of mind that tells me I can achieve anything. I have energy levels through the roof. I have self esteem and confidence (not sure if you guys have noticed that or not :) There is no challenge I'm afraid to take on and I'm in a much better position to deal with all the crap life tends to throw at me from time to time. If you knew me 20 years ago you wouldn't know I was the same person I am today.

I'm turning 42 in a couple weeks and I feel like I can live forever. Medicine has a way to extend the bad years of somebody's life and keep them alive through sickness and disease. What we're doing at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning is extending the quality years of your life. I'm going to be 70 years old and I'll still be able to kick a soccer ball around with my grandkids and take them to the beach and teach them to swim. I'm not going to be ravaged by disease and sickness when I'm 80 because I'm taking care of it now by eating right and exercising and not poisoning myself with alcohol and junk food. I'm exercising with functional strength and conditioning methods that train my body the way it was meant to be trained. I have better strength, mobility, flexibility, and muscular endurance than almost anybody I know at any age. My state of mind is incredibly positive and strong and I wouldn't give it up for anything.

But it's not just me. This is for all of you that are coming here, whether you realize it or not. This is for Tom, retired and in his 60's, who came in the other day and told me his blood pressure, resting heart rate and cholesterol are lower than they have been in 10 years, and he's only been coming to me for about 2 months. This is for George who just got his license renewed and his latest picture looks younger than the one he took 10 years ago.. He said to me, "Kev, I'm going backwards in years. This is unreal!". This is for Sharon who's dropped 5 clothes sizes in the year she's been training with us. Or the young woman who was struggling with depression, anxiety and fatigue for years, and after about a month with us was in tears explaining how she's been consistently happy for the first time in as long as she could remember.

In the last couple weeks a lot of people have been upset about the upcoming changes at the gym. I've heard that it seems like we're catering to elite athletes. Next time you're in a group session tell me how many elite athletes there are among you. I'm not catering to elite athletes. I'm catering to real people, whether they be elite athletes or men and women like you and me. We all want the same thing. We want to feel the best we can feel. We want that rock solid state of mind that makes us feel like we can conquer anything. That's how Kirk's going to feel when he reaches his goal of climbing Mt Washington on July 4th. The changes coming to the gym are in an effort to continue to enable you all to achieve that state of mind. The changes are a step forward not a step back. I know the prices are going to be higher than what they are now and that price increases are always met with a certain level of anger and resentment. But to be able to offer all of you what I'm offering at an average of about $10 - $11 a session I don't really feel like I need to apologize for that. Personally, I can't put a price on how I feel everyday. If there's one thing in my life that's truly priceless, it's my state of mind and my health and wellness (Ok, that's three things :)

I know what it took to get me to this point and I know how to get all of you there as well. It's what I'm passionate about and it's what I'm good at. Michele is exactly the same way and anybody else that we're going to bring in as a trainer will be exactly the same way. If you want what we have then you're in the right place :)

All the best,

Kevin