PDXStrength News

Blog 15 – A weekly challenge update, and a Thank You. 

It’s Monday of Week 7, folks. With May 1 bringing the opening of a few places locally (namely some of our favorite member-owned businesses and coffee shops), we’re a little closer to the prospective future day that we get the gang back together again. But as to not get too lost in daydreams about the future, here we are with an update on our weekly challenge and somewhat of an admission that I, too, have been managing a bit of a motivational wall during this time. 

I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to all of you that have been showing up throughout this process. First with the members that diligently tried to continue with classes, then to all the folks putting in the effort to maintain a routine with so much unknown, and now to all the folks that seem to be finding their new (albeit short-term) normal. Each person in our community has continued to show up, set intention, and move forward. For those of you who feel like it hasn’t been enough, or those who feel that you aren’t doing as much as another member, that’s ok too. We (and the entire community) are here for you. And if you by chance haven’t been engaged much (or at all) with your coach and some how you’ve found yourself here, on Blog 15, that’s ok too. We’re here for you when you are ready and, as you need.

To further celebrate this, and noting that Mother’s Day is Sunday, let’s set the 5-point team challenge as:

• Post a photo this week of those that have been there for us when we were (or weren’t) ready and just as we needed. You know who and what to tag. 

To those of you who are parents or guardians or mentors, Happy Mother’s Day in an especially weird time. To those of you who have lost such a relationship (me being in that category), I try to find comfort in reminding myself that they wouldn’t have left unless we were ready, which includes the feeling of solitude during a global pandemic. 

Now for that admission. As a caveat, I speak solely of my own experience and not for other coaches. But I, too, have had my ups and downs throughout this process; finding a “motivational wall” as some of my teammates put it. I’ve had weeks that I worked out a lot, some that I worked out a little, some where I felt like I wasn’t good enough, some where I felt like a fraud, some where I just went through the motions, some where I just couldn’t believe that I didn’t have the motivation to go downstairs to my gym, and some where I’m unhappy about my body.  This is nothing new. I’ve experienced all of these before and will certainly experience them again, but I’ve learned to keep reframing and re-centering these conversations – These are normal feelings. My body knows that there is a global pandemic and is responding appropriately (even if it is not how I want it to). This is short-term. I am not the person I was yesterday, or the one I was at 10, 20, or 30. Love and grace is something that I can choose. I can choose to show myself, and the people around me, love without needing a reason to. Emotions are very real. All of them are valid. They make us do funny things. They teach us about our selves if we’re willing to listen. It’s easy to spiral with absolutes or self-created (or culture-created) truths, and hard to be vulnerable and connect with others about their perspectives. I change by doing hard things. It’s hard to make mistakes and learn from them. It’s hard to give yourself permission to be human. 

Thanks for being there for me, Strength Tribe. See you all soon!

D

Blog 14 – AAAAANNNNNNDDDD IT’S MAY.  

Well, here we are… May. And just as they said, “April pandemics bring May pandemics.” Or something like that. And for the foreseeable future we are probably on repeat. While the cycle continues on a weekly and monthly basis, we also are getting into habits in our daily routine (some good, some that aren’t your favorite). It’s kind of our thing as humans. As long as it doesn’t kill us, and it’s relatively simple, we kind of just keep doing it. And we keep doing it. And then all of a sudden it’s engrained, then one day you say, “What the f*ck am I doing?” OR we might not even know we’re doing it and some one else might say, “What the f*ck are you doing?” We are creatures of habit. And we’re really good at it. 

As far as an introduction to a blog though, that’s not very helpful. I haven’t given much direction, just kind of babbled – I know, one of MY habits and talents. At this point, you’re either freaking out that you feel seen or you’re frantically searching for some habitual action that everyone else thinks is blatantly obvious or you’re just in denial. Again, we all have habits. Some great. Some kind of suck. But to the point…

How do we break these habits? Well, I’d say it’s more about starting new one’s and the kind of bullshit ones just get left behind. There are only 24 hours in a day after all. Now you’re saying, “OK, so how do you start new habits?” By introducing something new in the cycle. Really shock the system. You know, like one pandemic decided to. 

Now I’ll grant you that we can’t just go throwing pandemics in throughout the day all willy-nilly, but we can give ourselves a little buzz. “HOW DYLAN?!” Well the easiest way would be to try something new AND giving yourself permission to be a beginner, to be bad at something, to even fail, and then to keep moving forward, keep trying, and keep showing up. Remember earlier, in the ramble, I said we like relatively simple things? Wanna guess what we don’t like? Hard things. When we experience a challenge, by nature, we return to what we feel is safety.  But lucky us, we are highly evolved beings that can make the choice to show up again. 

So what to try? It doesn’t really matter. It could literally be anything you want. Our goal here is to break our patterns and to change our perspective, not be an expert. So by introducing a new perspective we will automatically apply new thinking to the way we approach things. Now it might not show up immediately (hell, you might not even notice it happening), but you didn’t smash the back squat on your first day either. It takes time and diligence. Slowly, but surely you will start looking at things differently and filling your time differently. The cherry-on-top of it all is that you get a whole point in the weekly challenge just by trying. 

In summary, when we try something new, we broaden our perspective. When we broaden our perspective, we learn something. When we learn something, we get smarter. When we get smarter, we start seeing things in new ways. When we start seeing things in new ways, we can no longer exist as we were. When we no longer exist as we were, we break our habits AND we get a whole point in our weekly challenge!!! … And yes When You Give a Mouse a Cookie is one of my favorite books. 

Blog 13 – Weekly Challenge… Swöle at Home. 

Weekly Challenge

All I have to say is that the pet photos have been officially submitted as my favorite challenge to date. If it were up to me, we’d just pack it in and continue this as are weekly challenge until social distancing becomes social togethering. Oh, wait… It is up to me.  But for the sake of variety, we’ll switch it up – and hold a “voluntary” (read: mandatory) requirement of pets being our biggest cheerleaders. So for this week, the team challenge is … post photos of your pe… Shit! 

The team challenge this week, is to take a photo in front of your favorite St Johns/North Portland establishment with your PDX Strength swag. Tag them and us on the meeds. Show some love for other local businesses; let them know The Tribe will be there for them as soon as they are able to return to business as usual  – Perhaps on your daily walk? Perhaps with your pet?! (Disclaimer: Please take all safety precautions necessary. If you are not comfortable doing this. Do not feel obligated to do so. You can always post a photo of your lovable little rascals instead.)

Swöle at Home

I heard through the grapevine that there was conversation about an at home Swöle class. For those that don’t know by now, Swöle is our class that sits at the foundation of strength training – carry, drag, throw – and often touted (by me) as our heaviest class. It’s an all-level class because even though it’s “heavy” the skill involved is extremely low when compared to the other movements we do in class. Couple that with the idea that the human body evolved to do these types of things, you’re left with a pretty fun and primitively gratifying work out. (I will also grant you that I am a completely bias source of information here. I pitched the class. I run coach the class. And as a few members have seen recently, it is a preferred method of movement for me. Again… you’re just gonna have to deal with that.) If you want to give it a try at home, here’s a little WOD for you:

AMRAP 20

5 Couch Lifts (Lift one end of the couch until the hip is at full extension – think tire flip/deadlift here… check for pets)

3 Walk Walks/Wall Climbs (Modify to 18 shoulder taps; either in a box handstand or plank)

100 ft Odd Object Carry (Shoot for about :45 to 1:00 if you don’t have a 100ft runway. If you don’t have a heavy-ish object, find something awkward or challenging to hold; other objects could be pots, pales, benches, side tables, stuffed suitcases or laundry baskets, pet food bags… maybe take a pic of them chasing you down… bet you thought I was done talking about the pets, didn’t you?… Didn’t you!?)

Generally, we won’t get a much acute muscle fatigue or soreness working out this way, but our whole body and central nervous system will feel tired or exhausted. Give it a go. Be creative. Let your coaches know what you think. 

Have a great week! Talk to you all on Thursday!

D

Blog 12 – Back to the Forepl…shadowing

In the last blog, there was a short bit on the team challenges followed by a shorter bit on what the coaches want, which went something – or exactly – like (Yes, I am just jumping to the point. So much for the foreplay.):

…We want balance. We want to be there for you in good and bad times. We want to communicate realistic expectations. We want to build a great community with great people. We want to be here for you as you need – which might not be as a coach. None of that really has anything to do with working out. That just gives us the excuse. 

Right now is hard. We are here to help navigate this with you. We don’t have all the answers, but want you to know we will be here regardless of slower times, less motivation, or even if you don’t work out at all…

As some of you know, my other job is in recreation and program planning. I regularly read books about the theory of recreation or infrastructure planning, community/individual development, and the like – hence some of my previous blogs and often wild statements at the gym. Currently, I’m reading a book called The Great Good Place (If you by chance are the person waiting for this book at the library, please forgive me for the time it’s taken me to return the book and do not use this blog as its cliff notes.).  

The Great Good Place is a reflection regarding the community gathering spaces that have made neighborhoods and micro-economies great, and their bastardization through the creation of suburbs and strip malls in the latter half of the century in the US. These places can be thought of as English pubs, French cafes, and German turnvereins. You see them being recreated recently in places like microbreweries, coffee shops, food cart pods, and boutique fitness studios – you know, like one PDX Strength. 

The things that all these places have in common, or that the author says must be present, are things like creating neutral ground (look at the diversity of professions and belief systems within our community), centering conversation (wonder why I hold the Question of the Day in such high regard?), holds a low profile (you know, like down under a bridge, around a corner, on a street that may or may not just be an active train track), and exists as a home away from home (this would be what the author refers to as a Third Place).

I’d like to submit that this is actually what we are all missing right now. Not the gains, not the intensity, not the fitness. We’re missing the opportunity to exist on equal ground, as ourselves, answering a nominal question about what’s your favorite pen. Because “sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came; you want to be where you can see, our troubles are all the same; you want to be where everybody knows your name.”

I’d further submit to you that the role of a coach in a place like this is more of a bartender; a facilitator, really. Because, if folks feel welcome and they feel at home, does it really matter how the drink tastes? The answer is, no. And this, my friend, is the point of the weekly challenges that we’ve created. We don’t care if your “fitness” goes down (what does that even mean anyway?), we don’t care that you might be taking more days off (some of us could take even more), and we don’t care if you’ve decided to eat more or different types of food (I’ll refrain here from writing an entire other blog post within a single ellipses). These 10 challenges are about consistency and a way to engage with the folks within your Third Place without the need of the funky floors and cartoons on the wall. It doesn’t matter if your score is 0 or 10. You are part of this community, and “I’ll be there for you when the rain starts to pour. I’ll be there for you, like I’ve been there before. I’ll be there for you, ‘Cause you’re there for me too.”

See you soon! – D

P.S. To show you how important just showing up and being you is. We’re adding an extra point to the challenge for attending the weekly Happy Hours. Grab a drink (delicious or not – alcohol not required), pop on, say hello, maybe answer a question of the day, and shoot the shit. That’s what fitness is all about. 

Blog 10 – Warm Down 2.0

Circling back to our warm-up and cool down blog from a week or two ago. This one is a bit more technical in nature; a little less creative writing. Stop here if that’s not what you’re into or continue scanning for my brief pointed asides and parentheticals. Honestly, not sure if there will be any in this blog, but I never do when I start writing. Very little planning (weird, right?) Woop! There’s 1! Anyway, to continue to what I thought would be a point of all this when I started. 

Members have asked the coaches recently for warm-ups for nagging or chronic tidbits. These include – wrists, shoulders, hips, and ankles. This makes anatomical sense if we think about it. As bipedal mammals, our hips bear the load of our upper body and our ankles support our entire body as we move through space. If we flipped ourselves upside down, our hips would be replaced by our shoulders and our ankles by our wrist (If it’s easier, we can think of our shoulders as upper hips and our shoulders as our arm ankles – every medical professional at the gym just cringed). In reality, these joints move in multiple directions, which leave them more vulnerable to tweaks and oopsies. They’re fickle.

In a weightlifting setting, we increase this stress and vulnerability intentionally. That increase in stress can lead to an increase in pain; all of this is safe, IF we increase our care. For example, warming up and cooling down (AAANNNNDDD finally to the point).

In the last blog, we said that we want to warm-up globally and then work a little bit more acutely (burpee -> push up -> wrist series) and then work in reverse in our cool down phase. Our level of irritation can be used to guide us in our warm-ups and cool downs. We need to check-in with ourselves and ask if the level of irritation warrants a light warm-up or, if the irritation continues to increase over time, more of an acute mobilization warm-up, like we would get from Dr. Paul, OR if we actually need rest. No, not just resting our wrist because it’s nagging us, like actually resting our entire body. Our bodies communicate to us constantly (… getting side tracked again).

Options for a bit more of acute warm-ups would be things like:

• Location specific stretching
• The Wrist Series
• YTW Shoulder Work
• The Squat-y Pa’ty
• A Day at the Zoo – some may call this the Quadrupedal Movements or “that parkour shit.”
• Bands – this may be one of the better “apocalypse home gym” pieces we can have at our disposal. If you don’t have weighted equipment, bands are a great tool that are relatively in expensive, can be used to replace almost every movement, don’t take up much space, and are Tony Horton approved. 

More acute or aggressive work might take a bit more intentional research on your part. We like resources like:

• Mobility WOD
• The Prehab Guys
• Squat University

As always your team coaches are here to help your learning process. Please let us know if you have recurring or nagging issues that you may not feel that you have the tools to manage.