Welcome to the new normal. Welcome to life.

The lockdown takes everything we didn't know we loved, and holds it above our heads. A bully. Usually, if we have problems, we solve them. These problems cannot be solved. Usually, if we need to change something in our lives, we take action. To changes this, we need inaction. Welcome to the upside down, the new normal, life.

 Unfortunately, the lockdown has been unfairly enforced and lengthened. There is very little we can do about this. It's an unsolvable problem. There are fitness industry councils and protest groups but they accept no for an answer and dont want to 'look bad'. They take inaction. This is the way it has always been. There is very little that even all of us at once could do. Although there is plenty you can do for yourself.

It is a challenge to maintain a strong mindset during the lockdown/the winter/cancelled competition season/garage training/living room training/life in general. But you must. If you choose.

No one likes to eat a pain salad of burpees/lunges/DB this/DB that/boring thing that no one likes. But you must. If you choose.

It's hard to get all your protein when the house you're trapped in is filled with candy/chips/ice cream/everything on skip the dishes. But you must. If you choose.

Or you must not. It's your choice. Do what you will, but don't say you cant. You may not think that you're able to do what you need to do, but you are. You've prepared for this, even if you don't realize it. You prepare every time you've shown up to train before. You prepare every time you get in a cold car to go to the gym. You prepare every time you engage a workout you know will not be fun, but it will make you better. You are better. So use that now.

Limited to a DB or KB in an apartment living room... yeah that’s not fun.

No one said it's going to be:

“Oh yey, gymnastics! Wait, shit, you mean handstand work and pistols. Lame. “

“Oh joy, outdoor class! Wait... OUTDOOR class?!?! are you fucking high?! It's minus eleventeen! “

“Oh huzzah, at home class! How convenient! No driving, no face to face abuse, no breathing like a birthing cow in front of my peers, in the comfort of the fashionably decorated place I JUST LOVE SO MUCH.”

Boring.

 I know. I agree.

 “The obstacle is the opportunity”

-        Ryan Holiday/Ben Bergeron/A bunch of other characters

It's true. I view this as an opportunity. An opportunity to:

• Mobilize and balance tight shoulders [1xDB overhead squat/ lunge anything/rows]

• Strengthen glutes/glute meds to keep your back from getting hurt [all lunges and single leg stuff/hopping/pistols]

• Develop transverse stability in the core to keep your back strong and improve your gymnastics force transference [Russian twist/side planks]

• Keep Conditioning strong [Everything done in a timed parfait of fuck, as is tradition]

Note that fun isn't on the list of fitness goals. It never is. Fun is what you make of it. I wish I could put the 12 things we can do in our living rooms together in a special way that makes it fun. But thats not the case. What is fun is winning. So is getting better while everyone else is being a lazy bum. Testing yourself, your mindset, your discipline, your determination... is fun[?]

For time:

Have fun

or even better…

 In partners, for time:

Have fun!

——

“Depressing Chris. How come you don't have anything nice to say, ever? “

 I do!

 Oh?

 Yeah! The thing that actually makes anything stressful/strenuous/hard fun is the company. I don't think many of us realize it but what we really want is each other [Awwww! Right?]. Actually tho. I understand the concept of zoom fatigue and I know we all have it. But engaging in a zoom meeting that's positive actually alleviates zoom fatigue [unsupported by science]. Do a class, zoom a weightlifting workout if you can, freeze your ass off in the outdoor class [all while obeying all the restrictions, social distance and guidelines etc etc pls pls no spitting]. Get together, gang up, be human.

“Chris I've got some extra widgets I bough that I want to use!”
—Sure, let me know. Connect with old me and we will figure out how to best use them. NBD.

“Chris I have a treadmill/bike/cardio thing, what should I do with it?”
—Email me and we can make you hate it/use it to make you fitter.
(The market to sell those things is stunning rn fyi.)

 “Chris I hate everything about this.”
—Same.

Being fitter is about being better; mentally, emotionally, physically, entirely. Being better is a choice. You can make it if you want. No one can make it for you.

 A lone wolf is food,

the pack always eats.

-Chris