Failing to succeed or succeeding by failure: your call

A while ago I had a coach rebuke me for telling a gymnast that “they were practicing how to fail” as opposed to, by inference, practicing for success. I agreed that out of context the statement was very negative and could be seen as discouraging. The full story, however, involved a prior discussion with the…

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The benefits of ol’ Sol

Oy, I’m tired of winter. I need a little sunshine and fresh air that doesn’t hurt to breathe in. I brought up my feeling of missing the sun with a few friends and I was surprised that 2 of them said they would rather remain inside, even during warmer weather. What?  They believed that the…

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Reality television is nothing like reality

This weekend the series Coaching Bad premiered on Spike TV. I had to watch it. In a nutshell, several coaches from various sports are brought together to work with an anger counselor. This is all done under watchful former NFL player and current motivational speaker Ray Lewis. There were some real characters: a speed coach…

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Resolve for a better life by moving

Another year and another reason to start working out. Right? Will it be another year where you do it a few times then you hear the siren call of extra sleep, or worse, the beckoning of the couch and TV remote? What you need is a good sound reason. A reason that resonates with you…

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We don’t wear their shoes

My last post brought me some commentary. Not in the comments following a post but in face to face interaction. Though I love talking to people, especially about things I see as important, like raising healthy children, I do wish people would post comments more on this blog to start the conversation here for everybody. …

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Benefits of a skinned knee

I came from a school. That is to say that my education was in education. I taught in a middle school for one year and realized that after years of stress, struggling to keep up with studies and working my way through college that I didn’t even want to be a teacher. I found that…

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Every moment is a teachable moment

I was a nerd in school. My mother was a librarian and so any books that were assigned by teachers were read. Cliff notes were not an option. Now as an adult, I utilize book summaries, and sadly am addicted to audio books (while working out). My mother would cringe and ask if I forgot…

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Hmmm, that is interesting

File this under “Hmmm, that’s interesting” but you have to say it with one of your eyebrows raised. I was chatting with a friend the other day and we were talking about how many people could be described in certain ways in reference to the world population. Like, how many people take gymnastics, what percentage?…

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lucky we made it

You know how every once and awhile you get an e mail or Facebook post that compares how simple things used to be to how problematic they are now. They are usually ironically titled something like “remember when things were tough” or “We’re lucky we made it”. They go on to demonstrate by list or…

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How clean is your pool?

This is gross. So, sorry. But we went for a swim at a friend’s place the other night and the water was looking a little green. I asked him if his filter was working and he told me that they were having some issues, but that it was still probably cleaner than a public pool.…

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