I was never patient until I had to be. I always got away with pushing barriers out of my way. Or I climbed over them. I bent what resisted me with sheer force of will. Sometimes I turned it to advantage. It was easy. I was alone, with no one to count on and no one counting on me. When all I knew was intensity I “made” it work for me. And then one day - or one year - it didn’t work anymore. I had to take a different path.

Training hard produces results when you have never done it before. & of course, it strokes the ego to gut through something you never believed possible. It’s a great feeling that fades just as quickly as you can make it happen. What then? The prescription is, “Again, faster.” …Or whatever.  

Just keep repeating yourself harder, faster, heavier, longer & over time, I'll tell you-
Intensity repeated mindlessly loses its shine.

Because (like a drug) intensity- what you once did doesn’t get you high anymore...

High-intensity effort puts us in direct confrontation with ourselves. 

We are changed by the effort such that those who chose the work beforehand may weaken & so lose their belief in the ability to finish along the way. 

Advised by this doubt, one may question whether to continue or not.

Thus begins the hard conversation: “quit or don't quit.”

Such internal dialogue is not restricted to sport or exercise, but high intensity effort compels its asking commonly enough that the negotiation itself appears to be an integral part of physical training. Consistently hosting this conversation allows us to change the outcome- hence many of our workouts feature the built in opportunity to do so.

However, understanding the difference between quitting & failure is prerequisite to the “quit/ dont quit” dilemma. Rather than resorting to the merriam-webster definitions, we shall have a look at the broad terms relative to responsibility, ego,...

Unless pre-fatigue has something to do with enhancing the main course, the prescribed warm-ups in Homebodies PERSIST cycles are intentionally short, sweet & to the damn point..I frequently get my head wrapped around an axle on how one should prepare themselves for hard efforts, but it is incredibly difficult to translate & sometimes a mistake to generalize.

So, in our daily practice- we simply prime & prep the muscle tissue just enough to get the party started.

There is very little to be heard &/or understood when one is in the throes of a truly intense effort. The world seems a blur…

& yet, most believe—incorrectly—that this is where the magic happens.
It is not.
Yes, intensity is required for improvement, but improvement is at the crossroads of intentional action and conflict with self—I would say most of it occurs before conflict with self. 

Progress happens when repetition is under a most conscious state- it is directly...

"Watch your thoughts,

For they become your words.

Watch your words,

For they become your actions.

Watch your actions,

For they become your habits.

Watch your habits,

For they become your character. 

Watch your character,

For it becomes your destiny."

-Lao Tzu

All that we achieve & all that we fail to achieve is a direct result of our thoughts.

Your words -especially the ones you speak to yourself- are effective & powerful.
Over time they will build or destroy you.

We CANT directly choose our circumstances, 

but we CAN choose our thoughts & words…

& so indirectly, yet surely, [re]shape our circumstances.

"Can't" is a seed of doubt planted in the mind, 

taking root to produce more of its own-

invasive weeds that blossom with no action, bearing no fruit-

…only unpleasant external conditions.

Thoughts of doubt & fear never accomplish anything, and never can.

They inevitably always lead to failure.

Purpose, energy, power to do...

Sayings that really suck 

• “Forgiveness is really a gift to yourself.”
• “It is important to accept yourself as you are, ask forgiveness of yourself, show yourself grace, you are deserving of wonderful things.”

Enough forgiveness & acceptance to diminish the impulse to improve..
Enough to slide by & be average- 

We seem to fear our highest possibilities (as well as our lowest ones)
Allowing the fear of our own heights lowers our own ceiling for growth.
This normalcy is a kind of sickness that we share with everybody else & therefore don't notice.
normalcy or averageness becomes the best we can expect.
We become content with it.

You can perform only to the level of your expectations
& if you are constantly expecting to forgive yourself;
It is only rational to expect stagnation.

Growth & comfort unfortunately cannot coexist.

Replace entitlement with effort-
Take extreme accountability & ownership of yourself- your time, your...

 “…What kinda shit are you letting yourself get away with?”

Life becomes really fucking simple once you begin to understand that your rewards compound the longer you delay them. Delaying gratification requires discipline.  & discipline is hard because it's about doing hard things. 

It starts with waking up early & moving your body every single day. Making yourself stronger, faster, more mobile & healthier. It is eating the right foods to fuel your system correctly. It is maintaining control of your emotions to make good decisions & controlling your ego so it doesn't get out of hand & control you. It's about treating people the way that you'd want to be treated and doing tasks you don't want to do, but you know will help you. 

Discipline is about facing your fears so you can conquer them.

Taking the hard, uphill road- to do what is right for you & for others.
So often, the easy path calls us: to be weak in that moment....

A drunken & brilliant poet once said-

“Find what you love & let it kill you.”

I say- ‘figure out what's important & master the art of the inner bitch slap.’

disciplined    architects    don't    ride    backwards    horses    with    dull    saws

- an aphorism for figuring out what's important & creating your perfect morning routine.

There is a tale of an old wise man who came across a young feller sawing feverishly at a large oak tree in the woods- 

The old man asked “what are you doing, son?”

The young fella barks impatiently at the old wise man- 

“I must saw down this tree, stack the wood & make it home all before dark”

“That's quite a load of work you've got there.” The wise man replied.

“I have been at it for over 5 hours & still have so much yet to do.”

After having a look...

The early bird gets the worm, so they say.

Sounds like banal-platitude to me.

I don't have a 5 step wake up strategy & I don't know how to boost productivity or ‘find flow’ or any of that crap. I don't really know much about anything.

• I don't wake up at the ass-crack of dawn every day because of the military.
• I don't exercise every morning to bio-hack well-ness & productivity.
• I don't read every morning because I wanna be the smartest dude or make a million dollars.

The mornings quite simply seemed like a good time for quiet contemplation in a loud and chaotic city. That's it. 

A chance to examine my thoughts in an attempt to improve the struggle against the retardedness of my mind.

Solace for the introspection of beliefs, values & life after war.

Getting the heart rate elevated & getting the blood pumping was a great way to create energy & momentum into the day ahead. It also seemed like a good way to pump blood into my brain.

 The more I think about it- (at least in my eyes) coaching is about 97% just inspiring &/or provoking people to get out of their own way,  so they can tap into their full potential. 

That's probably because exercise has always been about so much more than just building muscles for me. I don't know a whole lot about the world, but I have come to understand that for some reason- the hardest moments seem to be the most rewarding ones. 

Some of our badass Hōmebodies members.

From being the scrawniest dude in my platoon—needing to put on strength for carrying combat loads…

Now as a ranchman, my mental fortitude & aerobic conditioning is tested sprinting through a pasture on fire roundin’ goats. Tapping my full potential when needed the most has relied heavily on the only real constant in my adult life…

Rigorous training habits.

I've never looked for anything to be easy, because I'm not preparing for easy. I am preparing...

 All of us have to do the work in some way, shape, or form for our food. Whether that be getting and/or preparing our food, we all have to put in this work to give our future selves the best we can. 

But, it's a damn good feeling- knowing that we give enough shits about our FUTURE selves to give them the best we’ve got every single day.

That builds real-authentic confidence, instead of feeling like we’re always letting ourselves down by eating like shit.  

 We do it today as a gift for tomorrow. 

simple-hopeful-action.

There was a time when I spent less than 10 dollars per day on my nutrition & still managed to perform as a competitive athlete day in and day out. 

I used to go to this restaurant in DTLA next to a fashion school- Panini-Cafe- notorious for heaping huge breakfast plates. Loaded with greens, eggs, taters- the works. At 10:30am the skinny fashion girls would start pouring in to buy brunch that they...