The Power of a Word

Today I'm going to speak about the most powerful word in the English language - 'can't'.

This year I have the opportunity to help coach my daughters soccer team.  She's plays both Spring and Fall soccer, so twice a week I get to yell at 17 12 yr old girls...talk about fun!!!  :P  The head coach asked my wife if I'd be interested as the previous assistant coach's daughter moved on to a select team and he noticed that the girls always seemed to work harder at the end of practices when I showed up.  I believe this is mostly due to me getting on my daughter to beat the girl next to her...creating competition by motivated yelling.  :D

At this mornings game...we had first field, so 9 a.m. and our team is traditionally not very 'in-tune' with morning play, so we always get off to a bit of a late start.  We've got a gal on our team, she's lighting quick, has great ball handling skills and can work her way through a field of defenders, but she's got one little hitch...she's a toe punter, and all she thinks she can do it toe punt the ball.  Well anyone who plays soccer knows that a toe punt is great for distance but not good for control.  As the final part of our warm-up this morning we had the girls two lining shots on goal with the shot coming from the left side.  This forces a right footed player to shoot on the uncomfortable side of the ball or to stumble enough to try and reset their position.  So the purpose of this drill was to get the girls to take soft line on the ball and gain control for a shot.  Well the shot itself needs to come off the inside of the foot as it's an in the box shot with a goalie, so control is important here.  She was the second to last player to take a shot, she toe punted the ball and it sailed left of the post and out of bounds.  'I can't do this' was what she said to me.

'As long as you tell yourself you 'can't' you will never be able to do it.'

'My brother played soccer for 12 years and he tried to teach me to kick like that, I'm just a toe punter.'

So I took her aside and we did a few kick drills...I won't get into specifics but we worked about 25 shots on a small goal on the sidelines as the game started.  There were a couple of 'I cant's' in the beginning but we worked outside of that mindset...we focused on what we needed to do and foot positioning.  For the first half this young lady got down on herself, with a couple of 'I sucks' and another 'I can't' or two as we rotated her on and off the field.  The last time she came off the field I told her she needed to change her attitude, her negativity was out of place and she needed to smile.  She sulked for a bit but started the second half with a better mental mindset.

For the second half we set her as right mid-fielder and her very first possession of the second half she dribbled the ball from 10 ft on our side of the field down the inside line, beat three defenders, got to the goal box and put a shot on goal WITH THE INSIDE OF HER FOOT!!!  She scored and ran back down field with a huge smile on her face...I asked her this 'What was that?'...her reply was just two words.

I CAN

Sometimes it does take a success for us to realize that we can do ANYTHING we set out minds to.  A little practice, some insight and help from a coach or mentor or even some encouragement from a friend or a family member can be all it takes to change how you think.

The next time someone tells you that you 'can't' do something, you have two choices.  You can tell them that they are right, agree that you can't and stop yourself short of doing something AMAZING or you can tell them they are wrong, show them the power of believing in yourself and let nothing stop you and simple be AMAZING by doing AMAZING things!!!!

The Proof is in the Pudding...

...as long as it's made from Post-Workout Recovery!  As most all of my friends and family know, I've been a Gym Rat most of my life.  And like most Gym Rat's my relationship with the gym is one of love and hate, and with that love/hate relationship like all love/hate relationships it's an on/off relationship.  One of the things that plays into that love/hate relationship is the soreness and fatigue that I experience.  Let's be honest shall we?  There have been days when I woke up, fell outta bed and thought to myself 'o Lord why did you let me do that to myself???'  Now I'm not talking about being sore here...I'm talking about absolute massive muscular destruction!  Complete and utter tear down of the fiber, absolute sheer shredded tissue at the cellular level!!!!  Anyone who's done heavy legs with me will tell you exactly what I'm talking about.  If you haven't experienced the joy for yourself, leg days are Thursdays at the 24hr fitness on Andreson at 10am...feel free to show up and ask to be included. 

So why exactly am I going on about muscle pain?  Well to give a quick summation about what happens to your muscles after a heavy workout and why they are sore we have to start with the basics.  When you grab a weight (or anything that is in addition to your hand...even a hammer) your muscles have to do extra work.  Now what happens next is what causes that soreness we all feel after doing a bit of exercise or hard work - muscle soreness is a result of microscopic tearing of the muscle fibers. The amount of tearing (and soreness) depends on how hard and how long you exercise and what type of exercise you do. Any movement you aren't used to can lead to muscle soreness, hence the hammer reference, but most of the time that soreness comes from forced muscle contractions through resistance training.  OK fine you say...what's the relevance and why do I care.

Well the relevance is simple, I workout therefore I get sore - if you workout you get sore.  I've always been a 2nd day sore guy, meaning that the day after a workout I'm a little sore, but the 2nd day after a workout I've been know to be completely incapacitated...I mean can't walk up the stairs so I have to crawl up them sore, can't wash my hair cause I can't lift my arms above my head sore.  I call those days trainwrecks.  :P

Well my friends, I want to introduce you to something that has literally gotten rid of my trainwrecks...and basically eliminated all my soreness in general.  It's a great little product called Post-Workout Recovery  I can honestly say I WILL NOT workout without it.  I proved that statement to myself two weeks back.  Two weeks ago I ran out of PWR two days before leg day (that'd be Tuesday) and my order hadn't shown up yet on Thursday, but I went to workout anyways...'I'll just tone it down and take it easy'...well we toned it down, did some out of the norm exercises and instead of PWR I used Muscle Gain for my post workout drink.  Now Muscle Gain is a great product, but it's not meant for post workout, it's a pure protein...designed to build muscle and cut body fat...well lets just say that not only did I have my 2nd day train wreck, I had it on day 3 as well.  HOLY COW my legs were absolutely decimated.  Well my PWR showed for last weeks workouts, and I hit legs 3 times as hard as I did two weeks ago.  Well today is day 1 and I have ZERO soreness, and from experience I know that I will not have any soreness tomorrow.  

So why does PWR work?  What is it that makes it this miracle product?

Post-Workout Recovery Sports Drink contains more than 30 vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that support the muscles' metabolic processes in recovery and helps minimize occasional soreness after workouts. Post-Workout Recovery combines the muscle-supporting nutrition used by hundreds of professional and world-class athletes across the United States. Post-Workout Recovery helps enhance physical performance and endurance while supplying essential components for muscle repair and gain during and after physical activity. The unique blend of high-quality protein combined with glucose polymers and other carbohydrates, gives the body energy and structural support.

Post-Workout Recovery also contains branched-chain amino acids to support muscle recovery, growth and endurance. Finally, the antioxidants present in this advanced sports drink help the body ward off free radicals that are commonly produced as a result of exercise.

I'd love for any of you who have not tried the Post-Workout Recovery to do so...if you wanna do legs with us, I'll make sure I have enough for you as well.  

Post-Workout Recovery info:

• Available in Chocolate and Vanilla
• Offered in pouches and canisters
• Helps minimize muscle soreness after strenuous activity
• Supplies essential components for muscle repair to optimize muscle recovery
• Helps maintain and restore energy supplies during and after physical activity
• Contains branched-chain amino acids to support muscle recovery, growth and endurance.

If you've got any questions, let me know!!

Oz