I made
a point to try to spend my time more wisely in the New Year. To start, I am getting back to reading things
for enjoyment. Not to say I don’t love
reading work related material, but I wanted to get back to the culture of
actually reading for pleasure. Many of
you may not know this, but when I began my university career I was an English
major. This may give you a sense as to
why I talk and write gooder than others in my industry. I thought I would share some of my favorite
pieces of art that have helped not only made me sound like I know what I am
talking about, but that have some connection to what we do as coaches. Here is a list of some of my favorite
recommendations (keep in mind there are many more!) and a very brief
explanation as to why:
BOOKS
1.
The Count
of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas.
I have read the abridged version twice this year as the original is
freaking long, but it is worth the read.
An amazing tale of hope, revenge and forgiveness written in the most
impeccable detail.
2.
The Art of
War by Sun Tzu. Although this book
is about military tactics, we can draw a lot of similarities to the athletes
and teams that we coach in terms of strategy, direction and leadership. If you are tired of using cheesy quotes about
working hard and others not etc... Take a look at some of the beauties in this
book and see how they may fit into those you are working with. My personal favorite is “let your plans be
dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt”.
3.
The Book
of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi.
It’s kind of like The Lord of the
Rings because they both have “rings” in the title (not at all). Although this was written in the 1600’s,
there are some great parallels in preparation, focus, dealing with conflict and
opposition. Like any book, things do
not need to be taken too literally as it is now uncool to wield two swords
while working.
4.
Of Mice
and Men by John Steinbeck. Admittedly,
I read this in my English 11 class because it was the shortest book out of the
choices we had been given. This is the
book that sparked my interest in English as a potential major in University. As a side bar, my love of this book is not
because of my likeness in stature or love of petting puppies to Lennie. It is an amazing tale of two friends with a
goal that comes to a tragic end. Unlike
real life Hollywood stories, not all endings are happy and not all dreams will
be fulfilled, no matter how hard you work on them.
5.
Paradise
Lost By John Milton. I am not a very
religious person, so I interpret it as making the best out of being sent to Hell.
“The mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of
Heav’n. What matter where, if I be still
the same?” This was the book that made
me realize it was tough to write a 30 page paper on 30 lines of it while
training 30 hours a week; hence the switch to Exercise Science.
POETRY
1.
“Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening” by
Robert Frost. The use of imagery and
symbolism is clear to any reader in my opinion.
As a coach, we teach our athletes the importance of imagery and “mental
reps” on a daily basis. The clarity of
this poem is a great example of the mental picture our athletes should be
seeing in their heads when they are working on their own visualization. The final stanza is engrained in my head and
has been a favorite of mine since I first read it. If you are an English dork like me, let me
know what you think the number 8 has to do with this poem!
·
“The woods are lovely, dark,
and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep”
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep”
2.
“If” by Rudyard Kipling. If you were once like me and thought that
alcohol was the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems, you need to
take a gander at this beauty. Be humble,
balance your life and use common sense when you read this…
3.
“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan
Thomas. I work with all
populations. Some of which take a lot of
convincing as to the importance of exercise in life. Life is a fight, even more so when we age and
this poem gives a great account of the importance of this.
4.
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley. Invictus is Latin for “unconquerable” or “undefeated”. We must look within ourselves for
strength. The mind is a powerful tool
and can be shaped to conquer many things.
5.
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It seems to me that my industry is plagued by
egos and so called “gurus”. Like
Ozymandias, they will all rise to so called greatness, plateau and eventually
fall but instead of leaving a decaying statue of themselves, it will be a stack
of shitty books with their cheesy picture of them holding an apple on the
cover.
Here’s the thing that is cool,
some of these literary works were penned over 300 years ago. Keep that in mind as you read them and you
will soon figure out how they are still applicable to what is happening
today. The beauty of all of this is that
we can all interpret things a little differently regardless of the author’s
intention. With our interpretations
comes creativity; something that seems to be lacking for many of us today. Many of the current books we read and movies
or shows we watch are regurgitating information that has been written years
before. Life has become very formulaic
for some which has taken away the need to be creative. When you read these pieces, the answer is not
always clear. We are forced to think and
interpret what we believe the meaning to be.
I encourage you to start reading things that may be outside of your
comfort zone! We are in the business of
dealing with people on a regular basis and there is no concrete formula that
will help you deal with all populations.
The more you can read about people in history, the more you realize how
history does in fact repeat itself. As
always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me
at joe@level10fitness.com
Yours in Strength,
Joe McCullum
Director of High Performance
Training and Staff Development
Level 10 Fitness
www.level10fitness.com
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