Marshall Ramsey

The alarm went off and I looked at the radar on my phone.

No rain. All clear.

I had to get out of bed. Actually, even if it had been pouring, my conscience would have pushed my feet to the floor.  The day I start randomly sleeping in is the day I weigh 250 lbs. again.

Today is Thursday. Today is the last day of boot camp for the week. Today is leg day.  And today my legs were tired.  But I got ready and drove to the track anyway.

I got there 20 minutes early and ran a mile on the track. I’ve started doing that every day to get in a little more running.  I probably will increase it as time goes on — so far it hasn’t affected my workout.

Coach Clark’s starting had the infamous wall-sit/pass-the-ball exercise.  But what really hurt was standing on my tip-toes 100 times. My calves nearly cramped. But they didn’t.

Coach Morgan had stations so we did everything from chips-and-salsa (where you walk on your hands while your feet sit on a chips-and-salsa tray) to hopping up and down on the box.  We did lots of leg extensions and hopping, too.  I worked out with Liz — whose athletic ability and constant good attitude I really admire.

Stanley was the star of the line today, though. He really put in a lot of effort this week. He made me work a step or two harder as well.  Leadership comes from action not words.  I can usually tell when Stanley is in pain, though. He has a special word that starts with SH and ends with IT that he mutters when things are getting tough.

The weight room’s exercise today was dead-lifting.  They call it dead-lift because when you are done, your back is dead and you can’t lift yourself off the toilet for the next three days.  Coach Chaz had all the men do two sets of 135 lbs. 20 times. Conner and I survived it — although I will admit, I got really winded.  My back and legs are tired.

We did a modified version of four-corners with Coach Richard today. Run the length of the field and then do Russian walks, prisoner walks, etc. in the end zones. How much fun is that?

Well, not as much fun as pushing boards at the end.  And running 50-yard dashes to break them up. Which is fine.  If I push I board 20 yards, I don’t mind breaking it up. I breathe better standing up.

As you might guess, I am tired. But it is a good tired. A tired that comes from the fact that you got out of bed and did the work.  There is a sense of self-satisfaction when you put on your clothes and they are a little bit loose. That makes the pain in my legs and back much more tolerable.

Seven weeks done. Five to go.

1. Burpees never get easier. Ever.

2. Ibuprofen and ice are your friend.

3. Getting up early to exercise gives you more energy (which you need to get up early and exercise.)

4. If we could see ourselves doing bear crawls, inchworms and pushing a board, we would laugh hysterically.

5. We do run because something is chasing us — things like obesity, heart disease and diabetes just to name a few.

6. No pain, no gain. But pain is still a pain.

7. If sweat is your fat crying, mine must be throwing a hissy fit.

8. Money spent on good shoes is cheaper than knee surgery.

9. Money spent on exercise gear is cheaper than heart surgery.

10. Exercise is like bacon: It makes everything in life better. (Bacon, of course, means you have to exercise more.)

I had an epiphany while in the weight room this morning. Of course, it was nearly 30-years too late for my football career, but I think it’s a pretty astute observation (particularly for 5 a.m.) :

Football games are won in the weight room.

I know, I know, football games are played on the field.  Obviously game-day effort is the final decider of the final score. But it’s the little things done before hand that makes the difference. The sweat you pour into preparation waters victory.

It’s a good metaphor for life, too.

Every morning when I work out, I become more disciplined. More focused. I have more energy. I learn to give maximum effort. I learn to fight on and not quit.  Exercise sharpens the blade.

When Clark tells me to do an exercise correctly, I listen. If Paul is unhappy I don’t do a curl correctly, I adjust.  If we are running sprints, I bust it and try to come in first (I don’t because I am slow, but I finish respectfully.)  Putting in effort at 5 a.m. is my warm-up for the rest of the day.

In my career, I compete against people who are equally (or more) talented than I am. But if I do the work beforehand, I will come out ahead.  Exercise teaches me how to prepare.

Life is won in the weight room. And while running the stands, doing planks, burpees, mountain climbers, Indian runs, sprints, bear crawls, inch worms, and ladder runs.

Well, it’s halftime and time to review our fitness game plan. After some reflection, I’m making a few alterations to my plan. I’ve suffered from fatigue this time around (just being dead-dog tired all the time) and need to change a few things in my life.

1. Cut out sugar.  Eating clean is important and sugar is my crack cocaine.  But it’s basically poison and my body pays for the instant high I get from it.

2. Run more. I only ran four times last month. I need to up my mileage. One way I’m doing that is running three laps before the workout.  I’m going to start doing some evening runs along the way.

3. Push even harder on the stations.  I’m in good enough shape to do the exercises. Now I need to focus on doing them right.

4. Drink more water. I think part of my fatigue is that I am constantly dehydrated.

Today was a good workout. Clark gave us the killer core combo with lots and lots of sit-ups. I did everything.  Then we moved to Morgan’s station.  Managed to chips and salsa all the way to the hash successfully.  Ran with the weight, flipped the tractor tire and ran and did my pushups. My shoulder held up.  In fact, today was a shoulder-intense day (with lots of bear crawls). But the real test for the shoulder was the weight room.

And it passed. In fact, I normally take a couple of ibuprofen before I workout. I forgot this morning and while the shoulder popped and was a little sore, it held up good.

It was a great way to start a Monday!