Fit2Fat2Fit Blog: Day 7 — You get what you give

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

“You get what you give” is a song by the New Radicals and an album by the Zac Brown Brand. It’s also a truism for life and any athletic training you do. If you push hard during training, you will see bigger and better results. It’s as simple as that. How many times have we cheated here and cut corners there? I know I have. And the old saying is so true: You are only cheating yourself.

Today we did an exercise that I haven’t done before (surprisingly). We started by squatting, picking up hand weights, doing a curl and then shuffling to the next set of hand weights. There were ten of them in a row and we kept moving down the football field. We did that for a few minutes and then we moved forward to a row of chairs. We’d sit down, rock back and then forward. Then we’d jump up and move to the next chair. We did that for a few minutes. Then we’d move forward to a row of cones. At each cone, we’d do a half-burpee (the on the ground part) and move to the next one. By the time I got to the cones, I was pretty tired. And every part of me wanted to slack off. But instead, I focused on each single phase of the drill and pushed myself. My plan? To be better next time.

Sure, I could have cut corners. But the time we were running on the bleachers at the end of the day, I could have slacked off. But I pushed until I nearly vomited. Why? Because I wanted to be better the next time.

Life is tough. We get fatigued. It is tempting to cut corners — but don’t. Life gives us what we put into it whether it is a 5 a.m. boot camp or a relationship or a job. So just remember this the next time you feel like you can’t give any thing else:

You get what you give.

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Fit2Fat2Fit Blog: Day 6

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

Fit2Fat2Fit Blog: Day 6
Weight: 223

This isn’t a post about my grand accomplishments on the field of battle this morning. No, it’s about something different — and more important.

We gathered at the end of our workout and some of the rookies got up and told their stories. And to a person, their stories were powerful. And I think that is important. In this age of painting groups with a broad brush strokes, we need to remember every person has a story. Now sometimes, they won’t be very pretty. But that’s the point. We all struggle. And the person next to us is probably struggling harder than we are. We just don’t know it. We may not have asked. We may have already stereotyped them. We may just be concerned about the man we see in the mirror.

I sat in the back of the group today listening and being inspired. To a person, they all got past their fear of change and are now doing the work. I ran off the field impressed with several of my teammates.

Some stories in the news lately have me quite concerned. I can’t do a damn thing about them. But what I can do is work my butt off and make my family’s situation better. I can work hard on the football field. I can work hard at the drawing board. I can work hard at the microphone. I can work hard in front of the camera. I can use the energy I would have used for complaining and worrying to make my world better. And have some left over.

Everyone has a story. And when you have enough energy left, you can help them make their stories better, too.

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The giant who wasn’t very tall

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

My grandparents in the mid-1970s. They had taken me on at trip to Clingman’s Dome in the Smokies.

My grandfather wasn’t particularly tall but to me he was giant. He was an incredibly smart man — a man who had grown up with little, worked at a sawmill and then later as an accountant at Alcoa. I’ve seen him do math in his head that would require me to use a calculator. Like many of our parents and grandparents, the Great Depression honed him. I remember him straightening nails to reuse them, turning off the heat in our rooms to avoid paying TVA and driving a car forever. I once asked him what MAX meant on the car’s air conditioner. He replied, “We don’t use that — it costs money.” Much of what my cousin Dave talks about on the radio is the example our grandfather set. He built the family cabin on Fort Loudon Lake. Summer vacation with him meant you were going to work on a project — you built seawalls, cut grass, painted — he was a man of action. He was also a giving man. And he never hurt for money.

He came across as serious but was a very funny man with a dry and at times acidic wit. I remember him making me laugh time and time again. He had quirks — he hated it when my grandmother drove and would coach her every mile of the way. He’d take his foot on and off the gas while driving — it was unsettling sometimes. He also had a temper — the Ramsey temper but he never aimed it toward me. He also waterskied at age 72 — a record that stood in our family until my dad did it at age 78. He loved to read and always had a book in his hand. For a man barely 5′ 8″, he ate like was he nine-feet tall. Yeast rolls were his desert. Watching him eat on Thanksgiving was a sight to behold.

He died right after my wife and I got married but we were blessed that he was at the wedding in his bright yellow suit. He looked a bit like Popeye to me that day. I smile while I see him in our wedding pictures.

I’ve always wondered what he’d think of today’s world. He’d probably have laughed at the Great Recession. He’d have no time for social media and would shake his head at the self-designated victims who troll upon it. I have many of his views on work, self reliance and discipline — but I fail to live up to his standards most days. He didn’t really put up with BS. Or whiners. But I can’t remember him sitting around complaining, either. He just went out and got to work. He was proud of me as a kid. I think he would be today, too. He loved his grandchildren. All my grandparents did. I am a lucky man.

As I get older, I discover the cruelest aspect of death is that you lose the ability to be with the people who you need to talk to the most. I’d love to talk to my grandfather today. The best I can do is live by his example.

Lynn B. Ramsey lives on in his kids, grandkids and great grandkids.

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Fit2Fat2Fit Blog: Day 5 — Lung Day

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

Weight 222 lbs.

Today was lung day. As in, “I need to shove my lung back in my mouth.” Coach Paul kept us moving — if we weren’t running, we were doing burpees or mountain climbers or something else to make us puke. And some people did. We ran 200-yard sprints with (in my case, broken) parachutes, a four-corner drill that kept us running around the perimeter of the field while doing burpees, pushups, ladder drills, etc. We spent time in the weight room doing chest and triceps (I benched 135 30 times) and then we ran the lines on the football field. We ran out of time before I finished. I finished after we finished. You ALWAYS finish the drill. I burned over 700 calories and feel appropriately tired. At times, it sucked. And that’s what I want to talk about.

In short term, it was hard. Uncomfortable. Unpleasant. Painful. In the long term, it will pay huge dividends. We are a microwave society. We want short-term pleasure and happiness. A piece of chocolate cake will bring me short-term happiness. But I’ll weigh 300 lbs. and have heart disease in the long run if I eat it every meal.

Think about your life. Are you pursuing short-term pleasure over and over? Or are you making short-term sacrifices to strengthen your future? The present is a sum of the choices you’ve made in the past.

And for the record, my lung stayed in my mouth. Now I’m craving chocolate cake.

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The Badge of Honor

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

This is a trinket from the most important job I’ve ever had. Not only did working as a night custodian at Pope High School right after college teach me the value of a job, it also allowed me to meet Amy (which also led to us having the three greatest boys in the world.) At the time it seemed like a setback. But sometimes to move forward in life, you have to take a step back. I no longer question bad moments. I just try to figure out how to make the most of them. Like my Dad taught me when I was learning to waterski, don’t make your story about how how fell down. Make it about how you got back up.

I’m thankful for my year at Pope High School, the friends I made and the lessons I learned.

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Chainsaws & Casseroles

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

My book Chainsaws & Casseroles derived its name from this: When a disaster happens, before you can crawl out of the rubble, there is a church van in your front yard full of people with chainsaws and casseroles. They’ll cut the trees off your house and then feed you.

This morning, the city of Hattiesburg is waking up with yet another disaster to respond to. The vans are probably already pulling up in the yards.

People say a lot things about my home state, but we’re very good at this. And today will be no different.

My prayers go out to my friends in Hattiesburg. Let us know what you need.

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Fit2Fat2Fit Blog: Day 3 and 4

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

Fit2Fat2Fit Blog: Day 3 and 4
Weight 226 lbs (today was my first official weigh-in)

Yesterday, we moved indoors thanks to a steady downpour — which was no picnic. Coach Clark can (and will) beat you down while you stay in the same spot. By the end of the hour, my right eyelid was twitching. I was exhausted.

I didn’t wear my Apple Watch (which I use to keep track of my heart rate), so I had no concept of time. I just took each exercise one at a time. When I was really tired, I’d embrace that particular exercise. I found myself having fun. I was in the moment (as painful as it was).

I had the same experience today (outside this time). Somewhere on the fourth lap of the Indian Run (as I was shoving my lung back into my mouth), I embraced a truth in life: The secret of success is to learn to love the process.

If you don’t like practicing guitar, you’ll never become a guitar hero.
If you don’t do your homework, you’ll never pass the test.
If you don’t practice free throws, you’ll lack confidence when the game is on the line.
If you don’t embrace the work in the gym or of the field, you’ll never see physical results.

You don’t cut corners. You embrace the suck. You work hard even when no one else is.

I used to think “Success” was the result. And I know a lot of people feel that way, too. But now, I know better. To be successful, you must embrace the process. You much enjoy doing the work. You much find joy in solving your problems.

Even when Coach Clark is trying to kill you in one spot.

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The state of our state

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

State of the State (and Union) speeches are pretty consistent. A Governor (or President) throws out a laundry list of items he (or she) wants to brag about or seeks to accomplish in the future. Positive talk is thrown around. It’s not really a time for tackling major issues — most of the proposals are thrown in the trash by the end of the evening by the Legislature (or Congress).

Do I think we’ll get a lottery? I’d be shocked. But it was interesting that Governor Bryant supports one — but I guess I would, too, if I was getting a reputation for being the king of cuts. One interesting reaction was how the Legislature reacted when the governor said the BP money should be spent on the Coast. There wasn’t exactly a standing ovation for that one. The third-grade reading gate is successful? Yay! We can use all the good news we can get.

This is Mississippi’s 200th anniversary. And a lot has happened in that time — great and horrible. I’m not one who demands we only celebrate the great moments. I think we also should mark the bad ones, too. Our state is what it is because of the good and the bad. And like a piece of sand in an oyster, the bad has pushed us and defined us (for the good and bad). We are what we are. But we are also a place that produces some tough, amazing people.

I obviously love this state — I am a Mississippian by choice. But like many of you, I get frustrated by it. I know several of you will reply “well then just move.” I will reply “No.” Because that’s not what love is all about. Love is wanting the place you live to get better. To live up to its amazing potential. If you only participate in happy talk, you don’t admit what needs to be changed.

The state of the state? It’s a work in progress. And for the sake of my children and yours, I hope we don’t totally screw it up.

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Fit2Fat2Fit Blog: Day 2

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

Weight 224

I lost a pound today.

I got a haircut.

Actually I was up a little this morning. 224.6 lbs. I have to admit, that was a little frustrating. No one wants to go up the day after you start working out seriously. And, I also rode a stationary bike for 30 minutes yesterday (which I think may have caused a problem for me this morning with my left knee). Of course, I expected to lose at least 10 lbs.

But it’s important to remember that losing weight isn’t about dieting and exercise. (Well, yes it kind of is). No, it’s about changing your lifestyle to a healthy one. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I’ll lose the weight. But not in one day.

I thought about that as I was doing a 100-yard sprint this morning (when my knee gave a little). I actually was one of the fastest ones out there. Maybe my kids get their speed from me after all.

Nah. But I did OK for a Clydesdale.

Paul had us doing a core exercise at the end. We were doing planks and I have to admit, the temptation to drop to my knees was there. Planks hurt my back. But I didn’t. I pushed through. How can I expect others to believe in me if I quit on myself?

I’ll ice my knee tonight and wear my brace tomorrow.

And I’ll try to lose a pound tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that…

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Fit to Fat to Fit Blog: Day 1

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Marshall Ramsey

Fit to Fat to Fit Blog: Day 1

Weight: 224 lbs.

The past is the past. What matters is what you do now.

OK, that’s a paraphrase of what Coach Paul said this morning, but I think I got the intent right. Bottom line, it gave me something to think about while I was trying not to puke. Today was my first day back after a long layoff.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Actually, I did better than I thought. So let’s review: I got a concussion. That caused me to have to dial back my exercise. Then I started a book tour (which had me sitting a lot). Then I taught in Oxford for two weeks. Oh yeah, and there was Christmas and all the good treats it brings.

So, I’m a little heavier and a little out of shape.

We warmed up by doing jumping jacks and high knees. A sure sign of my being out of shape was that my heart rate went really high. It was my body saying, “Um, WTH?!?” My line then went to the weight room. I benched 135 lbs. 10 times and then 155 lbs. 10 times. (I did one more set after that). We did some other exercises and then went out on the field. Paul had us do what is called “coach’s drills”. It was a combination of back pedaling and forward sprints. My heart rate bounced way up for that. But it also had a chance to recover. We then went to a station that featured an exercise called “Nipple Drills” (no nipples were harmed in the drill — it just describes the course.) There was a lot of short sprints with a few burpees (the Devil’s favorite exercise) thrown in. We then went to a 100-yard course where we pushed a sled, did sprints with a weight on our backs, pushed a tackling dummy, walked on our hands with our feet on plates and then pushed a board. Rinse and repeat.

That was when I though I was going to yak. I had to stand up a few times to catch my breath and swallow my stomach. But I got through it. We finished by running up and down the football field.

My heart rate zoomed. But it also recovered. I’ll be sore tomorrow — pain is just weakness leaving the body. Right? OK, soreness is just my body reminding me that I got out of shape.

But the past is the past. What matters is what I do now.

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