DEFoW - week 1

So if you read my last post you'd know what DEFoW was...the Don't Eat FOr Winter method of weight management. I hate using the word diet as it now has connotations to weight loss and points and calories, etc.

So week 1 was eventful. The first few days were fine...no problems and managed to stay on track. Thursday was always the hard day for me as this was the stage where previous efforts came to a halt as your body depleted in reserves. There was a slight feeling of that this time but that only goes to show firstly that it isn't a Ketosis method of weight monitoring and second that I must be doing OK.

Friday...the first day of exercise so I went 16 miles on my bike...5th time out this year. Windy and cold but short enough to go with. I went with the suggested carb-first switch on the day. It's not pleasant and I discovered my body doesn't work that way. I need to load the previous night...not load that morning...lesson #1. So I switched around that evening and went on the carb-biased feed that evening. One of the UKs best ever cycling climbers, Robert Miller, said that your performance tomorrow is based on what you eat today. And he's right. The next day was equally windy, if not stronger winds, but I went 22 miles. All good, if not less restricted in the gut region by a lighter feed, and only had a protein/fat based breakfast. Some top pro cyclists do this for weight loss - a plain omelette then 5 hours up in the mountains...albeit with energy bars and gels to keep them company. I had the trusty bananas and energy gels if required.

So if I'd have been on another method, I may say...this doesn't work for endurance sports. But the "why" lets you experiment with what works for you with the understanding of what it is that you want to achieve.

But then the inevitable occurred. Got up Sunday morning...wasted. Not enough fuel from Saturday. How? Well, 2 reasons as it happens. Firstly, I didn't plan the days feed after the breakfast. Home-made soup and brown seed roll at lunch time which was inadequate considering the efforts earlier with lasagne in the evening followed by a small portion of yesterdays cabbage and potato. Considering I had, if you believe these things on Strava, burned 700 calories, I probably didn't have the base calorie intake as it was this depletion left me wanting. Secondly, I have an intolerance to potatoes but I had taken them for 2 days running. Plug = pulled.

So the learning curve, and lessons for this week:

Plan the day

Avoid the spud

Weight-wise - no change but I'm not concerned these being brutally honest. I feel like I've more energy because I'm eating more, if not still insufficient for the requirements on some days. But that's the joy. Learning. I also feel lighter - in the regions where it is typical not to feel light...the gut.

Below is a screenshot of the plan and list which I'll monitor for this week. Any alterations will be made and we'll take it from there. Here's to next week.

Back again...different bell focus

It's been a while. Too long. If you've read my recent post (recent...huh!!) you'd know why. But all seems OK again.

So...back to doing something more useful again...something less stressful, less competitive, less constructed and defined...the bike!! Let the wind blow through my hair while it still exists.

But wait...I've been here before. And it isn't pleasant starting out again. OK, not strictly starting out again but kicking off with regular miles. But there was always something missing with the bike. And that was the weight. I'll never be small. I'll never be light but it would be good to be lighter. It helps...boy does it help!

I've tried all of the diets - no carbs = no energy. No breakfast before going on a bike = dangerous ground. Stay away from refined sugar = yeah, OK, but what if you needed it? You're a protein or carb type person...spare me with the americanism on what is how you live. Where do these people get their ideas. Paleo - OK, has merits but is grossly unsustainable. Go calorie deficient and you will lose weight...only 5 Mars bars a day allowed...no, that doesn't work either. I wanted to eat, not be a part-time mathematician. Try this "food substitute"...you know the one...nothing to do with herbs at all. It's hardly what you'd call natural and in reality is one step away from a pyramid scheme. Nope...I completely failed.

But then there's something different. Someone, finally, describes how your body works. And describes it like a person, not a chemistry graduate. And shows that it can be done...and doesn't say do what I do without showing you what happens first...and doesn't give you a diet plan to follow because we're all different but gives you the information you need...and doesn't give you ingredients that are difficult to come by...and doesn't want you to be come a mathematician. That there is DEFoW, or Don't Eat FOr Winter.

http://www.donteatforwinter.com/

Cian Foley...someone I met while Kettlebell lifting. A quiet sort of a fella. Unassuming. But determined. As with most sports it's now obligatory to connect on Facebook and other social media outlets. Cian seemed to be up to something. Yeah, kettlebells...but he was telling everyone what he was doing. Nothing new there...but he was telling before he did it. And how it worked/didn't work. Then we started to see the six-pack. Urgghhhh! Please.

But he was doing everything...running, social responsibilities, working, family life, competing...where was that energy coming from? Ah, he must have a high metabolism. I asked him about what he was doing.

I messaged him on FB Messenger in January 2017...I couldn't keep up with his messaging about the discoveries he was making on his path to fulfilment...the best way to get the benefit out of his fuel. He was enthusiastic. I wondered if he'd ever put it in writing...I now have his book on my desk. It's also available for the Kindle at Amazon. For the first time I understood why your body works the way it does. How it retains weight...we're all primitive. Once you understand, you can achieve.

So I started out on this journey. It's not a one-size-fits-all diet plan...in fact it's not a plan at all. It's the "why" of weight loss control. But the "Why" is important. It's now down to the how. And each person is different. I'll give a progress report in the next post.

Sometimes the hand you're dealt includes the Joker

I'll start by saying this may not be a pleasant read for some. Life sometimes isn't pleasant. 

Don't say I didn't warn you.

June-ish 2013. Going for a run on the well beaten path of Wexford Racecourse. Lap 1 done. Lap 2 became uncomfortable. Lap 3 was started but quickly aborted. Straight to the car, home fast, tense. Made it inside the door and to the toilet. Just made it. Phew. Bad curry or something.

About a week later - same thing. Just on lap 2 this time. Didn't have curry this time. Training hard...maybe my sleep patterns were acting in storing energy then releasing. Maybe it was the pounding moving things along.

Then it happened again. Was it something I'd eaten? Was it the potatoes that I'd had stomach difficulty with previously? I cut them out.

August. It was happening every time. I said to the wife that I can't go running anymore. And I'd just started to enjoy running too. About this time I started to see streaks of blood too. That's nothing new...it was a pile I told myself. I've had blood streaks on and off for a few years. Hindsight tells me that I should have taken note back then.

September. It had escalated. By now it was happening anytime. Still not too put off. Still training.

October - the blood increased dramatically. It became scary to look down and think that there was enough for a blood donation. And this was every time up to 20 times a day. And the fatigue from the blood loss just wears you out daily. And it's still happening that way. What was wrong? Was there something "more serious" going on? Being the condition and where it was you obviously have a tendency to leave it alone and it'll get better. But it wasn't. So I went to the doctor asking about hemorrhoids. Nope...none there but I got treatment for it in case it was internal. I'd arranged to have a specialist have a look. In the meantime it became more regular...several times before breakfast, work was fun. At work only going, going back to the office, going back again. Quickly.

I got a scope done and finally an answer...Colitis. I had a bloody disease. My son had Crohns which is related. But me, someone, who in my head, was is still grasping at youth had something that I would possibly have for the rest of my life. I was getting old?

So medication, steroids. That's what I was on. And it improved somewhat...but colitis doesn't go away. You may get relief but there's no guarantee. That relief lasted 1 week at best. I'd gone to the gym in the meantime. Once. But not since.

Current status is the same. I have to plan a journey. I'm not talking a plane flight...I'm talking, for example, to the barbers. When is it safe to go out of the house?

A trip to Dublin to bring our youngest to Crumlin was scary. I nearly shit meself (humour, I didn't). But the journey to me was the scariest thing I'd done. Where do you stop on the M50? I had to basically stop eating the previous evening and hope for the best and eat the minimum when I got there. We got home and I was OK but as soon as I got home it was back...another night warning the kids not to spend too long in the toilet.

Luckily I have a job that allows me to answer natures calls. If I was a bus driver or worked on a site or a traffic warden I'd be unemployed by now.

And the internet is awash with "fixes". There is no fix. There is no step 1 to 10 and you're cured. There is no medication to stop it. You need to find out yourself what works and what doesn't. There is a popular SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) which is supposed to help. Think Paleo diet, but stricter. 

There's conflicting information. 

Use Aloe Vera...don't use Aloe Vera. Use Chlorella...don't use Chlorella. Peas are OK...don't eat peas, etc, etc, and so on.

Thankfully Stephen Bourke of Westport put me in contact with a US friend of his in a similar situation. And also there is another Wexford Kettlebell Club member who has similar who was in contact, both of which I appreciate and thank. There's times when you think that this is never going to end. A recent trip out and I saw a guy in a wheelchair and I thought..."I'd nearly prefer to be in a wheelchair. At least he can get around". And the symptoms of my condition are not as bad as other sufferers. And I feel their pain.

Hopefully over time it will go into remission and I'll get back to living a normal life. 

But reality says that this maybe is the new normal. And the Joker isn't funny.

Glass half empty or glass half full?

A well known dilemma - is the glass half empty or is the glass half full. Or in other words are you an optimist or a pessimist? Well, there's a third option...are you a realist.

I recall a film many years ago where, I'm almost sure, starred Jean Claude Van Damme. He was asked this question by a Sensei (my knowledge of martial arts is limited...a Sensei might be a Japanese make of car!!). The Sensei preceded to pour water into this glass of milk but was stopped. The point was that if this Sensei was to provide Van Damme with his knowledge he first needs to empty the glass, or empty his knowledge to accommodate what he is to be shown. Understand? 

The Jason Kelly Cup of Ireland was me half empty/half full moment. I had used 28's in the Leinster Open in Meath earlier in July. The following 2 weeks I could not hit 2 minutes jerk with 24's. But I changed my diet quite substantially and things came around. I could do 6 minutes quite easily. I could do 10 minutes of both jerk and snatch in a controlled method. I could hit high scores in the minute. I would walk the Cup of Ireland and that glass was half full.

The days leading to the competition I was confident. Diet-wise I had made another alteration. But I began to weaken a little...didn't matter though. I had this in the bag.

The competition was a disaster...for me. Others have said I did well but not in my world. As a comparison to others I had come second to a strong athlete and was 1/2 point...yes, 1 snatch, ahead of third place to a good soul who hadn't done 10 minutes before. But I didn't do me justice...my aim was to go better than I had before. Time to analyse and time to empty.

Firstly, why had I weakened in those few days. This is still in an experimental stage but I reckon I have this area cracked...more to tell in the future. But I knew that if I could only last 7 minutes in a snatch competition I would need to work on that. Back to the coach.

So for an assessment on where to go next I would need to do a few tests. 10 minutes snatch on 16's and 10 minutes on 20's. 16's were fine - controlled and comfortable but only 209. Only 209? One of the things that I had realised after the competition is that I don't do enough 10 minute routines. So how can I pace myself for 10 minutes when I don't do it? I had more than 209 in me and I have to do more 10 minute sets.

The 20's were a different ball game. That 7 minute barrier came in. Heavier weights need technique to pull you through. But the video showed me that I was sacrificing form for numbers and hitting my grip hard. 133 reps...1 less than the 134 reps in the Cup of Ireland last year. That's not progress. And that gut isn't a pleasant addition either...time to move it!

So this is all part of the emptying of the glass and to repeat a phrase I used elsewhere "If at first you don't succeed...do what the coach tells you". So I have 6 months to the nationals where I have to make every day between now and then count and to do that I have to go back to the basics and learn - technique, fitness, strength. So that after that competition I can do me proud and I can fill a glass of my own...preferably pint-sized.

Things Wot I Learned in Cork

No camera this time in Cork...but that doesn't stop the powers of observation. These are some of the things I learned in Cork...

During a relay wearing a pants is optional
Before sending out a search party for your wallet make sure it isn't in your arse pocket
As a Captain you must perform a dance before peeing
All that glitters is not gold
When a woman shows her teeth at you in a smile...it isn't always a smile
People look taller on Facebook
8.30am is early for some
You cannot stand between Kian and a TV
Martin hasn't retired
There's a female version of Keith.
You CAN warm up in an area barely 2deg Centigrade
Incense will kill any bodily after-scents
Corks heating isn't as fuel efficient as Wexfords
Coach doesn't like the "Romanian Milkshake"
There is more than one woman from Galway
Signing up to the last event with the heaviest Kettlebell allows for plenty of shopping time after weigh-in
When you're the Captain injuries are secondary to competing
You can't video someone on a camera that doesn't have video capabilities
The European Championship medals would make great manhole covers...huge!!
It is advisable to remove all fish tanks from the competing area prior to a competition.
Telling your team mates that you may wet the platform during the relay is a little disconcerting
Women who say they can't run only say so when a McDonalds isn't in sight
The Coach came second in that race
Nobody went for the salad option
Somebody was very good - 1 chip?
That's all that was left...eh Paul?



It's been a while...

The Coach

The Coach, aka Famous Irish Athlete Mick Kelly.

Coach has taught us a lot of things.

He's shown us proper technique.

He's shown us breathing techniques.

He's shown us how to train.

He's introduced us to world champions.

He's encouraged us when we thought we weren't progressing.

He's shown us that failure is an opportunity to learn.

He's advised us on how we should compete.

He's made the pain seem like fun.

He has selflessly promoted the sport we have all come to love.

He's made some of us into World Class athletes.


But there's something that the coach didn't show us. We compete with the tools that he has given us. But the coach never showed us how to lose. He's never shown us how to accept second best. He's never shown us how to give up.

We're on the last spell of our training. All that we can do and all that Coach has given us, we've done. On May 19th & 20th we complete. We compete for the club, we compete for the coach and we compete for ourselves.

Wexford Kettlebell Club...let's go make some noise!!

I am 1

Yep. One year ago I started Kettlebell training. One year on May 9th to be precise. I mentioned it here and likened the process of recognising competitive cycling wasn't for me to childbirth. You'd forget that you weren't Sean Kelly and keep going back to world dominance but get dropped on a local tour. A cruel sport where it never gets easier, you just go faster.

It's been an eventful year. Painful at times (those first 15 press-ups that John requested and caused my eyesight to go all funny) to the skin loss...oh the skin loss. To dropping a 20Kg kettlebell on your foot (just last week!!) to bursting your shorts 5 minutes into your 1 hour session. It's been fun.

I'm not going to go over old posts like the Secrets Revealed: Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 but I can recall these things:

• Igors Shorts
• Collettes wig
• Micks Chinese takeaway numbers
• Darth Vaders boot
• The Force being strong
• Secret training with a vacuum cleaner
• A woman on the left side of the gym
• Indoor snow angels
• New, shiny shoes
• Training that requires lying down
• Inistioge and the guy with 20 packs of crisps down his coat
• The horny prawns
• The ICA meetings on the right side of the gym
• The longer ICA meetings on the left side of the gym
• The comment "Which is handier?" when choosing LC or Biathalon training on the night
• Heavy breathing at the racecourse
• Medals, medals, _ _ _ _ _ _, medals (oops!)
• Problems with starting your 10 minute competition at the right time (oops x 2!)
• Upstairs out-numbering downstairs

Here's to the next year!!

I got a puncture

I got a puncture...I'll explain. It's called deflation. It's called an unexpected but always anticipated event. It's something that buggers up your plans...a little prick in your world, as it were.

Let me take you back a bit...back to July 2011. I'm sitting in a bus. Inistiogue isn't far away. We've just come from the Irish Kettlebell Sport Championships. Wexford Kettlebell Club did well...very well. A phone rings. Mick says that Kilkenny are suggesting using the National Championships next year (2012) as a means of selection for a national team. "Ah, you'll have to use 24's for that" says Mick. The chicken just laid an egg that was to hatch in mid 2012.

There, in the span of a phone call, was my goal. Qualify for a National team. I'd represented my country before, and won, but that wasn't physical. That didn't demand sweat, commitment, sacrifice and pain. It didn't require mental toughness. It didn't require failure. Age didn't matter...I was on a plan to become an international.

Now, lets put our feet back on planet earth. I was only using 12Kg kettlebells back then. I'd only touched a 16 at home but not for long. I hadn't competed. I had bought 2 x 20Kg kettlebells but they were going nowhere. SO was I capable of 24Kg within a year? I thought so.

So the winter passed. 16's became 20Kg. An RGSF rank of Level 1 was the gate to open to 24Kgs...my aim. They were/are heavy buggers. They move differently to 20s...there was a lot to learn about proper technique that brute force and ignorance would get you by with on 20Kgs.

The AIKLF had announced that on May 19th/20th the potential selection for a national team would take place...the time had come. Plans for the Biathalon took place. Increases in reps and time snowballed. But we had to know was it feasible...10 minutes with 2 x 24Kg kettlebells in the jerk then another 10 minutes in the snatch.

The first test lasted 7 minutes 40 seconds. Not to worry - a fail is a point where you understand what went wrong and put them right. A stomach bug put off the second planned recompensing test. Monday 30th April...the day before the deadline for signing up for the competition was to be that day.

But I got a puncture. I had failed before I set foot on the premises. The failure of the 10 minutes had grown roots in my head and they wouldn't shake off. 5 minutes into the test and that was that. 1 year of a plan collapsed. I'm not one for lovely sayings like failure is just a hurdle or failure is a problem to solve. It makes as much sense as gift wrapping a dead puppy. Failure leads you to reassess your aims, your values and your plan.

I'm not dismissing 24Kgs as a competitive option. For now I need to be real - 20Kgs are now my competitive strength. 24Kgs will take a little longer.

But one saying that does connect is - "I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying." On May 19th I will be using 20Kg kettlebells. And on that date I will be as competitive as I can be. A puncture never stopped me before...it just delayed my progress. But it does give you time to catch breath, to review your situation and plan a new route. Here's to May...and August...punctures permitting. 

Here, is the news...

HEADLINES :: HEADLINES :: HEADLINES :: HEADLINES 

Competitor in Kettlebell Sport Competition in Cork, Ireland questioned in relation to her "Robot-like" abilities. Sparks fly among the competitors.

Boy, 11, displays his supernatural ability to be able to lift kettlebells with his shadow. Scientists are baffled at the phenomenon.

Girl passes 20KG Kettlebell - "I didn't know what was happening then there it was...a kettlebell"

Catholic Church to release a statement shortly in response to what is believed to be the first credible sighting of the "Mark of the Beast". 

Caught on camera: 
A man with a deadly physical condition reveals the symptoms of his affliction. As seen in the captured photos his minders distance themselves from his contagious condition.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS :: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

 Wexford Kettlebell Club receive a lot of interest from Hollywood in the remaking of classic Hollywood films.

Charlies Angels is to be remade but following the advice of a Health & Safety Consultant it was deemed dangerous to only have 3 angels. The remake will have 7.

Oceans 13 will be remade with a greater level of equality involved so 7 female actresses are included. It will be known as "Oceans 13, like".

The Golden Girls comedy series is also to get a makeover. The actresses have been selected but as the previous version ran with ladies beyond retirement age, filming will not commence until 2062.

Amy Kehoe wins the Oscar for her portrayal of Dirty Harry:

I know what you're thinking. "Did she fire 6 jerks or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a 10Kg kettlebell, the most powerful kettlebell in the world, and would blow your head off, you've got to ask yourself the question: Do you fell lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"

One "Dirty Harry" fan takes the quote literally and examines a 10Kg bell for it's "most powerful kettlebell" properties.

In the remake of the A-Team producers have decided to take a risk and employ a female BA Baracus. Producers say that she has a head-start on all other contenders. 

Auditions for Murdock, "the crazy fool" will take place shortly given the high level of compatibility within the Kettlebell club.

AND FINALLY...

You can take the girl from Wexford but you can't take Wexford from the girl.

A competitor with the Kilkenny team, who happens to be daughter of former Mayor of Wexford, Gus Byrne, shows her genetic makeup with her natural aversion to wearing Kilkenny clothing. 

Secrets revealed - Chapter 2

It took some time to put together the "secrets" of Kettlebell Sport...people don't want to divulge secrets. Rather like trying to take a lolly from a child in some cases. But here are some secrets that have been noted.

1. If you can chalk your bell, your "in"
2. To an MSWC "in" means something else (a Russian sub-secret, yet to be understood)
3. 4 minutes on a digital clock can be assumed to be the same as 5 minutes on an analogue clock
4. Russians don't like you putting a foot near a Kettlebell. They will find you...and they will kill you.
5. The greater the contortions in the face, the nearer to letting a bell down...and needing trigger point work.
6. MS means Master of Sport in Russia...but it means "famous Irish athlete" in Ireland
7. To practice getting up on your toes in the Jerk just stand in front of a weightlifter...that'll keep you on them...and very conscious.
8. MSWC allows you to be so late for a session that it isn't even described as early for the next session
9. Guinness goes through Russians like castor oil through a cat
10. Russians go through Guinness in a similar manner
11. Don't...start...early!!
12. A Galway mans leg isn't as big as a Russian mans leg...not even in lycra
13. The threat of a coach wearing lycra helps to boost numbers attending a session
14. The fact that the coach doesn't wear lycra, just helps!
15. Music during a training session helps focus the attention.
16. The theme tune to "The Apprentice", doesn't.
17. A little known secret to boost strength is to try doing "Snow Angels" on the dance floor at a party
18. A well known secret is that one can fall coming from a party - be careful.
19. Don't try to break the balance of male -v- female on either side of the gym. Coach doesn't like distractions during a session.
20. Calling a male by a female name isn't classed as a distraction and is acceptable
21. Wearing new, white, clean, shiny, attention-drawing shoes will draw attention...regularly. Get them dirty.
22. Google doesn't know how to translate text speech - it's a great method of passing information between fellow kettlebellers, doe. {>.<}
23. The benefits of the move called the "Ice Cream Man S**t" must be kept a secret...even to those doing it.

To be continued...

"The Family"

Image courtesy of Kostas Simutis

21st & 22nd January was a date I was waiting for since the middle of 2011. Why... Igor Morozov of the RGSF was coming along with Elena Yurysheva. A 12 times world champion is not something you come across often but he was coming...to Wexford...to give a coaching seminar in a sport that I'd become addicted to. Literally & metaphorically speaking Christmas was delayed!!

17 individuals attended the seminar on a cold and looong first Saturday. The morning was about technique and theory, the afternoon similar. But the cold day and the standing around drained most of us...well, me anyway. 

In the back of our minds we were all concerned about the ranking competition the following morning. Waking on the Sunday, still with Man-Flu gripping (yes, it does exist) I just felt like getting back in the bed. I'm sure others did too. We started, we exerted, we brought several months of training and varying sacrifices to this one or two 10-minute sessions. And this was where the same atmosphere that I'd witnessed in Kilkenny last July when I first saw competition taking place was to repeat itself. People who had their own lives, from other parts of the country, came together in support for each other. It was a group of individuals fighting their own limitations but with the unifying support of the whole group. It was as if we were bonding by our challenge.

One individual said that they "constantly meet new friends" at these types of gatherings. Another observation was that the sport doesn't allow for egos, it doesn't allow for elite-ism only helps to bond a friendship. A later observation of our own Wexford Kettlebell Club was that we're "like one big family". And so it is.

This came very evident when one of our gathering fell. Various factors led to disappointment. But not for disappointment for the individual but for the group. But like anybody in a close family falling they were picked up and with their own individual strength they started again. Nothing, but nothing could explain the joy and delight that we all felt when the second attempt was successful. The inner strength of that individual to stand up again and repeat her performance was nothing short of inspiring. And the shared joy - a display of the sharing nature that this sport brings.

We came away from the seminar with knowledge and experience but also with an ever growing "family". The saying goes - you can choose your friends but not your family...sometimes you can be lucky enough to do both.

We are all equal.

It seems to me that there's a divide in competitive sport. Like there's a shock. There's those at the top of their game and those that aspire to reaching that level. In between is a divide that not many can get through. I read a phrase on another blog yesterday relating to cycling:

"Ability is what you are capable of, motivation determines what you do, attitude determines how well you do it."

Ability...a difficult trait to gauge. Ability is relative to your activity. What Sean Kelly achieved on a bike would not relate to an ability at soccer. What these guys can do with a kettlebell doesn't mean that they could win a marathon. So we're born to be able to apply our body's structure to an activity...sometimes to our chosen one. So if it's Kettlebells that you find easy to apply to...well done, tick box one and move on to box two. If you don't have the ability of others...move to box two anyway...it may help.

Motivation...what a can of worms to open. So, what motivates you. It's as personal a trait as ability, as motivation to do what you do is based on your own wants, needs & desires. If you want to be as fit as you can be, if you want to walk feeling a spring in your step comes as equal as wanting to be a world champion. It takes drive and determination. If you want to present yourselves at a kettlebell class for the social aspect...that's your motivation. The outcome is relative! Motivation, as such, doesn't mean you've failed because you don't match the aspirations of others. Motivation is personal...it determines what you do, and it can be a greater driver than ability.

Attitude...ha! How serious are you? That is determined by your level of motivation and the goals you have. Your attitude towards a social gathering at a kettlebell club doesn't seem like a requirement for a strength in attitude but you need to free your time. You need to commit your time and energy to fulfilling your need. Becoming a world champion takes attitude too, to meet with the level you have set for yourself and committing to those aims. Again attitude, and it's application, is relative.

Wonderful...a lovely little one-liner saying has been dissected. But the one-liner, and how it applies is down to you. Watching the ability, motivation and attitude of leaders and winners can be a help or a hindrance. It may boost your motivation...it may crush it. The reality is inside you. Look at what you want, what you need and what you can commit to. That way you will achieve the level of contention that all others achieve. You don't need a world title to know that you've achieved greatness. You just need to know that you have reached your level...your world title.