An Open Letter

To Whom It May Concern,

I saw that small 5lb PR yesterday (or the rep PR that you did the day before). I remember that day the other week when you were tired in a bad mood but still trained hard. I noticed those 5 pounds you recently lost. And I saw those 2 pull ups you did, that extra run you went on, that extra stretching you did afterwards. I know your diet isn't perfect but that you still try hard.

But I also saw you beat yourself up for not going unbroken during the WOD. I heard you quickly dismiss those hard earned pull ups when someone complimented you on them. I saw you get upset because you only set a 5lb PR and missed the 10lb PR, or only "matched" your previous PR. Yes, I saw all these things too.

You're strong.

Be strong.

Don't apologize, don't dismiss, don't get upset. Do you remember where you came from? What you were capable of before? I certainly do. You are far past that now. A stronger, faster, smarter, better you! You worked hard for these things and you should be proud of them. So go out there and be awesome, own it, and exude confidence what what you do.

Your new mindset... unapologetically strong, in every sense of the word.

Be unapologetically strong.

Your Friend,

Collin Messer

Track Everything

Track everything. If you want to improve something you have to measure it. You do this with your job, why not with your family or your body? Want more time together as a family? Well exactly how much are you getting now? Want to be stronger? Exactly how strong are you now?

Here’s how to start.

Get out a sheet of paper. Write down some goals. These can be anything, but lets work with a fitness example. If you're like most people your goals probably look like this.

• Get leaner
• Get stronger
• Eat healthier

Let’s stop there, those are way too vague and don’t really mean anything. If I get a really back stomach bug and all day long I’m throwing up everything in my stomach plus some… will I get leaner? Yep. If turn into a couch potato, eating whatever I want all day long and gain 50 lbs of fat… will I get stronger? I’ll have to if still want physically move around. And eating healthier? Sure, plain oreos are probably healthier than deep fried oreos. So, step 2, go back and rewrite those into something like these:

• Lose 5% body fat
• Put 40 lbs on my deadlift PR
• Eat more colorful vegetables (other than green ones)

Good, let’s use goal “c”, eat more colorful vegetables. Track everything you can think of that would affect that goal. How many total vegetables do you eat in a day right now? How many of those vegetables are a color other than green? Now add an extra 1 serving/day of non-green vegetables every 3 days… two weeks later, voila! Goal reached.

• Do “A”. How do you feel?
• Do “B”. How do you feel different than when you did A?

Now you have no excuse, set a goal, measure everything that affects it, then succeed.