Successful Weekend

Aside from Saturday's assault, there was some good that came out of this past weekend.

I was off from work on Friday to attend the 3-day CNT Course Level 1 that was held in DC and taught by Jon Hinds and others from the Monkey Bar Gymnasium in Madison, WI. For 8 hours Friday and Saturday, we learned the progressions of certain movements - for example, vertical upper body pulling and horizontal lower body pushing - as well as how to make sure the body is properly aligned before doing said workout.

Layman's terms - chin ups and lunges.

We were given a folder of information that explained everything and also had everything broken down visually as a Flow Chart. At first is was a little confusing when you were put on the spot in front of all 20 people (5 trainers, 15 students) and given 2 minutes to demonstrate the 4 steps from alignment to power.

I'd like to say that the course wasn't about reinventing the wheel, but about looking at each part of the wheel and making sure each part is working properly and efficiently so the entire wheel, and every wheel, works better, and improves the performance of its vehicle.

Sunday was testing time and my mind was elsewhere after Saturday nights main event. I got up early (didn't really sleep well) and did more studying. While walking over to the facility with my GF and the dog, a woman approached us from behind and asked if I was out dealing with the police the night before. I said yes, and she informed us that she lives in the high rise along that street and wondered what was going on when she saw the police lights. She recognized the dog and my jacket and thought the two might be 'related'. She expressed her condolences regarding the situation, and I was thankful.

I was last to finish the written test and last to go through the practical part of the testing, demonstrating to the trainers in 2 minutes that I could accurately explain (verbally and/or physically) the four progressions of a particular movement - i.e. a Hindu Pushup. I felt like I had regressed back to speech and debate class in middle school, talking a mile a minute with a cotton mouth. Two minutes can feel so short, yet so long. Fortunately, I passed both the written and practical exams.

Soon after the group met in the community room where MBG was selling training DVDs and other products from there store. It was time to talk strategy with the other guys that I'll be working with this winter to plan workouts for the DC Strokes. It was then that I had an 'a ha!' moment, and everything that I had been shown, read about, and was tested over, actually made sense! I was surprised at how easy it was to come up with workouts using what I had just learned.

I know it will take time and that it's really a skill and an art form to become proficient in designing workouts and working with others, but the weekend training course really simplified things for me. I plan to use and apply this knowledge in the coming months and hope to attend a CNT Level 2 course to learn more skillz.