Two days before Christmas and I’m stressing. Stressing about baking the cookies I haven’t yet baked (the brownies I made yesterday were overlooked and bear a striking resemblance to bricks!), the gifts I haven’t yet wrapped, the flowers not sent, the last minute groceries not yet bought.

With two days to go, you’d think I’ve got plenty of time (sleep? Who needs sleep?!!?), but I’m not sure it is. Why? The standard I’m holding myself to is the one my Mom hit year after year of my growing up. To say Americans ‘know how to do the holidays’ captures part of it, but then imagine Disney was also involved in the production! Every year saw 12 different types of cookies for the ’12 Days of Christmas’, the ‘downstairs tree’ (the fun tree full of ornaments collected and passed down through the family over the years), the ‘upstairs tree’ (the ‘oh isn’t it gorgeous tree’ that no doubt appealed to adults but not to kids on the basis of having all white lights and a definite ordering of very similar ornaments),  trips into ‘the city’ to go shopping and see the ballet (The Nutcracker of course!!), not to mention the lighting of the house and trees (not quite ‘Christmas Vacation’, but not a million miles off either).

To say my childhood Christmas’ were magical is both an understatement and a credit to my Mom. As an adult, I find myself wanting to do as much and ‘measure up’. Then it hit me, much like trying to lift as much as, or complete a WOD as quickly as a Games competitor, I’m judging myself against a standard I’m just not ready to hit. Maybe in time, with more ‘training’ and planning, but not quite yet. For now, I’ll respect my limits and ‘scale accordingly’.

Sometimes life gives me insight into training, sometimes training gives me insight into life.

Wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas!

In the interest of full disclosure and avoiding any accusations of being a hypocrite, I will fully admit to being a bit of a trainer/shoe whore. I love trainers, and pretty much always have. Different types, styles, colours and brands; love’em. As a child I vividly remember telling my Mom ‘when I grow up, I’m going to have at least 100 pairs of trainers’. Suffice it to say, ‘mission accomplished’; sponsored by ME and those who love me! Disclosure made and interests declared, I’ll continue.

With the sales of the past few weeks seeing all sorts of things reduced (sometimes drastically), I found myself looking at new shoes, new training kit, new bags, lifting belts, etc. Yeah, I have all of this stuff, but yet I found myself thinking that a particular pair of trainers were ‘really cool’, not to mention the lifting belt that would be great (and no doubt add kilos to my lifts), the compression gear that would keep me warm and the t-shirt that was ‘awesome’.

Then it hit me, I was getting more concerned about what I would be training IN than my actual training. I’m pretty positive the plain t-shirt will perform just as well as the (arguably) overpriced ‘hype wear’ t-shirt; ditto my gym bag carrying stuff as well as a new heavily branded bag. Don’t get me wrong, I do think there are, and can be differences in kit/equipment, but if you’ve got kit/equipment that works, do you really need more?

Watching the recent World Weightlifting Championships I was struck by the number of lifters wearing one of the less expensive models of lifting shoes produced by a large manufacturer. If lifter A at the World Championships is using shoe X and an average athlete/gym goer is using shoe X, why the huge difference in their lifts? It’s certainly not the shoes!

Despite what I suspect will be a lifelong trainer addiction, my attention will be focused far more on my training as opposed to what I’m training IN!

Kettlebells. There’s just a certain ‘something’ about a good kettlebell. A design simplicity that belies the attributes contained within. A good kettlebell is evenly balanced, robust and resilient. Although the ‘finish’ may chip over time and through use, it is capable of withstanding more than a few knocks and will remain ‘fit for purpose’, whether that purpose requires strength, endurance, mobility and/or conditioning.

Much like a good kettlebell, a person should strive to be balanced, robust and resilient – both in their life and training. Whilst a person will invariably experience various challenges throughout their ‘real’ and training lives, I’m convinced that it is the person that is strong(literally and figuratively), enduring and adaptable that will be best equipped to deal with such challenges.