Training with Purpose or "Willy-Nilly" Workouts

Before I get into my thoughts of "willy-nilly" workouts here's a couple of pictures of what's been keeping me busy for the past week.....I'm a mommy again! Good Lord! I had just attended a baby shower on Saturday for my soon to be first granchild, a baby girl named Sophia, and then on Sunday my son Gabe called me about a kitten he and his friends found behind their frathouse....and then five minutes later a second kitten!

I don't write about it much, but I own five cats.....yes five! I ended up with five cats because about 5 years ago a stray wondered into my backyard, unbeknownest to me, pregnant! We named her (well Mark named her) Puddin (isn't that cute, lol!), and she was a little 6 or 7lb Tortiseshell cat. She gave birth to 6 cats under my bed, but just before she gave birth I was rubbing her big belly and actually felt her first contractions! Long story short, we ended up finding homes for 3 of her kittens, and kept three, Jello (her tortie daughter....get it? Jello puddin', lol), Six....yes he was the 6th kitten born, and Batman, the black boy kitten that is now known as "Fatman".....I mentioned putting him on a diet, which I actually did (finally), and he's down to 25.8 lbs, from just over 28lbs!

I was addicted to baby kittens,(there's nothing cuter than a "kitty stampede"), so 6 months later I agreed to foster a pregnant rescue cat that ended up having 7 kittens! Yes, I at one time had 12 cats in my house, lol! Anyway, Puddin got pissed at the new mother and babies and moved out of our house and in with my neighbor that was feeding her, and poor Six was killed in front of my house by a car (I cried for days....another story for another time). Long story long, lol, we kept 3 red kittens from the second litter, Petunia (Tuna), Winifred (Winnie), and Sexy Girl (her name is another long story), that equals 5 cats! So if anyone knows about kittens it's me...kind of....which is why Gabe brought them home.


Two, practically newborn, red brothers I named Willy and Nilly! Willy nilly is a phrase I use alot, and was on my mind because of all of the training I've been witnessing lately (I'm getting to that, I promise). Nilly was practically dead, barely breathing or moving when I got him, both boys so young their eyes barely opening....the eyes look like little dots, so this told me they were probably less than 2 weeks old. I've been bottle feeding and helping them go to the bathroom for a week now, my son Gabe's girlfriend, Lilly, has been foster mother #2, helping out a great deal, and she'll be taking one of the kittens off to Chico State this fall, (I'm hoping she'll take both of them...I mean, how can you choose?)....I don't know if I could do it without her help! I'll be posting more pictures as they grow......

Now about training with purpose.....

I've been lucky to live with a competitive athlete for 22 years now and see how althetes train....with purpose. Mark says.......There is "training", and there is "working out". Training is ususally accompanied with a goal and deadline, working out is just exercise movement that doesn't need a gaol, a starting point or ending point to be valid. Exercising doesn't need to progress because it's an end in itself, where is "training" is a means to an end.....a number goal, a personal record, a competition, a change in ones body, training follows a path towards something...it has purpose. Training is like an experiment, where exercise is an activity, it doesn't have to progress.

Master Instructor, Brett Jones, has a phrase that I love, and he uses at every Cert I've ever seen him teach at, which is "Shiny New Things".....that's what he describes as what people are constantly looking for when they get , God forbid, bored, lose focus, motivation, and purpose, in their workouts. As I watch so much "cross training" and crazy-ass, non purposeful exercises going on in an "un-named" Local "fitness"" Club, it just about drives me nuts! Good Lord, what are these people doing? And why? Because their trainers are telling them to, that's why!

Box jump platforms, cables pullys, machines of all sorts, "free motion" machines, and combination movements....done is running shoes of course....with no rhyme or reason. I mean why would someone need to step up on a platform 12 inches high, with two dumbells at their shoulders, step up, press overhead before stepping down, and repeating that for 10-12 reps, when they could swing a kettlebell for a 10 minute workout and change their body, their strength, and their cardio fitness more! With all of the talking trainers and clients do in between sets, and the "willy nilly" time they take getting to another exercise who can get a decent workout, much less "train" to improve fitness? I don't even have time to talk about the horrendous form, to the horrendous exercises, these trainers don't correct, but the crimes against kettlebells I see everyday is a topic for another blogpost......right now I'm off to train with purpose.....Max Vo2, 80 sets !

.. more to come about training with purpose