The Difference

I love the olympics for a ton of reasons and have been watching both on television and on the internet.  One of the biggest reasons I love the olympics is because these sports are able to unite countries and also bring people together through sports.  I never grow tired of seeing my country succeed in the olympics and then to see the reactions of all those people around me who are blown away by these performances.  I mean seriously a 17 yr old girl won a gold medal for America.  Thats amazing and what I was truly blown away by was the fact that Missy Franklin has not taken any endorsement deals or money because she wants to be able to compete for her high school swim team.  

I also love watching these athletes and marveling at their ability and dedication.  These are the people who devote themselves to being the very best they can.  They make the right decisions in training, recovery, sleep, nutrition, and so many other aspects of their lives.  Obviously certain athletes will have different nutritional needs then others and different then just the average person but they still listen to their bodies and make choices that help them succeed.  In large part the difference between olympic athletes and the normal person is that the olympian makes the right decisions.  They don’t allow peer pressure, laziness, or just pure disregard get in the way of their dream.

People are inspired by the olympics and they should be.  Most of all I think people should be inspired to better themselves.  Maybe you can’t be an olympic athlete but you can make better choices.  Olympians do virtually everything right in order to compete.  Try to just improve some aspect for your health.  Eat better, sleep better, play more, get in the sun, workout, walk, and so many more.

Why should you do this stuff?  You may say you don’t want to be an olympic athlete so who cares what you eat or that you don’t workout.  That argument just cannot stand and Rudy from Outlaw Crossfit (one of the leading boxes in the country doing some crazy things sending 14 athletes to the games this year) talked about this stuff today.

My knee always hurts and some days I lift for three hours. However, if there is any object that needs to be lifted or displaced, I will be more likely to be able to handle the task than 99.9% of the population of earth. If I am a victim of some sort of blunt force impact, am assailed by an attacker, or simply need to move out of harms way quickly; I am more equipped to handle these and other “wrong place – wrong time” scenarios than I would be if spent my free time outside of the gym.

I’ll take a little knee pain, and the $200 I paid for my Romaleos, if it means I don’t have to live with the fear of being unprepared for whatever physical test life may throw at me.

You can find the whole article on his website.

You will also find him on this list of 15 must read fitness people.  You will also find Jason Ferruggia, KStarr, and Greg Everett.  These guys are amazing and you really should look into them.

One quick note on the olympics that was far from inspiring.  4 teams were actually disqualified for throwing badminton games to receive favorable match ups.  Seriously?  In badminton of all sports.  Mind Blown.  

Also go listen to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that had Robb Wolf on it earlier this week.  It was awesome and Robb gives a ton of great information in the podcast like explaining how you should not be using advil and its effect on the body.  Or how he has 2-3 drinks daily…yes daily.  He explains how this can be beneficial.  I listened to it on my drive from Houston to Dallas (its about a 2 and half hour long podcast) and it makes time fly by when you are driving.  Especially because they are both funny guys.

On to some food stuff.

I made some Carnitas on Sunday which came straight from the Well Fed cookbook.  Go and check out her website.  I won’t give the recipe here because it did come from her cookbook.  But essentially this is pork cooked for 3 hours that essentially fries itself in some citrus juices and its own fat.  It turns out amazing.  I made that lamb recipe a few weeks back using a very similar method.

 

I love this cooking method and how amazing the food turns out.  Also I cooked 3 lbs of pork with this recipe which meant it was good for 2 meals.  

 

That right there is some of that 10 lbs of salmon I bought.  Grilled which made it wonderful.  I also baked some eggplant.  The eggplant had a unique texture but it tasted good.  All you would do is cut it up as pictured then put on some salt, pepper, and either coconut oil or grass-fed butter.  Cook on 425 for around 45 minutes.  Turned out delicious which is good because my CSA is giving a lot of Eggplant right now.

And my go to beef and broccoli.  Recently my sister tweeted that guac and salsa are the new pbj.  I couldn’t agree more so I took this picture to show you that they really do go together.  I use them in combination all of the time and absolutely love it.  This particular beef and broccoli I cooked with some lime juice and arizona dreaming seasoning.  This meant it had a little bit of a mexican food type flavor.  I like this meal because its easy but versatile in that I can just change up a few ingredients and create an entirely different meal.  

And finally this weekend I went to my parents house and spent some time with my dogs.  Roxie the white one lives with me in Dallas and Maximus the gold one lives with my parents in Houston.  I love them.  Tomorrow I will post again about my weekend down in Houston because I went and saw the Lion King in theater.  Tomorrow won’t deal with food but will deal with other aspects of health such as playing more and enjoying life.  

Remember the difference is mostly knowing what you are capable of and not letting anything come in the way and stop you.  Olympians don’t let anything get in their way.  Stop letting things get in your way.  That difference between them and you really isn’t that big of an issue.  Find a way to close that gap.  Get inspired and get to work.

Posted by robbiecrab on August 1, 2012

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