Kim Wood Speaks

Pop sent in a good one, check it out:

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1: "Make it personal"

Physical training can be very valuable...valuable in many ways. Fitness and strength training have become a part of our culture. Almost everybody has been exposed to it... training images and information are everywhere. But great value is found when you "make it yours"...

The real key to physical training is integrating it into your life. Training should be a "discipline"(...much like the martial arts are a discipline). Physical training should be an extremely personal endeavor... It should be an activity that's between "you and you"...a private affair. Grip training is a very good place to start the process. It doesn't take a great deal of time...you don't need a whole bunch of equipment.

If you work hard(and smart) you'll make progress quickly... ( because of the
connection between the hands and the brain you'll "feel" your progress as you get
stronger...)... Yes, grip work is a good place to start the process. The process is a process of physical improvement...but right along with that is the process of learning about yourself...

Kim Wood
Hall of Fame 2003
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Train hard,
John Wood

The First Step and The Next Step

"Regrets, Ive had a few..." sang Frank Sinatra back in '68 when he recorded a little ditty called 'My Way.' And the truth is everyone will have a few regrets as they travel along the road of life.

It's easy to look back in retrospect at the choices that we 'should' have made at certain points in the past. Since we never know where the chips may fall in the
future all we can do is do what we think is best at any given point in time and go from there.

Of course, not everything in life is up to a roll of the dice, there are lots of things that are (or at least, can be )very predictable - and one of those things is physical training.

It is very simple:

The first step is to begin -- and build from there: bit-by-bit, rep-by-rep,
pound-by-pound until you have achieved something great. Every Successful person in every discipline has followed this very same path.

But physical training is also one of those things that unfortunately is also the reason for some of the biggest regrets in Life and that reason is that few people 'begin' in the first place.

Sure, a lot of people are right at that threshold, right at that moment when they are so close to that first step -- but they don't take it.

Is it because of fear, doubt, hesitation, who knows? Regardless of the reasons, Days, months, even years go by, and so do all those opportunities to improve.

And when all is said and done, and that time had passed, all thats left is the pain of regret 'If only I would have started when I had a chance' might be the saddest words ever uttered.

Thing is, its ok to feel sorry for yourself. You can even whine, complain, scream and shout, or whatever else if it makes you feel better

-- But --

You also have the opportunity to do the most important thing: Begin.

No, you cant get back what has already been lost, but you can get started, and take that first and most important step immediately.

Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year but right now today - you can begin to do the things necessary to get whatever it is that you want.

And five years from now instead of living with the pain of 'If only I would have...' you will be able to proudly say 'Look how far Ive come'

If you are already on that path, keep it up and stay the course. However, if you have not yet gotten started, why not make today the day.

Train hard.
John Wood