The Echo We all Have on the World

The Echo We all Have on the World

I was going to write about the subgroup on reddit r/weightlifting, but then I realized that an article lashing out on a few of these silly boys wouldn’t make the world one bit better.  There are some people on r/weightlifting that are simply trying to understand the sport that I love, so I don’t want to lump everyone on that group into one big pile.  As a matter of fact, I don’t want to answer negativity with more negativity. 

I simply want to shed some light on the effects of words.  If you really stop to think about what something negative said to someone can do, I’d like to think that most of you would think twice before saying anything negative to anyone.  I mean, it’s a chain reaction that can echo around the whole world.  Let me give you an example.

When I was competing, I would scan the Internet to see if someone was saying something negative about me.  I would literally skip over hundreds of positive comments to find that one negative comment, and then I would spend the rest of the night obsessing about that comment.  Why would they say something bad about me? Don’t they know how hard I work? Don’t they see how far that I have come?

Yes, this was my insecurity and an example of something that was missing inside me, but at that moment I didn’t know any of that.  Those negative comments would trigger me to be arrogant, grumpy, and closed off to others.  Who knows how many young athletes that I brushed off because I was in a bad mood?  What did that brushing off cause?  By brushing off some young athlete, I could have caused the confidence of that young man or woman to drop causing them to feel insecure and worthless.  How do you think that caused those people to treat the people around them?

Do you see what one bad mood can cause?  What if we all focused a little more on being nice or on being positive?  What would that do to the world?  Am I a hopeless optimist?  Probably, but sometimes you simply have to say the right thing, and let the world decide how to handle those words.  I am going to start right now.

You guys on reddit have the power to help people that are learning about the sport.  You have a big platform to spread the positives that can come from this sport like:

·      Hard work

·      Perseverance

·      Goal Setting

·      Overcoming adversity

·      Critical thinking

How does spreading rumors about athletes and coaches without any facts help our sport?  It doesn’t help.  I don’t care what you say about me.  I have laughed about that mess for a couple of years now.  However, you guys don’t know who can laugh that mess off, and who takes that mess personally. What does their reactions do to the people around them?  Do you guys really not care about people at all?  Do you really not want to have a positive effect on the world? Reddit has provided you guys with a platform that gets attention from thousands of people.  That’s powerful, but that power comes with responsibility.

I am not just talking about reddit.  I am just using them as an example. We all have this responsibility.  How I treat my athletes will affect the way that they treat others.  Who knows, maybe the way that I treat them will spill out on the way that they treat their future spouse, children, or their athletes if they coach.  I take that responsibility seriously.  It was a coach in high school that took the time out to tell me that I was capable of being a good athlete that changed my entire path.  One coach during one conversation changed everything.  Now maybe that never happened to you, but I am telling you right now that happened to me. 

This all means that I have to think about every word that comes from my mouth or every word that I type on a computer or phone.  It means I need to think about my action and my body language when I am around my family, friends, athletes, or even strangers.  Just think about all the ways that we have to influence others:

·      Instagram

·      Facebook

·      Twitter

·      Snapchat

·      Sites like Reddit

·      Blogs

·      Podcasts

·      YouTube

·      At the gym

·      At school

·      Sporting events

·      Parties

·      Life in general

Do you really think that you can go through life without influencing or affecting others?  If so, you are lying to yourself.  We all have opportunities with some have bigger platforms than others.  We are all responsible for the way that we use those platforms.  Guys like Nathan Damron and Morgan McCullough are going to have massive opportunities to influence and encourage others.  If they neglect those opportunities, they will one day be sitting in a chair like I am right now regretting those missed opportunities. 

Athletes have a huge responsibility to think wisely about their actions.  They have a chance to change lives.  One kind word might change the path of a younger athlete.  I know that when Nathan says any positive words you our younger athletes, their whole bodies glow with excitement.  You guys can influence others to do better. 

Coaches, you all have an even bigger responsibility.  You are with these young people each and every day.  Everything that you say or do can alter the lives of these young people.  Heck, the way that you treat your spouse can be the one good or bad example for these athletes.  Do they see you loving your spouse and children?  Do they see you respecting your spouse when you are away from your family? This can go a long ways when it comes to influencing your athletes.

Yes we want to create the best athletes in the world, but creating better men and women as a whole is much more important.  When I see my former athletes becoming doctors, getting married, and helping others, I am more proud of that athlete than any Olympian of Professional athlete that I have coached. 

I know that some of you will laugh this off, and you will say that Coach Mash is going soft.  That’s ok!  I get it, and you can do whatever you want.  All of this is just something that I had to say.  I hope that one of you will be influenced to treat people a bit better.  If that happens, then all of this was more than worth it. 

People are People

People are People

This weekend I was in New York performing a seminar at Brooklyn Athletic Club.  I got to hang out in New York with my beautiful wife, Emily Drew.  I also got to hang out with some new friends Alec, Gabi, Mark, and Cara along with the whole crew that took my seminar.  Here’s what I discovered.  Yes, New Yorkers are loud, wild, and crazy.  The other half of that is they are lovable people that won over my heart.  The moral is don’t be quick to judge a group of people.

While I was there, I told the group taking my seminar about my childhood.  Most of you know that I grew up in the Mountains of North Carolina.  Mountain people are the best.  We support one another.  We are strong and loving people.  However, normally we are suspect of different cultures, ethnicities, and religions.  I’m sure that is a holdover of the people that settled the mountains.  The Scotch Irish were known to be a type of people that wanted to be left alone, which is why they settled in the deepest parts of the Appalachian Mountains.  They wanted to do things their way, and they didn’t really care what everyone else was doing.

This type of settlement is bound to form certain conclusions regarding foreigners.  That’s ok I guess.  That’s whom they were, and I am proud of where I come from.  The Mountains made me strong and courageous, but thank God I was born with something else.  I was born with curiosity.   I was also born with a desire to read and learn.  The more I read left me with a desire to travel and find out for myself all about different people and lands. 

See I have never been able to simply take someone’s word as fact.  I have always needed proof.  This desire for proof got me in a lot of trouble when I was younger as I was always debating with teachers.  I wasn’t really debating.  I just wanted them to prove some of the statements that they were making. Now that I am grown up, I hope that my children do the same thing.  I don’t want them to take the opinions of others as the gospel.  I want them to know the difference in fact and opinion. 

By now we all know what they say about opinions.  Yes, we all have them, but opinions are irrelevant in the world of facts.  I want my children to base their opinions on as many facts as possible, while forming their own conclusions.  When I was growing up, I was told that New Yorkers are fast talking, heartless, and cunning city folk.  I can hear some of my relatives talking now, “Boy you better be careful up there in New York.  Those people will get you.”

I remember the first time going to New York. I was scared out of my mind because I thought everyone was trying to con me. Now I Know that they are people just like Mountain folk are people.  Here’s one thing that I have learned in all of my travels:

“People are people no matter where you go.  There will be nice people, and there will be not so nice people.  Personally I have found people to be nice more times than not.”

With that being said, go out there and explore the world.  Yes, you can stay in your hometown your whole like and remain safe, but you will miss out on the opportunity to explore this incredible world that God has gifted to us all.  He has placed all of us on this beautiful planet and filled it with interesting people and places.

Nothing is more exhilarating than waking up and looking out of your window to catch a glimpse of the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls, or the Eifel Tower.  I suggest that you all throw your televisions away, and go out there and be the director of your own documentary.  You need to put your smart phones down and experience God’s incredible planet with your eyes, heart, and spirit.  I want all of you to take it all in while you are here on earth.  Our time on this planet is short, and everyday that you wake up is one day closer to losing your opportunity to explore it. 

There is one more thing that I want to bring to your attention before I let you get to the beginning of your week.  It’s this thing at the border.  There is no way that I am going to come at this topic from a liberal or conservative outlook.  You know why?  It’s because we are talking about children.  It baffles me when I see parents and grandparents talking about the situations as if it were some political game that were are playing.  When a child is involved, it isn’t a game.  You can’t use a child to make your political point. 

This topic is a lot like the gun issue.  We need to take a timeout, and forget our political association and instead remember that we are all human.  If a child is involved, we need to address the issue right now.  Anyway this is my two cents.  Let’s just remember that we are humans.  Children shouldn’t suffer for us to prove a political point, and I am talking 100% to both sides.

Someday I would love it if there were a new political party called, The Human Party.  I know that we will never see things the same, but there is a lot of stuff out there that could improve if political parties didn’t exist.  There are a lot of smart people in the world.  If they could sit down together while leaving their egos at home, I feel like that we could make a lot of strides towards improving the world.  I know, I know!  I am an optimist to a fault, but I sure don’t believe that the current system is succeeding on a lot of issues that need work.

Love you guys, and thanks for listening to my rants.  At the end of the day, I am just a good ‘ole country boy.  What do I really know anyway?

Importance of Education

Importance of Education

I am a friend with two of the most incredible exercise scientists in the field of strength.  Dr. Andy Galpin is on the cutting edge in regards to research related to strength and conditioning.  Greg Nuckols interprets research for the rest of us making it understandable and more applicable.  These two are shedding light on the importance of education.  If you think that you are educated enough, you will quickly get left behind. 

From one year to the next my programming evolves, my verbal cues evolve, and my overall approach to coaching evolves.  Does that mean what I was doing was wrong?  No way, I was producing incredible athletes a year ago.  All that this means is that what I am doing now is even better.   Guys, that is the world that we live in now.  Education lies at the click of a button, and someone out there right now is learning something new that you don’t know.  I refuse to be the coach that’s slipping.  My athletes deserve better.

Your athletes deserve better.  All of this can be quite overwhelming when you start adding education to your already busy day of duties.  Look I get it.  We all have:

·      Classes to coach

·      Athletes to program for

·      A business to run

·      Drama within the gym

·      Equipment to take care of

·      A gym to keep clean

·      Marketing to keep the doors open

·      Advertising for the same reason

·      Bills to pay

·      Nutrition to teach

·      Events to attend

·      And on and on

You are probably saying to yourself, “And now Coach Mash wants me to spend time learning each and every day!  I quit!”  I get it guys, but there are several ways to learn that aren’t so time consuming.  Let’s look at a few:

1.  Audible Books and EBooks- you can now listen to your favorite authors on your way into work or while you are working on programming.  I normally listen to a book during my 20-minute drive to the gym and 20-minute drive home.  That’s 40-minutes of reading/listening per day, which can quickly crush a book every week or two. 

2. Network with the Experts-  This doesn’t mean that you can automatically be friends with Dr. Galpin just because you like his work.  Heck we all like his work.  However, if you hang around people that love the industry as much as you do, you will make friends with people that are experts in the areas of nutrition, Olympic weightlifting, and programming.  I am a part of a platform called Stronger Experts that opens the door to coaches like Greg Nuckols, Dr. Mike Israetel, and me, so check them out for sure.

Once you build a network of friends that are also experts, you will keep each other informed on the various aspects of fitness.  I am constantly learning from

3.  Seminars and Clinics-  At my gym LEAN Fitness, we pride ourselves in education.  We host coaches like Dan John, Dr. Andy Galpin, Doug Larson, and of course our own group of incredible coaches.  Weekend seminars or camps allow you to get away and focus on education.  You will also be surrounded by other coaches that love strength and conditioning just like you do.  I have never walked away from a clinic or seminar empty handed.

If you are anywhere near the Lewisville/Winston-Salem, NC area, here is a list of seminars and clinics to be held at LEAN Fitness (Home of Mash Elite Performance):  

·      Coach Dan John and Coach Travis Mash “Strength and Movement” Seminar Saturday July 14^th  

==> Dan John Seminar

·      Comp Camp with Dr. Galpin, Doug Larson, and Coach Mash discussing everything that you need to know about Olympic Weightlifting August 25^th and 26th  

==>  Competition Camp

·      Weightlifting 101 Progressions of the Clean & Jerk taught by Coach Travis Mash Saturday September 22^nd, 2018 

==> Progressions of the Clean & Jerk

·      Our FREE Nutrition Seminar “Nutrition Strategies: How to Eat Your Favorite Foods and Not Get Fat” Saturday October 20^th  

==> FREE Nutrition Strategies Seminar

Guys it’s all about making things a priority.  Yes the world has upped the ante when it comes to education, but the Internet has also make things more readily available in very simple ways.  One thing that I have learned is that you have to schedule these things just like an appointment. 

I don’t believe that education is an option anymore.  It’s something that you will do, or you will quickly get left behind.  I see coaches in Olympic weightlifting that are refusing to learn new concepts, and they are getting left behind. Instead of getting on board, they would rather sit around complaining and making excuses for why they are failing.  The worst things that you can do is blaming other people or make false claims about other successful coaches.  Don’t be this coach!

If you want to kill it in the strength and conditioning industry, you have to set yourself apart.  The coaches that are doing well nowadays are the coaches that are spending the most time sharpening their skills.  I want all of my readers to be the coaches sharpening their skills.  Obviously on my website www.mashelite.com we do our best to offer lots of free content in the form of articles, podcasts, and videos, so that’s a pretty good place to start.  I hope that this article fires you up to go out there and become the best coach ever.