The Firm Fitness Center

Today marks my 1000th consecutive training day!

Some thoughts on this streak:

* Was never a goal, just happened. In the past have always taken one day off a year. And that was after the Indoor Rowing World Championships but we haven't had one of those since 2020.

* Attack the dawn! Certainly possible that I trained at 9am at some point but don't remember doing that. Point being early morning workouts are the way regarding consistency.

* A lot of easy.. most train too hard on their easy days and don't go hard enough on their hard days to bring about meaningful change. Zone 3 is where peak performance dies!

* As odd as it sounds not really obsessive about this. I am obsessed with performance and honestly if a day off served I would take it but have never felt that way. Just doing what I want to do everyday.

* Love giant post workout meals! Wouldn't eat 100 plus carbohydrate posts if they weren't earned and have those on recovery days too.

Plan on doing 1001 tomorrow. And thank you Licensed Certified Public Accountant for help verifying. Was more complicated than I thought! There is a leap year in there etc.

Honored to have spent a large portion of my race this morning with these incredibly fit women.

Certainly would have said if goes 1:35 for The Seawitch 1/2 marathon today she will be first woman but first overall was a woman in 1:26! As were 5 of the top 11. Including and Bethany Wright pictured. So cool! And thank you so much Dave Frederick for capturing this moment today.

What a day! 2nd overall and 1st place Masters for the Tommy Coveleski 10k.

Congratulations to for the age group win, second woman and 4th overall!

Been doing this a long time and never been on the podium overall for a road race.

Did find myself thinking about TC out there today whom I considered a friend. Adds even more meaning to this performance.

Return of the queen!

I know Jennine's teammates wouldn't mind a separate post and I also know that Jennine would prefer that I don't single out her performance today but.. I am doing it anyway!

After a 3 year break from competing because of covid (which included 36,500 pushups in a year during remote programming) Jennine came in lighter (100 #) and in a new age group, 75 years young and won EVERYTHING with lifetime bests and new Delaware state records.

Bench press @ 85 #
Bench press for reps 67 reps @ 30% BW
Deadlift @ 165 #

Warriors come in all sizes and Jennine's focus and performance under pressure always inspires even myself.

I could not be more proud of Team Firm's performance at The Delaware Senior Olympics Powerlifting competition today!

Is an amazing facility and wonderful host of this event.

Thank you Bill Messick for all you do as the meet director. So much respect.

Congratulations Cecily, Mark and Jennine!

1st place Bench press and bench press for reps (30% bodyweight)

Mark Diehl in his first competition. 1st place bench press and bench press for reps (70% bodyweight)

Stand by for Jennine..

With the Ironman Triathlon World Championship returning to Kona this weekend after a two year covid hiatus I have been nostalgically reflecting on what was essentially a two decade obsession for me.

One half of one percent of the US population has even run a marathon. So what percentage has finished an Ironman yet alone in Kona? Too infinitesimal to calculate.

Making it that much more incredible that I have three current clients who have finished arguably the hardest one day endurance event on the planet in the magical place that is Kona. An Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike followed by a 26.2 mile run that starts at 7am and must be finished before midnight. The world championship is held under extremely hostile conditions on the big island of Hawaii.

Left to right:

Ed McQuade was fastest.11:20 in 1993 and has a sub 3 hour marathon in Boston on his resume.

Mark Diehl was there first in 1986. I was a junior in high school and a classmate of Mark's son. I remember when Dyer's dad did this!

I was there the most, finished in 1998, 2001, 2006 and dropped out in 1995. The fuel of that first failure forever changed me.

Hedi was there in 2002, we crossed paths back then and she recently reached out to me seeking a strength coach.

So honored to be associated with these amazing people!

"Run hard when it gets hard to run."

The mere fact that I am quoting Nick Saban of all people speaks to how much this resonated when I heard it last week.

Marathons are easy until they aren't. Given the duration one is below threshold for awhile but that moment always comes where you have to decide how your day is going to go and how much you are willing to endure.

Can't say enough great things about Did the half there last year and knew I wanted to come back. Is small but feels big given the community support and amazing town. Point to point and net downhill (but not too harsh) so the course is perfect.

Marathon #23 lifetime. Not fast but faster-er! And fast-est since 2006

20 years ago when I began my personal martial arts practice certainly did not forsee this day. Was rather adamant that I did not want to teach. So grateful to have such an esteemed kenjutsu instructor in Scudieri Sensei of The Delaware Budokan that I wanted to be a forever student.

When you learn from the best there is a tendency to think that I can never teach like him therefore anything I do would be something less. However we know teaching forces us to learn at a much deeper level and now consider it essential to doing anything well.

Still can't believe that the amazing human whom I have had the honor of teaching kenjutsu (sword techniques) for nearly half a decade now has his black belt and a scroll signed by Sensei and myself. Congratulations and thank you so much for your intense commitment and trust in me Bryan.

We know at the elite level distance running is a team sport. Most age group athletes are not afforded that luxury. I was today.

Calling this my best race in 20 years and had a lot of help out there .Thank you so much Age group wins and top 10 overall for us both! Bottle and Cork 10 miler!

Ultimately the path to long term sustainability in the body composition game is to Fuel Hard Training.

Three gyms, three pictures, 23 year span and a personal evolution in performance nutrition.

Picture #1 April of 1999. Taken the day after my first and only bodybuilding show in the original Firm Fitness Center. 160 # 4% bodyfat (via calipers so question the accuracy) 8 weeks of 1600 hundred calories. Just severe, stupid restriction. Was metabolically wrecked for months afterwards. Suffering / sacrifice = through the roof. Training emphasis: bodybuilding.

Picture #2 2017 Had 10 days notice that I would have the honor of appearing in the book. The Maximus Body by and 157 # 6% bodyfat via DEXA (confident in the accuracy) Simply dropped calories below 3000 per day by eating a pound of shrimp for dinner. Suffering / sacrifice = extremely minimal. Training emphasis: Strength / Erg.

Picture #3 "Just another Thursday" August of 2022. No photo shoot, 365. erg room phone pic.150 # don't know bodyfat guessing high single digits (so yes, lighter and fatter which is often the case with aerobic athletes) 3500 to 4000 calories per day. Suffering / sacrifice = zero. Training emphasis: Distance running.

Much respect for the sport of bodybuilding and would have benefited from more coaching in 1999. Most versatile in 2017 touching two points on the fitness continuum. Specificity has it's price currently, meaning not very versatile but enjoying the process of running as fast and as far as possible.

Point being, severe restriction may work short term but hurts a lot, isn't necessary, isn't sustainable and most certainly has long term negative consequences on metabolism and performance.

Thank you so much to the amazing and talented for finding these pictures! Very meaningful given there are so few from Firm one.

They already knew you were talented, now they know You Are Fit.

Florida Southern Volleyball conditioning test passed!

Always proud Rileigh!

Love a good GOAT debate! Jordan vs LeBron. Tom Brady vs.. well no one really. Fun to discuss but always subjective, impossible to compare eras or overcome recency bias.

The conversation regarding the greatest athlete in the history of Cape Henlopen High School generally comes down to which field hockey player? However how do we even define "athlete"? The person with the greatest physical athletic attributes or the highest success at the next level? Tough to quantify.

However we can quantify winning:
Jody Boyer HS field hockey 56 - 5 = 91%
Jody Boyer HS lacrosse 52 - 8 = 84%
Jody Boyer college field hockey 51 -10 = 80%
Career total 159 - 23 = 85.5%!!!

And that doesn't even tell the whole story.
SEVEN high school state championships
TWO National championships
The only PERFECT season in the history of D2 field hockey for which went 20 - 0 her senior year!

And there you have it! My argument that is the winningest athlete in the history of CHHS!

The argument is fluid however, let's see what happens to the defending D1 National Champion featuring member who also has 7 HS rings, 1 National Championship and two years of eligibility left! Nothing would make me happier than to revisit this debate!

📸 via .photography