Dooley Noted: 12/7/2014
Eric Moss is a fantastic fitness coach and professional strongman.
At a kettlebell seminar, he saw me frustrated with a skill.
He told me about the power of the mind and of good, clean technique. With them both, anything was possible.
He told me to read “The Mighty Atom.” I was so moved that I knew pursuing strength would be part of my life.
He invited strongman Chris Rider to Eric Moss Fitness in New Jersey. I leaped on the chance to learn from one of the strongest people I’d be honored to meet.
I was shocked to see the girls outnumbering the boys! These were three VERY strong girls I have the honor of knowing. All beautiful, smart, and tough as nails!
Chris started by telling stories of how he became a strongman. He had debilitating back pain, and an orthopedic surgeon told him he would never lift weights again. The doctor suggested a round of cortisone and surgery.
Chris said no.
The doctor said, “Ok. You’ll be back.”
He never saw Chris again.
Chris knew that doctor didn’t have a crystal ball. It was time to care for the back but build some real strength around it.
He saw a chiropractor and used inversion to help his back. Then he started applying strength and technique to support his back and rebuild it.
He learned from his mentors about tension generation and doing everything from driving nails into boards and bending wrenches.
He was hooked.
In turn, we seminar attendees had the honor of learning his amazing techniques and how to apply our inner strength.
He stressed that we all have it.
We drove nails through phone books.
We bent carriage bolts.
We tore playing cards.
We ripped phone books.
We unbent horseshoes.
We bent steel rods across our bodies.
I was shocked by how hard I THINK I work, compared to what is really inside of me.
The 900+ page phone book seemed so impossible. But I just kept digging deeper, with my friends cheering me on.
It wasn’t fast, but it was tenacious.
Isn’t that the nature of all things that are difficult?
I had seen 5 therapists about a radial nerve entrapment. All treated me. Results were minimal.
I dug deep to rip those cards, tear that 900+ page book, bend that horseshoe.
I dug deeper than I admit I had been digging in my own training and rehab.
Today, I woke up with my arm feeling the best it’s felt in a month.
Sometimes to get better – to feel better, you need to dig deep like Chris.
I am forever changed after seeing myself tear that Las Vegas phone book.
There’s no time for complaining. That’s energy I can use to dig deeper.
Things don’t break us. WE break us.
Each of us are so powerful.
I can’t unsee what I did yesterday.
No Internet cheats were administered.
It was excellent technique, with raw applied strength – of the body AND of the mind.
I’ll be applying those principles with even more fortitude after meeting Chris.
So, if you are wondering what I want for Christmas, I want nothing but playing cards and phone books.
Seriously, hide yours if I come over.
As for you readers, I hope you dig deeper today. I hope you learn your immense potential. You haven’t even come close.
There’s more. Be tenacious.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley