My to-do list.

Every once in a while I like to write a post about things that I need to do a better job of. Some things are mundane, and some things are really important. Either way, they all add up to stuff that will help me be better.

1) Drink more water!! I know, I'm an ass. One of my New Years resolutions was to drink more water, and I failed miserably at it. I go through bouts where I do a great job of drinking water, and then other times where I realize that I haven't had water in, like, 2 days. Whoops. I know that I'm robbing myself of physical and mental potential by being constantly under-hydrated, so it's time to stop being a dick and just drink the right amount of water. It's go time.

2) Drink more green tea. The health benefits of green tea have been researched and validated numerous times. I spend so much of my time drinking coffee that I leave little/no time to drink tea. I'm going to make an effort to drink at least one cup of green tea per day. This is an example of a small change that can pay big dividends down the road somewhere.

3) Read more research. I do a great job of reading blogs everyday. I'm constantly exposed to new information through the eyes of other strength coaches. As a result, I'm presented with their bias on the information at hand. I need to do a better job of reading information on my own and developing my own opinion. With that being said, I need to read more stuff (in general) that is outside of my "comfort" zone. I should spend more time reading stuff about nutrition and business management, and less about exercise prescription and program design.

4) Figure out what the hell is wrong with my elbow! It's been well over a month now that my elbow has been bugging me. I thought I had it all figured out, but it's been a chronic pain. At end range of motion (both flexion and extension) it's pretty uncomfortable. It's not an unbearable pain, just annoying. If one of my clients came to me and told me that their elbow felt like this, I would tell them to go see somebody and they would probably have to take some time off from the gym. Knowing that this will probably be the answer, I have instead chosen to completely ignore that advice and try to fix it myself with some massage and mobility work. Thus far, it hasn't been amazing. I know I need to get it checked out, but I really don't want to take any time off from lifting. I'm not stupid, but I never said I wasn't an idiot.

5) Relax!! I find myself getting wound up pretty tight about things happening in my life. This is one of my downfalls, sometimes I just care too much. I need to remind myself more often that there is a short list of things in this life that really matter; especially right now. Family, school and my career are my priorities right now (yes, I'm including my own training in the "career" category). Everything else can take a backseat until the other shit is all straightened out. I'm going to keep reminding myself that everything happens for a reason.

This is my homework for the next few weeks/months. How about you? What do you need to do better? Figure it out, and do it. Go lift something heavy!