The Mirror of the Soul

It has been said that the eyes are a reflection of one's soul.  That maybe you can tell all that you need to know about somebody by looking into their eyes.

I had a discussion just last week about hiring someone based on intuition.  It started when someone said that they were scheduled for a three hour interview for a position they were seeking.

Three hours?  What do you do in a three hour interview?  What could you possibly ask that would take that long  to answer?

No, I generally make my decisions on those matters in three minutes.  Or less.

Keep in mind that I've been in a position to make judgments about whether to hire someone or not for over 35 years.  I've made a few mistakes but made a lot more good decisions than bad ones. 

I believe my bad hiring decisions happened when I didn't pay attention to my intuition.  When someone talked me into hiring someone that I had a bad feeling about.

I believe in first impressions.  I've learned to trust those first impressions.  I want to look them in the eyes. 

Will they look you in the eyes?  There was a coach around here not too many years ago that couldn't look you in the eyes.   The first time I met that coach, he looked everywhere in the room but at me.

I predicted the failure that marked his coaching tenure here.   A person that can't look you in the eyes just simply can't be trusted.  He did fail.  Miserably.

I believe you can see confidence in someone's eyes.   And by the same token, you can see fear.  If you're an athlete, you know what I'm talking about.  You know when your opponent is beat.  You can see it.

My son tells the story of when he first lined up against a couple of All-American defensive linemen from Florida State.  The year was 2000 and he was a redshirt freshman at Clemson.   They were slobbering and yelling unmentionables at this 19 year old across the line from him.

But what he remembers is the look in their eyes.  He describes it variously as wild, out-of-control, frightening.  I suspect it was more than a little intimidating.

I believe that confidence is a big part of what makes some effective leaders.  Followers are looking for clues.  Is this someone worthy?  How do you walk into a room?  How do you enter a conversation?  What does someone see when they look in your eyes?

I watched a high school football player exhort his teammates to extra effort just a couple of Fridays ago.  The intensity in his eyes made you want match that intensity with effort on the football field.  

Heck, I even started looking around for a football uniform.

Is there a sparkle in their eyes?  Those are the people that you want to be around.   They are the ones that make you want to work harder, to play harder, maybe even to be a better person.

Back when I worked with our church youth group, I was always conscious of what my kids saw of themselves when they looked in my eyes.  Did they see that I appreciated them for who they were?  

That I loved them unconditionally?

The mirror of the soul?  I believe it is so.

Letter To My 25 year old Self

You may have heard about the book about a collection of letters that people have written to their 25 year-old selves.  A lot of regrets are expressed, a lot of second-guessing is done, and the end result is actually a pretty good reflection of mostly the mistakes we have made.

In that spirit, I'd like to write a letter to the 25 year old Joe Black.

It would have been 1978 and I'll use today's date, October 19th.  I was working as a Staff Physical Therapist at Blount Memorial Hospital.  My first child had just been born and I was looking around at some career options.  So, here goes.

Dear Joe:

Remember the story about Curly Clark and his four girls?  You (we) used to say that you couldn't imagine a life with four daughters.  All those girls?  All that estrogen? A house with five women just seemed beyond tolerance.

And then Whitney Elizabeth Black was born and it became "OK God, if you want to give me all daughters, I'll be just fine with that."  She was that special and dude, you and her are going to have such a great relationship but I'll not spoil the rest of it for you by sharing the details.

What you committed to back then was raising your daughter without gender-based limits.  Stick to that (you did) and it will work out great for both of you.  She wasn't the basketball player that you always thought she would be but she found HER sport, which was volleyball and, by the way, she was pretty darn good at it.

I'll spill the beans a bit and tell you that you'll have a little boy in a couple of years and he'll become everything you dreamed of and more.

But be a bit more gentle with your children.  Be less demanding.  You'll do a good job about not missing things but quit crying over spilled milk.

About that career thing.  You're considering going back to school but be open-minded about doors that might open to you.  You've got some really great goals for your career.  Keep your eyes on those goals and you'll be fine.

But I've got to tell you that you should be prepared for some twists and turns along the away. Goals can and do change.  As you grow older, it seems like you get better at figuring out what you really want in life.

And here's a hint:  that grad school thing...you'll get around to it but not for a long, long time.  Let's just say that you will become Dr. Black down the road but not in the ways that you were thinking.

In just a few years, Dr. Bob Haralson will ask you to come help out with the Maryville High School football team.  Don't turn him down.  It just might lead to one of the best gigs of your life.

Don't be afraid to take chances.  Don't be afraid to make mistakes.   You'll make a few along the way but just like a coach has trouble criticizing a player for getting a foul because of hustle, keep trying.  

You'll learn a lot from the mistakes you make along the way.

Hire a babysitter and take your wife on more dates.  Go on more vacations.  Try long weekend trips.

Get rid of the white lab coat and ties.  You'll look just as professional in polo's and running shoes.

Oh, and those tortoise shell glasses you'll be tempted to buy.  Don't. 

Yours truly.

Should My Child Play: Part II

Let's continue down the path that I started on last week. 

If you will recall, I was writing about sports participation and the personal/family decision of whether it was worth it or not, considering all the negative things coming out about sports recently.

As I still another young athlete's season end with an injury, it seems clear that this is an important decision...maybe one of the more important decisions that your family might make.

But let me start with a confession.  I'm an only child.  Yep.  Always have been.

Bet you couldn't have guessed it.  I'd like to think that maybe my parents found perfection in their fist born and decided that they couldn't do any better.  The truth is that my mom tried to have children after me but wasn't able to. 

You've probably heard all the stereotypes about The Only Child.  Selfish.  Self-centered.  Bossy.  Doesn't play well with others.  Spoiled. 

My parents knew the burdens of growing up without siblings so they made sure that I had lots of opportunities to interact with others my age. 

Boys Scouts.  Church activities.  Camps.  Summer recreation.  Art lessons.  Played in the band.  And (you guessed it) sports.

I regularly had what today are called Play Dates.  My parents made sure I had lots of friends and plenty of opportunities to spend time with them.

You probably know that I ride a bicycle.  A lot.  Probably too much.  But you didn't know that on my very first bike ride, on my brand new bike, I wrecked rather spectacularly, leaving much of the skin from my face on the pavement of Robinson Road. 

And you probably know that my friend Bill Crisp died recently of complications from a bicycle wreck.

But still I ride.  With no plans of stopping.

We can't live our lives in fear of what MIGHT happen.  If we let fear drive our very existence, we might never leave the house.  We would certainly never ride a bike or even drive a car and forget those things called motorcycles.

We would take no chances and only do the safe thing.  I suppose my parents at times would have liked to keep their only child in a protective bubble, keep him safe from harm.

But that is not living.

Living is doing what we love.  Living is not letting fear keep us from pursuing happiness... From chasing our dreams.  And that most surely requires taking risks, of stepping outside our safe zone. 

Maybe for you that's running for a touchdown or stealing second.  Maybe it's putting all you have into a cross-country course or getting up every morning at 4 to go to swim practice.  It certainly might involve taking some risks.

In sports, you will find beauty and grace and music in among the blood, sweat, and tears. 

Do I want a grandchild of mine to play a sport that much of the world might find dangerous?   If that is where their heart is, if that is what makes them alive, then so be it.  I'll sit in the stands and cheer them on and hug their grandmother when she cringes when something, anything happens.  And pray mightily that it doesn't.

CrossFit Endorsement: Part 2

So here's the follow-up to yesterday's treatise.

CrossFit is a brand name.  There are other programs that are similar.   And there are a lot of rally great personal trainers that are providing really great programs.

What I'm really talking about is High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT.  That's the basis for what I believe to be the most effective fitness programs available today.  And I also believe that it is the best way to pursue high levels of fitness that have come along in...well...ever.

Again, I digress:  My first college degree was in Physical Education.  My fall-back plan was to go on to graduate school and teach Phys Ed at the college level, if I didn't get into physical therapy school.  I was an athlete then and still consider myself an athlete, so I've always been a student of human performance.

Through luck, persistence, and the good graces of Department Director Ann Hightower, the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center admitted me to their program.  Because of that, my day job since 1977 has been in health care. 

All things related to fitness, exercise, and the pursuit of health through an active lifestyle have been a big part of my life and my career ever since.  That's what led me to open a fitness center, Cherokee Health & Fitness, in 2003. 

And one of the smartest things we ever did was to hire Steve Bright as our Fitness Manager.  Steve was the one that brought CrossFit to Cherokee Health & Fitness.

But back to what lies at the core of CrossFit, High Intensity Interval Training.  The problem is, HIIT just isn't sexy.  It isn't marketable.  So you've probably never heard of it.

HIIT programs not only work, but they fit today's lifestyles.  By their nature, they can be done in a much shorter period of time than what has been typical of the industry since fitness gyms started appearing in the 70's.  It isn't too farfetched to finish a program during your lunch hour, shower, and get back to work in time to grab a sandwich

Good HIIT programs emphasize core strength, body weight exercises, and exercises that demand involvement in multiple body parts.  An isolated biceps curl has no place in a HIIT program.  It's just too much of a waste of time.

Moving rapidly from one exercise to another, in the method commonly called circuit training, provides an effective cardiovascular workout while also providing good strength training. 

And just as there are good rehab clinics and bad rehab clinics, there are good gyms and bad gyms. 

A good gym insists on good, safe technique.  A good gym allows everyone to go at their own pace.  

In a good gym, you don't have a bunch of people standing around a solitary lifter screaming "one more rep!" or similar encouragement that inevitably leads to injuries.

A good gym provides balance, supervision, and a positive approach to their programs.  A good gym eschews dogma, acknowledging that all people are different.

Find that gym and you've found a home.  

A Physical Therapist Endorses CrossFit!

In case you're getting this for the first time, let me introduce myself.  I'm a physical therapist and an athletic trainer.  I've been practicing for almost 37 years and in 2005 received my Doctorate in Physical Therapy. 

I've been fortunate to see and do things in these two professions that seem highly unlikely for a small town boy whose only acclaim in high school was as the smartest football player.  I count among my friends the giants in these professions.  People like Tab Blackburn, Mike Voight, Kevin Wilk, George Davies, Terry Malone, Barb Sanders, and on and on.

A couple of years ago, I did a presentation at a big physical therapy meeting.  About 500 people attended a program that a colleague and I did on treating patellofemoral dysfunction.

During that presentation, I happened to mention that I send a lot of my patients to CrossFit classes after I am finished with them.  Several months later, I heard from one of the attendees that this was met with a collective gasp from the physical therapists in the room.

Apparently, many of those in attendance felt that it was quite surprising/radical/irresponsible of me to send my patients to CrossFit.  I guess I wasn't paying attention.  I didn't catch that one at all. 

Let me step back a bit and tell you about my work setting.  The clinic where I see patients is basically a 14,000 square foot warehouse, with the physical therapy clinic occupying about a third of that space and a fitness center the rest.  Housed within the fitness center is CrossFit CHF. 

A simple countertop separates the two sides and my desk is a laptop resting on that countertop.  So basically I am looking out at a CrossFit gym when I sit at my desk.

We opened CrossFit-CHF in 2007 as part of Cherokee Health & Fitness (hence, the CrossFit-CHF).  It was the first CrossFit gym in the area.

My patient load is essentially extremity orthopedics with a heavy emphasis on sports.  This clinic was built with sports physical therapy in mind and serves that purpose, in my opinion, quite well.

I'm a biker (non-motorized version).  In 2008, I seemed to hit a plateau on my bicycle. Our fitness director, Steve Bright, suggested I start CrossFit workouts. 

I have always been a "fitness buff."  There really hasn't been a time in my life when I didn't exercise regularly.  But in 2008, at age 55, I guess I was at a bit of a crossroads.  About to be old, getting closer to retirement, and being told it was time to slow down.

I also had enough of a paunch that I didn't really like to take my shirt off. 

Hey, at 55, you sort of expect that.  I was a regular on the bike and did some strength training a day or two a week.  But the shape I was in was not really that good a shape.  I had long since reconciled myself that this was the way things were going to be--that it was part of getting older.

But Steve convinced me that I could do things better, so I started doing CrossFit.  Three days a week with the other four days on the bicycle.

Lo and behold, my performance on the bike got better.  Lots better.  And slowly but surely, my body changed.   It didn't take long until I was a bona fide CrossFit junkie.  I had, as they say, drank the Kool-Aid.  

Now, six years later, at age 61, I am in the best shape of my life--better yet than when I was invincible and in my 20's. I'll leave it to others to describe what I look like with my shirt off but that's not what's important anyway.

What's important is that my core strength is darn good, if I do say so myself.  My overall fitness level?   You might want to talk to the small cadre of buddies that I work out with for the answer to that one. 

Through the years (pre-CrossFit), I had multiple orthopedic surgeries.  Heck, knee surgery was what got me into physical therapy in the first place.  Dr.Ken Bell (orthopedic surgeon extraordinaire) and others have kept me patched together. 

But here's the big thing:  Today, I have little or no joint pain.  I can climb stairs 2 at a time without problem or pain.  Sure, I limp from time to time, maybe when I've really abused my knees such as on the descent of a particularly strenuous hike.  I do have a right knee that is particularly worn out and not as strong as my left.

But I take no medication for that.  Not an ibuprofen. Not acetaminophen.  Nothing.  Na da.  I give the credit for that to the core strength that CrossFit has given me.

Before CrossFit, I thought it was ludicrous for a man my age to do squats.  And God forbid that I would ever again touch a deadlift bar.  Power Cleans were for much younger people than me.

Now those things are part of my workouts on a regular basis.

And...get this...in six and a half years of doing CrossFit workouts, I've never been injured.  Never. 

So here's the bottom line:  I'm healthier than I've ever been (except for that pesky blood pressure problem--you can't escape your gene pool), I have very few aches and pains, I can keep up with people much, much younger than me, and the reason is CrossFit.

My patients that have gotten into CrossFit thank me for it.  Without exception, they are healthier because of it. 

Injuries?  Sure.  From time to time.  But injuries are going to happen and I'd a lot rather have injuries that are the result of an active, vigorous lifestyle than the health problems that are inevitably produced by a sedentary lifestyle.

Why does CrossFit get maligned as the source for injuries? Well, it is, by its nature, pretty competitive.  Those that compete in the CrossFit Games are in an athletic competition and CrossFit injuries at that level are about the same as with other competitive events.

I'm not saying that I'm not competitive.  With my group of buddies, it's not competitive until one of them is catching up with me.  Then it's on.

Their goal is to catch the old man.  Mine is to keep them at bay.

But I'm smart enough in my workouts that I'm not going to do anything to hurt myself and therein lies the key to staying injury-free while doing CrossFit workouts:  You've got to be smart about it. 

Know your limits.  Push your envelope, just don't shred it. 

As for those health care professionals that are aghast that I encourage patients to participate in CrossFit workouts, all I can say is come work out with me. 

Should My Child Play?

Some recent tragedies in sports have prompted a bunch of folks to question the value of sports participation.  Everything from domestic abuse to catastrophic injuries--the bigger the stage the greater the uproar. 

Ray Rice.  Concussed quarterbacks at Michigan.  13 year olds with ACL injuries.

But at the local, personal level, the questions being asked are maybe just as profound.  Should my child play sports?  Is the risk of injury worth it?  Does it give our children a sense of entitlement that produces dysfunctional adults?

I've asked and answered those questions here many times.  My kids DID play.  And my son's football career was ended with a devastating injury during his fourth year of college football. 

I'll go ahead and play my hand by telling you that I truly believe that the adults that they have become (good, responsible, active) is a product in no small part because of that sports participation.  And if you ask them, they will also tell you that they would do it all again.

But for you, maybe it's different.  Maybe it doesn't seem quite worth it.  Everybody has to make a value judgment on that, deciding what is best for their family and their children.

How about this:  Take a step back and ask yourselves why you want your kids in sports in the first place.

Only you can answer that question for you and your family, but the bottom line is that active children become active adults.  With Tennessee being the 3rd most obese state in the nation, you don't have to look far to realize that our children need to be more active.

Do you have to play sports to do that?  Certainly not.  I've glorified my own childhood by sharing memories of playing football in the street, swimming in the creek, and playing pickup basketball in everybody's back yard.

The value of "play" cannot be overstated. 

But I also know that opportunities to play like we did when I was a kid are just not there today.  

When I share with my now grown kids, who have kids of their own, about getting on my bike in the morning and leaving for the day with the single instruction to be home for dinner, they find it pretty incredible and absolutely impossible in today's world. 

Sports provide our kids with those opportunities.   Yet, organized sports cannot nor should not fill the whole picture.  When my kids were growing up, we did crazy things like white water canoe on the Nantahala, rock climb at Look Rock, and hike all over the Smokies. 

We played at the park and went to the zoo and built things in the yard.   Those types of things are all still essential.

Do you want your kids to do things that you couldn't or didn't do?   Some call that living vicariously through your children.   Much preferable is that you want your kids to have opportunities that you didn't have and maybe sports are a big part of that. 

That's OK.  As a matter of fact, I believe that is the basic premise behind successful parenting:  That we want our kids to be better, bigger, smarter, happier, healthier...all those things and many more...than we were.  

That NEVER means that you're going to send them to every camp, make sure they get on the "right" team, or buy them everything that they might possibly need to fulfill YOUR dreams for them.

It ALWAYS means that you are going to provide them with opportunities to grow and develop, to find their own way, to mold them much as God might fluff clouds.