I am back at Stanford and it feels GREAT!
This summer was eye-opening for me. Of course, it's all dragonboat related. Coming from Stanford, but beginning to make a name out of myself in the dragonboating community, I feel that my school does not have the same type of respect. I don't blame the db community though because honestly, Stanford has been lacking with its dragonboating program: lacking the commitment, leadership ebb and flow.
Initially, I blamed it on the fact that Stanford doesn't get a lot of the high school experienced paddlers such as the UC system. I blamed it on the fact that Stanford had a smaller pool of talent to begin with. To me, I thought that was the biggest barrier. However, seeing this as a barrier is not very constructive because it is not something that can be changed. The variables that can be changed though, now that I've gone through a summer asking people what their drive is to paddle, this is really the variable that can be changed.
Commitment. Commitment. Commitment. This is the X-factor. Now I know that what SDB needs is a drive. What makes a person want to work hard for a team? What drives a person to wake up early on Sunday to paddle? What motivates a person to push their body to its limits? The answer is really in team chemistry, coaching leadership, and friends.
This coming season, I am going to assume the position of coach. Not head coach or anything, but just a coach that is going to work with the team and get each and every single individual stronger, but also feeling as if they are a part of SDB. I feel that by diverting my attention solely to the needs of new and veteran paddlers, I could become more of a resource, but also a motivator for them to work hard, train hard. Simultaneously, I am not going to slack off my training because my head is aiming at making it onto the 2013 USA u23 team competing at Budapest. I am feeling this ambition and I want to train others to hunger for self-improvement as well.
Having spoke to quite a few freshman at the AANSOC community welcome, they energized my faith and trust in SDB. I bring a lot of experience and personableness to the team and I hope that I could change people's lives in a positive way. Dragonboating is my message and I am optimistic that the class of 2015 will hear it.
Today, I went to the gym at 10am, worked out for about 50 minutes. It was mostly a chest workout. I know, my bench press is not super impressive, but what can I say. The heaviest I remember ever benching was 135, but it's been almost a year since, so I started off a bit lighter, but still could not complete that last set.
For barbell rows, I was unsure how much I could lift, so I jumped up weights every set. I think 105 or so will be where I am going to start next time.
As for pushups, I really wanted to hit the 44 mark, which was what I did for the one minute fitness test for DW. However, my goal is that by next week, I can hit 50+.
Bench Press: 8x115, 8x115, 7x115*
Flyes: 10x20, 10x20, 10x20
Bentover row: 12x65, 12x85, 10x105
Pec-Deck: 10x115, 10x115, 10x115
Squats: 10x115, 10x115, 10x115
Max Pushups: 39, 32, 33*
