I loved listening to our friends and members Deb (of For the Love of Your Biz) and Kerri/Fancy (of Ovation Communication) talk yesterday about sharing our stories as business owners. Towards that end, I was inspired to share part of my story–a day in the life of Woodshed. I hope you’ll enjoy this little peek behind the curtain.
5:00 AM–The alarm goes off. I’ve been awake for a few minutes…I went to bed relatively early last night and got a decent night’s sleep. This is good. It’s going to be a busy day and I want to hit the ground running. I head downstairs, drink a glass of cold water, put my oatmeal in the microwave, and take out the turkey burgers to thaw for tonight’s dinner.
5:05-5:25 AM–I pour my coffee into the special red Christmas mug that is reserved ONLY for me, and ONLY for my morning coffee. Yes I am precious. The microwave beeps and the oatmeal is ready–I mix in two scoops of Coconut Fuel protein, a chopped Fuji apple, and a handful of almonds and I sit at the kitchen table eating my breakfast and drinking my coffee while watching the morning news on Channel 7.
5:30-5:50 AM–Wash my face, brush my teeth, drive to the gym. I can usually catch one song on the radio. Today’s is Pink Floyd…uninspiring. So I switch to the AM. I get to the gym, open it up, turn on the lights and the iPod, and head to the whiteboard to write the day’s workout down. Today is speed squats and a burly bodyweight conditioner. I say hello to the 5:45 peeps on my way back towards the platform area and check in with Amy, one of our longtime members and newest apprentice trainer. She’s here to train at 5:45 with the class and shadow me during the 7 AM class. She’s going to be a great trainer.
5:50-8:00 AM–Our first two classes are awesome. Great squats, great effort on the bodyweight conditioner. I make a note of how much better I feel on a good night’s sleep and with a full breakfast in my belly–like a different person. I love seeing folks squat on 5×5 speed day; it’s a fantastic chance for us to learn power and force production without worrying over the weight on our backs. I think we made some breakthroughs today–getting the knees out and really driving hard through midfoot on the way up. The conditioner was a burner too. I loved seeing folks work it on out and cheer for their classmates. I make a second mental note to remind folks how important that stuff is…feeling like you are leaving it out on the floor and that your classmates have your back is second to none. As always, I am proud to have my oldest boy here with me–he reads at the desk while I teach classes.
8:35 AM–7 AM ended a little bit early so I took the opportunity to mop the mats while D played around on the leg press. Head over to school and we have our goodbye routine while we’re waiting. Dropoff line and parking at school is a trip. I’ll leave it there.
8:45-9:30 AM–Head back home, empty the dishwasher and start the next load with the morning’s breakfast dishes. Check my email and respond to several member queries and to two of my private nutrition clients–they both had great weeks so those responses practically and happily write themselves. We build upon success–do what you did last week and let’s check this or that small box to have an even better week. It’s not always that easy, but when it is, you want to let people know that they kicked ass. Finally I write up the Member Monday post (it is Anne, whom I photographed at the 5:45 today) and send it over to Deb for publication on the main FB page–I hope she gets a lot of love on the post!! (I just remembered, typing this, that I need to show her the FB page since she doesn’t do FB and won’t have seen people’s comments.)
9:30-10:30 AM–Bring some laundry downstairs, put it into the washer, and hit my workout. I’m still in recovery mode from my last powerlifting meet; I also just bought some new equipment for the gym and have moved some older equipment (from way back when I was just an individual trainer) back into my basement, so this is an exploratory session–feel my way out on some lighter weights and basement training to work up a good sweat. I lift and stretch for about 30 minutes–sets of 12 on the back squat mixed with some hang cleans, kettlebell swings, and hitting the heavy bag. Then I put the laundry into the dryer and ride the airdyne for 20 minutes. Soundtrack is Motorhead. When I’m done, I shower and have a cheese stick and half an apple before I head back to the gym.
11:00 AM-1 PM–I meet with a private client at 11. She’s about halfway through her On-Ramp program and is making outstanding progress. We make a breakthrough on cleans today; she is really getting her hips back in the catch and I get to yell YEAH for her several times. I can’t wait to see how she does in group classes–great personality, great attitude, strong athlete. She’s a keeper! A few minutes before 12, the noon group starts filtering in. I love this group; most of them are heading over from their jobs so this is lunch break for them. It’s pretty cool to be a part of someone’s decision to spend their free hour during a workday getting stronger and faster. I try not to lose sight of the privilege I enjoy–that I get to be part of these moments they’re creating. I love that we have two separate groups who either work for the same company (and Woodshed membership is a company benefit for these dudes!) or work in the same building at noon class–very cool. I hope they still love it here on Wednesday when the DOMS from today’s workout hits.
1 PM-somewhere around 2:10 PM–On a longer day I try to make sure to get the house stuff done before the work stuff whenever I have some stretches of time, so I finish the laundry and have some sliced chicken breasts over salad. Afternoon time before school gets out is typically reserved for learning stuff, so I comb through some articles I have electronically dogeared over the weekend and check in with a couple of my favorite s&c websites for new posts: Joel Jamieson’s coming out with some pretty interesting stuff on conditioning and I am really enjoying digging into that.
Somewhere around 2:10 PM–give in to the nap monster. Set my alarm for three and head for the couch.
3:00-5:00 PM–Drive to school to pick D up. We throw and punt the football around in the backyard–this way I don’t have to notice the cars that drive 40-45 down my 25 MPH thickly settled street. The Village of Littleton giveth and taketh away. Beth and L get home around 3:45 and we monkey around a bit while she gets the turkey burgers and veggies together. I kiss the boys goodnight and head back to the gym for the evening classes after eating a quick burger and grabbing an apple. The evening on a full day like this can be tough, I won’t lie. But I know I will see friends and some great work, and that makes it a lot easier to countenance.
5:30-8:30 PM–The two evening classes are fun. 5:30 has its own vibe…everyone seems to be coming from work and it’s fun to see folks enter the gym in their Monday best only to be swinging kettlebells in tees and shorts five minutes later. Watching folks squat in the early evening is VERY different than the early morning or even the noon–hips are looser, depth is easier to establish, and it even feels like there is less knee-crackling. I enjoy the evening conversations…we’ve all gotten into our days and this is the pleasant downhill. 6:30 is the perfect last class of the day; they are like Woodshed After Dark–the work gets done, laughs are had, and folks enjoy each other’s company and hopefully the idea that their workouts will make it that much easier to relax later in the evening. Sometimes perhaps I wish one of them would yell very loudly, but perhaps I will take care of that myself next time I see them…
Tonight I have my second private at 7:30, who is also about halfway through her On Ramp. Erin B. joins me to shadow this personal training session as she begins her apprentice training program; I’m really excited to get her in front of some classes soon as well–she has a great eye and is incredibly committed to learning here. She was a slam dunk, oh of course we should ask her if she’d like to learn how to train…lucky to have her. Our On Ramper does very well…natural deadlifter for sure, getting more confident by the session.
9 PM–Home. I put on some tea and chill out in front of the television. Our friend Chris Connors’ Wicked Bee Honey goes wonderfully with my sleepytime tea/Natural Calm mix and pretty soon I’m tired enough to head upstairs. Take a shower, then head into bed with my headphones so I can drift off to sleep with some talk in the ears (and not keep Beth up), and that’s a wrap on a very good day. I get to sleep in a bit later tomorrow because Amanda and then Alicia have the helm; how could I not have easy, dreamless sleep with those two in charge. All is and will be very well at Woodshed. Nighty-night!
