Why we train

In my world, it is about adventure and pursuing passion and I will go to great length to continue this as long as possible and hope to continue to learn and even progress at those passions. To stay injury free as much as possible and to have the skill and physical capacity to perform to the best of my ability is key. Why? Because that way it is the most fun and full immersion in your passion occurs..flow. My training or movement practice as I prefer to call it, is designed to do just that. Being an adventurer in a varied climate in variable conditions at various endeavors requires Variety in training so adaptability is paramount. I will use the past 48 hours as an example to paint a better picture of some of these adventures. this could really be an example of any week as you have to be ready to chase storms for powder or surf or dirt or..

9am-6pm- drive 1 hour, train people in the Mocean365 style, outdoors etc. finish at 6 pm and start the drive to chase the storm of the season(surfing)

6:15-9:15 pm-Drive to coast, beginning of drive very slick roads, full attention required

9:30-arrive at cabin in New Hampshire, buddies are already there, setting up instruments for our jam, no rest for the wicked

9:45pm -1:00am–Play a grueling set of 3 hours straight, driving and vicious set of heavy rock, metal and punk on the drums. finish and pack vitals etc for todays adventure

4:30am-6 am- Happy Thanksgiving! up and at em’, 4 hours of sleep, buddy and i pack up and van, drive out of driveway onto road and 150 yards later, a deer rams the side of the van! couple new dents from the deers body and some scrapes from his rack(nice rack) on the van but we continue north into “vacationland”.

6:30-9:30am- cold wet suit goes on where it will stay for the next 9 hours, already cold. Ocean is massive, very very cold and wave sets 8-12 feet. paddle out at first spot and realize its too big to surf there so come in and drive a few minutes north to a heaving rock point that should be better suited??..park van and walk 1/4 mile to point in driving wind..stumble out across 50 plus yards of icy rocks then paddle into an ocean that is ferociou!, 35mph plus offshore winds and gnarly currents, boils and dry rocks poking out everywhere dodge lots of bombs and only catch one wave in the session.grrrrrrr.. Was scared for most of the session but breathed through it.. all this effort and time so far and one wave..my buddy gets 2 waves though..

10am -12:30 pm-Move to another spot to try and get out of wind.. swell is more manageable but wind is still 30 mph plus gusts, very cold too but the waves are firing and we get lots of them though we miss dozens just not able to paddle through the wind. the offshore winds blow spray 20 feet over our heads. my buddy calls it quits a couple hours in, tired and cold and i don’t blame him. i move back down to the spot where we started before the current pulled us a half mile north. get lots and lots of waves. conditions are improving and i realize you have to take off at last second possible to make it through the wind.

12:45-5 pm-Move south to rock point in New Hampshire. stop on the way to help a family stranded on side of 95 with no lug wrench to take off their flat. i help them for nearly half hour..in my wetsuit. pretty sketchy with cars flying by on their way to Thanksgiving still very good conditions but my buddy who is one of the best athletes i have ever known, is done for the day. This is the session of the day, i am cold to the bone but waves are too good to pass up, surf for 3 hours over shallow rocks, felt really good about performance. very beautiful sunset and met a cool fellow surfer..got tangled up in a seaweed bed on the way in at the end of the reef. Get back to van absolutely frozen, temps have plummeted.

6 pm-5:30 am-Drive an hour to cabin, eat some and read and pass out in the hammock. full 8 hours sleep feels good. alarm goes off at 5:30

6:30-10 am-temps are in the teens, put cold wetsuit on at cabin. Drive an hour to spot, waves have dropped but very clean waves and empty at spot but..forgot one of my gloves..drive 1/2 hour to early opening surf shop and borrow a pair. surf sweet waves and get my fill…

Then it’s “back to reality”..driving 3 hours north and back to my work which these days is focused solely on helping others get into Mocean.

So you can see my training should reflect a heavy dose of being very adaptable to wet, snow, cold, long drives, tricky negotiating of varying waves(skill work), being scared but still performing to the best of my ability, endurance both cardiovascular and muscle, strength and power for burst of full effort, not getting injured doing this especially preventable over/underuse injuries.

Training inside often or using equipment that doesn’t resemble the moves I need to do would make no sense. Also training my brain to deal with adversity and environment is key. My hands and feet need to be very strong and even more important..smart. . My moves need to be varied and diverse and skillful as much as possible.

Food for thought. It is our hope that you do the same in your own training or movement practice. You don’ t need me or a gym or anything really to get started except the desire to do it..may the force be with you..