I drove down to Maryland from New Jersey on Friday. I left my house at 7pm, and got to Maryland at 11pm. Four freakin hours to go 130 miles. It's always in Delaware, that tiny little state, where the accident happens, so I'm prepared. Right where 295 and 95 merge. Costs you like 10 bucks to go through the state , too. Or something like that. But no stress, because it's happened 1000 times to me, so why should I be surprised? I had a podcast with Stan Efferding to listen to, some new Toxic Holocaust to rock out to, and I was venturing to my amazing home state, Maryland, by god. So I just moseyed on along.
I stayed at my parents house in Maryland that night, and of course it was great to spend the night in the house where I grew up and to see my folks. Next day , I got up early with my father (he'd been up for a while) and he made me an egg sandwich just like the old days when I used to live there. It's funny how every house has a different aura, a different smell, a different feel. Isn't it the truth? My parent's house does. Smells like home to me, and a bit of melancholy about not living there anymore and my parents getting older and all the other stuff, you know what I'm talking about.
I was in Maryland to see my parents but to also do a seminar on the squat and deadlift at Mike Krivka's Crossfit Concepts in Gaithersburg , Maryland. I went to Junior College up there, and driving around there brought back more memories. I was driving around thinking about the junior college days and how shitty I did in school and how fun football was and how I thought that I knew everything back then.
Anyway, I was heading to Crossfit Koncepts to do a seminar with my good friends, Marty Gallagher and Kirk Karwoski. They are two huge names in the Iron World and they are very cool people and we speak the same language because we are all from Maryland, by god. And we all three have the same philosophy about training. Although Marty likes to tell people I am the "volume guy" and he's the "ultra minimalist", we have more in common than not when it comes to what we believe in.We all have been friends for years, and Kirk and I always start back where we left off the last time that we saw each other.
We had a bunch of great attendees , including Zach Even Esh, who I thought was gonna help us coach but hopped in and did everything step by step wise as anyone else. You are never too experienced to learn something, even if it's like, just one thing. You learn one thing? It's worth it.
And all the folks that showed up had experience but they were either looking to get back into it, trained people for a living, or just needed a form check. I love coaching, especially when everyone is so eager to learn. I mean, they were busting their ass . The way it works is that, we all teach the lifts. I do the sumo deadlift, Marty and Kirk the squat, Kirk the conventional deadlift, then I go over assistance stuff and Marty and I talk programming. We all contribute to all topics, and make points about the lifts and then everyone tries the lifts out.
Kirk gets real fired up and I do myself and its great. Just the intensity and everyone TRYING REAL HARD, and it's a great atmosphere. I miss that stuff, there is not enough of it in life where everyone is freakin training like that. Everyone had a different life story and I am inherently curious about folks so I love hearing on how others live day to day. It's amazing when they tell you the the seminar was good or that it was their favorite seminar. And then we had dinner and Zach and I left out, headed back to Jersey. I listened to David Joy's latest, "The Line that Held Us"on Audible and that man can tell a damn good story. And when I got to Jersey, it was great to see my family but also great to see my black lab puppy, Rebel! How did he survive 24 hours without me?
