Intention

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Quick post after my quick trip to Louisville earlier this week with a group of other gym owners with whom I’ve consulted over the past three years.

We all were sharing stories of the community events we took part in over the past ten to fifteen years—the things we did to build and strengthen our communities, occasionally out of a feeling desperation.

My story was about my GORUCK experience, which many of you have heard, and for the rest of you, I will save for another day.

My buddy Kenny, who owns a gym in Santa Monica, talked about his experience with an organization called SealFit, which is run and owned by a former Navy Seal.

The course is meant to give you a glimpse of what hell week is like down in San Diego.

Kenny was talked into doing it with a few members and coaches.

Three days of no sleep, freezing cold, and tons of mental barriers aimed at breaking you down.

With just a few hours to go, the group had to hold a plank while two instructors dunked Kenny headfirst into a waist-high garbage can while they held his legs.

He was searching for a number that was painted on the bottom of the trash can.

His group held a plank as he frantically searched the bottom of the murky water looking for the number.

They pulled him out every ten or fifteen seconds, screaming “What’s the number!?”

Five different times, he couldn’t find the number.

Each time, they screamed more intensely, and each time he said he didn’t know, his group moaned more loudly.

Finally, they yanked him out of the can, and Kenny yelled triumphantly, “2, it’s 2!”

“You sure?” they sneered.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Everyone dropped from the plank. As Kenny stood there soaking wet in the freezing cold, the instructors walked away.

“Kane,” the last instructor said disappointingly and barely audibly.

“Yes Sir,” Kenny responded.

“There ain’t no number down there,” he said, shaking his head as he walked away.

Kenny broke, accepted his fate, and chose something just to make it stop, for himself and his group.

Kenny was laughing as he was telling us the story.

His motto was this: Know the intention before going in, and if you don’t know it, don’t assume it.

He could care less that he broke and made up the answer.

Our hope here is that you care enough to want to know the answer.

Whether it’s an exercise, a set, a warm up or foot position, we hope you want to know the intention.

That’s all I’ve got for this week.

Have a great end of your week and upcoming weekend.

~TJ