Thursday, June 18, 2020

The Sport Formely Known as Crossfit

I was 14 years old, when the late Artist Formerly Known as Prince played at my school as there was not other stadium in town, suitable for his concert. A few months later he decided to start his crusade against the music industry. Some sources say that listening to the rehearsals of our Spring Musical was the main reason behind his decision.


Un hito. El concierto de Prince en A Coruña en 1990 fue un hito para toda una generación de aficionados a la música, que tuvieron que pagar 4.000 pesetas de entonces para asistir.

Regardless of whether this was true he sacrifized fame and success to stand by his principles and challenge the world establishment. Prince followed the steps of Cassius Clay and other relevant figures who use the name change as a symbol of the revolutions they want to start.

A recent controversial tweet by Crossfit CEO, has shaken the community to its core forcing his resignation. A prove that anyone can fall no matter how well regarded they may be, although we already knew that after Taylor Swift's Reputation fiasco.

I will not talk about the content of the message as that has been heavily discussed in every single box around the world. Lets say that regardless the opinion any of us may have on this Tweet, we all Crosfitters share the same feeling, Black Lives Matter.

But viewing some boxes potentially de-affiliating and people suddenly renegading from the brand I started to think what my life will look like if I quit crosfitting.

The answer is easy: it will definitely look better as I will stop resembling Jesus Christ in the Calvary from all the skipping rope marks across my body, and people will not assume I'm into fifty shades of something everytime they shake my bloody blistery hands

Needless to say that, my bank account will be significantly healthier by not wasting the money every second day on a new pair of shoes ( please lets stop the sexiest myth that woman horde shoes, cross fitters do), or ugly T-shirts from every box I stepped in, again, a true paradox when I normally remove it after 5 seconds into the class. A crossfitter wearing a t-shirt is as authentic as a coffee from Starbucks.

But If it was not for Crossfit I will not be in the best shape of my life past my 40s being able to do thing I wasn't capable on my 20s, like breaking my arm courtesy of those evil wooden boxes aka coffins due to the number of casualties they cause.

Most important, I would not have met a wonderful group of people around the world which has been more rewarding than any fitness achievement or muscle gain, well, besides the bum of course (#NickyMinajGoals)

Crossfit has taught me that we are all the same. That when it comes to burpees we all suffer. That we all sweat and smell ( some really badly I must say ) and we all have to things to improve like my jerking ( push jerking I mean ) despite the years of practice. But Crossfit has also taught me to be patient and to put the work to reach those goal.

My elusive first Muscle Up came after a year of hard work and many frustrations. It did not matter how good the coaches were, it needed my day to day effort and commitment to achieve it. That and the push of the community during that Open Workout that helped me reached the goal besides creating a permanent hearing loss from all the screams.

And that is what Crossfit is all about: constant daily effort, community and never giving up. There is no easy road and there is always something to improve, and be prepared for some blisters along the way, because suffering and struggle is part of Crossfit.

If we are not willing to put the effort everyday and support each other as a community we will then be giving up on what we have achieved so far which is huge and we will have to start thinking about how to name the Sport Formerly Known as Crossfit, but the challenges will remain. Because it is not about the name. It is about the action.

Prince all time band was called the Revolution. He realized overtime that his crusade was better fought inside the industry he so badly wanted to change. That is why, eventually he reclaimed his name and ditched the symbol, same as Taylor's exes do according to her songs, and managed to continue his quest for a fairer music industry. Because the best revolutions are the ones exploding from within.






Monday, June 15, 2020

Hanna is not from Montana

Miley Cyrus became a star on the ground-breaking TV series Hanna Montana, reaching  international recognition for the gripping whitely diverse characters and deep social issues tackled in every episode. The show changed television forever and marked an entire generation.

But, apparently the fact that Hanna could hide her alter ego by changing her hair, again, another great positive woman empowerment message from Miley , that was not the only secret that the beloved TV series had to offer.  There was an even darker one: she was actually not from Montana, she just happened to be there, because her millionaire father could afford a second home.
Image result for hanna montana

In reality Hanna, is from Spain. Yes, in fact from Barcelona. She has been trying to hide it for decades to avoid disappointing her country fans, but the prestigious Catalan society "Institut Nova Historia" have uncovered the truth and added her name to the extensive list of talented historical figures such as Shakespeare and Cervantes which according to this Institute were also Catalans. And it must be true as this novel institute received just last year, 3 m Euros to uncover this pressing mysteries for the society, rather than avoiding the closing of several public health centres, probing yet again that when it comes to public investment the regional Catalan Government always puts its citizens first.

Of course Miley has immediately reached out to the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez via Twitter as she is too busy fighting world injustice to do it by phone, fact is commonly known as she barely has time to put any clothes on judging by her music videos

And of course our President, who listens to everyone except to its own citizens responded right away after seeing an opportunity to reach to Hollywood and see if he could be considered for the remake of Top Gun after his private jet photo shoot.

From the Falcon to the embassy: José Manuel Albares, the new ... (Our President clearly not posing during an important discussion in his private jet)

And although Miley never graduated from high school and probably cannot point on a map where Spain is, she has channelled the courage and her teenage character,  entering like wrecking ball into the Spanish Politics, offering her wisdom and leadership to our country when we need it the most. She has done more to get Our President’s name known worldwide that any of his  Government actions in last 2 years.

We do not know if the twitter exchange has followed into a private Snapchat conversation and whether Mr Sanchez has offered Miley a permanent position in the Spanish Cabinet given her extraordinary qualifications.

Sources close to Mr Sanchez also suggested she could well apply to be the future Spanish Queen, since she has a lot of experience after being a Disney Princess for so many years.

For the moment most of us just wish that Miley keeps partying in the USA and let the rest of the world in peace but regardless if she pays attention, one thing is clear, the world is doomed when our leaders, whether is the US or the Spanish one, waste their time tweeting. And sorry but cannot resist to say this represents the Worst of both worlds.


Saturday, June 13, 2020

The Invasion of Netflix

One of my first memories of horror movies, was watching with my brothers The Invasion of Body Snatchers at the age of six.

The movie portrays an extra-terrestrial invasion in a fictional town in California. Alien plant spores have fallen from space and grown into large seed pods, each one capable of reproducing a duplicate replacement copy of each human. Each pod human assimilates the physical characteristics, memories, and personalities of each sleeping person placed near it with one exception, these duplicates, however, are devoid of all human emotion, like people with botox.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 poster).jpg

Today, besides still having issues eating peas, I have realized that the movie, based on a novel of Jack Finney, was a clear premonition of today's society. When Finney wrote his novel, cable TV was still on its beginnings ( in 1952 only 14,000 people have access to cable TV in the US ) so he needed to use a more familiar way to convey the risk of an alien invasion, so he choose peas pods, which it was something present in all American homes at the time, so people could really relate to that.

As usual, human race never learns ( how otherwise we could have endured so many Tom Cruise movies ) and we have not been able to stop the invasion.

In a world where most people don't cook anymore and rely on pre-packed or take away food, pea pods where not an option anymore, so Aliens had to adapt to became creative till they found the only thing present in every home nowadays: a Netflix subscription.

Netflix is the perfect brainwashing machine. Under the illusion of cool and trendy shows, all of us are carefully guided towards herd thinking. We all now believe Tiger King is innocent and Carole Baskin killed her husband.

It does not matter that I have no interest in American politics. Every time I turn Netflix on, I have to see Michelle's Obama Becoming in front page. I am seriously considering leaving the documentary running while going to the shops, but I believe they will somehow track my phone and realize I am cheating. Besides even if I see it, I will then have to endure right after Beyoncé's homecoming one and if that was not enough Taylor's Miss Americana. By the way I wonder why they didn't allow her to use a gerund on her title, although judging by her last 2 albums she is lucky to have a documentary at all. That is probably why she become an activist all of the sudden, to hide her declining music.

You don't have to think anymore, Netflix thinks for you. It offers you the shows you should see , the causes you need to fight for and in case you are not politically correct enough it suggests to watch a certain show again.

The ultimate goal is to created an alienated society, where we all have to think the same way and there is no real discussion anymore. You are pro Tiger or Pro Carol. You are with us or against us. There is no middle ground or nuances. Like when subscribing to Netflix, in current world you are not allowed to have your own opinion, you need to buy the full package.

In the original movie, when everything seems to be lost in California the rest of the world awakes and alerts about the invasion, so there is hope. Hope in every person who opens a book and read. In every person that develops his own opinion even if that is not the popular one. And in every brave person that dissent from the masses. Because nowadays thinking, seems to be one of the bravest thing one person can do.

PS. Invasion of The body snatchers is not available in Netflix