2011: The Year That Was…
December 21, 2011 by danny · Leave a Comment
Once again, the end of the year is already here! It’s time to reflect on what we did, what we are proud of, and what we could do better going forward. As a reminder, when you sit down to write your resolutions, focus on your behaviors rather than your goals. For example, if you want to lose 10 pounds by February 14th, write down the behaviors that will help get you there…
1) I will eat 6 + servings of fruits and VEGGIES per day.
2) I will train with weights 3 times per week and get 2 additional cardio sessions in.
3) I will eat (pick your vice) only 1 time per week – max.
Focusing on your behaviors will give you the road map to reach your goals.
2011
2011 was a BIG year for me… life changing! Let’s take a look at some of the bigger events that stood out – both training and non-training.
-In January me and my friend’s Marci and Jason flew down to Arizona for some fun and some education. Marci and I visited Bret Contreras and his garage gym. It was great and we picked up a lot of great information from Bret! I reviewed our time with Bret, here… My Visit With Bret Contreras.
-My favorite interview of the year was the one I did with Jen Comas Keck. She’s one bad ass girl! You can read more about it here… Girl Gone Strong.
-As 2011 kept moving on, Shondra went from pregnant, to VERY PREGNANT!
You'd think there was two in there!
-The BIGGEST day of my life happened on May 27th, 2011 (at 8:02 and 8:03 a.m. – in case you were wondering 
) …
-This was a fun little interview I did with the Rockford Register Star.
-I continued my work, writing for FitStudio.
-I became a FitFluential Ambassador. Chief Execute Officer and Founder, Kelly Olexa asked for a blog post directed to those new to fitness. This is what I came up with … Dear Young Fitness Friends.
-I had to say goodbye to a my good friends in California.
Good times. Good friends.
-Although it was hard, I was excited to head back “home” and get our babies closer to family.
The reason we came back to Illinois!
-Da Bears looked great early on. Then Jay Cutler got hurt. Then Da Bears started stinking up the joint. Then I cried.
-Da Bulls showed A LOT of promise and I’m excited about their future. D. Rose is a stud and he just signed a contract extension. I smiled.
-The Cubs picked up Theo Epstein, which has many of us Cub fans really excited. BUT, we are still the Cubs – so I only half smiled.
-After arriving in Illinois, I started training people out of my basement, continued training clients on-line, and have been busy giving basketball lessons and clinics. I continue to add equipment to the basement, but here is what it looked like early on…
-My most “controversial” post/video of the year came when I posted a YouTube video, giving the reasons that I am not a fan of distance running (for most). Check out the video for my more in depth reasoning for this. But the short of it is; running is very high impact and very repetitive. So, the main point is, EXCESSIVE running is what I am not a fan of. However, “excessive,” may actually be less than you think…
I came across this article yesterday called, “America’s Scariest Fitness Trends.” Check out fitness trend #2, as Rachel Cosgrove talks about some of things I mention in the above video.
Below is just one (of an infinite amount of options) example of how to more evenly spread the joint stress throughout the entire body when getting your cardio in. Did I Beat My Previous Time?
-You know that I have to sneak in some basketball. Here’s another basketball article that I wrote for iHoops… “5 Intermediate Strength Training Lifts for Basketball Players”
-I’ve been so busy with life, babies, etc, that I haven’t played much b-ball lately. But I’m back in a league and starting to play a little more again. As I talk about in this post, My Body Is A Mess, I was not smart – the first time coming back to play, I ended up playing on back-to-back days and my body/blisters hated me all week…
My poor blisters!
Oh, and here are a couple updated pictures of Capri and Daxton…
And we had a pretty good deadliftingsession the other day. They struggled with gripping the kettlebell and with mastering the hip hinge, but I think they’ll get it soon enough. 
There is a whole lot more that I could include, but I don’t want to make this too long. In 2012 I look forward to helping you all with your health, performance, and physique goals. I look forward to continue spending time with my family and friends. And I look forward to ATTACKING my fitness goals as well! Remember to write down a few of the BEHAVIORS that will lead you to your goals!
Speaking of behaviors and goals, what are yours in 2012? Let me hear them.
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