Memorial Day 2020

Memorial Day was started in 1868 as decoration day to remember those of our family who have passed on who served in the military. Captain Bill McGonagle was a cousin. If you have never read the story of the ‘Attack on the Liberty’ by James Ennes Jr. then you should. Here is a link to the book and here is a link to Captain Bill’s Arlington National Cemetery page. The ship and crew were abandon by President Johnson and the US Navy. The crew was under orders to never talk about the incident. Even though this was a terrible incident, Bill loved the Navy and his crew.

Navy Seal Work Out Manual

Several weeks ago I listed my Navy Seal Basic PT body weight exercise routine. I thought I should list where I got that from. So below is several links to publications that are online in pdf form.

I have never been a Navy Seal and don’t pretend to be one. Just amazed at their workouts and have ‘tried’ to do them. My Basic PT that I do is somewhat of a warm-up. You want a real work out try Rear Admiral Smith’s ‘burn out PT’ on page 260-263 of the first publication listed below. As the Admiral says, “Have Fun!”

The Navy Seal Physical Fitness Guide
1997 pamphlet

Naval Special Warfare Physical Training Guide 
2012 pamphlet a little more updated

Naval Special Warfare BUDS/Injury Prevention
2012 pamphlet on specific stretches to prevent injury during BUDS.

The Special Operations Forces Nutrition Guide
2012 pamphlet on eating (I have the 1994 model)

 

Navy Seal Workout PT

With schools being closed, I got to wondering about our athletes and being able to work out from now until football starts up again, if they can’t get to the weight room. So here is my workout that I used to do in my 40’s when I had no weights and didn’t want to join a club. I actually started doing this workout again recently, just to do a body weight workout. It was tough on my core when I first started back up again.

Basic Physical Training (PT) Activities for Warm-up, Flexibility, Strength

Jumping Jacks                                            25   Reps                           60 Seconds
½ Jumping Jacks (hands to shoulder)    25                                       60
Up-Back-Overs                                          5 each                                60
(swing arms, legs, rotate torso and head around and around)
Crunches (back 10 inches off deck)      40-80                                  60
(Do all variations of crunches)
Pushups (regular)                                      20                                       60
Flutter Kicks                                                15 each side                     30
Butterfly Stetch                                           2                                        30
ITB Stretch                                                   2 each side                      60
(lay on back, knee up & over body to the side)
3 Way Hurdlers Stretch                              2 each side                     180
(sit on floor, foot at crotch, not at butt)
Swimmers Stretch                                       2                                        30
(sit on floor cross legged, clasp hands behind back, thumbs down, bend over, raise arms)
Pushups (diamond)                                     20                                      60
Towel Situps                                                 20                                      60
(Rolled up towel under lower back)
Pushups (wide stance)                                20                                      60
One Legged Squats                                     10 each side                    60
Supine back Stretch                                    1                                        30
(lay on back, knees to chest, hold legs with arms tight)
Torso Prone Stretch                                    2                                        30
(lay on belly, push yourself up with arms, crotch flat on ground)
Prone Superman                                         10 each side                     60
(lay on belly, arms out in front, raise right arm and left leg, alternate)
Vee Ups                                                         30                                       60
(lay on back, legs in air, arms above head, now raise arms and body towards feet)
Donkey Kicks                                                 20 each side                    60
(on hands and knees, extend one leg straight back, alternate)
Hand to Knee Squat                                     10                                      30
(finger tips past your knees)
Posterior Shoulder Stretch                          2                                        30
(arms straight in front, palms outward, clasp fingers, stretch forward)
Tricep Stretch                                                 2 each side                      60
Illipsoas Stretch (Russian Dancer)               2 each side                      60
(forward lunge, both hands on forward knee, straight back)
Standing Quad Stretch                                  2 each side                      60
(hold ankle behind back with both hands if possible)
Standing Toe Pointers                                   30                                      60
(raise your heels off the deck high as can)
Gastroc/Soleus Stretch                                  2 each side                      60
(on stairs with knee straight and knee bent)
Pullups                                                              Max you can do              60
Dips                                                                   Max you can do              60
Rope Climb                                                      1                                         15
Repeat starting at crunches and do 2 or 3 times or when you can do the workout fast and easy, add numbers to everything, but the stretches.

St Patrick’s Day 2020

Today is St. Patrick’s Day and we need to laugh a little I think. This small parade comes to us from Cork, Ireland and hopefully it brings a smile to your face.

Fight

Some assistant football coaches are always assigned to a place in the press box or in one corner of the stadium to get a higher view of the field of play. The view from higher up allows the entire field to be seen from a better angle. They can see all 22 players on the field and can see potential possibilities for play calling on both sides of the ball. The coaches in the press box are then in contact with the coaches on the sidelines to help with suggestions and other ideas.

When we pray, we call to God for help, who is in a higher location and can see our lives from a better view point.

In a football game we know we are in a battle, a physical game that is about defeating our opponent on the field of play. In our lives most of us have no idea we are in a battle. It is a spiritual battle against satan and his fallen angels.

Coach Larry Toner said in a talk on prayer, “Bring someone to church with you who likes to fight” because that is what we are in, is a fight against satan.

This is the mentality we need to bring to prayer. We are fighting for our children, our spouses, our extended families, our churches, our friends and our own souls.

Do you see your prayer life as a fight against evil? Let me encourage you to call on the Most High God to look your life over and help you call some new plays.

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

The Most Important Question

Our football coach told us to put a piece of athletic tape on the front of our helmets on the first day of practice. We then wrote our last name on that piece of athletic tape in large letters. Coach said, “Very soon I will remember your names, but here at the start of the football season, there are too many of you that I don’t know.”

We as players knew the coaches name, but he didn’t know us. One day, early in the season, we were scrimmaging and one of my teammates made an outstanding tackle and coach yelled out, “Who is that guy?” It became very apparent to us football players, that we needed to do exactly what the coach wanted us to do; in the way he wanted us to do it, so he would know us.

The most important question in your life is not, “Do you know Jesus or are you saved?” The most important question of your life is, “Does Jesus know you?”

Matthew 7: 21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them solemnly, I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.”

Football players go to practice every day and get known by the coach and you will become aware of what the coach wants.

Christians are supposed to go to practice every day and get known by Jesus through Bible reading, prayer, worship. God’s desire for you will become apparent after you spend time with him, but first you must repent of your sin and believe in Jesus.

 

 

Silence in Prayer

We run all day long. We get up late and race to work or school. We move quickly between classes or meetings and hardly have time to sit and think about anything. Noon hour comes and we eat quickly, if we get to eat at all and then we begin the afternoon in another sprint to the finish line of school or work. After work or school we have practice of sports and other children we have to take care of and something to eat for supper and then we may go to another job or other meetings in the evening.

And when we pray, if we do that anymore, we race through our prayers at warp speed, spitting out our wants and needs as fast as we live our lives.

My life is no different than your life. I have raced through life at 70 to 80 hours of work a week for years. Married, with three children and we were involved in sports, work, school, church and multiple jobs at one time. But one thing I have continued to do is to find time to pray.

Recently, I read a book named ‘Silence The Mystery of Wholeness’ by Robert Sardello. The author has some great thoughts about silence, but one thing, in the book, that has changed my thoughts on prayer is to slow down. He encourages you to say your prayers one word at a time with silence between your words. This includes your memorized prayers such as the Our Father, Glory Be or Oh my Jesus.

Here is what the author says about one word at a time praying, “The words echo in an inner way as we silently speak the outer words. In this echoing we can feel, if we pay attention, an incredible, seemingly unending depth in what we are saying. It is as if we have entered a place where the word has become a spirit. The flatness of speaking transforms into dimensional space. This depth can extend to the point that the words seem to be no longer coming from “me” as I know myself to be, but from a being within me that speaks. When we pray, it is as if a second person is within us praying at a depth we can hardly imagine. Through our presence within the Silence, our spirit-being is able to speak. When we pray in the more usual way, we are often not present with our spirit. The presence of Silence is necessary for our inner spirit voice to resound. With this kind of praying, prayer and meditation join as one.”

There are many ways to pray; words, no words, standing, sitting, kneeling, walking, with or with out other people whenever you feel the need.

Romans 8:26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Scripture from The Message.