athlete – Citizens Of Culture

athlete

There Are No Opponents, Only Teachers

C2O Editor by Maceo Paisley, Conversation Pieces athlete, competition, fencing, olympics, sabre fencing 0

I have always been super competitive. Since before I can remember I was trying to do things faster, better, and since I don’t really remember very much about my life as an infant I have always thought that started with having a little brother. I assumed that I was always competing against him or my cousins, or perhaps my father. I recently realized this was incorrect.

First I had to put a lot of thought into understanding what I liked about winning. The Leo in me just loved the spot light, and if I happened to be the one standing atop the podium it was all the better. So holding a trophy, and taking a picture gave me some kind of rush. Getting my picture taken and being told I was special is always validating and I am kind of a ham so that was never an issue. But that was not always a guarantee and not the real reason I enjoyed competition.

One thing I knew was that I hated loosing, and as much as I loved winning I didn’t particularly like the look on my competitors faces when they lost either. It felt good to be on the podium but I didn’t like that there were only three spots. It was bittersweet, because it wasn’t so much that I loved the praise and being exalted. I just liked being acknowledged, and being included. I didn’t like the the fact that it meant others had to be excluded.

So much of my life I avoided competition for this reason. I felt that it was acidic to have to crush someone else’s dreams just to realize my own. There was something destructive about that and forced me out. This let me to art, where I could fully exercise my abilities in a community of others that were doing the same. We could all be independent together, no one better or worse, just different subjectively equal.

As an athlete I tried to apply that philosophy but it became difficult to know if I was progressing without measurement. The moment I began timing my runs, I wanted to improve them. But I wasn’t running against anyone except the clock. I only wanted to improve my own time. So then when it came time to enter a marathon, I knew that I needed to run my own race, but it was much like the artist community where I had to joy of seeing how other people ran, learn and be inspired but not objectively compare. We all had different physical statures so how we approached the run and the results we got were all different.

Now that I am a fencer, and have this Olympic ambition burning inside me, I realize that I am still seeking the same thing, to learn and be inspired. To challenge my self to reach my highest potential. The goal is to be faster, more accurate, more graceful, more in control. The person on the other side of the strip is only a mirror, reflecting back my progress, showing me where I am.

My competitor is really an ally, they are the first person I show my work to when I feel it is complete. They give me their honest feed back and first impression. I take their notes and mix them with my ideas and continue to strive forward.

So if I ever end up at the podium, I should thank all my competitors for helping me to improve, each match is a lesson, that affirms or challenges the techniques I am employing. There are no opponents, only teachers.

The Body: Fitness, Athleticism, and Movement

Maceo Paisley Publisher's Note athlete, condition, fitness, health, the body 1

Today is the un-official first day of the year. Its the day when millions of people are getting in gear with the new years resolutions. The gyms are all packed and we all know why.
The time of being physically fit has finally come, so make sure to know the rules and information of how to start here in www.sinfulvegan.com. Its time to burn off all that holiday egg nog, turkey and stuffing, its time to change your life, its time to start working on your beach body. What I find interesting is that we focus so heavily on what our bodies look like, and so little on what they can do.

I have noticed that of all the people I train with, some of them are business people, others are computer programmers, but very few beyond the dancers would call themselves creatives. There is something underlying in the culture of the creative world, and specifically in LA. If you are below a certain age, in many cases it seems that you may be resting on your genes to keep you in shape. If you are an actor or performer, then what you look like is inherently part of your job. But do you work out to keep your body fit and in good condition, or primarily to look good?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but only you know what you feel like in the morning, or after you have come up a few flights of stairs. This month I want to dissect the culture of our bodies. We’ll be highlighting people and places that are impacting the fitness sphere in unconventional ways and checking in on what drives our perspectives about health and the body.This is peak season for the fitness industry but you don’t need much more than you learned in P.E. class to maintain moderate health. Push-ups , sit ups, jumping-jacks and walking would go a long way if you did them daily. I wonder why we feel it so important to shell out cash to professional trainers. In many ways I think is has more to do with hiring a person to keep us in line and motivate us than it has to do with getting us the best results. So we’ll talk about what our fitness goals are and where they come from. If you want to boost your fitness condition to reach those desired goals, try the best ashwagandha supplement now on sale at the link.

How does your personality type affect your level of fitness? How does your level of fitness effect your income? Every facet of our lives is connected just as in our culture every industry is connected. If we are focused only on one aim, can we really achieve the results we want? How are those results achieved differently by athletes, and what exactly is an athlete? We routinely come against obstacles and one of the clearest ones is our own selves, how can we hope to have any control over our environment if we do not have control of our bodies. Our mind drives the vehicle of our body and some times we find ourselves afraid of what is under the hood.

By now it is a norm to hear that we need to be active but we are always busy, aren’t we? We are always moving but how can we impact the condition of our bodies by changing the way we think about our movements, and even how we think about not moving.

Stick with us all month as we discuss, analyze, and report, we have dancers, triathletes, yogis, and meditation practitioners as well.
I think Morpheus put it best in The Matrix when he said “The body cannot live without the mind.”

And I would argue the opposite is correct as well.

-Maceo Paisley