March 04, 2012

A Salute to Evil Spouses

Evil in a wonderful way!

I want to publicly thank my awesome husband for being the absolute greatest cheerleader.  Since I made the decision to go out for SWAT, he has been a source of inspiration, reassurance, and physical assistance (literally, for pull-ups).

Over the last few weeks, I've had a bout or two of workout fatigue tears and frustration due to slower than I would like progress in some areas.  No worries, husband is right there with pom poms bolstering my crestfallen soul, telling me I will push through the plateaus.  And when I injured my calf, he was the person who stood by and listened to me whine and panic and bitch and snark about being injured; then he offered soothing, calm words that I was going to be just fine.  When I get an injury I've not had before, I tend to sink into a pit of worry that it will spiral into a doomsday scenario.  This man, this wonderful man, he listens, and then tells me the score.  "Dag, you are going to be 100% in a couple of weeks, it's okay."  I don't think I've told him enough, just how much these words mean to me.  The calm in his voice, the confident reassurance, it's like glassy water for the turbulent storm.

Last week, My adoring husband suggested I add Burpees to the Playing Card workout, which I did, thusly doubling my push-up reps during this task.  Yeah because 95 push-ups is sooooo 3 weeks ago.  He has also suggested some other mighty tasks, like going through the deck twice or doubling up on reps for the whole workout.

This morning, as we were getting ready for our Eskrima class, he told me, "I think I'll start dropping the Baston (this is the name of the stick we use) on purpose so you will have to do extra push-ups."  (A dropped Baston in Eskrima class means 10 push-ups).  Then he laughed!  And it was a completely devious, maniacal laugh.  Like, Willy Wonka devious.

And that's not all, for only 3 easy payments of $19.95, there is more.

I have been searching around for a power cage or good pull-up bar for our house and I found a cage on Craigslist for $200, which is a total steal, but still $200.  I came this close to buying it, but ultimately decided the simple doorway bar would be more cost effective, and would have the added benefit of being literally in my face at a doorway.  I decided my personal challenge would be to do at least one pull-up every time I approach the bar.  Well, husband decided that he could interject his twist into this challenge by moving the bar.  My plan of using one particular doorway went out the window, because now he is going to place it at random doorways in our house.  Pure evil.  He is demented.  

Each time he makes one of these suggestions I exclaim, "What? No! That's crazy!  I'm not doing that!... Oh wait, that's a actually a good idea, okay, yeah, I'll do that."  He is so wonderfully supportive in this way.  He is not just mailing in the words of encouragement, with an occasional "oh yeah babe go for it."    He is actively pushing me, telling me I can do this, telling me he knows I can do this.  Each time I set a new goal for myself, he encourages me to push it even farther.

So, my dearest one, thank you so much.  You are a blessing.

On this note, I want to salute all the husbands/boyfriends/girlfriends/wives of our female fighting community who love their scrapping women.  You are rare breeds.  Some of us have experienced situations that were not encouraging, and maybe downright DIScouraging.  A confident spouse is true and wonderful gem.  Thank you ladies and gentlemen, for being our awesome, strong counterparts.  Your presence in our lives is a precious gift.

Train well!

Dag

1 comment:

  1. Love your post Dag. I too have an amazing husband who completely supports my love affair with jiu jitsu. I couldn't train the way I do without his support. :)

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