Coach Ken Wall

It was early in 2014 and I wasn't feeling the best. Work stress was pretty brutal,  I had a new baby at home and my workouts were sporadic.  I was having some low back pain that was lingering way longer than the occasional stiffness that accompanied long days on my feet training people. The pain was getting worse by the day and even starting to affect my sleep. "I'm fine", I thought to myself. "I train people with low back pain all the time." I know what I need to do." Then it happened. Shortly after returning from a weekend trip for a conference, I was outside with my dog and I sneezed. I immediately was hit with blinding pain in my low back and torso. It was 10 degrees outside and I wasn't even sure I could back into the house. Even my dog looked worried. After a night of pain meds, I soldiered into work the next day. "I have clients. I'm fine", I told myself. My second client of the day, a local physical therapist took one...

She had spent the last 10 years convinced that she had too many health issues to get back in shape. It seemed like everything hurt and the everytime she tried to move, things hurt worse.  It was no way to live. Finally, her doctor convinced her to investigate working with a coach, one that was familiar with her limitations and could work around them. She reluctantly decided to give it a shot. After her first couple workouts, she felt amazing. Things didn't hurt like she expected and all she wanted to do was.......more! She finally felt like her life was improving and she couldn't get enough. She was exercising on her own....every day. Her coach told her that this was a marathon and to take it slow but he didn't understand how good she felt! 10 days later, she was exhausted and somewhat dejected. What happened?  The next week she showed up for her workout beat up and tired. She told her coach what she had been doing and he smiled. "Heart versus brain." , he...

I couldn't put it off any longer. If I didn't get a coat of stain and sealer on the deck, I was going to end up having to replace it. It annoyed me that I needed to find time to do it. I'm far too busy with important stuff. (My wife is rolling her eyes.) I had the business to think about and long days there left me with little desire to spend time painting. So, I made up my mind that I was going to get this done.....fast. I was going to use a roller instead of a brush as I  thought  it would go much quicker. I got started with the roller and all seemed to be going well.....except that the uneven nature of the semi-warped boards made it impossible for the stain to get in some spots. I ended up having to use a brush to hit the spots I missed. Frustrated, I quit for the afternoon with more than two-thirds of the deck yet to be stained. About a week later, still frustrated with not having this  stupid  project complete, I saw on one the containers of stain that it ...