Forrest Gump – Karl Koelle Dot Com

The Power Of The Slam

The last couple weeks have been frustrating; between work stress and physical issues, life has been wearing on me. I let it beat me down for a couple days, but enough was enough. When things are grinding you down, it’s time to get kickstarted again.

February saw the launch of our newest fitness scholarship recipient, Mary Lee. Mary has made amazing progress on her journey already, but she came to us looking for a boost. Her goal is to run a half this year; she ran her first 10k at the end of January and is driven to succeed. She needed some guidance with cross training, weights, and so on.

The Foundation was happy to help, of course. We connected Mary with Brandy Seidel, a terrific trainer who has been showing her different exercises, new things to try, and challenging her perceived limits. After watching Mary, I tried some new things myself. It’s easy to fall in a rut, especially when it’s below 10 degrees real temp for a solid week here in lovely Kansas…

Hello There, Sam

The other thing that inspired me is my new toy… folks, meet Sam. (What, you don’t name your favorite toy?) I’m sure the delivery guy didn’t enjoy carrying Sam across the frozen yard the other day in a busted up box, but I sure appreciated it.

For the most part I do body weight work at home. I have a treadmill I bought second hand years ago, some used dumbbells, a pullup bar/captain’s chair, and a sandbag I picked up somewhere along the way. My home equipment list is not extensive, but everything has multiple uses.

You can go a long way with body weight. Sometimes, though, you just need a heavy toy to throw around. There’s something primal about the stress release of the slam ball for me; there are a ton of things you can do with it, but my favorite is simply lifting it overhead and slamming it down using my full body and core. Sam took the brunt of my recent frustration this morning, and honestly he seemed to enjoy it.

The slam ball has so many possible functions. Slams, Russian twists, weighted sit-ups, uneven pushups, over the shoulder throws, slam ball burpees… Man, I feel like Bubba right now… https://kapwi.ng/c/Sk7mxYiW Heck, I even did part of my #iplankwithmary 4 minutes of planks today with my toes on Sam – just to see how it would work. (Pro tip – it was tough! I’ll be doing that again, for sure.)

Watch The Ball Go In

When I look at Sam I smile because I know what he means to me – sore muscles (the good kind of sore, right Mary?) and a feeling of accomplishment. I watched a basketball announcer talk about when he struggled as a player. He’d get to the free throw line, where it’s all mechanics and repetition. He watched the ball go through the rim; simple enough! That let him reset, and stop pressing as much. Small successes lead to bigger wins!

This is what we mean when we talk about progress, not perfection. You’re not going to do a 5-minute plank 30 days into a challenge. You can do 5 1-minute planks though! Build to the bigger wins, whether you are a beginner or a veteran. And don’t forget the primal power of a good slam!

You Call This A Storm??

“Storm is Coming!” was one of The Boy’s favorite books (and mine) when he was young. A farmer facing a brewing storm sends his dog to get all the animals in the barn. They gather, terrified of the fearsome Storm – but they don’t know what that means. They assume it’s a person, or monster, or some such. Thunder and heavy rain comes, and the animals are convinced the Sky is trying to protect them from Storm. In the end, the sun comes back out and all are safe, confident that Storm never actually arrived.

In our lives, the Storm comes in all shapes and sizes. Huge life-altering events with a big buildup, and seemingly insignificant moments that are part of daily life but carry huge impact. Sometimes you won’t know it WAS the storm until the moment has passed. Other times, the expected storm can be easily handled. And of course, there are the times that the storm tears things apart.

Recently we hosted the first ever 1DOS Foundation 5k. I probably drove some folks crazy with a barrage of messages, trying to think ahead and cover every possible detail. Amy and I worked hard leading up to and through the weekend; the weather held, volunteers like my sainted wife stepped up and handled race day operations, and things went off largely without a hitch.

All of this left Amy and I to fill in where needed, talk to as many folks as we could, and pause a couple times in wonder at this thing, this big thing, we had done. (I felt like a duck, trying to be calm on the surface – but under water my feet were kicking like crazy!) The expected storm, the other shoe dropping, something going horribly wrong – it never came. Feedback was excellent overall, from the race timers to the runners, with comments about how well organized and professional things seemed.

Along the way, I found myself thinking about Lieutenant Dan Taylor. (Yes, I have a weird brain.) To me, Lt. Dan was the real hero of Forrest Gump. Gump may have been the protagonist, but Gary Sinise’s Dan carried the point of the movie home for me.

(Side note: In pulling info for this blog, I was surprised to learn that there is a whole segment that really dislikes the movie. I knew of people who thought it was overly simplistic and cute, but to actively despise it – that was not something I recognized.)

Now, Where Was I?

The central theme of Gump revolves around destiny and fate. Forrest finds his way into historical and pop culture events, drifting along as the wind takes him, yet always driven by his earnest attempts to do right by others. He stands by his word, works hard, and tries to be a good person. Naive, simple, but faithful and loyal.

Lieutenant Dan, on the other hand, knows what his destiny is. He is going to fight and die for his country, like so many of his ancestors. He is prepared to sacrifice himself, but Gump “ruins” that by pulling him out of the kill zone, saving his life. Dan struggles with this change of fate; he’s angry at Forrest, angry at society, angry at God – he blames everyone and everything, and his life spirals. The culmination of this? Hurricane Carmen:

“You call this a storm?”

What Does It All Mean, Basil?

We make decisions that change our lives every day. Whether you believe in destiny or not, when you find yourself in a situation, you can own it or you can play the victim. “I can’t do this” or “that won’t work for me” are just excuses that let yourself off the hook. You know what you should do, but gosh, it’s not your fault. You just can’t. Ahem. Bullshit.

Lieutenant Dan eventually found peace and discovered real happiness. He came to terms with the loss of his legs and built a new future for himself. Yes, it wasn’t the one he thought he would have, but he finally owned it and made it his. This isn’t easy to do; the mental gymnastics we create can be a bigger obstacle than the actual issues we are facing. There is a path through – keep looking, keep working. At some point, the sun will come back, and you will find yourself wondering why you were so worried. You made it through the Storm.

Photo by Josep Castells on Unsplash

Forrest Gump is not my property and I hold no rights to the movie or this content.
Finerman, W., Starkey, S. P., Tisch, S. (Producers), & Zemeckis, R. (Director). (1994). Forrest Gump [Motion Picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.