The LIFT Strong Promise….

The LIFT Strong Promise….

Alwyn Cosgrove is a strength coach out in California. He is a cancer survivor who has started an organization called Lift Strong. The organization sells wrist bands, t-shirts and other products to help support cancer research. Once I started working at AFTLI I bought over 100 wrist bands to help support the cause.

If you would like to support the fight against leukemia and lymphoma please click on one of the links above and make a donation.

We all can make a difference in the fight against cancer.

Anyways here is the story of LIFT STRONG and why it got started.

Alwyn Cosgrove has a simple training philosophy. It is to get results by any means necessary. He is an excerpt from an interview Alwyn did on t-nation this past year.

“I think most people just take life for granted. I mean, what would you do if you only had a few more years left? We all think that we have decades of time. But what if you didn’t? What if you don’t make it to retirement age? Would you live differently?

I think being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and then being in remission is like being told that your life is over, and then being given a second chance. You don’t waste it.

After cancer, you just start to look at everything differently. You savor everything positive. Every conversation with someone is enjoyable. Other little things don’t bother you.

It’s hard to spend any time on anything negative at all, really. I’ve even cut some negative people out because I just don’t want that energy in my life. I just don’t have that kind of room to carry other people’s crap, you know?

I still get regular CT-PET scans. It’s actually a weird feeling when you go for check ups. Part of you knows that you’re okay, but part of you is aware that they aren’t doing scans for no reason. It just reawakens every old emotion inside you.

I’m not sure that these feelings will ever go away. But maybe they’re good to bring up. It reminds you of your spirit and the support you have.

As much as they make me uncomfortable, at the same time I feel grateful for these thoughts. It’s as if they are a gift — a reminder to appreciate everything. That’s a gift that most people don’t have.

It’s been a struggle, but I’m still on the road.

It’s been about 15 months since my relapse/transplant. I’ve done about 215 workouts this year. I still get out of breath going up stairs, and get really tired doing the simplest things. I need about 11-12 hours sleep a night most of the time.

Despite all my training knowledge, resources, and my efforts I’m at about 50% of my strength levels before I got sick. I’m smaller and have less muscle, more fat, less strength, less endurance, and get winded easy. But I’ve come a long way. I have no complaints.

My first workout back (about a month post bone-marrow transplant) I did 20 minutes of walking.

On a treadmill.

At two miles per hour.

And then I vomited.

I also tried to do some push ups. I got 4 before my arms gave out. Last week, though, I did 75 push ups (in sets) as part of my program wearing a 30lb weighted vest. So I’m improving.

Week one I started doing four push ups and four bodyweight squats. I added a rep a day for the first week.

Week two I started with two sets of five of each and added a rep each day. I followed that protocol for the first month and then evolved into an EDT type routine for a while — one where I tried to perform more reps in the same time, and an alternate one where I tried to do the same reps in less time. Then I started back with lifting weights.

I’m probably one of very few coaches to have personally competed at a World Championships, and also been the least conditioned person I’ve ever met (post transplant). I’ve learned a lot from that process.”

Don’t take life for granted. Live each day to the FULLEST.

Find something you are PASSIONATE about and GO FOR IT!

If you have a goal you want to achieve START IT TODAY!

Don’t make EXCUSES, Find a way to GET IT DONE!

You have to BELIEVE before you can ACHIEVE!

It doesn’t matter if the odds are against you or not, the most important thing in life is to give 100% in everything that is important to you. Whether it is fighting cancer, getting your dream job, winning a state title, or benching 400 lbs YOU CAN DO IT!

You have to believe it is going to happen and give it your best effort even when it seems like you are going to FAIL. It isn’t always going to be EASY. In fact sometimes it may seem impossible, but many times “the impossible is often the untried.”

Wayne Gretzky once said “you miss all of the shots you don’t take.”

Stay tuned for the LIFT STRONG promise part 2 next week.