Finding your mentors

“None of us are as smart as all of us.”

–author unknown

When you are a young and cocky “know-it-all” and it’s obvious that all the world’s problems could be solved if they just listened to you; you are unknowingly in for a brutal wake-up call.

Many people think they have it all figured out, whether it’s life, training, dating, politics, religion, etc. and that they don’t need any help or advice to make it.

One of the most valuable things you will ever find in your life is a true mentor.

You are truly blessed to find even one.

If you have more than one excellent mentor over the course of your life, you are incredibly blessed!

I guess I am just that, since I have had numerous mentors in different areas of my life.

• my Dad
• my Senseis
• SFC Smith aka Smitty

To name a few (there are more, of course)

Around 2004 I had been involved with strength and conditioning for a few years, and I was transitioning out of martial arts after a couple of decades of involvement there.

Something about strength training just captured my attention, and I am not over it yet, and I probably won’t  get over it in this lifetime.

I came across several coaches/training systems between that time and 2005:

• a new thing called CrossFit
• Diesel Crew (Jedd Johnson and James Smith)
• Strongman Bud Jeffries
• Underground Strength Coach, Zach Eeven-Esh

Now in 2015, I still am greatly influenced by about all of them.

Some have moved to a more prominent position of influence on my training, while others are more in the background; but still there.

I have also been blessed to have additional mentors I have found through my original ones, and they add a lot of great information. The list is fairly long, so I’ll save that for another blog post.

These people have helped develop my training methods from what they have taught me.

It’s been said that when you stand on the shoulders of giants you can see a lot further, and I found that to be true.

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