Sergeant Tony's Blog

I love peaches.

One time when I was really craving one, I left my girlfriend’s apartment to go buy some peaches and when I got back she was on the phone with another guy. I guess I shouldn’t have wanted peaches so bad.

The eating of a sweet, juicy, succulent peach, when you really really want a peach is almost heaven!

The other day I came home from the evening boot camp class, hot, tired, and thirsty. And instead of reaching for the jug of sports drink in my fridge, I took one of the peaches off of the window sill in my kitchen. I checked the firmness of it and it was perfect. Not too firm and not too soft … just right.

I bit into the peach and immediately my entire mouth was full of … well … succulence! That is a word that I think only applies to the sensation of sweet, juicy, goodness in your mouth. It penetrates every taste bud, saturates every nook and cranny of your mouth, and sends your salivary glands into overdrive!

Or maybe that’s just me!

Things take on a different value when they are longed for. Maybe it’s something you haven’t had in a long time. Maybe it’s an experience that you haven’t had in a long time. How wonderful does cold water taste at the end of a long run or workout? As Thomas Paine wrote more than two hundred years ago, “… it’s dearness only that gives everything its value.”

The value of exercise isn’t only physical, in that it makes you stronger or fitter. The value of exercise isn’t only mental in that it effects your attitude and sense of well being. One of the great things about exercise is that it makes things taste better. It’s the joy of tasting that sports drink or that ice cold water … or that peach at the end of a long hot workout. That’s a joy that our non-exercising friends know nothing of.

Our non-exercising friends no nothing of the joy of daily physical discipline or achievement. Things that pay dividends far beyond anything you can imagine or measure. I can’t measure joy. I can’t measure satisfaction. I can’t measure self discipline. But I know the feeling of having those things! I know how having those things effects my daily life.

I was asked by one of you who is looking for a job and can’t pay why I’m allowing them to continue to workout on my Quarterdeck. The answer is simple. It’s the right thing to do. USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP isn’t a class. It’s a community. In many ways, it’s family. (In fact, I like some of you guys waaaaay more than some members of my actual family!)

I know that exercise will make my job hunting boot campers happier and fitter. And happy and fit people interview well! They take enthusiasm and energy into the job interview, making them a better candidate for that job. Increasing their odds of getting that job!

I can’t help qualify that person for the job they’re looking for. I can’t give them new credentials, new work experience, or new academic degrees. But I CAN equip them to take the best of themselves into that job interview! And isn’t that what family and friends do for one another?

How happy will that person be when they find a new job? How excited will they be? How dear will that new job be to them?

And how awesome will it be to have a part in that … and to see it first hand? To share in the joy of that!

Exercise makes a peach more than a peach. And it makes a person looking for a job more than a person looking for a job!

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MOUNT FUJI

Tomorrow morning at 0530 we’ll be climbing the mountain! See you at the parking garage on Zach Curlin, on the campus of the U of M. Bring your dumbbells, mat, water bottle and towel!

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ANNIVERSARY PARTY!

Next month we will celebrate our Ten Year Anniversary! I’m taking ideas and suggestions for a party at the end of the month. If you have a good idea or a party place, pass it on!

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ANNIVERSARY DISCOUNT!

Every August the initial enlistment fee is discounted in celebreation of our anniversary! If you have cheap friends or family, tell them that NOW would be the BEST time to join USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP!

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Sergeant Major Tony Ludlow
USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, Commanding
Memphis, TN
901-644-0145
www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com