What is 3rd Monkey all about?!
I stumbled across this quote a number of years ago and it fueled me during my Spartan Races, CrossFit WODS and really in my day to day living. It has always been my mantra but I didn’t have a name to go with it.
It goes something like this… “Try not to fight, but when you have to fight, then fight like you are the third monkey on the ramp of Noah’s ark and it is starting to rain.”
We all go through battles – none of us is immune to difficult times. How you deal with those difficult times is what really matters. Do you lose your temper, do you freak out, do you huddle up into a little ball, do you ignore the issues and act like all is well? Or do you choose to fight those battles? If you have chosen to fight then how do you prepare to fight?
I have chosen to practice fighting those battles through creating self imposed “impossible” physical and mental challenges. Why do I run a 30+ mile Spartan Race? Why do I run a 12 hour overnight Tough Mudder? Why do I run 2 miles every four hours for 48 hours straight? Why do I do these challenging Burpee Guy WODS? Why do I fast 72 hours?
I chose to do these things to strengthen my mind, spirit and body to be able to fight the daily battles that are sure to come. So, we might not be the biggest or the strongest or the smartest or the youngest…but we can give full effort in all that we do when we are out in a tough situation. We can fight like that Third Frickin Monkey!!
We all remember the wild events of 2020. It was a difficult time for many and some people weren’t mentally and physically prepared to handle this time. I was thinking about ways to help people get stronger; mentally, physically and spiritually. This was the reason for the birth of the Third Monkey Endurance Race back in the winter of 2020. We had 25 people sign up for an over four hour journey (at night in the dark) of mental and physical tasks like being blindfolded and doing burpees on the shoreline of Lake Michigan!
I have spent the last 25 years working with students and adults to become the best version of themselves. And after my teaching career I knew that owning a gym and helping people become their best was inevitable and I found myself in the position of owning a gym much sooner than I had anticipated. There was no question that the gym name would reflect my passion for building athletes into that monkey who is ready to fight when it is time.
If you know our gym then you will find the day to day at the gym will not change. I am not asking anyone to partake in my crazy WODS or races (unless you want to!) Our gym will remain with the same coaches to assist you, the same programming, the same scaling options, the same building and the same SLCF community!