Integrity, Owen 2, and Muhammed Ali

The other unique aspect of Owen's workouts are his Integrity days. Integrity is a word I've been thinking a lot about. A quick google search brings up this definition:

in·teg·ri·ty
inˈtegritē/
noun
1.
the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
"he is known to be a man of integrity"
synonyms: honesty, probity, rectitude, honor, good character, principle(s), ethics, morals, righteousness, morality, virtue, decency, fairness, scrupulousness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness More
antonyms: dishonesty
2.
the state of being whole and undivided.
"upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty"
synonyms: unity, unification, coherence, cohesion, togetherness, solidarity

Muhammed Ali exemplified Integrity in and out of the ring:


The idea as it pertains to fitness has more to do with definition two. Owen's Wednesday workout focuses on smaller, more injury prone areas- specifically shoulders and knees. I've added PT exercises also. In November 2012, I injured my scapula, which is a back muscle behind the rhomboid. It wasn't a tear but some sort of nerve pinch involving dead lift to high pull and pull-ups, outlined in a hypertrophy workout from Alwyn Cosgrove's New Rules of Lifting. Joe and I had teamed up just before to start the podcast and had completed the entire book of New Rules of Lifting for Abs- which is another awesome book focusing on building core strength. I defintiely got stronger on that workout and we met 2x a week in Altadena at the 24 Hr Fitness there. We did lifts and metabolic conditioning, and it was cool to have a workout partner. Since the injury though we went our separate ways. Obviously, I've been surfing a lot and Joe has been doing Crossfit.

I really like Owen's Integrity workout though. Oddly the M, F workout is called the Core workout, so they don't quite match up. One theme through the book though is how Owen has gone straight from his party days in USC and after, and met his wife on the beach. She basically told him to clean up his act or they had no shot and he did. They got married and had a son, Blaze- and in the book, from 2003, the kid is a baby that Owen says he runs up the Stairs (a Santa Monica fitness mainstay) and up the Hill with. So maybe the Integrity workout was about that, and also strengthening some of his weaker areas to integrate fitness throughout (or make whole). He talks about how he views injury as an opportunity to concentrate on other areas- and also pool exercises he's done to improve, when injured. So this book was totally useful to me through that period- and even still (as in NOW), I use it to focus and get back on track, and use Owen as a role model.


Owen McKibbin with his family (How many workout books have a whole redemption story built in?)
(From The Cover Model Diet, by Owen McKibbin)

As far as the first definition of integrity- re: strong morals and being honest, standing up for your principles; that's a good one to work on too- though a little harder than a shoulder workout. So many amazing role models there- yeah, Muhammed Ali and also my grandfather, Judge Max Rosenn comes to mind.

Anyway here's today's workout. Been rope-skipping every morning (1000 skips) before coffee, reducing alcohol, etc.



Sample breakfast:


Love this. Thought of this while rope-skipping today: