ChristianStrengthTraining.com

This week’s Power Devo is for the person that loved the Part 1 of “How to Pray During Your Workouts”, but has trouble making up prayers. Here’s an idea of how to use form prayers (and some of the most prayers in history) during your rest times to add that spiritual component to your workouts. Posted below are just some of the many inspirational prayers you can find online:

Here’s a Few Great Prayers That You Could Take to the Gym:

Prayer of Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him in the next. Amen

Prayer of St. Benedict

O gracious and Holy Father, give us wisdom to perceive you, intellect to understand you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to behold you, a heart to meditate upon you, and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer of Clement of Rome

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, establish and confirm us in your truth by your Holy Spirit. Reveal to us what we do not know; perfect in us what is lacking; strengthen us in what we know; and keep us faultless in your service; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer of Spouses for Each Other

Lord Jesus, grant that I and my spouse may have a true and understanding love for each other. Grant that we may both be filled with faith and trust. Give us the grace to live with each other in peace and harmony. May we always bear with one another’s weaknesses and grow from each other’s strengths. Help us to forgive one another’s failings and grant us patience, kindness, cheerfulness and the spirit of placing the well-being of one another ahead of self.
May the love that brought us together grow and mature with each passing year. Bring us both ever closer to You through our love for each other. Let our love grow to perfection.
Amen.

St. Teresa of Avila – (Rhymer Fitness Prayer)

Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which is the compassion of Christ is to look out on a hurting world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless others now.

Numbers 6: 24-26 (The Benediction)

May The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Traditional Gaelic Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Check out two of my articles in Youth Ministry Today:

1) “The Neurology of 1 Cor. 12:12 - One Body, Many Parts” - Paul had no idea just how literal his words were when talking to the church in Corinth about their many gifts. Look how this can apply to your life to get out of pain and move with great flexibility:

==> Click Here for the Flexibility Article

2) 5 Ways to Spruce Up Your Prayer Life! You’ve heard these before in my Power Devos, now read the original article that started it all…

==> Click Here for Prayer Article

Live with Strength,
Jason

Check out this week’s Power Devo that encourages you to write down your prayers on little slips, then draw them out during your rest time and have some focused prayer time.

After the video, I did 2 more complete sets which was plenty in the Charlotte heat! I prayed for a few clients and then I drew one I had written back in January. It said “Parent Prep” - I prayed that God would continue to guide my decisions for my little girl Sully. That was a cool one because I remember how nervous I was writing it. It’s good to look back on old prayer requests and see how God has blessed you.

Check out this week’s Power Devo as we answer one of the most common questions I always get from clients…how many reps do I do? Watch this…

Here’s my Push-up/Bicep training session from this week:

A) “Jumping” push-ups - have a step and a bench on an angle on either side of you about 3 feet apart. Start on the ground in push-up form in the middle of the bench and step. Do a push-up and “jump” your body onto the step for 1 push-up, back to the ground (1 push-up), and then to the step for 1 push-up. Tough to describe…you can see it in my 2nd Tire Chaos video on Youtube:

==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYjyJABTN5M

I performed 2 sets of about 15 reps total. After the 2nd set, I hit a set of “Jack Bauer” biceps curls - 8 lower, 8 upper, and 8 full reps - 24 total…get it? Jack Bauer = 24. Ok, let’s move on…

B) 30lb. X-vest with feet elevated on bench - 2 x 10. After 2nd set, band biceps curls 1 x 12

C) Power rings - 2 inches off ground 2 x 10. After second set, 30lb. DBs for 1 x 12 (easy)

D) Banded spider push-ups. Take a Joe D purple band and wrap around your back. 5 push-ups with movement to the left and right. 1st set - 8 reps, 2nd set - 10. After 2nd set - used the power rings for bodyweight curls. 1 x 10

E1) Feet in rings at chest height (very elevated push-ups) = 1 x 10
E2) Same as C for 1 set of 10
E3) 40lb. DB curls 1 x 12

On our home site, www.rhymerfitness.com, we have a statement called “Truth in Training”. I decided to explore this idea a little more with this week’s Power Devo. What are some of the truths in spiritual and physical training. In other words, what I have I found to be completely true to get the best results in helping me succeed in these areas of my life. Today, I discuss a common truth with most leg exercises and the one truth that holds my faith together. I hope you enjoy and reply with your comments!

I had a client struggling through a training session the other day. We could both tell as soon as she started working that it was just going to be one of those days. The heat was stifling and it felt about 10 degrees hotter to her. Her energy was low and she just felt lethargic.

But she kept working.

We had a bootcamp going on and maybe she fed off the energy of the other athletes. Eyes were drooping, sweat was rolling, and the end of each set could not come soon enough.

But she kept working.

After the session, I gave her my favorite “coach speech” of them all. I said:

Anyone can workout when the kids are fed, the bills are paid, and life is good. You persevered through a training session on a “bad” day. The average person would have quit. But you are not average. You want more out of this experience. Surviving your bad days, will turn the good days into great days. These are the workouts that really define what kind of athlete you are! Great job!

Isn’t this true? How often does fitness get pushed away due to the worries and tasks of our busy lives? When times are tough, only the people that really want to achieve fitness success find a way to fit it into their schedules and survive the bad days.

What about our Christian health? I think just the opposite happens. When life is good, people just stroll along without acknowledging the role God is playing in their success. But when bad times hit, that’s when we hit our knees.

Advanced athletes (remember that is anyone that can move…all of my clients are athletes!) and advanced Christians (I hope to get there one day realize that what is going on around them are simply details and not going to hold them back from training spiritually and physically. I encourage you to train, even for a short time, on a day when you are super busy or just dragging a bit. I also encourage you to pray, study God’s word, and serve during the good and bad times of your life.

Live with Strength!
Jason

Here’s a quick video I put together for CMOMs (Charlotte Moms of Multiples) and I thought that you would like it. Find creative ways to weave fitness into your busy lives!

This can carryover into your spiritual life too! Don’t rely on church to supply all of your “spiritual training”. Weave prayer, service, worship into everything you do. I have periods of really getting this and feeling like God is right here with me. Then there are times when you get caught up with the meaningless tasks of life that take up way too much time and realize you need to get re-focused. I pray for that focus as a dad, coach, husband, and Christian.

April 20?…April 20! Was that really my last post? What kind of blogger am I? We have been busy with a lot of cool things:

1) I have been going to some local charity golf events and doing some mobility work with the golfers.
2) I am partnering with CMOMs (Charlotte Moms of Multiples) to offer an awesome Stroller Bootcamp at Carolina Courts. I will also be their sponsor/speaker in June and I have been making some training tips videos for them.
3) New and improved RhymerFitness.com coming very soon!

But enough excuses (wow, I sound like some of my clients that keep cheating their diets ;)…here’s your newest Power Devo! Check it out and let me know what you think:

Live with Strength!
Jason

Check this out! Bobby and I have partnered with an awesome coach from Virginia, Dan Foley, on a project we are calling the “5 Minute Fat Loss Call”. Here’s #1…let us know what you think and notice how I try to stump the guys at the end

Just Press Play!

Here’s part 4 in our fun little series that punks treadmills and any cardio that is not God-made! I offer some cool scripture from Acts when the Holy Spirit is introduced and it reminds me of what kind of effect we are making on those around us.