Once upon a time, I was only focused on lifting heavy; it was all I worried about. I did other things, but I was always thinking, "can I lift this heavier thing" each time I went into the gym. I've been shifting my mentality away from purely strength-focused; I want to be a strong athlete, but I also want to be a well-rounded athlete.

Today actually represented two sessions towards that goal. The first session was a lot of bodyweight and ring work, things I am historically terrible at. The second session was where things got interesting.

The second session today was working with my coach. We went through some work that emphasized stability and core. We started with Turkish Get-Ups, kettlebell work, etc. When we started the session, he made a remark about somersaults. I laughed… and then when we got towards the end, "wait… he wasn't kidding?!?"

So Coach Jacob laid out the crash pads and started walking me through the steps to do a basic somersault. I watched with a combined sense of interest and terror as he walked me through this.

Before we go on, now might be a good time for a flashback sequence. Cue the wavy lines on the screen!

When I was a kid in school, just like any kid, I took PE classes where we would do things like sit-ups, push-ups, and yes, somersaults. I wouldn't participate in these activities because I was strictly forbidden by my mother to participate.

My mother believed my abilities weren't "athletic." She continually discouraged me from doing any of these things. She made a point of telling the PE teacher, "Ben can't do these things," and so the teacher didn't allow me to do them for fear of hearing my mother complaining.

Flash forward back 30ish years in the future, and now I am sitting in a gym in Richmond with my head on a crash pad trying to get up the courage to do a somersault. I made a couple of attempts forward, only to give up and move back. I was lacking belief I could do this. I wasn't sure if I could do this without hurting myself.

Coach finally said, "ok, I'm going to spot you and flip your feet up." I got back onto the crash pads, moved forward, and he flipped me over. I lived. He said we were calling it there, but I insisted I try one more time to do one without assistance. Now I know I can accomplish this, I get my head on the mat and flip myself forward. Coach smiled and said I should try it again. So I did another. Then we got one on camera.

As I look at this video, I think the most remarkable thing is the smile on my face at the end. "When was the last time you did this?" my coach asked. I responded, "I don't think I've ever done a somersault." So I accomplished something new, doing the first somersault of my life. I was so excited to be doing this new stuff, I just couldn't help but smile.

This effort is another step towards "Ben the Functional Athlete," the Ben who is pushing towards being the Crossfit Beast in 2021.