35

The more I've been thinking on the many and varied nutritional and fitness goals I've set for myself this year, the more I've been driving myself crazy. Core, weight loss, muscle gain, overhead positioning, muscle ups, et cetera and jeepers creepers.

And then it hit me while reading Robb Wolf's "37": why not shunt most of those goals through the same tunnel aimed at that simple, frigging brutal birthday workout? Clean and jerk my bodyweight 35 times on or around my 35th birthday this year. Lose the bodyfat and gain the functional muscle? Check--I don't want to be carrying any extra weight I'll have to rip off the ground and throw overhead 35 times. Core strength, overhead stability, explosive hip drive? Check--going to have to be hella functional, explosive, and attentive to core if I want to c&j 175-185 lbs 35 times.

Handstands and muscle-ups? All right, maybe I'll have to work those on their own time. But everything else? I'll hit those naturally via training to clean and jerk 175-185 35 times. It's brutal. It's simple. My one rep max C&J right now is 155 lb, so it's going to be a hell of a WoD. But mentally, aiming at one WoD with a flowering of ancillary benefit feels like a great move.