David Nyeste

The Weakness It is rare that I talk about my weight for the simple reason that it feels weird being open about it and second because I usually feel better and more comfortable when I gain weight. Weight should not be on my mind, but it is. I think a lot about it and I am never really satisfied with my own weight. 99% of the time the scale tells me I am in the range 80-85kg - at 1.88m height anyone should sleep easily with such a ratio. During the winter season I sport a 'protective layer' and as the days become longer during the spring and the summer I lose some weight again. In extreme cases my weight has already dropped below the 80kg floor and also broken the 85kg cap. In early 2020 I caught some kind of flu and in the course of the sickness my weight dropped to 77kg within days - I assumed dehydration as the main cause, as I could not eat and hat vomiting fits during the night for several days. However it was a slow process until I was able to regain my original weight. The...

Just A Feeling Despite all the drawbacks caused by the pandemic I have to admit that ever since the kids were born I have been feeling more happy in general. To set the stakes even higher, I have already been pretty damned happy ever since I met my wife several years earlier. Maybe it is because the kids fill me with hope that all is good and is steadily improving. Also they give a whole new purpose to everything in my life. I have only really had a few significant stretches where I felt so beaten down or lethargic, that I had issues to motivate myself. There were only three significant times I was struggling with my decisions and had serious doubts that I made the right choices.  Freaking Out In The Barracks The first time was in 1998, when I signed a contract as a contract soldier for 12 years. During my first couple of days with the military the magnitude of my decision sank with the utmost brutality. It totally freaked me out. I spent the first night in some spartan barracks in...

Be Prepared To Pay The Price Excellence comes at a cost. In my years as a teenage swimmer I learned about the effects of deliberate practice and the possibilities to tap into my own potential to a depth that I would never have thought possible. Johnny Weismueller is remembered for two accomplishments: First for playing the legendary Tarzan figure on screen as an actor and second for being the first human to swim the 100m freestyle in less than 60 seconds. At the time the 60 seconds mark was an incredible feat to accomplish. These days anyone can break the minute mark. We know what it takes and we know how to train for it. Nevertheless, only few people actually break the minute mark. The reason is that only few people are willing to pay the price (approximately 2-4 years of deliberate swim training as a grown up). Let's face it: (Luckily) there is no shortcut to excellence - no cheating yourself to brilliance and mastery. You have to be prepared to pay a price in time, sweat and blo...