Stronger everyday

JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 466
"No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Socrates"
:onfire: Best Thing completed :onfire:

Aside from my streak goal, I have a weight loss goal to drop 7.6 lbs by December 24th to reach a goal weight of 180 lbs. No plans to adjust diet at this time because I believe I eat pretty clean, but will revisit if progress is slow. Main strategy is to increase physical activity, which looks like at least 2 Darebee routines daily; some occasional weighted bar exercises (I should probably look up a Darebee challenge for that). I fear jogging may be necessary to reach my goal, lol. Maybe I can dream up another viable type of cardio. We'll see 😉

Day 8/20 of streak goal
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 466
"No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Socrates"
Completed Daily Push-ups :v:

I exercise daily now, choosing a workout from my Darebee Volume #4 book. Love the books! My goal is to complete every workout on every level of difficulty.

I really liked this video from @Damer , it helped me reflect on the pitfalls I've fallen into on my fitness journey. Feelings of guilt and shame, over missing a workout or falling short of a fitness goal, have definitely been a factor. When I reflect on it, allowing guilt and shame to factor into the variance that occurs on a life long journey just doesn't make sense. There will always be hills and valleys - should you become angry because you could not manifest a uniform prairie? Additionally, 1) I don't enjoy expectations leering over my shoulder every day (others or my own), 2) If I encounter a friend who is struggling I am going to respond with kindness and curiosity, not judgement and condemnation - why should it be different for myself?, 3) This is about something bigger than exercise streaks (though it can be a useful tool). For me it's about forging a new identity with more physical activity at it's core. Daily exercise is a component of that process, but mental and emotional regulation are just as important.

I am also realizing that as I form new, healthy habits - and notice the fruits of my efforts - I tend to get a bit excited and ambitious about taking on more new things, habits, rituals, tasks, etc. and really lose perspective on the burden of stress it imposes. I am going to try and remember to play the long game (tortoise mode) and take it slow.

"Form a line please, wait your turn. Only 1 life-encompassing transformation at a time."

Me: "I know, I know! Let's go on 2 journeys at the same time!"
Also me: "Multiple personalities? Yes. Multiple bodies? No, sadly. Can't be two places at the same time, without consequences."

= = =

My wife has started her own journey related to diet and is making great progress. Though not diagnosed with "addiction", she felt out-of-control when it came to food. Much like like an addict might feel powerless to make the choices they know to be right. So, she took a look at the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous to see if she could glean some wisdom from it. I'm happy to say we've both learned a lot from all the real-life testimonials contained in the books. One of the recovered alcoholics said something that stuck with me:

"Hi, I'm an alcoholic and I'm not going to drink today. I don't know about tomorrow. But I do know, come hell or high water, I'm not taking a single drop today."

There's something liberating to me about his statement "I don't know about tomorrow". Maybe it's about liberation from 'worry'. Because we don't know what tomorrow will bring, we don't have any purchase in tomorrow. Today, meanwhile, is where we have all the power to choose. One today at a time.
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 466
"No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Socrates"
Another great video

Injury-free plan:
  1. Go slow
  2. Listen to your body
  3. Be your on coach
My family and I are on a short trip to celebrate my wife's birthday. I'll be heading down to our AirBnB's gym facility to exercise shortly. Using a 10+ years old bluetooth keyboard to type this post on my phone.

My wife is doing a great job with her diet plan and is keeping to her commitments with thorough planning. She is demonstrating to me (who failed to plan a few things of late) that lack of planning is simply planning to fail.

On the subject of my own emotional regulation - just being in a new place and breaking up our normal family routine has been it's own monkey wrench. Different people. Different pace. More time than usual in the car. There's a bit more impetus for me to recognize my needs and assert myself, because in our daily routine these typically fall into place through habitualization. I start to feel a bit more fragile than I thought I was! That's fine, grist for the mill.
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 466
"No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Socrates"
Up quite early today. Doing some reading and writing.

I'll be performing a workout from Darebee Volume #4 in a couple hours. I always select my workout in the previous evening, so I'm not humming and hawing, losing time flipping through pages. I like that I'm having to develop a strategy to finish all the workouts; there's one workout I know I'll have to actually train for (lots of jumping squats). I'm seeing improvement in my push-ups and squats thanks to my present challenge. I plan on limiting my exercise to 1 workout daily, and 1 ongoing challenge. I know I'll be tempted to add more, it often happens.

I've been trying to reach a 4 hour target of standing while working. Most days I reach the target just fine, but my feet sometimes feel fatigued, which interrupts family walks a bit. I could try to move around a little more and shift my weight; the floor is quite hard, experimenting with standing on a folded yoga matt.

I want to make creative output a daily thing, just like exercise. I've wanted this for some time, but struggle to make any headway. Daily creation. This is typically part of my job, but it's in service of a client. I don't want to burden myself with high effort expectations, just get the self-expression juices flowing. So here's a start:

A;LSKD84POUHA;LGH3;lkas;ldfh

^Hope you enjoyed it. I have been regularly journaling, and that has been creative. I was really inspired by @Beat_Samurai when he was posting his drawings. My daughter is a factory of expression; her output requires a paper mill.

Perhaps I'm too contented with my life to have anything worth expressing? Stupid life balance! MUST I SUFFER?! I don't think that's it. I'm going to journal about it and see what I find. Perhaps some friendly interrogation of this desire would be fruitful. I do think it would be wise to primarily use physical media, whatever it is. I log enough hours in front of a screen.

I've got some ideas for hikes and bike trips this summer that I'm excited about. It can be invigorating to really unplug and travel at a snail's pace. There can be something delightful on the other side of boredom.
 
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