Defeatism

So... It's been a while. A long while. And a whole lot of things have happened. My life has taken quite a few twist and turns and unfortunately my fitness goals have suffered. Funny how those are always the first things to go out the window. And I admit, I'm making excuses for a lot of it. I moved, for one thing. And not just an around the corner and down the street to a cheaper/better apartment. I moved across the country back in my parents. California was proving to be... Expensive. To say the least. Ultimately, my life in California was just unsustainable. I loved it out there, but it was a no go. I therefore now find myself in Utah. I rationalize by saying that I'm taking the strategic retreat to make the more aggressive advance. And I may say rationalize, but really it's the truth. It's taken a bit of an emotional toll on me. Moving in with our parents doesn't do a whole lot to inspire self-confidence. But I'm making the best of it. However, as an inadvertent result my fitness goals have been thrown to the wayside. As longtime readers of this blog (as if there are any) may know, I was signed up for a 5k earlier this month. I was really stoked. I've never run a race before, and I really wanted to run my first race. So I started to train. At first, it was a disaster. My 60 year old dad walked a 5k only marginally slower than I could run it. It was disheartening. But I kept going. I realized that I needed to do more than run if I wanted to seriously up my time. So I did push ups. And sit ups. And the occasional chin up. Some not-so-strict dieting-but dieting nonetheless-when into effect. And the results started coming. Nothing extreme. I didn't drop 10 inches, get 6 pack abs, and start doing muscle ups. But the results came in all the same. I hit goal time after about 3 weeks of training. My arms and chest did in fact get bigger. I actually lost a few pounds!

But then I had to uproot my life. Without my goal, I felt lost. It was harder for me to get motivated to get running. And the longer I procrastinated, the more out of shape I grew which made starting even harder. I didn't even want to blog; and telling people my opinions may be my favorite hobby! I tried getting into gym, and that worked for about 2 weeks. But then that just became further excuse not to exercise. I don't actually have a gym membership and if my sponsor's and my schedule didn't line up, I just didn't work out that way. But for the longest time, I didn't use gym equipment. I used my body, gravity, and occasionally a tree branch. And that seemed to work just fine!

Unfortunately, I'm not too full of common sense. I shouldn't exercise to get that six pack having beach bod, or to be able to wear anything off the rack, or any of the other selfish, vain reasons I want to bulk up and slim down. I should be exercising because it's good for me. But if the near guarantee of lung cancer wasn't enough to keep me from smoking for all those years, something just being good for me is clearly not a great motivator.Well, today, I got caught feeling bad for myself. Like really bad for myself. I was on the couch, watching Netflix (giving Arrow another go), my hoodie up and zipped all the way up my face. I had just eaten a bunch (read: too much) of Thanksgiving leftovers. I felt fat, worthless, and meaningless. What's wrong with me? I let this defeatist attitude really get to me. Well, it's time I moved past that. I set this blog up in part to keep me accountable for my commitment to fitness. I figured I could dodge my responsibility to myself if I kept dodging you guys. Well, I'm going to go at this again. This time I'm going to be trying to complete Darebee's 30 days of Gravity. Anyone who's read this blog knows that I'm a huge fan of Darebee. They make fitness fun, free, and requires no equipment. 30 days of Gravity is a strength building program that focuses on pushups as the primary exercise. I recommend you guys checking it out. So, here goes nothing. Wish me luck.

Defeatism

So... It's been a while. A long while. And a whole lot of things have happened. My life has taken quite a few twist and turns and unfortunately my fitness goals have suffered. Funny how those are always the first things to go out the window. And I admit, I'm making excuses for a lot of it. I moved, for one thing. And not just an around the corner and down the street to a cheaper/better apartment. I moved across the country back in my parents. California was proving to be... Expensive. To say the least. Ultimately, my life in California was just unsustainable. I loved it out there, but it was a no go. I therefore now find myself in Utah. I rationalize by saying that I'm taking the strategic retreat to make the more aggressive advance. And I may say rationalize, but really it's the truth. It's taken a bit of an emotional toll on me. Moving in with our parents doesn't do a whole lot to inspire self-confidence. But I'm making the best of it. However, as an inadvertent result my fitness goals have been thrown to the wayside. As longtime readers of this blog (as if there are any) may know, I was signed up for a 5k earlier this month. I was really stoked. I've never run a race before, and I really wanted to run my first race. So I started to train. At first, it was a disaster. My 60 year old dad walked a 5k only marginally slower than I could run it. It was disheartening. But I kept going. I realized that I needed to do more than run if I wanted to seriously up my time. So I did push ups. And sit ups. And the occasional chin up. Some not-so-strict dieting-but dieting nonetheless-when into effect. And the results started coming. Nothing extreme. I didn't drop 10 inches, get 6 pack abs, and start doing muscle ups. But the results came in all the same. I hit goal time after about 3 weeks of training. My arms and chest did in fact get bigger. I actually lost a few pounds!

But then I had to uproot my life. Without my goal, I felt lost. It was harder for me to get motivated to get running. And the longer I procrastinated, the more out of shape I grew which made starting even harder. I didn't even want to blog; and telling people my opinions may be my favorite hobby! I tried getting into gym, and that worked for about 2 weeks. But then that just became further excuse not to exercise. I don't actually have a gym membership and if my sponsor's and my schedule didn't line up, I just didn't work out that way. But for the longest time, I didn't use gym equipment. I used my body, gravity, and occasionally a tree branch. And that seemed to work just fine!

Unfortunately, I'm not too full of common sense. I shouldn't exercise to get that six pack having beach bod, or to be able to wear anything off the rack, or any of the other selfish, vain reasons I want to bulk up and slim down. I should be exercising because it's good for me. But if the near guarantee of lung cancer wasn't enough to keep me from smoking for all those years, something just being good for me is clearly not a great motivator.Well, today, I got caught feeling bad for myself. Like really bad for myself. I was on the couch, watching Netflix (giving Arrow another go), my hoodie up and zipped all the way up my face. I had just eaten a bunch (read: too much) of Thanksgiving leftovers. I felt fat, worthless, and meaningless. What's wrong with me? I let this defeatist attitude really get to me. Well, it's time I moved past that. I set this blog up in part to keep me accountable for my commitment to fitness. I figured I could dodge my responsibility to myself if I kept dodging you guys. Well, I'm going to go at this again. This time I'm going to be trying to complete Darebee's 30 days of Gravity. Anyone who's read this blog knows that I'm a huge fan of Darebee. They make fitness fun, free, and requires no equipment. 30 days of Gravity is a strength building program that focuses on pushups as the primary exercise. I recommend you guys checking it out. So, here goes nothing. Wish me luck.

Flash Vs. Arrow

"The Flash" series has landed on Netflix. It's D.C.'s newest foray into turning comics into television shows. First there was "Smallville". I have to admit, I was a fan. Then came along "Arrow." And now there Arrow. While Smallville may be a show far away in the rear view mirror, Arrow and Flash are running presently and concurrently. There's quite a bit of cross over between the two shows.

I will be frank with you. I've always been a Green Arrow fan. One of the first comics I read as a kid was a stand alone where Green Arrow and Green Lantern team up to beat the ills of drugs. It was one of those "special" issues. It was gritty, it was real, and it had quite an impact on my young self.

Since then, I've come to love the Oliver Queen/Green Arrow character in his many different iterations. From robin-hood like character with a juvenile sense of humor to an extreme environmental terrorist, he's a great character to unravel and understand. I think my favorite depiction was in Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Strikes Back" as a one-armed, underground self-proclaimed freedom fighter. 

That being said, the show "Arrow" is awful. It's a turd of a show. The guy playing Oliver Queen can't act and the writing is dreadful. Furthermore, all the interpersonal drama between Oliver Queen and his mother, his step-father, and his sister all seem forced, contrived, and excessive. All of the drama is supposed to humanize Oliver Queen and make us like him more, but there's simply too much of it. Everyone is supposed to be having all of these personal breakthroughs and strengthening of relationships all the time. It comes off as very... soap-operay. On the other hand, as a fitness and martial arts fan, I love things like this:

"The Flash" is a much better show. Nothing seems quite nearly as contrived as in Arrow. I was worried that when the first episode introduced a love triangle that it would play a central role in the show's overall story. It seems pretty downplayed so far, even though I'm only halfway through season 1. The writing is pretty good, not great, and the premise is simplistic enough that it provides a pretty framework in which they can build decent stories. The premise is just like Smallville: an event caused metahumans to exist and every week one of them crawls out of the woodwork. In Smallville it was the meteor shower that brought Superman to earth and in Flash it's a supercollider explosion. 

I liked the premise of Arrow involving a vast conspiracy of corrupt one percenters and the Green Arrow on a quest to bring them down. But the conspiracy unraveling mixed with the story-telling element of constant flashbacks just made it all too far convoluted. Plus I think they were trying to appeal to far too many demographics by making his sister a teenager in the throws of rebellion. It was an entirely unnecessary plot point and it made me hate the show even more. So that's just my two cents. Hope you enjoyed that. Also, here's a great workout based on the Green Arrow:

Riddick

If you're going to bring a knife to a gun fight, then you had better be smart, fast, and bulletproof. And more often than not, life doesn't give you the opportunity to run back to your armory when you're taken by surprise. You can't always expect to have your climbing gear with you when the cliff crumbles beneath your feet.

So what does it mean to be tough, agile, and bulletproof in any situation? Perhaps we can derive answers from one of my favorite sci-fi tough guys: Riddick. The Furyan bad-ass who refuses to bow to any man has proven time and again, across three different movies, that he can handle himself in just about any situation. In Pitch Black, he escapes his chains, fights off swarms of killer creatures, and overall exhibits consistent bad-assery all the while saving lives of his fellow survivors. 

In order for Riddick to have the strength to lift, climb, and fight the way he does, a great chest, back, and set of arms are crucial. Take the pull-up for example. The pull-up works the latimus dorci, pectorals, and triceps. But its also the ultimate survival exercise. When your hanging off a cliff and your feet find no purchase, being able to do an adequate pull-up is going to mean your survival. Given that I am yet to be able to do a pull-up, there are other exercises that I can do that can increase my chest, arm, and back strengths. 

Push-ups, push-ups, and more push-ups. Close grip push-ups places heavier emphasis on the triceps,. while the wide grip works the lats. All of these will bring the signature Riddick muscles to exhaustion, but will force you to push forward. Do you think there is time to stop or slow when escape a prison planet, the sunrise on which literally sets the world ablaze? Add some plyometric push-ups at the end of this regimen and you'll find the will to exert explosive power even when pushed to your limits. The burn you feel in your chest is the fire of the Furyans, it is your racial inheritance. Push beyond your known limits, and bow to no man!

Batman V. Bane

It's been a little while since I've written a post. It's been a little while since I last exercised. So things are pretty serious. I let the ball drop. Hell, I let the ball drop, laid down on the floor, and let it roll away into oblivion. The Blerch started to win. I gave myself every excuse not to run, not to work out, not to achieve my goals. I picked more hours at work. I had been doing so well, so I deserved some rest days. Everyday the reasons to fail seemed to stack up, and I started bending under their collective weight.

My whole life is suffering as a result. I've been less motivated and driven at work. I've slacked in my duties at home. The dishes have piled up, the laundry has been done with less frequency. And as many people who have been in my position before (including myself on multiple occasions) know, the farther you slide, the harder it is to dig deep within yourself to find the motivation to climb out. Once your so far down, you feel that there's no point in even trying.

All of the greatest heroes face this moment. In fact, its a crucial element to the story of the every-man. But I don't want to be the one of the every man. I want mine to be the story of the Batman. And it's at this point that Bane has broken my back. 

And I really like Nolan's treatment of the story arc in "Dark Knight Rises." It is my time to rise. Bane is my Blerch. He is ever-present. Like he promised Gotham, he tempts me with anarchistic "freedom." I am "free" to do whatever I want. I can eat a whole pint of ice cream if I so choose. I can drink a 12 pack of cheap beer all while smoking 2 cigars at once. It would be great. For a while. And like Bane promised, that freedom has an end point, an ultimate consequence. Only with me, instead of a massive explosion, it would end with a massive beer gut.

My back broken, I am going to endure the painful road t recovery, instead of sulking in a sling. I must make that final leap out of the hole I have found myself in, like the great Batman before me. And every day it will be a struggle. Every day I will have Batman on one shoulder, telling me to push on and that the war against fear and weakness must go on. On the other shoulder is Bane, telling that resistance is futile, to live as is everyday were my last, and that anarchy is the way to be. Today, Batman is winning the day. Today, I'm taking that leap out of the pit. To that end, today's workout is Batman themed. 

And for the next 7 days, I will be working out, drawing inspiration from my heroes like Nightwing, Riddick, and others. I'm also going to be working on strengthening my core and increasing my flexibility. You can find all my workouts on Darebee. Since Batman was also trained by the league of Shadows, I am engaging in the 30 day Assassin's Challenge. Furthermore, a great chest was one of the hallmarks of the most recent portrayal of Batman. After his first night out as Batman, Bruce Wayne drops to the floor to crank out a bunch of push ups. I want a great chest. So I will be doing a bunch of push ups. A thousand push ups in the next 30 days. So even if I fail in my week-long quest, maybe I'll find the fortitude to stick to a less intense 30 day regimen. Like always, wish me luck.

Delays!

To employ an oft used sports colloquial metaphor, sometimes life throws you a curve ball. Work will give you odd hours, family will come into town, or any number of odd circumstances that arise that can throw your schedule for a loop. Personally, I like to exercise on a set regimen. Or at least I try to. My morning routines consist of Tai Chi followed with an intense bodyweight workout. Every other day I like to go for a run. Unfortunately, that's not always an option. So I do what any good animal would do when confronted with a changing environment. I adapt!

This is a very important principle to take to heart. The second most dangerous time for someone's commitment to fitness after the first few days is after the first two weeks. After two weeks of solid effort, people are apt to relax, feel like they've earned a day off or two. This mentality is exceptionally dangerous when one of the aforementioned curve balls come your way. If work needs you to work some extra hours, then you figure that skipping a couple of days of exercise won't hurt. That kind of thinking is wrong!

Well, not wrong per se. Here's what I will say on the matter though. The best way to keep going is by building momentum. When I'm running, I try my hardest never to stop. Slow down, certainly. Slowing down to a jog can help me recover, catch my breath, and let me keep going on much longer. If I slow to a walk or stop altogether, than getting back up to a run is awfully difficult. And when I do finally get back up to speed, the first leg is the most difficult. But once I get past my initial windedness and aches, then the running starts to get a little easier.

This holds true for workouts. After skipping workouts for more than two days leaves me in an obviously more fatigued state. My workouts are harder than they previously were, I can't run as fast or as far, and I'm winded so much faster. This can easily be discouraging. And I have been discouraged before. I have started and stopped more fitness programs than I can count. And often after the first 2 weeks. I've even slowed down my commitment to this blog! But what I have to remember is that starting and stopping are all part of the journey. Every time we stop, no matter how long or short, hopefully we're that much farther down the path. Starting is hard, but it's much better than standing still.

So here's my advice. Wake up a little earlier of you can. Get your workout out of the WY in the morning before any of your obligations kick in. If that's not an option, on days when you can't get in a run or a full on workout, do something. Ten pushups are better than no pushups. If you have 2 minutes of free time while the coffee is brewing, see how many pushups you can do in two minutes straight. The answer might surprise you. I certainly was. Two minutes of straight pushups is a lot harder than I thought. But if you do that every day it becomes easier. Something, no matter how small it may seem, is better than nothing.

Know Thyself!

I've had a body a long time. A long, long time. It seems like I've had it my whole life. But despite my extensive interaction with my body, I'm not sure if I can say that I know my body. Hell, I'm not even sure that we like each other. It groans when I ask it to do something and it hurts me when it's craving such pedestrian things like food and water. And even though I don't have the most solid of relationships with my body, that's not to say that it's not been sending me signals all along. I just wasn't open to receiving them. Gastric distress vis-a-vis my worrisome consumption of mountain and dew and pizza was my body's way of telling me that the stuff wasn't very good for me. They do call it "junk" food for a reason.

Well, fitness has a funny way of inadvertently building bridges when you least expect it. My sister and I (yes, I have a sister) have had the same problem for the longest time. For us, running is as running was. There was one speed, and that speed was fast. Needless to say, that would lead to exhaustion pretty fast. Exhaustion early on in an attempt to better the physical self is a recipe for an early towel throwing. Over-exertion is the reason why so many people fall into the periodic start and stop routine with fitness, myself including. Heck, my current efforts could just be more of that same. I sure hope not though. I hope I maintain the same level of commitment that I've shown in the last few weeks for the rest of my life.

Anyways, I digress. After some time of pushing beyond those initial exhaustion points for a little bit of time now, I'm starting to understand my body a little bit more. One important aspect that I find vital is this" pacing. It may seem a simple matter, slowing down and speeding up, but you'd be surprised how years of bodily neglect will lead instinct and muscular dexterity to degrade. It wasn't until I developed some strength in running that I started sensing cues from my body and was able to hold something akin to a dialogue. Sometimes it would tell me to ease up, that if I kept holding my pace steady that I was going to get hurt. Other times, I told my body to keep going and push through the pain, that it was going to be worth it in the end. 

I'm really finding that a lot of cliche wisdom is seeming to apply to me. They say that the first two weeks of working out are the hardest. I would attest to that saying's validity. I still strive to make every workout one of the toughest workouts that I've experienced, but my body recovers faster, and it even craves physical exertion rather than revolts against it. A lot of the modern day spiritualist and homeopathic type nonsense movements express the idea to be attuned to your body. Well, despite everything else they might spout, that idea definitely holds true. I was vegetarian for a while, and it was then that I truly understood food cravings. My body wasn't getting enough protein, so my brains said "Hey buddy, you should eat a whole jar of peanut butter." Again, just more cues from my body. 

When you start to have this kind of dialogue with your body, it becomes easier and easier to test and exceed your limits. My step-dad, a bodybuilder, has always told me that if you take care of your body, then your body will take care of you. So if you're first started out, or even if you haven't started exercising, take time out of your day and critically take stock of what your body is telling you. Its messages might surprise you.