Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Getting it Done Any Which Way
Wow.
What a week.
I've probably been saying that a lot lately. Forgive me if I'm too lazy to browse back through previous entries, but I feel like this has been the week to challenge me.
I've adopted a new trick to make sure my body is not getting exhausted. In a question about How Important is Sleep? I replied with my opinion on the matter. In a nutshell, I believe that alarm clocks are evil and if we were getting the right amount of sleep, we'd all be waking up at the right time every day.
Alas, "true life" has more in store and we can't always have the luxury of sleeping in until our body decides to rouse us out of sleep. I've had a very full schedule so I made a compromise. I need the alarm to wake up but I give my body an option. When it starts buzzing at 5:00am, instead of hitting the snooze, I set it an hour ahead and then rest for a few minutes. If I'm well rested, I am able to then roll out of bed and go hit my workout. If I'm exhausted like this morning, I end up passing out and catching up on some well-needed rest.
It's not the best solution but it works. I'm not forcing myself into exhaustion, but I'm not giving up, either. Since I caught my rest today, it simply means my workouts all shift back a day and I swap my day of rest. I'll end up doing the same workload at the end of it all.
This week was fun because on Monday we had the first meeting for our Body by God program. It was excited to hear Dr. Eric Richards discuss his mission in life and share his vision. I felt such a strong connection and honestly was at the edge of my seat. I truly do miss going out and speaking about health and so it was fun to watch someone gather a group of people eager and determined to make a difference and empower them by sharing his stories and honesty.
Our daughter participated by cooking a soup that was part of the program. All of the soup was taken up and we receive lots of positive comments. She was called out in front of the crowd. She wanted me to stand with her but I let her go ahead. She was nervous at first but then really enjoyed her time and had a great big smile.
We picked up some cracked wheat bread that is delicious. I've been enjoying making over-easy eggs with cracked pepper and a dash of sea salt, then eating those on top of the toasted bread. It's a great way to get started.
My strategy to "hold back" when I was hitting a wall with weight training appears to be working. I had a great workout for my chest and am advancing now in all areas, so I'm looking to hit some personal bests (for this round, remember its been a few years since I was lifting consistently) the next visit.
It's interesting to see the contrast between some people's beliefs. Our chiropractor is a major advocate of functional training. Don't isolate your biceps - instead, perform compound body weight movements that mimic real life. I have always been a fan of that style but have also learned that I believe the isolation movements have their value as well. As one example, I don't believe I'd have as much function in my leg that was operated on had I not performed some isolation movements like leg extensions as part of my recovery.
At any rate, I'm going to be hitting the upper body tomorrow. As long as I consistently increase from workout to workout I'm sticking with the plan I have. Once I hit a wall, then I'll switch to something else ... probably something like a 5x5 matrix (I'll explain when I get there but there's plenty of workout examples on the website.
Thank you for stopping by and participating in our forums and for taking the time to follow this blog. I appreciate everyone and look forward to sharing and growing together this year.
In Him,
What a week.
I've probably been saying that a lot lately. Forgive me if I'm too lazy to browse back through previous entries, but I feel like this has been the week to challenge me.
I've adopted a new trick to make sure my body is not getting exhausted. In a question about How Important is Sleep? I replied with my opinion on the matter. In a nutshell, I believe that alarm clocks are evil and if we were getting the right amount of sleep, we'd all be waking up at the right time every day.
Alas, "true life" has more in store and we can't always have the luxury of sleeping in until our body decides to rouse us out of sleep. I've had a very full schedule so I made a compromise. I need the alarm to wake up but I give my body an option. When it starts buzzing at 5:00am, instead of hitting the snooze, I set it an hour ahead and then rest for a few minutes. If I'm well rested, I am able to then roll out of bed and go hit my workout. If I'm exhausted like this morning, I end up passing out and catching up on some well-needed rest.
It's not the best solution but it works. I'm not forcing myself into exhaustion, but I'm not giving up, either. Since I caught my rest today, it simply means my workouts all shift back a day and I swap my day of rest. I'll end up doing the same workload at the end of it all.
This week was fun because on Monday we had the first meeting for our Body by God program. It was excited to hear Dr. Eric Richards discuss his mission in life and share his vision. I felt such a strong connection and honestly was at the edge of my seat. I truly do miss going out and speaking about health and so it was fun to watch someone gather a group of people eager and determined to make a difference and empower them by sharing his stories and honesty.
Our daughter participated by cooking a soup that was part of the program. All of the soup was taken up and we receive lots of positive comments. She was called out in front of the crowd. She wanted me to stand with her but I let her go ahead. She was nervous at first but then really enjoyed her time and had a great big smile.
We picked up some cracked wheat bread that is delicious. I've been enjoying making over-easy eggs with cracked pepper and a dash of sea salt, then eating those on top of the toasted bread. It's a great way to get started.
My strategy to "hold back" when I was hitting a wall with weight training appears to be working. I had a great workout for my chest and am advancing now in all areas, so I'm looking to hit some personal bests (for this round, remember its been a few years since I was lifting consistently) the next visit.
It's interesting to see the contrast between some people's beliefs. Our chiropractor is a major advocate of functional training. Don't isolate your biceps - instead, perform compound body weight movements that mimic real life. I have always been a fan of that style but have also learned that I believe the isolation movements have their value as well. As one example, I don't believe I'd have as much function in my leg that was operated on had I not performed some isolation movements like leg extensions as part of my recovery.
At any rate, I'm going to be hitting the upper body tomorrow. As long as I consistently increase from workout to workout I'm sticking with the plan I have. Once I hit a wall, then I'll switch to something else ... probably something like a 5x5 matrix (I'll explain when I get there but there's plenty of workout examples on the website.
Thank you for stopping by and participating in our forums and for taking the time to follow this blog. I appreciate everyone and look forward to sharing and growing together this year.
In Him,
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