I love physical fitness and strength. For fitness I ride my bike, as I mentioned in a recent posting. For strength I work out at the gym. I keep a log of my weight maximums for the various free weight exercises I do. Today I had an "aha!" moment. It has happened to me before, but today for some reason the "ha!" was put into the "aha!" The significance all sort of clicked.
My lifting progress is very organic. I don't lift crazy amounts of weight to look like the California Governator in his prime. I don't have a spot partner, so I don't lift more than I know I am safely capable of doing on my own. I learned that lesson the hard way having once cried out for help with 150lbs sitting snuggly on my trachea. Before every lift I double check my lift weight and the number of reps I am capable of. Because my progress is very organic I tend not to make significant jumps from one work out session to the next. Today I misread the number of reps I can bench press and comfortably did the "wrong" number that I had in my mind for that particular set. As mentioned, I have made this "mistake" before, but today it really sank in that we are all capable of much more than we think we are. I think through conditioning we have come to an agreement with ourselves that we are capable of only so much.Throw your shackles away! I have and they are now in the dumpster outside my apartment. Give yourself permission to accomplish as much as you like. And don't look to anyone else for that permission either.
carpe diem! :)
Posted by: Victoria | April 10, 2007 at 07:47 AM
That's cool, Donal. I totally know what you mean. Yesterday I had a bit of a melt down -- we were moving, I was sick, Kalli suddenly needed to go to the vet, I thought the truck would be at our house at 12, but it didn't come till 1 -- so I cried. I thought, "I can't do this; it's too much." But then suddenly there I was, doing it. And it worked. It all ended up fine. Maybe not as I had originally planned, but the end result was the same.
This is a bit of a tangent, but my point is somehow we get through things (a bench press, a move, an illness), often drawing on inner stores of strength we had no idea we had. The trick, then, is to restore those inner stores.
So I'm curious, how do you take care of yourself to ensure your body/mind/well being continues to perform?
For me, in this case, I'll now be sure to rest and acknowledge that this last week has taken a huge toll on me. I can't keep going at this speed if I ever want to be able to get through a tough time again.
Posted by: April | April 10, 2007 at 09:13 AM
April: Taking care of myself is a two-pronged approach. On the physical-level I make sure I eat well, get plenty of exercise and get plenty of sleep. On a spiritual-level I meditate and pray, and try to make everything a daily practice.
Posted by: donal | April 11, 2007 at 08:11 AM
Donal, this reminds me of a song from one of Jane Fonda's Workout Videos...
"There's so much more to you than meets the eye...There's so much (clap) more (clap) to you than meets the eye...Livin' Livin' Livin' Livin' for YOU!"
Posted by: Jody | May 01, 2007 at 08:01 PM
seriously D$, when are we going to see some action on this blog?!
Posted by: vic | May 15, 2007 at 07:54 PM
Dang right, we're capable of much more than we think, Mr. Senior Conference Director!
Posted by: Jody | May 23, 2007 at 08:52 PM
Donal, it would make my vacation complete if I could read your musings over coffee each morning. Can ya make that happen, man?
Posted by: April | June 12, 2007 at 07:18 AM
Do you need a spotting partner? Because if you do, I'm your guy. I'd love to see you in action.
PS: Although I can't see what you're wearing today (being that it's the weekend and all) I can say, with total confidence, that it looks tremendous on you.
Posted by: Jonathan | June 17, 2007 at 11:19 AM
You commented on my blog (finally!) so I came to visit yours, but it seems to have gone all stale and moldy...
Posted by: April | July 28, 2007 at 10:29 AM