DoTheEvolution.Me

It was a hard waking up this morning, went to bed a little later than usual last night after a really bonding men’s group/after-hang at the Hungry Toad.  Anyways, consequently I was in a deep sleep state when the ‘ol Alarm went off, and the first thought in my head was “nooooooo……..it feels sooo good to be sleeping right now!!”.

Sprang out of bed 5 minutes later and was off for some shoulder action.  The workout itself was good, but not great.   I really dropped into dips quite well today, and shoulder shrugs were also spot on.  The other exercises were a bit more foggy, I struggle with bringing the same intensity to my back and shoulder muscles.

2 more weeks!

Here’s to legs, those wonderful appendages that get us where we need to go day after day without complaint.

Smashed um this morning. Lunges, Leg Press, Leg Curls, Sumo Squats, and calf raises.  I was in, present, and pushing, then out.  It was swift and brutal, and felt great.  My dropset on the legpress was particularly deadly today, went a good 4 reps beyond my normal.  Excrutiating, but felt good.

Back in action, woke up on time, got to bed on time last night, and slaughtered my sprints.  Felt faster and stronger than usual, more powerful in each stride.  Abs also went pretty well, I sometimes have trouble keeping proper form on the swiss ab ball, but otherwise it was a tough, engagning, satisfying morning.

I’m in week 12 of my self-chosen 14 week cycle, and feeling strong.  I’m definitely going to be ready for a little break/recharge at the end, but am pretty sure I’ll be able to hang through the remainder.

One thing I have completely failed at is writing my screenplay, so far I’ve just been lazy and been avoiding it.

Routine was a bit different today, didn’t workout till 8am as I stayed up late last night along with fellow crew to watch the premiere of the television show I helped create….So slept in a bit this morning and decided to workout a little later.  I definitely ate off diet quite a bit this weekend, both friday at a gathering at a friends and last night at our little premiere shindig.  While it was nice to splurge on some junk food and whatnot, I’m definiitely feeling the effects in my body.  I feel a bit sluggish, tired, and more congested than usual.  Looking forward to getting back to cleaner foods for the week!

Wasn’t my strongest chest workout this morning, partly because of the lack of sleep and poor eating this weekend.  Definitely didn’t feel as strong as normal.  So begins week 12!

Stats this morning: 37″ and 20 on the calipers.

Forgot to post on saturday, but i most certainly worked out….I mostly remember how good it felt to sit in the hot tub afterwards..

My alarm didn’t go off this morning.  Luckily, after a dozen or so weeks of waking up early 6 days of the week, my body had me covered.  I woke up at 6am, the time I’m usually arriving to the gym.  Scrambled, got my shit together, and headed over by 6:15.  Consequently, I felt “behind” my whole workout, even though I had no hard deadline…

Physically I was achey as hell this morning, which actually pleases me quite a bit after 10 weeks of training.  I was pretty sluggish in my sprints, though there were a few specific sets where I felt more powerful than I ever have before.

Abs were pretty good, not great.  Part of me really still feels like I don’t really know how to do a true crunch, I was so indoctrinated by situps in my youth that its really hard for me to limit my range of motion.  Definitely feels more intense when I do though.  One thing I have come to truly love about Strength Training, which is like any true artform, is that its not something than can ever really be ‘mastered’, but is instead a lifetime of exploration.

Tired this morning.  Real tired.

HA. I’ve probably started 30% of my posts with that by now I imagine.

This morning I decided to use the gym as a way to explore that tiredness.  When I wake up and feel tired, what am I really feeling?   When I’ve been up all night and not gotten enough sleep, I say I’m tired.  When I’ve put in a day of high mental concentration/intensity at work I say I’m tired.  Anytime I go back home and am around my family I feel tired.

Obviously tired means a lot of things, and touches in on many different aspects of my ‘self’: physically, emotionally, and mentally.

I tried to stay in touch with my “tiredness” today as I lifted  (back, shoulders, and biceps/triceps) and, big suprise, I found that in many ways my body had just as much energy as it normally did, when I really felt into it down to the cellular level.

Still, I was tired, so it wasn’t the most amazing workout I’ve ever had, but it was a good one, and I did really get clarity around the fact that for me personally, a lot of times my “tiredness” is an escape, an avoidance, an excuse to disengage, shutdown, and as mentioned yesterday, to not FEEL.

Trying to remain open and present thru my ‘tiredness’ just got added to life’s practices.

First off, the sun is rising just before I head out the gym these days, so there’s a very fantastic quality to the light and world in the mornings as I head over to north boulder rec.  This morning specifically, Venus was extremely visible and extremely close to the sliver of the moon.  It was beautiful.

Good leg workout this morning, but I could have pushed harder. I held back, maybe gave 85% of what I really could have. An extra rep here, better form there, small little avoidances that added up to less than complete effort.  I’ve become hyper aware of that fact that in the gym, like in life, when I’m not giving 100% its usually just because I’m avoiding feeling.  Specifically in the gym, its the agony of a muscle burning, and the possibility of it giving out.  In life, it’s often loneliness, frustration, sadness, regret, fear of death, any number of things that I often chose to simply avoid.

Sleepy waking up this morning.  Was pretty wiped out from an intense workshop this weekend, just took about 24 hours for me to actually feel it.  Sprints were good though, I’m really falling into a strong rhythm with them.  Trying to push myself a little harder each time, as my recovery time between sets is still going down.  Though I’m by no means a graceful sprinter yet, I often feel slugggish and wheezy!

Abs also felt good,  finally found the swiss ab ball that seems to be the right size/firmness for me, so swiss ball crunches were fantastic today.

Summer is definitely peeking its head out, melting away our latest snow.  Morning’s are shockingly lighter than they were just a week ago, and I’m feeling all the sensations that come with summer arising in my body.

At least I’m going to be in pretty decent shape for this next couple of months.

I think this morning was the first time I ever felt strong on a chest day.  Not strong like I lifted a shit ton more weight than I normally do, but strong like I moved up in weigth a bit last week, and was able to meet that weight with abundance this morning.  I felt good.  Felt strong.  Felt powerful.  Strength Training works.  If you aren’t doing it, now’s your chance to start.

I’m in week 11 of 12, though I’ve decided to go to 14 weeks officially.  the TV show I helped co-create is having a premiere party here in Boulder on May 15th, so I’m going to push through until then.  That party shall be a celebration of the AND the completion of my official challenge.  It’ll be the end of about 15 weeks of near complete sobriety as well.  (had 2 beers snowboarding, and went to a vodka tasting a week or so ago, but haven’t drank otherwise since Basecamp).  Not sure I even really miss it that much.  Feeling good feels pretty good….

176 even on the scale this morning.