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What do you really want out of life? Now what's stopping you?

Thursday, October 30, 2008

A Little Bit Longer

Quitting is always an option when faced with potential (or actually experiencing) failure. Of course its an option-you just stop doing what you were doing and run away from it. Its just an otion that many people prefer not to take. Well that's not true either,plenty of people quit all the time. What stops people quitting (or from getting up again from failure) is when the picture of succcess is no longer stronger than the picture/experience of failure.

The other interesting fact is that most people 'quit' when they succeed as well. Seriously the guy just won a 100m race,he's not going to run another 100m down the track after the finish line without good reason. He will, however, return to run another race to try beat his time. I encourage you to continue to find other solutions after you have found one that works. How many ways can you rearrange your house? What more can be done to improve your product or refine the manufacture process? How many different ways are there to work? Be creative just a little bit longer.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Building a Better Workout

There are thousands of gym protocols and equally a thousand urban myths about how, when and why to train. Some are actually based on science and principle.

That’s why the grouping of ideas found in this article leapt out at me. In short the five are:-
1. Train for Strength, not size. Work for functional fitness.
2. Progressively overload your system
3. Balance your movements (up with down, pull with push, movement with stability)
4. Work in unstable positions that challenge your core (e.g. do one armed bicep curls standing on one leg)
5. Do it all explosively- as fast as possible with control.

It rings true with my personal rationales on training with its focus on functional exercise. Look at anyone engaged in physical labour, I mean heavy labour; they don’t go to gym to get a great body, they go to work. Some of the best physiques I have seen are on manual sugar cane cutters. Functional exercise also incorporates your body as a whole and helps build for strength not just for size.

The idea of balancing exercises is also key. As a physio I have seen my fair share of shoulder injuries caused by guys overtraining their chest and biceps at the expense of their back and triceps. The imbalance is bad for you.

The only idea in the article I would modify is the one of doing it all explosively. Sure do explosive work but mix it up sometime with a bit of the slower stuff. That gets your slow twitch muscle fibres working more and an even bigger gain in bulk.

Oh and the coach that is featured in the article has a blog-check it out.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

The Small Things

Today I cleaned out my car, watered a few plants in the garden, sent a few emails and did a bit of writing. Sounds like it could be a fairly mundane list, not different from anyone else’s. Seriously why even bother with it. The common link between all of the above is that they were maintenance towards a series of bigger goals. Maintenance, which if I didn’t do, or get someone else to do, would have resulted in a series of minor disasters. Such is life. Maintenance can be boring until put in the perspective of the bigger picture. I don’t like watering the garden anymore than anyone else, but the though of succulent raspberries in a few months time ensures that I do it with the right attitude (or at least hire a gardener). The sum of the whole is greater than the parts. I’ve been writing for a while now. That takes maintenance. I thoroughly enjoy writing but there are other things that can get in the way if I don’t take time to maintain this blog. This continuance has opened other writing doors for me that would never had arisen if I didn’t keep it up. Some of the largest structures have been build one brick at a time.

Oh ya, Pastor Tom Deuschle has a new blog, Reformation Report. If you are serious about improving yourself and your community then you should have a look.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Matter of Taste

It’s easy sometimes to succumb to second best. Especially when you haven’t ever had a taste of what the best may be like. It’s like the difference between tasting a standard
‘off-the shelf’ bar of chocolate and then experiencing the sheer confectionary delight of Belgian 70% cocoa solid. We can do the same with our brains, tolerating second-rate articles and conversation until a beautiful written debate comes and gently massages your neurons into a state of prose induced bliss. Suddenly all previous experience pale into dull grey as the light of revelation bursts forth. ‘Can it really be this good? Can coffee be this alive? Can a movie be enriched with so much entertainment? Can cars be this pleasant to drive?’ It’s all about heading to the next level and once you are there not shrinking back. That’s all for now, I’m off to put my feet up with a great magazine and freshly brewed Italian coffee.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

For The Love of English

You have to admire the nuances of the english language. One can convey a multitude of words through a simple phrase. 'I ate something that disagreed with me'. A simple sentence that means 'I spent the night awake gripping the edges of my toilet while suffering from a bout of explosive diahorrea due to a delayed reaction following the ingestion of a piece of undercooked sausage.' Do not panic dear reader, I am not suffering from such a minor inconvenience at this time, it is merely an example of how 'overshare' can be transformed into the bearable. We all know you spent the night on the loo, we just don't want to really know.

We can sugar coat our communication with words that make the otherwise unpleasant a whole bunch more palatable. 'He is at rest now, he's better off, we can all move on with our lives'='the old geezer copped it last week,it was a messy end with much trauma but he he's out the way and we don't have to go throught the blasted agony of homebased care.' Again an example,I am not demeaning anyones personal pain.

I went to a funeral recently where ,as is often the case, everyone spoke about the deceased in glowing terms. Personally,I wondered if I was attending the right funeral as the person concerned could be a cantankerous old bat with some really nasty habits. Still person after person painted a gorgeous picture of love and serenity while I inwardly groaned at the duplicity. It quite simply was not true. After the funeral I went up to the grieving family, looked them in their reddened, tear soaked eyes and after a moments thought, with the sweetest intention said 'It was a lovely service, a beautiful send off.' Somethings, methinks,are better unsaid.