This will be my last post for now. I will be taking a break from blogging, because, as Emiko mentioned in her last post, we are trying to get a new business up off the ground. At the same time, we've both also been working 12 hours or more a day on our existing book selling business. In the past 4 days, I've probably had 20 hours of sleep. But even though I feel stretched a bit thin, I feel so incredibly excited and passionate about everything we're doing right now. It's been tough for me to really get back into the groove of things, and unfortunately, it feels right now that really paying attention to my diet and exercise is not a top priority for me. So after a month of giving half an effort, I'm going to not worry about it so much for now.
This week was exceptionally bad for me - PCP wise. I ordered pizza twice as many times as I did the workout. I'm going to follow along with the diet and exercise when I can. Nate's one rep plan sounds pretty good. I'll be cheerleading for Emiko now; she's working super-duper hard, and I'm really proud that she can still stick with the PCP and blogging, in the midst of all the craziness right now. I'll keep reading the blog and posting comments when I can. Good luck everyone!
Yet again, my priorities really shifted this week. A load of new stuff is on my plate right now (Adrian and I are working on starting an illustration business! woo woo), so hating on myself is just impractical. In fact, I don't feel too bad about it.
Neither my diet nor my workouts have been the best this week, I must admit that. Not terrible, but not great. I am actually happy despite all of this, because now I know that I have enough self-awareness to make the choice to adjust during tough times. I also know that this inflation of daily tasks is probably going to continue for awhile, so I am really taking Nate's last post to heart.
There are only small pockets of time for me to work out - and sometimes it feels like there's no time at all - so I am just going to tell myself "Just do 1 rep of each exercise...it'll take no time at all!" And in no time, I can rock those workouts - I know I can't just stop after one rep! So thanks for that post, Nate, I think it's really going to help me step up the amount of exercise I will do this coming week.
Anyways, gotta run.... this post has officially filled one of those few spare, small pockets of time I have! Time to get busy... but first:
...something Adrian made.... a little peak at the new business!!
Good luck this week, everyone! Take the time to start that "1 rep," and get in some great workouts!
Yes, that's me.....I love pressure....well, not really, but it just seems to work for me. Life has gotten so busy these days. I'm doing some major juggling these days.....kids drum and guitar lessons, the boys soccer, the baby at 1 1/2 yrs old, the dog who is still a puppy, rental homes with problem tenants, overseas paperwork, keeping up on e-mails and facebook, shopping, lots of socializing, etc., etc., etc.! I do make it through my days, but sometimes I wonder how?!?!?!
So, it seems that on my busiest days is when I am most effective. I've always been like this....the more I have to do, the more I get done. And if I have nothing to do, I get ultra lazy and do nothing. Maybe this is why I have 3 kids, a dog, a hubby who is gone a lot and live in Japan....
I've had great exercising days this week....first good week in 2009. I know that I need these to get through the next day because the workouts are giving me back the energy I know I had lost while taking a "break" after PCP. It's a snowball effect.....the more I work out, the better I feel, the better I feel, the better I eat, ....the better I eat, the better I feel, the more I work out, the better I feel......and so on. Major theme: work out, eat well.....feel great!
Keep the pressure coming for now, I'm sure the time will come to slow down and relax, but for now I'm doing ok!
Good memories. An english teacher I had in high school would make us write that during creative writing sessions when we didn't know what to write. But as long as the pen was moving the ideas would keep coming and you would spend a lot less time writing "stuck" then you would just staring at the paper. Even if you had to start by writing "stuck" at least you were writing. And that's what many great writers say, that you can only get good at writing by, you guessed it, writing! Even if it's writing 100 "stucks" to get somewhere. And even if you write nothing you keep or like you learned and you grew.
So what does this have to with the PCP Nate, you say?
You will obviously have the best results from a workout if you have a goal, and do a thorough thoughtful workout. However if you aren't doing anything or trying to get motivated to do a workout but can't get into it write your workout "stuck."
What do I mean by that?
If you feel lost or unmotivated, don't have the resistance bands or the running shoes or jump rope under the bed or in the closet. Try this instead. Don't think about doing a workout, don't intimidate yourself, if you're not feeling up to doing a full workout, just do this . . .
One bicep curl,
or one crunch,
or one push-up.
You get the idea.
If you do ONE thing and that is your only goal you have immediately entered into a win-win situation. How? By 1. fulfilling your goal of doing one of an exercise and 2. I guarantee 9 times out of 10 you will do more then the 1 rep. I actually guarantee you will at least 5 times out of 10 wind up doing some semblance of a good work-out. And don't just use this technique once. Write "stuck" WHENEVER you don't know where to go next. If you did 1 v-sit and it turned into 3 sets of 20. And you think "awesome that really worked but I think I'm done" say but I'm gonna do 1 pull-up first. And when you really are done, do that 1 rep and call it quits. You did more than you ever thought your would and you just met or far exceeded your goals.
Last week after more than ten years of anticipation, Street Fighter 4 was released for consoles. This is a pretty big deal if you like fighting games. What's more, the people at Capcom have taken some incredible stylistic risks, and redone all the art in a rough 3D anime sort of style, and filled the whole thing with sumi-e type ink flourishes. Even if you don't give a damn about games, you should watch this just for the artistic value.
Stirs the blood eh?
I'm debating about whether to dive into SFIV. I spent most of my teen years becoming a Street Fighter player and even entered a competition once and came in third. These days with online play I can take on people from all over the world while wearing my pajamas. It's pretty tempting.
Today as I was working out I was thinking about how much more satisfying it is to play PCP than play Street Fighter. I'll never be one of those people who automatically assume that a video game is a poor use of your time. In my mind, Street Fighter is a perfectly good way to spend your time. Once you get good, it's kind of like high speed chess. You need strategy, creativity, and decisiveness to play Street Fighter, all of which can be carried into your regular life. So don't expect a "you kids need to get off the couch and get some fresh air and exercise" lecture from me.
Here's why SF doesn't satisfy like the PCP.
In Street Fighter, there's always someone better than you. Not only better, but much, much better, so much better that when you lose in 10 seconds you feel about 3 inches tall. It's not a pleasant sensation. You can put in hours and hours of playtime and still get crushed by an even more hardcore player. And with online leaderboards you can see that even though you're pretty good you only rank 19,000 in the world. 19,000! Uh... yay!?
In contrast, because it's physical, a workout routine like the PCP can only be done a certain amount of time in a day. After an intense hour of training it simply doesn't make any sense to keep going. You'll just wear your body out and have counterproductive results. On the other hand, I can put in three hours of Street Fighter and still not feel satiated.
Second, there will never be anyone "better" at training than you. You have your one body and what you do with it is up to you. Fatten it up, trim it down, add bulk or increase flexibility, it's all up to you. No one has any right to judge what you do with your only true possession, your physical presence.
And finally, the rewards of being a badass Street Fighter player are, in the big scheme of things, pretty miniscule. A very small group of people will give you some props, but the vast majority will think you're kind of a loser. And you kind of are. Because no matter how you look at it, it's only so cool to move little men around a screen and hit buttons. I wonder what percentage of top level Street Fighter players have girlfriends, or even have relationships with females at all.
But when you start to gain some control over your body, the rewards are immense. Whether it's deserved or not, people respect someone with good posture, broad shoulders, and a trim waist. Opportunities open up because without saying a word an in shape person is communicating that they have motivation, discipline, and patience. As I tell the PCPers, imagine two people with the same qualifications are interviewing for a job at your company. One of them is fit, and the other one is a pasty sunken eyed wimp(i.e. Street Fighter pro). Who are you likely to give the job to?
So, we have activity one, Street Fighter, in which you can put hour after hour of time and at best work your way up a few rungs on a ladder than no one else cares about, and STILL get your ass kicked regularly.
And activity two, a one hour a day commitment that will make you feel confident, look better, live longer and healthier, make a good impression on strangers and the opposite sex.
It's funny that Adrien mentioned habits in his last post because that's what I've been thinking about this week. I had a pretty good week, in that I only spent three days in the office but didn't actually take any vacation. Maybe it's sad that things like that make me happy, but that's a whole other post.
Anyway, one of those days I spent at a regional meeting for people who do roughly the same job as me. It's ostensibly for us to learn what other people are doing with the software we all use, find out tips and tricks and what's new in the field. But really it's about networking (ie, jobs, which there are none of these days and may account for the very poor attendance), gossip, and of course, conference food.
I think anyone who's planned any event, especially a conference type event, realizes or instinctively knows that food (and drinks, especially coffee) makes people happy. Have some delicious pastries, fresh fruit, and good coffee on hand (and free, natch) and people will generally overlook the fact that the conference sessions are boring and not that useful/informative. But forget to provide powdered donuts, coffee (or provide crappy coffee, as was the case this week) and you are facing a salarymen's mutiny.
Anyway, at this conference/meeting there is always coffee, some sort of breakfast pastry, and some sort of other option, usually fruit like orange slices or strawberries. But since money is really tight, the food was definitely less plentiful than in years past. I had a non-PCP friendly breakfast of a granola bar and a bunch of grapes. The centerpiece was a giant tupperware dish of powdered donuts (the tiny ones).
It was a really fun social experiment to watch who took the granola bars, grapes, and donuts, and in what quantities. You could almost chart the donut intake on a graph with obesity and have it be a direct correlation.
My point is: We are all the sum of our habits. Probably there were a few people of normal weight who were like, "wow, donuts, I haven't had one of those in forever, what the heck". And conversely, some heavy folks were probably thinking "I'm going to make a healthy choice today and not have any donuts."
Donuts is probably a red herring and an easy target, but in this case it's just a stand-in for any habitual action that is keeping you from Peak Condition. How many times have you been somewhere and seen a heavy or fit person eating or working out in an unexpected way? It's really unusual for me to be at the gym and see a really unfit person busting ass and working hard. I can definitely say that if I do see an unfit person working to the best of their ability, guess what? After a few months that person no longer resembles an unfit person!!!
I'm all about numbers and statistics, and there's a statistical idea called regression to the mean that is a really good way to think about this. It doesn't exactly apply in that statistics is usually testing an unknown result whereas you have the ability to influence the result by choices and habits. But anyway, stick with me.
A person at or near Peak Condition won't fall down a well of obesity after one donut. And, sadly, the reverse is true. A heavy, unfit person isn't ready for the Olympics after one jog around the block. If you've had bad habits for a long time, it takes a long time for your new habits to displace the old ones as the statistical 'mean'. And once you reach that next level, it's time to re-evaluate again the habits that are holding you back (if, in fact you really want to reach Peak Condition: at some point the gains to your fitness aren't really going to be outweighed by the harmful effects of a habit).
I know we keep going on and on about it, but it really boils down to this: Do your best. Everyday.
In Amy's last post, she asked "What are you doing to plan for a more healthy and fit future?"
For awhile I had the idea of running a marathon. After the PCP ended, I kept a regular running routine. I ran 3 miles every other day, and I did a long run once a week. My goal was to add one mile to the long run each week, until I was doing about 30 miles a stretch. I got up to about 12 miles a week before I injured my achilles, and after that, I just didn't go any more than 10 miles on my long runs. Then, about a month ago, I stopped running altogether. I don't really know why. I loved running - I wasn't doing it just for the exercise. I even ran in the rain. During one long run, I ran during a hail storm. It was what Amy would call running in "White people weather". Since I stopped running, I haven't really had any similarly lofty fitness goals to speak of, other than to eat right and to exercise as often as possible.
I think I am similar to Patrick in that it's easier for me to do things that have a definite end. I'm a very goal oriented person, and that's why it was much easier for me to do the PCP the first time around . I kept my mind on day 90, when the project would be over. Also, like Patrick, I have a meditation practice. This can be a really goal oriented activity too, and when I am sitting in excruciating pain, I keep holding on because I know that after 30 minutes, it will be over.
I know I've missed the point with both the PCP and meditation, because ideally, it's not supposed to end. It's supposed to become a part of your everyday life. But that's just where I'm at right now. Still, even though I often feel like I suck at meditating(and sticking to healthy habits in general), and that I don't do it as well as I want to do it, I feel the need to keep trying every day. It's a habit.
I am feeling really good about where I am right now. This whole time, I have been lacking the motivation to integrate the PCP back into my life 100%. But this week - especially after reading Patrick's last post - I'm shifting into a different gear. I felt like I had made a lot of the excuses Patrick mentioned, and that I truly lacked the motivation to make fitness a priority. Well, something changed. That motivation is really here now.
I knew things were falling into place a few days ago when I woke up and wanted to grab the jump rope. I bundled up in some sweats and headed downstairs and jumped rope in the brisk morning air. After awhile I was feeling really good, and determined. During one of my sets, excited by my heightened willpower, I was reminded of one of David's old posts about being your own personal drill sergeant. I felt empowered by pushing myself, even to do something so simple. I was really energized the rest of the day, because I had gotten started so early - but also, I think, by that sense of determination. I hope things will keep going this way. I am definitely going to begin jump-roping as a morning ritual.
Can't wait till jump-rope makes me this giddy!
Until next Friday rolls around, have a good week everyone!
The bad news is that I failed on my diet the last couple of days. The good news is that I know exactly the reasons.
Reason number one: hubby is out of town for the second week in a row, so when the kids go to bed, I'm sitting all alone reading or on the computer, and I start snacking. Not good at all. Really looking forward to having him back home on Sunday night.
Reason number two: the kids love to snack and they are off school for a couple of days this week (sore subject...it's "ski break"....why would they need days off for that....I think they need to be in school and go skiing at XMAS!!!!)....so we've been having lots of fun playing games and eating yummy stuff...kids deserve it, I don't need it!!!
Reason number three: I went shopping at Negishi Base this week with a friend of mine. So the problem with this is the biggest because all the snacking the kids and I have been doing has been on good old American junk food. We are seriously better without it....but when an opportunity came to buy, I took it. Just should have left it for the kids this time, but it's so tempting. I am appalled at the way grocery stores are set up anyways (and this applies to Japanese grocery as well)......have you noticed that if you shop around edges of the store, you get all the fresh fruits, veggies, milk products, breads and meats...but then if you venture into any of the aisles, you get all the processed stuff???? And the endcaps are always stocked with stuff not good for us, which entice us to go down the aisles?
SO.....I am on major detox over the weekend to flush my system of the chips and candy I ate the last 2 days....granted it wasn't huge amounts....it just was more than it should have been. I am hoping to be back on track tomorrow.....it was a good lesson to learn because right now I feel like my body is asking to be healthy again.
Sorry for posting this so late. One of my favorite things about the PCP is how portable it is. I've been out of state for the past several days, and it's easy to just grab your jumprope and bands and take it with you.
As always, the hardest part is sticking with the diet. Fortunately, I'm in a place where there's been a lot of good home cooking, and grabbing fast food has been pretty rare. Another thing I've noticed is how much the weather affects your biochemistry. Like Nate, I find it much harder to work out when it's colder, but now that I'm in a warmer climate, I'm much more parched for water, obviously, and have a considerably stronger desire to work out.
Wish I could write more, but I gotta run. Catch you all soon.
So I want to start by saying that Patrick's post yesterday really struck a chord with me. I can totally agree and it helped me get some closure on things. Art being one of them. I don't do art nearly as much as I want to, but instead of feeling like I'm putting it aside or I should "make time" for it I feel better now that it's just not feasible to regularly do art with my schedule. I am OK with it not being a priority and I will do art when I REALLY want too and that's that. Fitness is the same way. I really don't ever want to be a body-builder or even as dedicated as Patrick, I do however really want a six-pack. So where do you find compromise?
I think a lot of people have major issues when it comes to fitness because the only goal they ever set is the end game. However I have always been very good at breaking things down into manageable goals that have gotten me through the PCP and where I am now.
For example, if you are thinking of doing the PCP but getting acquainted with all these blogs first, like I did, make some changes now. Too many people think of goals and the path to them as clear cut. You don't need to start your journey to fitness on day 1 of the PCP or some new diet. Make a small change now and you are laying the bricks for a strong foundation, otherwise if you actually make it through the 90 days it will all crumble because you have no idea what to do after you reached your goal.
So my advice is set smaller goals, and although you will have a bigger more ultimate goal like completing the PCP, come up with at least one goal afterwards to keep you going, then one after that and so forth. I neglected to do that, felt lost after the PCP, and here I am today trying to get things back on track. But, I would have had a harder time still if I didn't take advantage of setting pre-PCP goals for myself.
So set small goals. Pre and Post PCP.
Right now my goal is to work on stamina, posture, flexibility, and balance. This summer I plan on switching back into a more heavy muscle-toning and intensive cardio program similar to the PCP. But for now I want to work on things that will help my backpacking in europe and help me understand some things are worth dedicating time and energy to that have much smaller noticeable benefits. I already know I can build pecs really quick if I want but I want a stronger foundation of fitness. Things that will help me when I'm 80 and slowing down.
So bring on the yoga stretches, conscious posture throughout the day, and walking with my backpack for a few miles a week to start.
That's my goals for now. All part of the bigger goal of actively striving to be fitter than the day before.
The most profound thing I've learned on my journey towards true fitness is how to be realistic about what a body can do within a given schedule.
Being lean and strong takes a time commitment. To get in Peak Condition the way we do it requires at least an hour a day of pure exercise. That doesn't sound like much but it comes out to more than 30 hours a month. And that's not counting the time it takes to prepare your own healthy meals. It all amounts to a pretty big time-sink.
This isn't meant to discourage anyone. In fact, the way I see it, this lets a lot of people off the hook. If you are working a full time job and have an active social/family life, you will not have the time to get into totally "ripped" territory. And that's ok.
What isn't ok is people thinking that they can work a full time job, take care of all their obligations, and still squeeze in enough time to work out and look like an underwear model. This just isn't feasible. Sooner or later something will slip. You'll be too busy to prepare your meals and end up eating out too much, killing your diet. Or you'll start to gradually skip days and then weeks of workouts. I've seen it and done it many times myself. The only reward you'll get from thinking you can do it all is increased stress and guilt.
So, here's the deal. If you aren't prepared to make some time for a daily workout (and by make time I mean cut something else in your busy schedule) then you are saying that being in awesome shape isn't really that important to you. If it was then it would be easy to cut one of your other lower-priority activities, right?
This means you can relax and understand that, as your life stands, it's just not in the cards for you to have a six-pack at this time. Stay active and healthy, but relax about not having the physique of people who put the hours in for it. Your investing your time in other stuff which hopefully is giving you rewards equal to or greater than what you'd get from a "killer bod".
If you get truly sick of not being in shape it will be natural to cut one of those things that seems more important now and get to working out. And if that day never comes then why are you feeling guilty about something you don't really want to do?
Of course for this technique to work you must be pretty comfortable with yourself and not fall for your mind's many tricks that are designed to derail your fitness plans.
Among the hits list of these tricks are:
"I'll start tomorrow"
"I deserve this"
"But I can't miss _____"
"I'm getting too old to worry about looks"
"I swear this is my last _____!"
"I don't have that body-type."
Falling for these old tricks will only prolong the guilt, not alleviate it.
Often my yoga students express frustration that they aren't as flexible as they want to be. I ask them if they are practicing at home between classes and they admit "no, I'm just too busy". I sometimes tell them, "then you don't REALLY want to be more flexible, do you? Why stress about something you don't really want to do?"
To make a comparison, I have no particular interest in visiting South America. I'm sure it's a nice place and maybe one day I'll make it there, but there are other places I want to see first. So I don't stress about how I'm not going to South America this summer, right? This is the same relaxed attitude I wish people would take about the guilt that piles on from not exercising and eating well enough.
When your ready you'll do it. Once you reach that point get in touch and we'll be happy to give you the tools you need. Till then, relax! It's the stress that kills, not the fat.
Just like before, I have been taking the PCP on the road. This time, I took my mom for a little vacation down to the beach. I really like going to the beach, but I really don't like going to the beach when everyone else is at the beach. Thus, I have to go in September or February or some such.
Anyway, the hardest part about the PCP on the road (besides the jump rope) is avoiding salt. You can find some acceptable food in some restaurants but almost all restaurants have a lot of salt on their food. Several of the towns we stopped in on the way are known for their peanuts and cured hams (salt overload!!!). Fortunately I stopped on the way out of town to get some healthy take-along snacks, but after a fitful night of sleep I drank a sugar-free RedBull and since that moment have not been feeling very well, even with a healthy breakfast and lots and lots of water, fruit and veggies today.
I am really glad to be home and looking forward to some excellent cool-weather garden planning tomorrow. Almost anything worthwhile in life, be it fitness or finances, takes some thought in advance to work out for the best. Hopefully in a few months (April-ish) I will be harvesting some spinach, broccoli, cabbage, and other spring crops. My mom keeps trying to talk me into radishes and turnips but I just don't like them!
What are you doing to plan for a more healthy and fit future?
I agree with Emiko that its difficult to make healthy life-style choices while stressed out. That's probably why stress and health-related complications go hand in hand. After a long day of work, I don't even want to think about resistance bands.
Its usually hard for me to find time to unwind, and running a business from home makes me feel like I'm working whenever I'm not sleeping. Video games aren't as appealing as they used to be, because I find that most of the time they stress me out even more. (Has anyone ever thrown a controller at their t.v. screen?) Recently, I got into photography as a hobby, and it's become a new obsession. My last roll couldn't be developed, and the roll before that came out blank. It was disappointing, but it was fun just to walk around and shoot without much of a goal.
I'm curious - what does everyone else out there like to do for fun? And don't say jump rope!
The diet has, once again, slipped for me this week. Not completely - my food measurements and schedule still resemble my diet plan - but I've had some bad moments. I am still feeling remnants of guilt because of the potato chips I ate earlier. I have always been an eat-my-stress-away type, so staying in line is especially difficult for me lately. Things have been stressful lately, with many long work days and other sources of mental stress. The majority of my work hours are spent out and about...away from home, and my kitchen. Like others have mentioned, preparing food is key to staying on diet when you don't have constant access to healthy food, and I just haven't lived up to that.
This is mostly due to my bad time management, but there is also a lot of mental what-have-you going on. Like Amy said in her last post, "my brain just really, really, really does not want to do this." Most of the time I get down on myself for eating junk, but some times I don't even care. That makes me question myself more. I even find myself feeling bad because I don't feel guilty. Shouldn't I feel awful for messing up? Is it this slight lack of guilt that allows me to continue deviating from the diet?
It's just one of those times that I have to put my head down, and push through without criticizing myself too much or giving myself so much room to make excuses. I will try to keep what Patrick wrote about in mind, and just do the best I can with each day.
That's what I have to work with for now. Until next time, good luck this week everyone!
Where did this week go???? I'm in such a blur and can't believe it's already time for me to blog again...actually I missed yesterday totally by mistake....and I apologize to you all for a kink in the chain!
I had a great week with finding time to complete the exercising.....it's all because I'm deciding to do it as soon as everyone has left the house and the baby is still watching his favorite video. I've been feeling that great soreness again. The only problem I have is deciding which workout to complete. A few days I've just skimmed through a page, but not really done all of what it called for, and a couple of days I really only jumped with my own ad-lib of squats and v-sits......so with the help of Patrick, I'm waiting on a 5 day plan. I'm sure it will get me going better. Will let you know!
Eating better and controlled is also already making me feel better. It's that guilt associated with putting the wrong things in my mouth which makes me stay away from the evils. My only real downfall has been using nuts and dried fruit in place of the fresh fruit and milk for snacks. I know there is too much fat in the nuts and too much sugar in the dried fruit! It's just been such a busy week with classes, baby and kids that I fell into this. Hoping to be more organized next week so that I don't fall for easy stuff.
Well....I am exhausted from the week and looking forward to a weekend. A bit of sleeping in, a bit of indulging.
What a week. Like Nate, I've had a rough week as well. I wrecked my motorcycle last week, but walked away with a bum knee due to road rash. This has set me back on the workouts, but my knee should be fine by the end of the week; thus I hope to fully resume the workouts then.
Unfortunately I've allowed myself to slip on the diets as well. It's amazing how the mind looks for any excuse it can to resort to its slothful state. I have to consciously and constantly remind myself to make better decisions. I was talking to a friend of mine who is being tutored by a wealthy individual in regards to saving money. He said that the primary concept it to be extremely tight with your money. It's a constant, conscious awareness and decision.
This relates to the PCP as last week I asked for advice on how to save money (much thanks to all of you for your advice and contributions, by the way). What I have noticed lately is how much more satisfying food is when you work for it -- when you take the time to prepare it and sit down to enjoy it. Fast food is convenient, but there's always something to regret about it whether it's due to cost or health.
My encouragement to you and myself is to take a moment this week to think about how you can be more conscious of something. Whether it's the food you eat, the way you spend your money, your posture, anything. The more aware of it you are, the more active you can be in pursuing change.
I got sick. Some weird stomach flu thing that had me laid out for about 4 days. So again I have not fallen into the PCP rhythm as everyone else yet. I'm Glad everyone is getting on track though, it's moments like this that the PCC is really needed. Between taking care of my mom when she was sick to being violently ill myself over the course or two and still trying to make a living one can get pretty down about working out. I'm glad to see everyone doing well thought and to read their thoughts.
Today is the first day I feel back to 100%. It was 50+ degrees here in Rochester and that felt great. I could take that any day in the middle of winter. I realized a few things since about PCP related to sickness since this is the sickest I've gotten in about a year.
1. I craved meat. I haven't eaten meat in almost a year now. It was very strange but a day after the onslaught my body started craving meat. I had dreams about eating meat. Patrick mayhaps you have some strange logical reason for this but I can't think of one. Anyway as soon as I could start downing some solid food again (beyond toast and a soft-boiled egg) the cravings were gone and now have less desire for eating meat than before I got sick. Weird.
2. I was able to push myself pretty far even though I was sick. I stayed fairly busy throughout and surprisingly I recovered as quickly as I did. I really do feel 100% now and I am really happy.
3. It felt like more of a mental battle than ever before. The first night when my stomach attacked me it wasn't merely a physical attack. I had a really hard time keeping my thoughts in control and my mind was racing. I don't know why that happened, I don't think it's related to fitness at all but it was weird.
4. Having abs is awesome! So hours of puking didn't make my stomach sore! The PCP is great in the puke-preparedness department.
And the biggest thing was that getting sick like that for the first time since PCP gave me a low I didn't remember. The PCP gave me the best I have ever felt physically and feeling that sick brought me down to a point of reference. I could remember how much worse being sick was when my body was probably fighting all the stores of toxins I would have had in my body from months of poor diet before hand. And now that I'm bette I can really place how I feel. I'm more in tune with my physicality. I know I'm not where I was 2 months ago but I'm still really good and I have great energy compared to pre-PCP life.
So if you want to stay healthy and cope with sickness to the best of your ability focusing on physical well-being and fitness is the best thing you can do. Actually if I had kept up on the diet and exercise more I bet I never would have got sick to begin with. Cheers to the PCP keeping us all at the top of our game or getting us there quickly when we fall back!
Next time I want to talk a little about mind-body connection. Until then keep being active! Spring is coming!
I was listening to a zen talk from Gil Fronsdal over at Zencast a few years ago and something he said struck a chord with me. He was talking about students' occasional frustration with a "bad session" of meditation in which they were either too scattered or too drowsy to feel like much was getting done.
Of course Gil threw out the usual lines about how dealing with these things is actually the whole point of the practice, how we're not trying to get to any special mental state but just experiencing the mental state as it is, etc...
But after that he said something to this effect.
It's not that you compare this week's poor mediation to last week's strong session. You simply do the best you can for the state that you are in. So if you're really drowsy, just staying awake and trying to keep your seat through heavy lidded eyes will in a sense be a "good session". If you are agitated, not getting carried away and drowned in your excess thought will be a "good session".
Basically, you do your best every time you meditate. But we have to understand our best is a moving target, and be satisfied when it is not where it was last week or where we think it should be after "x" years of training. Holding up any one session against another is just more attachment, more investment in unhelpful mental patterns.
Of course this principle can be applied to how we move our bodies as well as our minds. I often get frustrated emails from PCPers who feel that they didn't have a good workout, that they had to skip a day because of a full schedule, that had to go out to eat because there wasn't any fresh food in the house and they were starving.
If you have a less than ideal workout, all that's important is that you did your best for what your best was that day. If you can say that with confidence then it's easy to let go of those frustrations.
This is a dangerous path however. The mind is sneaky and will often try to convince you that you are at your limit when in fact you have a lot more in you. It takes a strong will to really do your best, and it takes practice to know where that line is.
If you feel like your decision is based on a rationalization, "I really don't feel like working out, I have a lot to do, and I'll work extra hard tomorrow" then you haven't done your best.
If your decision is based on an honest assessment of your situation, "This presentation is the most important thing on my plate right now, I can jump-rope during my lunch break and eat well but that's all I can possibly do today," then you have done your best and can go to sleep satisfied that night.
It's heady and hard-work being honest with yourself, but it's one of the most essential tasks you have on this earth. Good luck!
I spoke last week about high points and low points in the weekly cycle of PCP-world. Friday, for the first time in a LOOONG time, I had one of the worst workouts I have had in memory. I'm not really sure what caused it. I had a rough weekend sleep-wise too but managed to get back in the gym today and feel like I had a really productive weights workout. So much so that I was just exhausted to do cardio.
Although I think the PCP resistance work is great (and it taught me just how fit you can really get with body-weight only exercises), I started a program at the beginning of the year called The New Rules of Lifting for Women and I want to finish it and see how my results are.
Granted, this is because I have access to a good weight room and make time in my schedule to get there. Otherwise, the PCP workouts would be a much better option given that you can do them at home, in a hotel room, on the moon (wouldn't that be something!), and so forth.
Anyway, this phase consists of a weight routine FOLLOWED BY a bodyweight matrix that is just so, so hard to finish if you've really been lifting at a level that challenges your strength. So I guess I won't feel so bad that I can't do high-intensity cardio immediately following that.
And then there's food...I felt like I did better this week for the most part. But my brain just really, really, really does not want to do this. It's like the first time around I was at my wits end and I would try anything. But now my brain thinks it knows better and tells me to do all kinds of crazy things (skip this, eat that, do this, not that) and it gets old after a while. I've been doing some fun things to distract myself from all this annoying self-talk.
Like this weekend, I kept thinking I needed to go for a really long run or do something really 'mean' to my body because it is just not slimming down and it's frustrating. But it's my rest day and I really don't need to do those type of mean things! So during all this I built up a really cool bicycle from an old bike I had and two junk bikes a neighbor gave me. I can't wait until it's nice enough to ride outside.
At my low times I keep telling myself "when you want to quit the most is exactly when you should hang on!"
Like most of us in the PCC, I've had a hard time jumping right back into the food plan. Just looking at all the food on my diet sheet is enough to tire me out. Time management is really tough for me when it comes to food. For some reason, I never could get myself to spend much time on pre-preparing food. It felt like most of my day was spent preparing food, eating it and then washing dishes. Sticking to the diet plan was the hardest thing for me to do during the PCP. I guess that's why it was pretty easy for me to stop following it shortly after the program ended.
I shamefully gave into my most random junk food cravings. While waiting to get back a roll of film at Walgreens this week, I wandered over to the refrigerators, and I caught myself staring at a box of lean pockets. It was a low moment.
Yesterday was the first time I followed the meal plan, and like others have said, if you stick to it, there isn't much room left for extra food. I got stuffed with raw carrots instead of potato chips. It's pretty nice not feeling sick after eating a bunch of food. I don't think I've ever known the feeling of nourishment before the PCP. After eating 150 grams of vegetables and fruit, I get a burst of energy and I'm ready to go.
I'm going to start following other PCP vets advice to spend a day on just prepping food. Tomorrow I'm going to go the groceries and I'm going to buy 5 bags of carrots!
Just as I was hoping for in last week's post, I am finally getting back into the rhythm of a PCP lifestyle. Although I am feeling pretty sore today (two words: V-SITS!), my body is responding really well to exercising regularly again.
While I was jump-roping behind my apartment building this afternoon, I thought of a similarity between jumping rope again and getting back into a PCP rhythm: it's only getting started that is difficult. My first set of jump-ropes was really a pain, and I didn't want to keep going. But the second set wasn't so bad, and eventually the repetitive movement was quite relaxing. Similarly, after already going through a 90-day Project, it only took a concerted effort to push me back on track. I just had to get through that initial difficulty and mental resistance.
Go Bruce!
I think that because I fell back into a lifestyle of much more regular indulgence post-PCP, I forgot how nice it is to eat well and exercise every day. As Adrian said to me yesterday while working out, "I forgot how this actually feels good." Hopefully as all seven of us push our way through this beginning stage, we will all get those feelings, and settle into a healthier way of living!
Wow....getting back on track is harder than I thought. I was so set to get going on diet and exercise in a big way, but it's been a bit of a slow start.
Actually I have been doing great with the diet part of it.....except that it's back to way too much more food than I'm used to. I'm trying my best.....falling a bit short on carbs (which I'm assuming is fin) and falling short on the meat (which I'm not sure about). For some reason I have been off meat since the new year....I need to find other "proteins" that would substitute. Patrick....does tofu work in it's place? I did take advantage of the once a week indulgence and had dessert when I went out with Jane and Jodi for lunch yesterday at California Pizza Kitchen....it was a beautiful apple pie a la mode....I didn't finish the entire thing.....just the ice cream and the crust of the pie (I don't really like the sweetness of the apple filling). I also have my 11 year wedding anniversary (yikes!) coming up on Sunday and my hubby will be out of town....so this is my celebration!
Now, about the exercise.....I wanted to aim for 5 days since Thursday....but have only managed 3. I like to work out in the morning before the day really gets going....but with the cold weather I just don't feel like getting out of bed! I'm hoping for a better week ahead because I feel so much better all day after working out. Still can't do it at night, but I might have to just start so I can hit my goals.
I must confess as well that I have not stuck as close to the project as I intend to. My personal aim is to exercise five times a week while making healthier eating decisions every day. While the goal for exercising can easily be accomplished by managing my time better, I have found it much harder to eat healthier with less money in my pocket this time around.
I have had some quality meals provided by my parents when visiting them, and I have plenty of rice I can eat, but for a couple weeks prior to starting the project last week, I had been eating junk like the American ramen packets, which are pretty high in sodium. It is also really hard to turn down free pizza when your roommate brings it home. Needless to say, these foods haven't been giving me the energy I've needed to get through my workouts.
I hope to begin cleansing my system by eating lots of vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, and carrots. I'll probably have to skim on fruits and eat less protein than I did last time, but I'm also looking forward to the challenge of making healthy decisions while remaining more mindful of my finances.
If you have any suggestions for more affordable meals that I can prepare, please let me know!
First off I have to come clean I did not start the PCP diet and workout yet. I have had 2 crazy weeks at work and this weekend I had my hands full taking care of my mom who came down with a weird viral infection that affected her intestine and had to go to the hospital. But she is doing much better now and enjoying being pampered by my dad and her children. The one pay-off of having kids is eventually they take care of you.
So besides that I have still been making relatively healthy diet choices and active choices as well. In the would-be fitness-schlep words of Patrick I eat well, move well, and am well haha.
I did however have such a poorly prepared Macchiato today I almost got scared off of them.
What I wanted to mention today is something that I find quite hilarious and at times irritating. It's as soon as everyone you know, finds out about the PCP and what it entails, you will always be different. ALWAYS.
When mentioning food or talking about a new restaurant, months after the PCP is done, your friends will turn to you mid-conversation and say things like "Oh, i don't know if you can eat there," or "are you still on that weird diet?" Or if you organize a party people ask if they can bring desserts and like-items. It's hilarious because it seems they point this out constantly because if they make you feel different they can't feel guilty about how THEY eat.
On top of that the instant they witness you "indulge" it's the news of the century. "oh, you can eat THAT now? I thought your diet wouldn't let you."
And that's where it gets a little irritating to me. Almost every I know that knew about the PCP and it's details still calls it a diet. When I have time and time again told them no it's just how I choose to eat. Sure it's a "diet" if you eat McDonald's every day that's a "diet" too but not in the way they use the term. Because you see 99.9% of people in the world view "diets" as momentary journeys into restrictive unpleasant eating, and 90% of those people have never even successfully completed a "diet."
So be prepared to be different and be forced to constantly have that pointed out to you. And as long as you are in the minority (healthy eaters) you will always be on a "diet" and have "restrictions" even though it's your clean taste buds that don't like bacon cheese burgers and salty fries not what some magazine said you should and should not eat.
But be happy to be different. Be happy to be healthy. I am.
Even though I am slowly sliding away from being REALLY healthy. But I'm house-sitting my sisters dogs this coming week so if I don't get lured into playing the Wii all week I will walk/run the dogs in this bitter cold.
Until next week, I hope you enjoy everyone else's posts as much as I do.
I've been toying with the idea of signing off all my blog posts, lectures, and books with the phrase "eat well, move well, be well." It's a pretty compact statement of my beliefs regarding the only way to feel healthy and get the most out of your short time on the earth. It's not about fad diets and gimmicky exercise equipment, it's simple stuff like eating a ton of vegetables and working within your body's natural parameters.
I've dropped the idea of having a signing off statement like "eat well, move well, be well" because it's super cheesy and reeks of fitness guru schlock. I want you people to know I am down here in the trenches with you, I don't know anything you don't know and if it seems like I do it's only because I've made more ignorant mistakes along the way.
I'm glad I decided to kill the line because last week I walked into a Starbucks and was confronted with this framed advertisement on the wall. Sorry about the low quality, it was taken with my camera phone.
As you can see, it's a poster sized piece that features the phrase "eat well/feel well." That's all well and good, but the foodstuffs that they have chosen to represent this feel-good lifestyle are, clockwise from the left, a foamy (perhaps whipped cream?) coffee drink, a cupcake, a piece of marble poundcake, a lettuce, cheese and tomato sandwich, and a blueberry muffin.
What a pitiful example of "eating well." The cupcake, poundcake, and muffin are all essentially the same meal, enriched flour with egg, milk, and sugar in varying amounts. There is nothing nourishing about them. The sandwich appears to be rye bread which would at least be a decent source of complex carbohydrate, but the lettuce and tomato bring basically zero to the nutritional table. That leaves us with the frothy drink and the cheese, both of which are the very non-essential dairy group of foods. (But dairy is one of the four food groups you say? Not in the other half of the world where people never touch the stuff and live long and healthy lives.)
It seems that where Starbucks and I differ is the shading of the word "well." Their "well" seems to be that of momentary gratification. As in "eat well for tomorrow we die." Accordingly, their "feel well" seems to refer to the pleasure derived from the experience.
My view of the word well is "skillfully." As in "Well played old chap." In my scheme eating a big piece of poundcake would certainly be enjoyable, but wouldn't qualify as "eating well."
We seem to have a similar disconnect in the modern world. We so often confuse what tastes good, fills us up, and turns on our seratonin pleasure centers as a generally positive culinary experience. In fact, beyond the momentary pleasure on the tongue, that kind of diet will do anything but make us feel well. It will make us fat, clog our blood pipes, and give us diseases.
What I try to tell myself and anyone who will listen is that we need to recalibrate our sense of taste and what is a "good meal." A bowl of vegetables, lightly seasoned, simply will not compete in the taste arena with a Starbuck's mocha.
The truth of the matter is that the healthiest foods and meals are light, subtle dishes that accentuate the flavor of nature. Yet we have come to expect that every meal should contain something that really knocks it out of the taste stadium. Salty, cheesy, sweet, creamy, rich, savory, these should all be viewed as treats, not mandatory parts of a meal.
This Starbucks ad is just another voice in a choir of media that is based on the idea that to really eat well and feel well you must be experiencing amazing drinks and meals at every opportunity. Break out of the matrix and see that this expectation is ruining not only our palates but our health.
Steam some vegetables, eat an apple, and see what eat well feel well really means. In my world I'd say "eat skillfully, live gracefully."
So now it's my turn...we're all back here in this together, but hopefully with a little more momentum and less confusion than last time. My first full week on the PCP diet has been pretty successful, I think. The first time it just felt like a ton of food, and this time by Tuesday I was ready to eat every bite of food. Like Lene, I just can't give up my Coke Zero (does that make me a coke addict?) but I'm working on it. Making the Peak Condition Project more of a lifestyle than a short-term goal is at times relieving and depressing. It's pretty great to have some well-defined boundaries and know that if I just follow the plan, I'll feel great and be very healthy. On the other hand, cookies are good. Skittles are good! And chocolate is very, very good. Every week of the PCP feels more or less like a wave pattern that goes something like this: As you can see, it gets pretty rough around Wednesday evening but by Friday things are starting to pick back up again. And notice that the week ends at a slightly higher level than it started.
So tomorrow starts a new week and I am feeling a bit better today than I was this time last Sunday. So that's something.
The Peak Condition Project is a program created by wellness expert Patrick Reynolds and fitness trainer Chen Zhongtao. Using the simplest of materials, adherence to diet, classic kung-fu training techniques, and social networking, PCPers achieve the physiques they've always dreamed of. Find out more at thepeakconditionproject.com
On the Peak Condition Community blog graduates of the PCP continue their journey towards optimum health. In daily posts and conversations, we talk about how to live sustainable and healthy lives long after our 90 days have finished.
