On journaling and gratitude

Life is fraught with many things, ups and downs. I have never been one who has the best memory to note and remember every little detail in my life. Perhaps this is where a good journal can come in.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/06/07/30-days-to-a-better-man-day-8-start-a-journal/

These past days have been a great challenge. In fact these past weeks have been a great challenge. I think sometimes in life, we are so caught up with the many trials and tribulations we forget to give thanks to the little things in life. Today, I want to use this opportunity to give thanks. Gratitude is a mysterious thing.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/06/04/30-days-to-a-better-man-day-5-cultivate-your-gratitude/

There are many things in a relationship that I can give thanks for, but at the top of my head, after a quick thought, these are the first few that came to mind.

I am thankful for my girlfriend, for:

1) Sticking with me and standing by me at the beginning of our relationship, despite the many emails and harassment she received.

2) I am not the most emotive or expressive person. Such is my character that I often portray an air of indifference. So I want to give thanks to you for being so enthusiastic about us even though I often made you feel like I am not in it.

3) For being supportive of my dream to soar into the skies. Despite the many uncertainties that it brings, you have been my pillar and worry more for me than I do myself about achieving my dream.

4) For always calling my BS and wanting to motivate me to become a better person, for my sake, even if it sometimes lead to resentment and arguments.

5) For willing to accommodate to some of my demands, albeit grudgingly, such as soccer nights and someday me-times.

6) For being OK with my many gross and unbecoming habits that would deal a death knell in many relationships as being simply too disgusting. And despite so, still always telling me that I am hot.

Written in the stars

Do you believe in star signs? That the way the constellations lined up during the time of your birth could potentially affect your belief and behaviour? That some genius could tell you apart and foretell your future by looking up at the stars?

I don't. I believe the man is made by his own hands. Though it is sometimes too uncanny how a certain group of people born under the same star seem to share similar traits. I think the people who write the tabloid horoscope columns are just very good speculators and social psychologists.

Do you know the Taurus? Let's just assume for a while that constellations are without a doubt truly about to tell what a Taurus is like.

Firstly, like its namesake, the Taurus is stubborn as a bull. If you try to move a bull determined to stay put, you are going to have a hard time. It will refused to budge and even if you eventually get it to, the result would not have been worth the fight.

Instead, it is better to use the carrot then the stick. Otherwise, use neither. Just be nice, a bull will move, albeit slowly a first, with a gentle nudge and some soft cajoling a lot more than stern words of displeasure and anger.

Secondly, if you have a bone to pick and you come waving a red flag, what you get will definitely be a raging, charging bull. Using the constellations as an excuse, this is just how we are. You are much better off talking nicely. A bull will be more apologetic than anything if it knows that it's in the wrong. But come charging, no matter for what reason, then that get thrown away. It's a reflex reaction. Moving red flag equals charge.

This is how a bull is like - it accepts the soft rather the hard approach. And it actually hates letting people down. When it lets you down, it is harder on itself than you can ever be. And it will bend over backwards for you, if you don't start a tirade about how let down you are.

If you have a bull as a friend or a lover, what happens is that resentment starts to build. The question that begets will be where is the love? Love of any kind means compassion and acceptance. If you get angry at a bull all the time, it will ask, "Am I not worth the oversight? You would rather fight over little things than let it go and just love?"

So, go soft, because the bull is hardheaded. Soft gentle words will get you so much further, because bulls are born fighters.

Leg Routines

I have finished the Build Phase of Body Beast and today is the second workout of the Bulk Phase.

Bulk Leg is a killer. Leg routines are always killers.

The leg muscles are already very strong, having been used all day, every day, to lug the body weight around. No matter you are skinny as a twig or obese like a sumo wrestle, your legs are undoubtedly one of the strongest parts of your body. Hence, it necessitate that in order to grow the legs, the workout must be extreme.

Perfect gift

Last Christmas I received a perfect gift.

It was a simple gift, but thoughtful nonetheless. After the many years on the ground, I took off again, albeit virtually.

The view from the cockpit, the many dials and buttons, the many checks and procedures, the way the control stick feels in my hands, the feedback from the machine - memories flooded back into my mind.

It reminded me of my plan to soar; the after-chat with the staff an invaluable lesson.

I have to go. I must. My place is not among the grounded mortals, but with winged angels through the clouds.

Thank you.

Build Phase

Body Beast is divided into three phases and I am at Phase 1.

I have completed 5 days of Body Beast and done 1 round of all the exercises of this round. Did Total Body and Beast Abs and the former is true to its namesake; the exercises gives a good one-round hit to all the major muscle groups.

Beast Abs are not much of a challenge for someone coming off P90X. The exercises are similar, though fewer and in different order. Beast Abs also requires fewer reps - 20 compared to P90X's 25 reps per exercise.

Today I am going to experiment with my first hybridization of exercise. Since warm-up and cool-down are the weaknesses of Body Beast and it's heavy lifting placing a lot of stress on the spine and a lot of muscle contraction, I am going to substitute the P90X Stretch routine for the Body Beast rest day.

First Three Days

Build Chest and Tris

Build Legs

Build Back and Bis

Build Back and Bis

Today is Wk 1 Day 3 on the schedule for Body Beast. In truth it was Wk 1 Day 6. So far I have managed to work on keeping to my schedule every other day.

As with P90X, I found it hard to work out every day as required by the program. So the next best thing I could do was to space it out with 1 day in between.

After three days of Body Beast, I do agree with Tyler Robbins's review that Body Beast is wanting in terms of warm-up. One of the things I liked about P90X is that it takes care of your body. The warm-up in P90X itself took around 10 minutes. Because of that I feel that it was really designed to minimise injury. In addition, the warm was not focused on static stretching, which has been found to cause muscle weakness prior to exercising but also muscle imbalances, but instead it was focused on dynamic stretching that brings me through the range of motion required for the exercise or just getting blood pumped into the muscles.

One thing I do like about the Body Beast workout, though, is that it is short. Or at least shorter than the P90X workouts. Average length so far for the first three workout is about 40 minutes. I glanced through some of the other workouts on the programs and saw some that go for only 30 minutes. This ranks high in motivating me to press play.

When I was doing P90X, I sometimes hesitated because by the time I finished work and had dinner, it would be around 8. Letting my dinner settle before I plunged headfirst into a workout, I usually waited around 1.5 hours. That makes the beginning of my workout at 930. By the time I finished it would have been almost 11. A tad late in my opinion, and that does not include allowing myself to cool down, take in some post-workout food and clean up.

With Body Beast at half the time, the exponential effect is that I could get ready for bed by 11.

With that said, it doesn't make the Body Beast workout any less hard. Today's Build Back and Bis routine saw me sweat buckets. I had to keep wiping my hands and the stability ball just to make sure that I was working safely.

Now, I am definitely looking forward to sore arms tomorrow.

Beast up

So it's time for a change. I am officially announcing the end of P90X and the beginning of Body Beast.

I completed 12 weeks of P90X. It's supposed to be a 13-week exercise program but the last week is recovery and core work for people who actually managed to go through it 90 days straight. Given my lax tempo in completing the exercise in more than 200 days, I figured I don't really need the last recovery week.

Instead, I have moved on. I have moved on to a new regime. This one is aimed at growing my frame. The exercises are shorter. Instead of shelling out 90 minutes a day, Body Beast's videos are around 40 - 50 minutes each. Giving me a higher possibility of completing the exercise.

Today is Day 1. I have just completed Build: Chest/Tris. 

I realised that my left is so much weaker than my right. Naturally we all have a master hand which we are more used to and are stronger in. But I have always tried to consciously use my left hand to improve my overall dexterity. However, working on the video today, I could visibly see the difference. 

Many of the exercises were done to failure on my left side while my right side still had juice. I am going to use this chance to work on getting both sides of my body to equilibrium by keeping to the weights that bring the left to failure. I figured that if I constantly overwork the left and underwork the right, it's only a matter of time before both sides are levelled out.

Let's see if I can maintain the momentum to get pumped on a daily basis.

I am also still staying true to my commitment to be supplement-free, relying only, or mainly, on whole foods to get the required nutrition. We shall see if it works after I complete the workout.