Current Workout Program
May has been a month of new challenges. A new strength-training program came out on BODi and I decided to give it a go. It's a 12-week program, five workouts a week, with the workouts being about 45-50 minutes long. The program consists of three 4-week blocks. For the first four weeks, we are focusing on circuit training. Mondays are upper body circuits, Tuesdays are lower body circuits, Wednesdays are total body circuits, Thursdays are another upper body circuit, and Fridays are another lower body circuit. There is an optional cardio workout if you feel the need to add that into your week, but for now, the lifting workouts are enough to get me into a cardio state.
I'm in week 2 and I really love the program so far. I'm focusing on good sleep and nutrition and I feel really strong so far. The workouts are challenging and I love pushing myself, but it's not so hard that I feel like I can't do the moves. There are a few moves that I have to modify, but for the most part, I'm doing everything which feels really good.
Currently Reading
I belong to a business book club and currently we're reading a book called The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer by Steven Kotler. The book inspired me to do Dig Deeper. Over recent months, while I was still working out consistently, I wasn't really pushing myself because I felt like my body just needed a break from the more intense workouts. I have no regrets; it was just what I needed. However, I felt like I was ready for something more challenging and Dig Deeper is definitely delivering!
The Art of Impossible talks about finding your own personal "impossible". It doesn't have to be a big capital "I" impossible, like curing cancer or solving world hunger. It can be something that is a small "i" impossible on a personal level, like running a marathon, hiking a mountain, going back to school, learning to knit, etc. On that note, all of us in our book club decided that we would choose an impossible goal to shoot for over the next couple of months as we discuss the book.
After giving it a lot of thought, I chose my goal. For me, personally, it's a pretty big, scary goal. You know you've picked the right goal when you try to talk yourself out of it and you experience some anxiety over it. My biggest achievements in life so far have been those that scared me. I mean, if your goals don't pull you out of your comfort zone, they're just not big enough. Go big or go home.
I'm not going to share my goal until AFTER I've achieved it. The author of the book believes that sharing our goals takes the anticipation and excitement from them. Just talking about them out loud releases that dopamine that we experience when we've achieved something hard. And then it's hard to keep the motivation and drive needed to ultimately achieve the goal.
Not sharing my goal is probably harder than the actual goal itself! I've always believed that sharing my goals helps to keep me stay accountable. However, I can see what the author means and by not sharing, it makes my goal more meaningful. It's just for me. I'm not doing it to impress or inspire anyone, and I'm not doing it for the accolades. It's just something that I've been curious about for some time, and now feels like the right time to work toward the goal.
I love having big goals. I wake up excited to start the day. I love feeling focused in and putting in hard work to achieve something that's challenging.
Time to Reboot
I'll be off of work over the next few days for a much needed break. Our director told us today that our faculty have brought in $50 million in new grants in this fiscal year alone! It's no wonder we are so busy! But it's an awesome feeling knowing that our work is important and vital to the research enterprise.
It will be a staycation, working on some stuff around the house, the flower garden, and the pile of books that need read. Hopefully David and I will get a chance to take long walks and spend time outdoors. Most of all, I'll just unplug from the world for a few days.
Comments