Day 90 and Beyond

I finished a week ago Friday, rather than Thursday. By the time I got home from work and my improv class, it was going on 10:00 p.m. I decided I wanted a full night's rest before tackling the last work-out.

It took 6 tries to get a no-miss (and non-smacked-in-the-face) set; and a couple of those misses came in the last 10 seconds.

So, what did I come away with over the last 90 days?

Here's the score:

Standing forward bend: 1 and 1/2 inches from the top of my feet

Vertical Jump: 8 feet, 11 & 3/4 inches (237.7 cm)

Consecutive hits of the ping-pong ball: 188

Here's the raw, gratuitous results:

Boo-yeah!

Last week, I was able to knock out 13 consecutive pull-ups in good form (and an extra one, in bad form). Four sets of 8 or 9 dips are no problem. I can do 75 V-Sits on a single session. At the start of this thing, there's no way I would have managed any of these.

More important--since it will have a longer-term impact on sustaining all this awesome progress--is what I've learned.

First, that this project, much like the PCP, is never really finished. The KFB is a path, not a destination. Really, this was 'Mindfulness, Strength, & Flexibility 101. Like it or not--and aware of it or not--I am constantly 'practicing' something. Sitting hunched over a desk all day is, essentially, rehearsing inflexibility. Obsessing about projects and looming deadlines at work is, in reality, a non-stop stres dress-rehearsal. Stopping for 3, 5, 15 minutes a day and just sitting still helped make me a lot more conscious of how unhelpful my 'professional' work persona can be, and how much of its bad habits had spilled over into what should be a much more richly experienced life.

Next, balance. Literally (I could probably stay in Standing-Crane for minutes on end) and, more important, symbolically. On the PCP, I was starting from such an abyss of un-fitness that I could get away with six hours of sleep, an irregular workout schedule, and almost no stretching whatsoever, and still see incredible gains. But once I was in shape, and once the intensity was wratcheted up in the work-outs, there wasn't any more slack in the system. Any lapse in the diet, any lack of sleep, or any over-exertion had a fairly quick impact on my workout, either that day or the next.

Finally, awareness. At first, the meditation seemed like this weird activity that was completely tangential to the workouts and stretching. Over the past three weeks, however, I've come to realize that it's totally essential to acheiving and maintaining a high level of fitness. I HAD to be aware to get here. Aware of my level of tension, so I could relax and get more out of the stretches. Aware of my day-to-day choices (sleep, outside activities), so they wouldn't undermine my workouts. And aware of my limits, so I could comfortably, safely push them.

Climbing this high up the mountain of wellness is an amazing experience. But closer to the summit, the path is steep, the trail narrow, and there are a lot fewer tree branches to cling to. There is a much more--a bad night's sleep, a few days of bad food choices, work distractions--that can knock you off the mountain. And there were a few times I definitely tripped and fell on my face. But, looking back, I don't see these as failures; I view them as learning experiences I've absorbed that will make it easier to stay on the path going forward. To have a strong body, I need a strong mind--to make the choices that nourish strength. And to have a strong mind, I need a strong body--to remain awake to the limitless choices I have, and the consequences of each.

Thanks to Ellen and Tara for all of your support, insights, and inspiration along the way. Deborah and Ilan, hopefully you'll get to share your efforts and insights in the future. And thanks again to Patrick, for once again helping me to see my limits, and forcefully--but skillfully, mindfully--push past them.

Despite how crazy fit I am now, I have a long way to go, especially in the area of flexibility. (I'd love to be able to kick above my head, as well as do justice to the wide-angel forward bend). But after the last 90 days, I feel I'm now prepared enough--with the skill, the gong-fu--to get there.

Peace!
-Brett

Day 81

Just checking in; it's been a busy day, and a busy evening trying to maintain not only the workouts, but a semblance of a social life, as well.

Still going strong--the alternating kicks and swings are a welcome break, but definitely no joke, especially by the time I get to the coordination exercises.

I feel like the changes that have happened over the last (almost) 90 days have been very subtle. I'm sure when I started out that I wouldn't be balancing myself while riding the Metro. I KNOW there's no way I would have been able to knock out as many pull-ups and dips as I currently do at the start of this thing, nor do 80 V-sits in one session.

Saturday I ran 6 miles in the recently arrived, 80-degree summer-like weather; the first time I've run that far in at least 3 weeks. And it wasn't too difficult, though it did make for some tired legs and heavier kicks over the following day or two.

Sleep has been a rarer commodity the past couple days, and because of it, I can feel my body & mind fighting the workouts. But I know it's just lack of sleep--I'm aware of it, and I've been able to step away, call it what it is, take care of the workout, and move on. Before, I'd just caffeinate myself and, in my sleep-deprived state, get agitated (or let myself think I was agitated) at some situation at work. But now I try not to let that mood grab the steering wheel of my thoughts and pull me off the psychic highway.

Time to exit off at the rest stop & hit it hard again tomorrow. Hope everyone is staying strong as we head towards Day 82...

Day 76

Long time, no post.

My eye issues are much better, and I've managed to get back on a more regular schedule with the work-outs. The diet continues strong--I've gotten into a pretty good rhythm of cooking 2-3 times per week and storing everything I need for a few days (or more) well ahead of time. I haven't even touched the punch card for my local salad joint, which still offers plenty of Gong-Fu-y choices, in almost one month. Here's a recent meal, with baked tilapia, salad, and farmers market bread:

For the most recent mindful food experience, I revisted the earlier one--a nice, big fat cup--OK, a bowl, really--of sugary, syrupy nutty coffee over-load:

And it's sweet, doughy side-kick, the low-fat, high-carb bran "muffin" (which is, in its essence, just a cake):

The muffin seemed thicker and doughier than the last experience. I was eating it later in the day, so it may have lost some of its moisture throughout the afternoon (or it could also have been a hold-over from the previous day). Perhaps for that reason, it actually seemed sweeter. My teeth actually stung a little from the sugar onslaught. Likewise, the macadamia nut mocha seemed consistently sweet over the course of my drinking it. Again, about half way through the gargantuan porcelein bucket-o-java, I felt a satiation switch in my head flip to the 'on' position. After this, I had trouble keeping my focus on the flavors, which felt less delightfully sweet, and more sickeningly so. Drinking and tasting became a little less mindful, and a little more mechanical. (Side note--if you are aware of losing your state of mindfulness, are you really losing your state of mindfulness?)

The interesting thing about this experience was how I paid closer to the after-effects. I went to see a comedy show later in the evening, after doing dinner with a friend. I felt much more hyped-up early in the show--and defintiely laughed a lot more than I did later, after the unavoidable sugar-crash. And hanging out after the show, I certainly felt much less awake and alert. It's probably true that there were more solidly humorous moments early in the improv show, but I the blood-sugar crash definitely brought me down more than I would otherwise have experienced. In earlier times, I may have seen the crash as a 'problem' that needed a quick 'solution'--another hit of caffeine, another shot of sugar. Now I feel like it's OK just to go with the feeling, and act on it with skill by acknowledging the message, heading home, and getting sleep.

A couple months back, I watched the documentary that Deborah had recommended, about the relationship between humans, our primate cousins, stress, and social higherarchy. I've come to appreciate the role that stress has in pushing us towards unhealthy choices. The stress created by working on the lower-rungs of a job higherarchy, at the mercy of clients and supervisors and with little control over what you do and when and how you do it, drives us to seek out quick and easy dopamine hits via food, booze, cigarettes, even shopping for symbols of higher status--which are in turn produced by companies with similarly stress-inducing structures. Eventually we become sick enough to seek out real drugs, which a different set of organizations--legal and otherwise--is more than happy to provide. The temporary stress-solutions we consume therefore end up creating ever more problems for ever more quick-fix producers to 'solve.' Naturally, we can't escape the costs forever, and eventually we all end up paying--through higher taxes, insurance premiums, and hospital bills to support a far older and far sicker population than we otherwsie would have.

Granted, this is a bit pessimistic; there are always going to be real, unavoidable problems that benefit from healthy, creative and efficient means to address them (such as, ahem, innovative on-line fitness programs). But once we've addressed these, I think we should just sit back and ride the flow of the experience of that better life we've created, rather than monkey around with everyone else.

That's my soap-box speach for the week. Off to bed, and looking forward to another week...

Alive... ...and still kicking.

I need to hit the hay, so this will be a short one. The pink-eye turned out to be much worse--inflamation of the iris. And damn it hurt. Thank God for steroids. (Eye-drops--nothing performance-enhancing). But after several doctor's appointments, I definitely got knocked out of the routine. I missed several days of workouts--not in a row, but every other day. I incorporated some of the missed sets into a couple longer workouts--I especially didn't want to miss out on some of the stretches, and the back exercises. But after tonight's stretches, I'm back on track. Since the eye issue is such a new and interesting source of excruciating pain (sarcasm--heavy sarcasm), I've decided not to risk starting up raging parties in other regions of my body. I decided to quit Aikido, at least for the next few months. It wasn't bad, just waaaay too risky for my joints right now, especially with the couple die-hards in the classes and all of the newbies. As Patrick noted, Americans tend to waaay over-do the martial arts, and even Aikido Dojos can often become "injury city." I'm taking a break while I'm still injury free, and think about coming back to it when I'm a helluva lot more flexible, and my system has calmed down. Onward...

Day 58 and the Black Cygnet

I'm back in the saddle after hitting my first significant speed bump on the Kung-Fu highway. Last week, I noticed that my right contact started bothering me. So I took it out and wore glasses. But the eye just got worse, and by Thursday it had exploded into a gory expose of excruciatingly painful conjunctivitis. Even worse--it's the end of the quarter at work. Worse still--I encountered error after error when trying to run all of my end-of-quarter reports. Several errors were new--they were related to system changes. Others were more routine, but I should have spotted them. Still others were routine, but popped-up last minute. On top of the eye and the work gremlins, I had my first level 1-B Improv class the same evening. As a result, what I was hoping would be a nice, easy 8-hour day, followed by some spontaneous fun and exploration turned into a 13-hour work-a-thon with a 3-hour break for class, topped off with a nearly sleepless night popping pain pills and icing my eyeball to dampen the relentless sensation of someone jabbing a needle into my cornea. I stuck to the diet, but there were no workouts Thursday and Friday. And yes, I did head into work Friday to finish up my reports. But I did leave early, to head home and crash. The eye is a little better, but still looks like something out of Fangora magazine, and is still, I assume, contagious. I'm taking off tomorrow from work, at the very least; I don't want to pose any further risk to my team members. And I'm going to need most of the day to wash, clean, and disinfect everything I've had contact with in the apartment, in addition to the usual work-out routine, and some extra stretching. Ugh. At the very least, this will help me appreciate, once again, the fortune that is maintaining good health. I managed to get in part of Thursday's work-out on Saturday, roping for 18 minutes, then doing 5 sets of pull-ups, followed by the hang-out. The regularly scheduled workout followed later in the afternoon. Just finished up today's workout (my sleep-scheduled has also been thrown waaaay out of orbit). Off to bed--and, hopefully, a start to recovery and a return to a steadier--and more skillful--path.

Day 48: Some Thoughts at the Half-Way Point

...of course, it's not really the 'half-way' point. Just as the PCP is not really just 90 days. But still a good time for reflection.

First, the Stats:

1. 87 hits with the ping-pong ball.

2. 'Cold' morning bend: finger-tips hovering about 2 and 1/2 inches above my feet. Not great, but an improvement.

3. Standing jump: 8 feet, 11 inches (2.718 meters)--almost 3 inches gained.

Mindfulness

I recently decided to give up caffeine. I realized that my one--and often twice--daily ritual of heading down to Bourbon Coffee to get my fix was really just getting me wound up and tense, and therefore costing me a quality work-out, quality stretching, and quality sleep.

I feel like I'm definitely more aware of my mood swings, and what affects them. I still bury myself in my work. Today was a great--not so great?--example: a 12-hour day, much of it packed into my chair. I almost caved and got caffeinated, but settled on defaf, instead. Back on the horse tomorrow...

Strength


Tons. I can knock out V-sit after V-sit. On Day 46, I was also able to complete all 4 sets of 8 dips, with decent form, AND the 3 sets of 10 elevated push-ups. My weakness is still the pull-ups, where I always hit failure on the last set, before completing the minimum reps.

Flexibility


Still my achilles heel--pun intended. And I know it will take time--long beyond the end of the ninety days (probably several hundred in total). But it'll be worth it; I can imagine how cool it would feel to be able to draw giant circles in the air with a crescent kick, or touch my knee to my chest on a leg swing.


Balance

Tons better. Limited flexibility keeps me from going horizontal in the Buddha pose, but I can rock the crane and flying crane with minimal difficulty. I can easily stand on the subway for minutes at a time without holding the hand rails.

Coordination

Getting better; I run into fewer things (usually), and find myself more easily snaking my way through crowds on the subway, especially on the escalators.

Speed

Steady, but slow progress. My new nemesis: the paper, which I only blew down with a punch twice this evening.

On an up note:

As I ran for the bus today on my way home from work, my umbrella bounced out of my backpack. I sprinted back across the street, grabbed it--and then got stuck waiting for traffic. The bus motored on up the block toward the next stop. I lept across the avenue at the first break in the cars, then launched into a full sprint--when my coffee mug took its turn and bounced out of my backpack. "S%$#&!!". The bus crossed the next street north, and pulled up to its next stop; two riders began to board. Still a half-block away, I ran back, grabbed the mug, tucked it under my arm like a football, and then let my legs unleash their full fury. I focused on pulling my knees up as high as I could, and covering the most pavement with each stride. I breathed easily and let my upper-body relax and my arms propel me forward. I took advantage of the green light and remaining 10 seconds on the 'walk' sign and sailed across M-Street. The last rider cleared the yellow line as my face, with wide eyes and a half-crazed expression, filled the side-view mirror. The driver paused long enough for me to bound into her field of vision, then waited for me to bounce aboard. I pulled my SmartTrip card, then looked down: a map covered the meter. "It's broken, unless you want to pay with cash..." she said. "Naw, not really," I replied, smiling. Then, breathing quickly but deeply, a small shot of adrenaline coursing through my buzzing arms and legs, I took my seat and enjoyed the free ride.

Mindful consumption and mindless grazing

I Friday, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I combined the mindful consumption with a dinner party with some friends. Of course, since this was a dinner party, I slightly modified the criteria--I defined 'one sitting' as the general time frame during the party over which everyone would be eating/drinking/drinking more. So, really, any time between when I got off of work, and 1:00 a.m.

And just to be sure I kept it mindful (so I told myself), before the party I went solo on a grande gelato with brown butter, espresso, and Mexican chocolate flavors. (I truly wish I could entertain with a picture, but my phone had died by the time I started to dig in). The flavors were amazing, each unique and sharply delineated from the other, bound together by the same creamy, smooth texture and cool temperature. The brown butter was almost like a soothing balm against the spicy kick of the Mexican chocolate, while the espresso took it in an entirely different direction. After about the half-way point, as I dug down deeper into the butter flavor, I found my mind wandering, and I started people-watching in the gelato shop. About two thirds of the way in, my tongue partly anesthetized, the sugar rush kicked in. I ended by focusing more on the buzz than on the flavors.

The party was not pretty. Unlike the gelato, my experience was pretty far from meditative. Essentially, over the course of 3 hours, I gorged myself. The upside: half the fare was actually pretty healthy, with chicken & veggie skewers, a spinach & green-leaf salad, all washed down by water. The downside? The other half, not so healthy. I munched on potato and tortilla chips carrying teaspoonsful of either fatty dip or salty salsa. And towards the end of the evening, after everyone was on to their third (or fifth, or sixth) beer, I was downing the lemon squares our hosts made for dessert. About five of them.

Honestly, aside from a bit of a sugar hang-over and a somewhat bloated stomach, I felt fine the next day...

...as I would have if I hadn't lept quite so far from the wagon into a sea of gluttonous indulgence.