Today I embodied the philosophy I espouse, recommend and stand behind publicly, but most importantly, behind closed doors; there is always a way to do something. I mismanaged my time, albeit for the greater good as decisions were made, and was left without time to train. After work, I couldn't fairly take a full hour as I needed to shop, work at home, and give the dog some attention - a rather strong storm kept his time outside today lower than I would have liked. So at just after 7pm, I walked into the studio cold, and did approximately 10 minutes of work.
For Time: (although I didn't record my time, I just went as quickly as I could)
200 Kettlebell Swings at 40kg
The logic was simple; I was supposed to be pulling from the floor, hitting my hamstrings in the long-range, and targeting my lower back. Whilst not solely targeting any of these, and not bringing the focus a full session would have, in ten minutes (or there about) this did a bloody good job! The bang-for-buck with heavy swings is huge! Ideally I'd have liked to lift heavier, but 40kg is all I have - for now!
Equipment
Food
I ate at 7am for the first time today. I had 5 eggs scrambled, half an avocado and some grapes.
At around 11am, I had an unplanned snack; a bacon and cheese oatcake. Why? One of the people I was having coffee with didn't want it, and I hate to see food wasted. One of my childhood habits I'm yet to cast off!
At 2pm I had mince with a very small amount of cheese, followed by a banana.
At 9pm, I had 2 pork steaks topped with cheese, a rump steak, and 3 fried eggs. I followed this with grapes, blackberries and yoghurt with some honey.
Not every day can go to plan. Learning the skills to help you improvise when things go to pot is one thing, putting them into action is entirely another. The more times I do the hard thing, the more it becomes the default, the less likely I am to falter. Doing the difficult thing is literally a habit you can ingrain! As a general rule, there is always gruntwork, simple is best, and seek high returns! In situations where you are short of time, unpopular opinion, but you can also pick something that doesn't require a warm-up. I was always a huge fan of Rob Orlando's "cold bar" technique; the theory being if you could pull a deadlift of, for example, 200kg at best, you could estimate a number you could safely lift cold, at any given time. Say for example that was 120kg. He recommends leaving a bar loaded to 120kg, and every time you walk past, set up and lift it. After a couple of weeks, once you have fully habituated this, add 5kg. In time, you will have added significant weight to the bar. At this point, you can retest your best lift warm. Warm-ups can enhance performance, and reduce the risk of injury. It can do both of these things by a large margin. However, physical activity exists on a spectrum, and there are many activities for which you do not need to warm up, or at least should not need to. Climbing the stairs, carrying your shopping, or hoisting your luggage into overhead storage, are just a few examples. The more you can do cold, safely, the more utility you have in day-to-day life.
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