If you do what you always did...

Today, I was about halfway through my upper body weight training when I thought to myself, "what sadistic bastard designed this workout?" Then I remembered it was me. I was reading online last night about the practices of various Body for Lifers, including a fellow BFL blogger named Skwigg (she's very funny and inspirational), and I decided I needed to push harder in my weight training. So I designed today's workout with that thought running loose in my brain. The end result was several personal bests and a great workout that I can already tell is going to come back to haunt me tomorrow. But it felt great! I got some sun after gulping down some Myoplex. I saw myself in the mirror right after that. I had a slight flush from being out in the sunlight and all the upper body muscles were still pretty taut from the workout. Hey, I looked pretty good! It makes me want to work even harder. I look good. I want to look and feel great!!

If you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got.

I can't recall who really said this first. But it's one of the things that I've really come to understand and refer back to throughout this process. I've never really made a serious attempt to get in shape before and I've always been a little unhappy with my body. I never realized how much it's been holding me back until now, when I'm trying to change it.

Another thing that's stuck with me is from the song "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen" by Baz Luhrman. This was based on an email that was supposedly a graduation speech given by some famous person. The details change depending on who's telling the story. But one of the things in the song(?) is the statement. "Take good care of your body. It's the most precious instrument you'll ever own. Use it whenever and where ever you can." I've probably got the words all mixed up, but the intent is there. You can't leave your body (unless you're Yoda), so you should make of it what you can and enjoy it as much as you can. Today, I really enjoyed being a living human being who could lift weights, eat sensibly and then lie in the sun for awhile.

I'm sitting outside right now. Wireless laptops are a really great thing. My neighbor is out mowing his grass right now. He's one of my inspirations. Let me tell you why. He's overweight, he smokes, and he's mowing about a quarter acre of ground with a riding lawnmower. He has small children that he may not get to see grow up. He's avoiding all the pain in life, taking every momentary pleasure, and missing out on the best part. I don't want to be like him. I have a lot I want to do before I leave this life. This challenge and the lifestyle changes that come with it are one of the things I always wanted to accomplish and I think it will help to accomplish at least some of those other goals as well.