This morning was dry - albeit grey - and about 45 degrees. My work shift also changed slightly, which gives me an extra half hour in the morning before I head to the office. Time to extend the mileage! So today I ventured out on the four-mile "Super Loop," fortified with Argentinian fusion power metal. I need something fast and instrumental to keep my ambition up. Even finished with about twenty lunges, which felt better than ever.A couple days ago, I was helping David with the Christmas Train that goes around the tree. After finishing, I got up...quicker and with more muscle control than I've ever had. Looks like the lunges have paid off.
Sherry also said the look on my face was classic.
It was a cross between amazement and excitement. I wasn't expecting that I could get off the floor so quickly, or without effort equal to towing an Expedition out of the ditch. I wanted up and I got up. Period. It was that simple. You have no idea how much joy that can bring to a guy. The whole thing reminded me of the feeling I got when trying to do the same action even six months ago: the stiffness, the pressure in my head as I tried to get my body to move in a direction it was resisting, and the knee pain. Back then it also felt like most of my body was in the way of anything I wanted to accomplish. I don't miss that at all these days. Amazing what the loss of even 25 pounds can do for a person.
But getting there can be a slow road. Infomercials will steer you wrong; nothing like weight loss happens overnight.
Nor do healthy habits or expertise. Paying somebody $39.95 plus shipping/handling doesn't take the place of sweat equity. It takes time, persistence, and practice to get better at something. Changes start small, and the results manifest themselves slower than many people feel they need to happen. Forget the covers of those magazines at the checkout; losing 10 pounds in 15 days is not a good idea, and you'll probably be on the wrong side of "Results may vary." Probably phony too, and only accurate by some sort of marketing wizardry. And those infomercials that tell you about fast weight loss eating whatever you want? It's a bunch of hooey. Don't believe something that pawns lack of effort as the winning ticket. That said, I'm immediately wary of anything I see advertised on TV as a "System."
It's more like this: to see sustainable results, you must put out the effort in a sustainable fashion. It's okay to make small changes, because they are changes in the right direction, yes? Getting caught up in the notion of change coming from extreme adjustments to diet or exercise is like playing with fire. It's less likely to stick with you if everything is done at once. Change one thing at a time, and make it stick. Change becomes habit, and the rest is history. For me it started by just getting mobile again. Then other things started falling into place after that. The changes I saw were small, but I saw them within a week. It was worth every step.
Consider the picture below. It's an ant hill at the base of a tree along Northup Way. Last year The Clark Boys and I would ride our bicycles past this point weekly, and we watched it rise from nothing to a couple feet within several days. Now, over a year later, it is only half as tall as it was in 2008, but there is enough of it remaining to show a person that persistence pays off, no matter how small your individual efforts might be.
From the street this hill looks like nothing; closer to the mound you could see thousands and thousands of little ants moving around a hauling stuff. Individual struggle turned collective triumph. Each pine needle moved to the work site contributed to the making of a mountain. It's that simple. Each thing you do, focused on a goal, can get you there if you are persistent and consistent. Keep at it, and the change will come. These ants have it down, and accomplished something by doing exactly that.The next time you see a person on TV at 4:35am - shilling their Amazing System that gives you results in just three hours - find another channel. Better yet, grab a coat, some running shoes, hit the road, and keep your money in your wallet. And don't forget the Argentinian power metal!
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Music Link: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/45492
Blog Link: http://www.clarkblog.net/search/label/Running
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