A New Perspective

I gotta say, I'm feeling amazing right now. I had a valley this last week where I wasn't prioritizing and pushing myself on the PCP as I should have been, but all valleys lead to a hill. I'm climbing and climbing towards that goal at Day 90, and I am feeling incredible while doing so.

Last night projects swamped me and I only got 4.5 hours of sleep -- not good when you need to do vigorous workouts. Yet time and time again I find that my best workouts are when I am tired, or better yet, "think" I'm too tired. As it turns out, I had a lot of energy and pushed hard through my workouts. I am feeling so good that I didn't "float" through the workout like I am often tempted to. I'm learning to fail more efficiently all the time, and I'm finding myself more and more interested in how to maximize my workouts.

For example: I can do a lot of V-sits, but I don't want to spend all night doing them in order to fail. So I put on my boots at the end. Instant ankle weights, and man, they will really make it tough. I like that, though. I'd rather do a more vigorous workout for a short duration than a light one for longer. I've always preferred short distance sprinting over endurance running. In case of a zombie apocalypse, I'm going to make damn sure that I can out run you short distance ;)

It looks like I'm starting to show an eight-pack which is incredibly exciting. I have never ever been this in shape in my life. I've always wanted to, but I've never had the motivation or discipline until now. As Day 90 inches closer, I find myself reaffirmed that the number one thing that I will walk away from this project with is healthy eating habits. It just so happens that I have made friends and built muscle in the process.

These healthy eating habits I intend to carry with me indefinitely. As I've said before, I used to really struggle with being tired all the time and with mental clarity -- staying focused, compulsions, etc. I can't begin to tell you how much better I am. I've always known that it would be healthy food that would set me free, and I am so grateful to the PCP for this, and most importantly -- you.

Reading and hearing your words of encouragement these past weeks has meant so much to me. We're at the point where we are tempted to say, "I've come a long way. I look good enough. I can take it easy now," but we must push hard this last month to truly be in peak condition. And what is peak condition exactly?

At the beginning of this project I would have told you it would be to look like Brad Pitt or Bruce Lee or . Now I believe it is a mindset. It is to want to eat healthy; it is to want to work out; it is to want to be fit. It is to want to push yourself to improve on all levels, making conscious decisions. We are slaves no more to our instincts and indulgent desires.

The human body is so complex. You really can't say, "I want to look like I'm in peak condition." If you just worked out, you could only get so far. You must begin to eat better. But then you notice that you have more energy. You become more productive. You start thinking more clearly. Your attitude improves, and thus, your relationships as well. I don't mean to make the PCP sound like a cure-all as much as I intend to point at that being "peak" impacts all areas of your life; and while we can't be "perfect," we can be in peak condition in mindset so that all aspects of our life improve.

Thus I leave you with these words: don't see peak condition as having to have a certain amount of mass, losing "x" percentage of body fat, weighing "x" amount, etc. It's good to have goals, but if at onset you wanted 6% body fat, but could only reach 10%, would that really matter? So much of you, the core "you", would have improved along the way. Goals simply allow us to put intangible concepts into tangible terms. You can't define a peak mindset numerically. Thus we break it into numerical goals to give us something tangible to aim for. In time we realize that our perspectives have changed even more than our bodies.

Never tell yourself you "can't", or it's a waste of time. Even the smallest of steps towards improvement will yield great results in time. You can only get better by trying.