The Good Pain
April 15, 2009
I agree with many that the most important aspect or tool in any survival situation is the mind. A positive attitude coupled with calm focused action / reaction is the key to overcoming what you’re up against. The second most important tool is your body and that is what I will discuss here. I will discuss mental sharpness and attitude in another post.
Your body is a truly awesome creation. It has incredible feedback mechanisms to let you know what is going on inside … you just have to listen / feel for them. I am amazed by the complexity of the processes the body goes through to do fundamental things such as breathing, digesting food, sweating, and lets not forget to mention the sensory elements of the body. Vision, hearing, and smelling are truly awesome. We have to keep in mind that these systems can break down if the body is damaged or lacking the necessary fuel or conditioning to operate properly. The point here is that the body is an incredible tool if you can harness its capabilities and keep it in good working condition.
In a physical survival situation any lack of conditioning or damage to the body is amplified due to the mental and physical stress of the situation. Survival situations can come up at any time and one of the best things anyone can do to prepare in advance is to maintain a strong healthy body. The strong and healthy body is less likely to be damaged or at least will take less damage. Also, a strong and healthy body will hold up better and longer under extreme conditions. We serve ourselves short if we live with a poorly conditioned and unhealthy body.
Now I say all this from a stage of a very unhealthy body … but that changes now.
Yesterday was my first day back in the gym and I will go again today, and tomorrow, and the next day, etc. I need to build a tremendous amount of strength and recondition my body for a much higher level of endurance. I am changing my life. I will workout 6 out 7 days with a day of rest and I will eat 5 to 7 meals a day. The meals will consist of good clean carbs and protein sources. I will also incorporate at least 2 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fresh fruit per day. Carbonation for the most part is on its way out of my life. Soda may come back occasionally on Sundays (my day of rest) but not much more than that. Replacing the carbonation is a couple of cups of coffee and a lot of water (10 cups), some juice, and a little sports-drink when it is needed for repair. Lets get this straight: Food is great and I love it but at the same time we need to remember that food is simply the bodies fuel and we need to feed it right so it can run properly. I know that I will struggle with that but it’s a challenge I will boldly face.
Physical conditioning is not always fun to get started. There is pain involved in waking fossilized muscle…I know a bit extreme for a man of 28 years but that’s what it felt like yesterday. I hit the gym and did some upper body work. I intentionally took it a bit easier on weight and reps so that I could avoid completely tearing myself apart which I have been known to do upon restarting conditioning routines. All the same I am in pain today. The ligaments and tendons in or around my elbows and the associated small muscles in the region are very sore. Major muscle groups are not so bad yet but we’ll have to see tomorrow.
The workout plan is as follows: Lift, Cardio, Lift, Cardio, Lift, Cardio, Rest, Repeat. The Lift days will alternate between upper body and lower body. I may at some point this summer switch to push-exercise lift days and a pull-exercise lift days but well just have to see. Upper body muscle groups are Chest, Shoulders, Lats, Biceps, and Triceps. Lower body muscle groups are quads, hamstrings, calf, and abs. Typical lift sets follow an intensity interval curve with Sets as follows: 12 10 8 6 12 12 with 30 to 60 seconds recovery time between sets. The last 12 will be an opportunity to change the exercise but not change the muscle group. Example: DB Bench Press (12x 35lbs, 10x 45lbs, 8x 55lbs, 6x 65lbs, 12x 55lbs) and DB Flys (12x30lbs) would be a chest exercise. For now the cardio is 20 minutes of intervals on an elliptical trainer (very low impact). I also plan to incorporate some swimming as well. I love the water and swimming is a great workout and uses a ton of muscles.
So thats the plan. I encourage you all to take control of your body and reshape it to the tool it was meant to be. We can all be stronger and healthier. Good luck and God bless.
