…it’s not to say that I should be easy on myself in getting back on track. No, I’m aiming to do much better than this tomorrow. Wake up earlier, do more, and/or do it faster.
So it’s the next day. I woke up at around quarter to 8, and proceeded to do that quick stretch. Usually I do each movement and hold it on a 16-count, but I did the quick, half-time version. Made the bed right after that, and all this time in transit and while moving I felt like praying. Praying for people I value, people who have been with me for the longest time, and people I just met that I’m just so thankful to God for. Wink.
Before making my way down I changed into workout clothes – Noting that I couldn’t really do a longer stretch soon as I woke up if I’m wearing those shorts that were close to denim in material. Unless, of course, I aim to rip them. Anyway I took in a couple of glasses of water, but I thought I’d go ahead and mix some pre-workout into the second glass, before heading down to the office. There was enough time to do the deliverables before the clock hit 8am. Ran back upstairs to quickly put a pot of water on the stove to boil, and then I proceeded to work out.
Today’s list of things to try was topped off by a dance routine that was brought to my attention. Ann told me it was a beginner routine, and I went through the video and found out just how much of a beginner I was in dancing. I loved the energy and the encouragement throughout, especially as the lead was saying that it helps to smile while going through the movement – trust me, I wasn’t just smiling. I was laughing at myself. The facilitator was also saying to feel each movement… and here’s where I realized how important it is for our bodies to have more than one ‘perspective’ when it comes to movement. I mean, up until this moment I was used to combat movement and calisthenics – throwing in another way to move not only makes me appreciate dancing, but it also makes me appreciate what I’ve been doing all this time. Wonderful stuff.
That took 15 minutes. I then fired up another video – not exactly boxing, it was a beginner’s video on Muay Thai movement. There were jabs and crosses involved, and even if I’ve been throwing these straight punches for more than I can count, I learned new things in this video – the difference of pushing your body forward with the strike and just keeping yourself in position. I’ve learned what may be an obvious rule – that you could involve the entire body in the strike, without necessarily moving the body forward. The rotating motion doesn’t always have to be accompanied with a lateral or forward movement. It’s important to understand how the two movements are separate, before appreciating how they work together. On top of this there was much emphasis on stance, forward and lateral movement, and then to top it all off were teeps, or forward kicks to the stomach. You start off with raising your knee and then firing the foot. I learned how you should control your body, especially to maintain balance before, during and after the kick.
Finally, I just had to box. But this time, because the phone was recording everything in time lapse, I thought I’d just do shadow boxing, to spare the recording of that little extra time it takes for me to glove up. All in all, 3 different styles within a minimum of 30 minutes. I was going to run, but I suppose I’ll just save that for tomorrow.
So that was done. I slacked off a bit on the computer, before cracking open the Bible, but eventually deciding to directly encode verses that popped out together with my follow-up thoughts, here on Evernote before posting them on WordPress. You’ll see that I posted that last article, before this one. Just being true to what I said yesterday: One final note. I do like counting these logs as my 1000 words for the day, but I’d probably be doing this on top of what I want to count for each day – that is, the quick Bible studies in the morning.
Around this time I check the time… and I see that I’m a few minutes shy of 10am. I think to myself, hey, I could still take my bath, take in coffee and the Japanese supplements, and I’ll still be in the pocket, more or less.
All in all, I was able to do 83% of everything I wanted to do, in a little more than the 2 hours I allotted for myself. Of course, this should all be done before 8am next time… but I think this is a good start.
I’m excited to improve even more tomorrow, perhaps by way of waking up earlier and actually helping out in the house with those morning chores I mentioned… Also, waking up earlier, doing a longer, proper stretch, and an intentional prayer time – And really, I think it should be more of prayer time, now that I think about it. It’s contemplation with intention, superior in the same way blogging is so much better than just journaling. Well, at least according to how I’ve been learning recently. Thanks, Instagram.
I’m also excited to see how this plays out on Saturday morning. See, tomorrow I’ll be heading out with my team, and I won’t be sleeping at home tomorrow night. This means that I’m being brought immediately to test this routine, in another location. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but I’m curious to see how compliant I will be to the standards I’ve placed for myself.
Please bear with me because I will continue to post my progress throughout this week, until I get really serious starting Monday next week. I suppose it’s important that the lab rat records his progress.
Thank you for being with me so far. Until the next post, God bless you.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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