Tags
free-writing, goals, learning, perfectionism, weights, writing
Joining the Five Minute Friday free writing link-up. The prompt is DEEP, and as seems to be a trend with me, I’m finding life metaphors in exercise and physical activity.
I didn’t go deep enough.
I looked at resource after resource online I couldn’t find one supporting the squat positioning I had been using. Everything I read agreed – if you can’t get your squat to go below parallel, then you need to deload and squat a lower weight.
Only I was already doing the lowest weight possible – the 45 pound bar. To do less would mean using a dumbell for goblet squats and working my way up. Progress that way would come slower. Everyone knows slower is lame and undesirable.
But I couldn’t find anyone – save the book I had read – which said that the squat I was doing is okay.
Speaking of deep. This isn’t just about a workout.
How many times have I not done the work properly because I didn’t want to go back to basics?
Breathing exercises for anxiety immediately come to mind. I mean how basic is breathing? Yet I have to think about how I’m doing it.
LAME.
But it works. Done properly, I can feel an incredible difference. There is nothing exciting about square breathing – count to 4 as I breath in, hold for 4, breathe out for 4 counts, hold for 4, then start the process over.
Kinda like how lame I feel about quads so weak I can’t hit the full range of motion on one of the most basic weight lifting moves.
STOP
Not only are my 5 minutes up, but its also time to stop criticizing the self-improvement work I’m doing. Progression is a good goal, but I’ll never get where I need to be if I keep judging where I am.
awkwardly graceful 
Slowing down is not the lamest thing,
though once I would have fast-agreed.
No, lamer still is what you bring
when it’s lymphoma that defines your need.
The tumours that surround my chest
now make breathing quite a chore,
changing respiration to a test
that’s little past a crashing bore.
But more interesting in the neck’s complaint,
that first made swallowing a challenge,
and now, when I turn my head I ain’t
conversant with my newfound language.
It hurts, you see, and I can’t cope,
and the words that come need a wash with soap.
Actually, I’ve got non-Hodgkins lymphoma AND pancreatic cancer (two for the price of one!), but let’s don’t go there. I far prefer the Cleopatra gig…you now, Queen of De Nile.
#1 at FMF this week.
https://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2019/10/your-dying-spouse-683-keep-on-swimming.html
LikeLike
Thanks for stopping in. I’m sorry for your struggles. I’m sure they do offer quite the perspective shift!
LikeLike
Thanks for the thought provoking post. Keep making progress. It is about the journey and not always the destination.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like they say in Galaxy Quest “”Never give up. Never surrender!”
LikeLike
I think I get your drift. We have to keep on doing or practicing the basics in order to get things correct or make progress with other more intense things. And, with time, it becomes instinct or muscle memory. We can’t avoid the basics even when we have progressed beyond them since the basics can act as a warm-up or activate muscle memory. I know it’s this way with the piano or musical instrument. I got tired of doing the same ol’ same ol’ scales. But, there’s a reason for doing them regularly.
I’m not an exercise guru or fanatic. In fact, I avoid it most of the time. ha! But, I do understand what you are saying. At least, I think I do. Thank you for your words.
~your FMF neighbor
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes exactly!
I never made it out of level 1 piano, so those who play have my full respect!!
LikeLike