BodyTweaking.com

It has been a long time

Almost half a year with barely any movement you learn to appreciate the bodytweaking lifestyle. The bad thing about putting your fitness second is the vicious cycle it leads to. Believe me, I know.

I have experienced some bladder problems last September, basically I was sick for two+ months. Each time I tried to do anything, my condition seemed to get worse so I decided to stop jogging and rowing and working out for a while. After the two months everything was perfect again, but I have conditioned myself to the work-pc-sleeep-eat-work-lifestyle during that time.  Somehow I neglected to get into the full bodytweaking way of life again.

The months passed and I have noticed a sharp downhill movement in my energy levels. I felt tired in the morning (I have to wake up at 5 :00AM for work) and throughout the day. And I felt absolutely no motivation to do anything productive in the evening, after work. This ‘anything’ includes workouts. The more I stayed like this, the more I felt drained and unmotivated and annoyed about everything. My productivity and motivation at work also suffered a bit.

I knew that this way of life can lead to a overweight-couch-potato-lifestyle within a year. So to get into the shape again I signed up for a 10 miles city-run with Sparky a month ago. The run itself takes place in June (you will hear about it).  It is not really that big of a challenge, but still requires you to run regularly over the period of several weeks.

Running has always been the main pillar of bodytweaking. It gives you unheard energies and motivation and conditions your lower part of the body (from the chest down, which BTW includes most of your muscles, volume-wise) for more physical challenges.

After four weeks of running 3 times a week things have changed tremendously. Motivation is back at high-levels. I get up at 5:00AM and feel fresh. I feel that my sleep became very deep and energizing again, since I remember dreaming a lot. And most of all, my legs start to feel like two power rockets. It gives me that self-confidence that I can jump over anything that comes in my way.

I am the rocket man!

Have you ever felt convinced and motivated to do something, but still failed even to do the first step because you simply felt that you didn’t know where or how to start? Fitness has become a very broad topic. Millions of advices, journals, blogs, “experts”… how can you ever get an overview over a specific topic you are interested in?

This amount of data can actually overwhelm you and paralyze you. You will think “Oh my God, there is so much about this topic and I don’t know anything about it… It would take years to even get a glimpse at the basics…” And there goes your motivation down the hill. Your subconscious builds automatically resistance and blocks your way forward.

This happens in many areas of life, but most of all – you shouldn’t allow it to happen with your fitness. A wise man said that happiness lies in ignorance. In the first place – you do not have to know. You have to have fun and you have to feel free.

1. Stop chasing the knowledge - look at it as the first requirement in your new fitness lifestyle. Your first action is to actually get physical exercise. If you feel motivated, you can read about the topic afterwards. This has also the benefit that you can draw parallels between what you have just experienced and what you are reading.
2. Prototyping – This is a concept from software development. A software developer takes a look at the problem and then simply goes and programs a quick-and-dirty solution. It doesn’t have to solve the problem 100%, be pretty, complete or totally functional. The point is to get your feet wet and put the first milestone. You can always refine the details at a later point.
3. Do not be afraid of doing something wrong – Do not be afraid of doing something wrong and being labeled as a newbie. Go your own path, do not let the thoughts about “what others may think” cloud your experience. Enjoy what you are doing. Smile. You will instantly feel more confident and perform better.

To start with the Bodytweaking lifestyle I will just give you a hint: Run. Run 2-4 times a week. And now stop reading and go running. Everything else will come later

In todays world people live in what I like to call a mental trap. You don’t really get to live and to enjoy the things you do during the day. No matter what your goals are and no matter if you reach them or not, most of the time thoughts cluster in your mind. Doubts, fears, hopes… about the future and the past. If there was a reliable way to detect those thoughts and analyze them, I’m sure that most of us are trapped in that abstract state most of our time during the day (and night).

Unnecessary thoughts are your enemies. If you know how to control them, thoughts are powerful tools in art, science, studies, etc. But most of us don’t even know that there is something inside our heads completely on the loose. Like a hurricane thoughts disturb our inner life and peace. As a result you get depressed, you are more sensetive to stress, you get insomnia, you get anxious, etc. Basically you just can’t enjoy your life. Days seem to pass quickly. You don’t get the time to do all you want to do. Years fly by and time feels waisted. Your self-esteem is damaged, you can’t face challenges, you can’t keep promises, you get weak and ill.

And the cause is the thought-beast that rages in your inner self. Think of it as a nuclear reaction. In a controled state it is the most important and powerful energy source, in a not controled state it’s the most disastrous catastophe you could ever face.

Among other things random thoughts are our main enemies when it comes to achieving our goals. Basically most of us give up long before we reach our physical limits and long before we did everything we could have done to achieve a specific goal. Thoughts in the form of doubts put an invisible wall on our way.

I’ll take my jogging experience as an example. After a year of “rest” I’ve finally decided to start jogging again since I felt a decline in my physical endurance. For the first time I’ve chosen a pretty long track and I had serious doubts that I could run it without stopping. Nevertheless I wanted to try.

After half the way my legs started aching pretty bad. I thought my lungs would explode, I’ve been breathing fast and deep, my throat was burning, but still could get enough oxygen. My inner voice literally screamed “Stop”. I noticed myself thiking “Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to start jogging” “It’s too much for the first time” “Maybe I should stop and walk the rest of the way home”, etc. You get the idea. As I was thinking my state got worse and I was an inch away from giving up.

It was then that I became aware of my thoughts. What the heck was I doing? Why was I spending my time in those thougths? My pain was completely normal considering that the last time I jogged was so long ago. So I decided to stop thinking completely and just concentrate on the run.

I just focused my whole awareness and my whole self on the sole objective to get further. I lost the sense of my body and it’s pains. I was free of thoughts, I was a pure action. My self was unstoppable. I felt like the wind. No emotions, no thoughts, just doing it (I always liked the Nike slogan hehe).

Surprisingly I finished the second half of the track much faster, although my condition was worse. The only difference in the second half was my mental state. Since I didn’t “collapse” nor “die”, like my thoughts suggested, it was obvious that my physical condition actually allowed me to finish that track. On the other hand, if I had allowed my thoughts to take over, I would have stoped because of the “mental wall” they would have put in front of my progress.

So here is my advice. If you want to achieve your goals outside in your life, learn to control your inner state first. Show who the master is in your inner world. Control over your thoughts will give you intergrity and solidness to face different situations in your life. You will notice that you are more calm, strong, wise and productive, and others will feel it, too.