Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Ordinary Discipline


Let's talk about ordinary discipline. Not the kind of thing where you get trapped by a boulder and saw off your own arm with a dull knife, or deliberately walk into withering  machinegun fire, or even force yourself to sit down and do your income taxes, but the day-to-day stuff. Things that you elect to do that don't, in the moment, really stir your passions.


On that front, I have a small victory and a small loss to report today. 


The victory: I needed to go to the gym and work out. I mean, this membership is costing me eight bucks a month! and if I don't go at least once or twice a week, why, that's just pissing the money away. But my wife had a yoga class elsewhere. And there I was, on my leather recliner with the cat on my lap and the dog lying next to me. It was nice and warm in the living room. Outside, it was chilly, a hair above forty degrees F., damp, though the rain had stopped. It was still rush hour, so the traffic was going to be crappy. And there's that wanting-to-do-nothing-but-eat-and-hibernate that always comes with the time change.


You know, where they cut a piece of rope off one end  and then tie it to the other end to make it longer? Daylight savings? Where it gets dark at five o'clock?


It was tempting. If I stayed home, who would know? 


Sigh. Unfortunately, I would.


I stirred my lazy ass up, dressed in sweats, grabbed the water bottle and off I toodled. 


As always, once I got there, I was glad I went. Hit the weights, stretched, did my djurus, and we're talking an investment of forty-five minutes. Victory.


On the way home, I heard Baja Fresh call my name: Yo! Stevie! Shrimp Diablo burrito! Come on, you don't have anything thawed for supper. And you just worked out, probably burned three, four thousand calories, right? C'mon ...


Okay, I had a light lunch, no snacks during the day, no sugar, and I could get the burrito without the cheese-melt and molĂ© sauce, right? 


Still, I had plenty of fruit and veggies and nuts and all like that at home. What to do?


Since I gave it away in the lead, you already know ...


Batting .500. Not so bad.

6 comments:

Scott said...

This is why my power rack is in my living room. If I have to go to a health club my compliance falls to zero; if I have to go into the next room lifting 2-3 days a week is no problem.

Steve Perry said...

When the kids were still at home, we joined a gym so we could all go work out together. Because that was kind of spendy, we had half the garage tricked out into a home gym. Big multi-station weight machine, rower, mini-tramp, stairclimber, bunch of garage sale free weights. Pretty good home set-up.

The kids grew up, moved out. My daughter came home for a time, so we turned the weight room into a bedroom and moved everything into the garage. (Her old bedroom had become an office.) When she moved out again, we used the room for storage.

I used the gear, but eventually, we got a car we wanted to keep covered, so all that stuff went away, save for a couple of barbells.

At eight bucks a month, I can't beat the Recs & Park gym. And that's where the discipline comes in ...

Mark said...

Well done. I read a quote from a runner who said he never finished a run and said, "Well, that was a waste of time." I remember that quote after every workout. Fortunately I enjoy working out. But I do not enjoy being utterly exhausted after work or driving senseless loops up the inane parking garage to get to the gym. But when it's done, you always feel good. Resets all the chemicals.

Mike Byers said...

I ride the stationary bike ten miles every morning, and not putting this off or riding less than ten has become a big deal for me; definitely a boost for the rest of the day when I get this done. But about that burrito, man...I swear I gained a couple of pounds just thinking about that monster. Guess if I rode from Indiana to Oregon I could have one.

Steve Perry said...

Only a thousand calories. Ride all the way here, you have two, since you have to ride home ...

Mike Byers said...

I've been getting to ten miles in about 49 minutes for the last six months or so (5 days a week, anyway), but I figure I'd have to go about 45 miles at the same pace to burn off one of your monster burritos. Unless I could somehow convert to fusion power, this doesn't seem likely. Anyway, isn't there a rule about never eating anything bigger than your head?