Rowing

I’ve been really disappointed with my fitness regiment. I’m at the point where creating and maintaining a habit despite moving countries and travel isn’t that much of a problem. But despite this, I really don’t have a good training habit. Which is extremely frustrating.

My bodyweight training regiment progressed - I was able to do more and more exercises that I haven’t been a able to do before or never could do (typewriter pushups, full bridges). And I do want to continue that, but not before I lose my belly. Which means cardio.

I’ve toyed around with doing things like kettlebell swings in the past, as well as bodyweight HIITs, like my burpee habit. I liked those because I could do those anywhere, which comes especially in handy while traveling. But those weren’t really ….satisfying, and I finally realized why.

I can’t really step down easily and do LISS cardio with these. And since I am in one place for a long time, why not take advantage of that to at least lower my fat ratio before transitioning to bodyweight training?

I wanted a machine that worked out my entire body and had ease of transitioning between HIITs and LISS - and that was a rower (I’ve done HIITs on stationary bikes and don’t really like it - plus it’s only lower body). Crossfit gyms usually have a rower for conditioning, and what ever you think about Crossfit they do emphasize total body exercises, so that’s a plus in my mind.

After researching online, I went ahead and went with the more expensive gold standard - the concept 2D rower 

And it arrived last week! It was easy to put together, and stores really well. I’m collapsing my bodyweight training and starting a rowing habit. So I’m setting the implementation intention and Tiny Habit as “rowing 5 minutes as soon as I get up.” 

Part of my mental contrasting is what to do if I do travel, but I think I’ll just do stretching, or burpees.

I foresee several “shelfs” - 1) 5 minutes of rowing per day 2) gradual extension to 30 minutes 3) interspersing 2 HIIT workouts per week on it 4) Extension of LISS rowing times.

I’ve only gotten on the machine twice, but so far it feels good. Let’s see how it goes.

Notes on Travels - Conference, Cardio, Writing

A couple of notes from my time off.

Conference
I attended a conference on travel writing and got a chance to run over my ideas with the editor of a men’s magazine on my ideas. I got through my travel ideas fairly quickly and then decided, what the heck, why not throw out some ideas on this habit project. I noticed the magazine had a lot of stuff regarding fitness with fitbit type accessories playing a role, and I thought this project might be an interesting discussion.

It was - the editor perked up and we ended up talking a lot about it, and he came up to me asking more about it. I was welcomed to continue the conversation, and I’d like to. I don’t know how to really pitch such an idea on such a large body of work, but it would be nice to have this website in a nicer format that’s more welcoming to visitors. I’ve talked about this a lot, but I really need to do it before continuing.

Cardio
In China I talked to a friend who’s really into fitness and it really emphasized in my mind the concept of getting “the thing itself.” The “thing itself” is accomplishing the real goal. It may be better to start with habits and progress oriented thought, but let’s face it, we’re still looking at our goals with one eye on the prize.

For cardio it’s losing weight and getting that body we desire. It’s great generally speaking to have a habit of doing pushups, but the reason we start the habit is the end goal. I have to wonder how much further I’d be if I had made a simple 1 hour cardio habit on a stationary bike in one place - how much further would I be to my “prize”? A lot. 

It’s definitely a delicate balance. I haven’t been able to really do that with the nomadic existence I’ve been leading, but now that I’m in a place for a set amount of time, wouldn’t it behoove me to think a little more about that final goal? 

To that end I ordered cardio equipment - namely a concept 2 rower. Why a rower? Because I can easily do both a LISS (Low Intensity Steady State) and HIIT cardio, and it’s a whole body workout. There’s a reason why Crossfit employs this rather than stationary bikes, etc.

I feel it’s a bit like cheating. I want my exercise routine to be anywhere, but I slack off a lot at this point in my fitness from doing only HIIT bodyweight workouts. It’s a big drain on my mental facilities, and it really messes with my food intake because I crave carbs - and I’m not at the point where I can do completely clean refeeds in my food habit.

Writing
I am completely at a loss with writing. I have the option of discharging all my writing debts and/or entering NaNoWriMo to write a book. I have several book ideas, but at the top of the list is a book on this project. I don’t have all the variables and meta-program nailed down, nor do I have the “prizes” that are the real practical proof of the validity of my theories.

But I believe it will help me nail down what’s missing in terms of research or interviews.

Conclusion
Stepping back, all of this confusion is being caused by the changeover in emphasis of this project; namely, going from habituation to mastery.

I have no problem starting and sustaining a habit. I have no problem going back to habits after time off. But the optimal methodology by which to push multiple habits towards mastery and obtaining “the thing itself” lies outside my grasp. And that’s not a bad thing - it shows I’m pushing new ground.