Day 1691

Day 1691 Record Keeping
Day 1663 Fixed Meditation (45 min = 15 min metta, 15 min vipassana, 15 min gratitude)
Day 1537 Writing (DID NOT DO)
Day 1076 Exercise (3X5 35/40 lb dumbbell clean and press)
Day 817 Mobility/Stretching (15 min back & shoulder smash, hip stretch)
Day 127 Flossing (All teeth)
–
Bad sleep. Decided to finally add weights since I have access to a small gym through my apartment complex. I wanted to do a hard, olympic style, whole body lift to start out with. I settled on a clean and press. It’s hard - I haven’t done olympic style lifts since high school. But it definitely took a lot out of me and felt good.

Later I looked through Becoming a Supple Leopard to add different mobilizations. The shoulder smash was a good addition because I know I’ll have problems with the pressing aspect of the lift. But then I found detailed descriptions of proper form for all of the olympic lifts - this book really just keeps giving!

I’m highly prone to injury and muscle tweaking - reading about the lift and the associated mobilizations made me think I might actually be ahead of the injury prevention game this time around.

Day 1175 & 14-Day Mobility Overhaul, Day 1

Day 1175 Record Keeping
Day 1147 Fixed Meditation (15 min)
Day 1022 Writing (1.5/30 min)
Day 561 Rowing (35 min/5000 m)
Day 302 Mobility/Stretching (30 min, toe plantarflexion, trap scrub, posterior neck mob)
–
Eating Habits
Day 44 Meal Prep Sunday
—
Early to Rise
Day 330 Sleep Recording  (1:40|2:50|10:30|11:30)
Day 301 Bedtime Curfew (DID NOT DO)
Day 139 Wakeup Alarm
–
ok sleep. Had a great and very busy weekend - unfortunately wasn’t able to do my Meal Prep, but ended up doing it today. 

14-Day Mobility Overhaul, Day 1
I am starting a 14-Day mobility overhaul as written in Becoming a Supple Leopard - it’s sort’ve Kelly Starrett’s version of a 30 day challenge. I’ve done a lot of walking lately and my feet have hurt a lot. My toe has hurt a lot due to rowing with no shoes. My back has been clenching. And all of it released through some dedicated mobilization. It has been incredible, which has really pushed me into the short jump needed to max out my mobilization. 

Today was my first day. It took a little longer than my 15 minutes to read and figure out exactly how to do them. It was incredibly painful and it felt really good.

Day 1018 & Great Progress Over Multiple Skills

Day 1018 Record Keeping
Day 990 Fixed Meditation (20 min - incredibly good)
Day 864 Writing (3/20 min - incredibly good rewrite and research)
Day 404 Rowing (8x10 kbell swings, finally nailed my form)
Day 145 Mobility/Stretching (back stretches)
—–
Eating
Day 242 Pantry Check 
Day 240 Food Recording
—
Early to Rise
Day 173 Water (Totally forgot!)
Day 173 Sleep Recording  (1|2:50|10:45|11:30)
Day 144 Bedtime Curfew 81 SUPERHABIT
–
Ok sleep, good wakeup.

Great Progress Over Multiple Skills
My meditation was incredible today. It was smooth, deep, and I’m getting what pragmatic meditation practitioners are talking about with respect to noting the self. 

I finally nailed my kettlebell form - or at least the back issue that I’ve been dealing with. I tend to use my back to pull more than my hips. When I properly hip load it’s a totally different workout. While standing I naturally over extend my lower back, and this problem is exacerbated by swings. As I hip loaded I also concentrated on tilting my hips to neutral by engaging my abs, which prevented over extension. This is really the first time that I’ve ever felt kbell swings as an ab exercise, which I’ve always been puzzled by. Now I know why - Thanks Dr. Kelly Starett! I don’t think I’d even know where to begin to try to fix it if it wasn’t for this guy’s material. I’d be endlessly cycling with swings and back pain.

And writing also went really well, in large part because of James Patterson’s special Master Class. I was able to see the rewrite process as a series of edits, rather mandating perfection from one rewrite. It’s seriously unclenched my writing constipation. I’m recording all of this, not only to send as an example to a fellow writer and friend that I’ve been discussing this technique with, but in order to hone the process.

My bedtime curfew isn’t perfect at all, but I’m ready to call the TinyHabit a superhabit now. It’s a weird one, so I’ll have to see how best to advance it now that I’m used to forcing myself to a bed time.

Over the weekend I’ll have to really ponder what to do next - start a new habit (flossing? making the bed? finance tracking? A general reading habit? Social media marketing?) or advancing skills (waking up and going to bed earlier? Adding another dinner meal to my Sunday Meal Prep? A 14 day mobilization overhaul?).

In any case I’m pretty satisfied with today’s progress.