Entering the athletic life

Having my body fat going around 14%, it officially marked my entrance into an athletic build. To reach this point, I had to change my lifestyle and the difference is extraordinary. It is especially pronounced when the transition from acceptable to athletic build is done within one year’s time frame, allowing me to actually notice the change. Let’s talk about the changes.

• The highs stays longer and the lows disappear faster in the roller coaster ride of life.
• My body gives out due to wear and tear before my stamina or muscle.
• Grinding through mundane stuff and actually reaching the finish line of any given project occurs more often
• A dedicated amount of time per day allocated to physical activities as a requirement like eating

Never have I felt so powerful than the present moment, not even at the height of my fling with competitive dancing.

To put it simply, these things are possible due to my commitment in the complete overhaul of my life. A commitment into the belief that detaching myself from a 9 to 5 job is paramount to my happiness. I wouldn’t be able to commit to a lifestyle filled with physical activities if I am not available during the day time to participate in the pure joy of physical activities. There was a few months at the beginning of this lifestyle when I was in a deep depression, but that’s to be expected in a transition from a scheduled life into one where I am free to do anything. It is perhaps also, the end of my belief in a merit based compensation into the total embrace of chaos based compensation system in life.

It’s all great to say that I did it by myself, but I am far from reaching any semblance of a goal nor am I solely responsible for being able to do this. I have to thank the environment for providing this awesome weather as well as the elimination of all the negative environmental elements that were hindering me. If I cannot achieve what I set out to achieve here, than I will never be able to do so anywhere else. Except maybe being able to move a bit closer to downtown. This environmental factor allowed me to run almost every day and that in itself changed things.

Running is so basic and so few people do it on a regular basis yet it is to be the single most important factor in contributing to all the points I mentioned in the beginning of the post. During my training to run marathons, the amount of regulars I meet training along the dyke’s trail can be counted with both my hands. This in a city of millions. I am only able to compare this to the sports I’ve participated in before, but to get to the gist of it, running strips out all the nonsense about technique, strategy and politics in order to focus on the body. Mainly cardio, muscles and getting to the finish line. It is the pure joy of being in motion and grants me the attitude of having a life in constant forward motion.