Tag Archives: habits

199, and 200 Coquitlam Crunches

1 Reply

We didn’t know back in January 2021 that we would still be at it 200 crunches later, but here we are! Dave Sands and I were just looking for a reason to get together during Covid. We started back at school after a Christmas break locked into our family bubble, not seeing any friends socially. The rules did allow for meeting outdoors and so we decided to walk the Coquitlam Crunch together.

We met on a Friday after work, did the crunch, had a beverage sitting 6 feet apart on the parking lot railing, then headed home in separate cars. It felt so good to actually do something with a friend, that we planned to meet the following week. And a new habit was formed.

Starting our next school year, we decided that we would commit to at least 40 crunches a year, basically one crunch for every week of school. And we’ve stuck to this ever since. In fact we are boosting our average up above 42 by the end of this year.

Early on, Friday after work proved too hard to keep up and so we switched it up and met Saturday morning. A new after crunch ritual of coffee replaced the Friday night beverage. Our Crunch walk is something Dave and I often bend over backwards to make work. Last weekends Dave was heading out of town for the weekend and so we went on Thursday after school. The start of this weekend I was out of town so we did our crunch early this holiday Monday. In fact the reason we’re boosting our average by 2 days is because this year I think we only missed one week.

We’ve crunched in sleet, snow, and rain. We’ve started it in early morning darkness, we’ve ended in early winter darkness. In fact, in almost 5 years there is only one absolutely down pouring miserable day that we got to the crunch and both of us were not up to facing the weather. Besides that one time, we’ve faced some awful weather and still decided to commit to heading up and down this hill.

Today was a weighted vest day, and we were planning on doing it twice last week but my back wasn’t up to it after having IMS that day, so we just did one. So, we combined these two challenges and we did the double with weighted vests today. We did crunch number 199 and number 200 this morning, on our first ever double counted day. We’ve done a couple doubles before, not counting them as separate, but we figure if we are doing complete doubles, they should count as two!

Yes, this is great exercise. Yes, it’s an awesome habit to keep. But the real value in doing this activity 200 times is the connection to my buddy Dave. I can’t describe how mentally and emotionally rewarding it is to have this weekly connection to a friend. Not many people get to see a best friend a guaranteed 40+ times a year in addition to other meetings, plans and connections. We both cherish this time so much that we can’t think of valid excuses to not meet up, and we will consistently make up for lost opportunities when life gets in the way of us meeting on a Saturday.

So, we’ll just keep going, week after week, and our Coquitlam Crunch adventures are to be continued… starting again next week!

It took almost 9 years

Leave a reply

15 years ago yesterday I started my second blog, this one called Daily-Ink. The plan was to write my ideas down on paper, in a leather bound book, and then photograph the page and upload it to the blog. I admitted in my first post that I held no promises because my previous attempt at taking a photo a day for a year failed. And sure enough, this idea didn’t last long.

It was September 28th, 2010, I was living in China at the time and starting my second school year there as principal of a foreign national pre-K to Grade 9 school. I did a few posts in my intended format then ended up using the blog when I wanted to share experiences and ideas that didn’t fit onto my Pair-a-Dimes for Your Thoughts blog, with the byline: Reflections on Education, Technology and Learning. I used Daily-Ink to track some articles I found interesting, comments I made on other blogs, to participate in a MOOC, and to record some travel experiences.

It was almost 9 years later, July 6th, 2019 that I decided I was actually going to write daily. I said on that day,

“I’m not getting younger and more than ever, NOW is the best time to start.

I tried over a decade ago, now I’m going to do it – a short daily blog.”

And here I am, 2,276 days later, still writing daily. So, whatever it was that you were planning to do but didn’t get around to it… it’s not too late. It’s not too late to write a book, to get in shape, to pursue a different career, or take up a new hobby. The years missed matter less and less once you actually get started.

Hold on to the good weather

2 Replies

I had a summer ritual of sitting for 10 minutes in the morning sun over the summer. Shirt off, eyes closed, listening to a meditation. Today I went in the hot tub after my morning walk and then the sun came out from behind the clouds.

I paused and took full advantage. The sun won’t be up and warm enough in the morning much longer as we head into fall, so I’ve got to take every opportunity I’ve got. I’m going to eke out these sunny morning moments before the fall rains come.

I’m also going to keep finding joy in the little things, like holding on to the good weather while we’ve got it.

Embracing the cycle

Leave a reply

There have been many years where during the summer my fitness has been on cruise control. I do just enough so that I do not fall too far behind in gains. This summer was different. I pushed hard, stayed very healthy, and even moved in the right direction.

Now I’m back at work, and I’m just going through the motions, doing the bare minimum to check the box that I did a workout. That’s just where I am right now. Normally this would bug the crap out of me, but I’m actually accepting this as part of the cycle. It’s really hard to be pushing for improvements all the time. It’s hard to stay motivated.

Sometimes just showing up is a win. Putting the time in, without giving 100% is still putting the time in. Some days that’s all I’ve got. And the reality is, that’s a lot more than not showing up at all. That’s a lot more than many people do.

It might be a few more days, it might be a week or two, but I’ll get back into a cycle where I push myself. Until then I’ll still get on the treadmill, I’ll still stretch, I’ll still move weights around… and more importantly, I won’t beat myself up for not doing enough.

Cross pollination

Leave a reply

Do you know what’s really hard to do? First, choose an area of your life where you really have your ‘stuff’ together. Then take those same skills, habits, and discipline and apply it to another part of your life. It should be easy, or at least easier than it is. We should be able to recognize what makes us extremely effective in one aspect of our lives and simply apply the same strategies elsewhere.

What prevents this? Is it motivation? Is it the fear of starting? Is it that we recognize the effort is more than we are willing to put out?

Whatever the reason, it’s sometimes important to remember that it is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than it is to think your way into a new way of acting. Start with the action. Do the things you already do elsewhere in a new area of your life. Start with small actions, but the action itself is the start. Not the thinking, not the planning, not the talking about it… the doing.

Apply action, and the good work and skills you’ve developed will indeed cross over.

Short gains, long views

Leave a reply

It’s hard to stick to healthy routines over the summer. It takes a lot more effort than when you have everything dialled in and a schedule to keep. That said, I’m thrilled about how I’ve taken care of myself over the summer. I haven’t just been in maintenance mode. I’ve actually stayed right on top of things and continued with my goals, albeit in tiny increments.

But tiny increments in the right direction still means I’m going in the right direction. The thing to remember is that while the gains are small and hard to see, they are only hard to see when looking short term. I’ve gained muscle this year, and I’ve simultaneously reduced my body fat percentage.

Sure when I compare myself to the start of summer, or even a couple months before that, the gains are small. But when I compare myself to 2 years ago, or better yet when I started my fitness goals 5-and-a-half years ago, the gains are significant!

It’s easy to get frustrated with how small gains can be in the short term, but fitness and wellbeing are lifelong goals and as such gains should be looked at through a longer lens… and I have to say that things are going, looking, and feeling great!

Get it done first…

Leave a reply

There is a TikTok by @LexNate where she says she learned a phrase that changed her life:

“Get it done first. You can make it better later.”

I commented:

“Perfect is the enemy of done. Define ‘good enough’, get there, then make it better (if you need to, for some things that’s enough:)”

There is a quote that I love that states, ‘Good is the enemy of Great’, meaning that often when you reach ‘good enough’ it stops you from being or doing better. There is a counter argument that Lexi and I are making and that is, ‘Perfect is the enemy of Good’.

Perfectionism can be debilitating and prevent action. “I’m not ready to make it perfect so I won’t make it.”

No. Just get it done. Just start and keep going until you have a viable product or result… then tweak it, improve it, make it amazing. Or not. Realize that this is all you need and save your time, energy and resources for perfecting things where that really matters.

There is a lot of merit in, ‘Get it done first. Make it better later.’ Perfect can be the enemy of getting started and thus getting completed. Get. It. Done. First!

Approaching 200

Leave a reply

We didn’t know on a cold, wet, and dark Friday in January of 2021 that we would make this a usual thing. Two friends, feeling isolated with covid restrictions decided to do the Coquitlam Crunch so that we could meet outdoors when indoor meetings were restricted to your family circle. Now, over 4 and a half years later, we’ve completed our 190th Crunch together, averaging more than 40 a year.

We were about 50 in when we decided that 200 would be a great goal to achieve before we retired, and now that is all but guaranteed. Did we fathom this when we had done just one Crunch? No. We didn’t even know if we’d go again. But sure enough we kept going, with a goal of 40 a year to match the amount of school weeks in the year.

Now, I can’t think of anything I’ve been more dedicated to (besides my wife of course). We do everything we can to not to miss a week. We usually go out on Saturdays, but we’ll squeeze in a Thursday after school if one of us is away on the weekend.

Imagine being just over a year into a routine and deciding on a 5-year goal… then sticking to it. Sounds challenging, but it’s something I look forward to every week. I’d never have spent so much time with my buddy, Dave, if we hadn’t made this a goal, and an expectation. And there are more goals to come… stay tuned.

Leg day

Leave a reply

Unlike many memes regarding physical fitness and bodybuilding, I don’t usually skip leg day. In fact, most days I start my workout walking on my treadmill at a fast pace, on an incline, in a 40lb weighted vest, for 20 or more minutes. So, I do work my legs… but they are still chicken legs that make me look like I skip leg day.

I have seen some gains in the past year, but these gains have come at a cost. The cost is that when I work my legs with weights, they always hurt 2 and 3 days later. I worked my legs pretty hard yesterday and my quads and glutes are aching today. I know I’m going to wake up feeling them again tomorrow.

It’s weird, since I started taking creatine a few years ago, that two-day later ache has been drastically reduced. My buddy and I did back and chest workout today that would normally have me aching for days with after workout soreness, yet I can tell it won’t be that bad. Thank you creatine. However, creatine or not, when I work my legs they ache for longer than I find comfortable.

And the reality is that while I work my legs, I don’t work them as hard as I did yesterday all that often. Why? Because it’s not fun feeling like I need to hold the railing going up and down the stairs because my legs feel like jelly. So while I don’t skip leg day, I do skip hard leg days, and really don’t push them as hard as other parts of my body.

Until I join a gym and start using equipment designed specifically for legs, I don’t think I’m going to see too much in the way of gains… I’m just not willing to do the real work it would take. That said, I’m still never going to skip leg day.

Making Progress – 11 Tips to Success

Leave a reply

Yes, another fitness post. Yes, another post about building good habits.

Is it just my algorithm or is everyone getting a lot of posts, reels, TikTok’s, and/or YouTube shorts about fitness, wellbeing, and longevity?

Everyone is an influencer now, telling you how to drop weight, tone abs, and build muscle.

Here is what I’ve learned… none of this is mine, it’s all learned from others. These are 11 things that can help you transform your body for the better. (Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, don’t play one on the internet… these are things that have worked for me. Consult real experts, especially if you have health challenges.)

  1. Weight Loss: The only thing that matters, more than fitness, more than what you actually eat, is being in a calorie deficit. That’s it. If you are in a deficit you will lose weight. Period. Full stop. End of story. So choose an app that tracks what you eat and use it religiously. Want to eat more? Exercise, burn calories, and you can have more calories that day, and still be in a deficit.
  2. Track your workouts. Choose a minimum amount that counts as a workout and track them. Here is one rule that is simple if you build a routine, and hard if you aren’t actually tracking: Never miss 2 days in a row. You can make up other rules or requirements as you see fit, so long as you NEVER break your own rules. One break gives permission for other breaks, then habits are lost and you are stuck trying to be disciplined. Habits are easy, discipline is hard. Track your progress and you will ‘see’ your habits, which will help you perpetuate them.
  3. Protein and Creatine. There is a 99.9% chance that you are not eating as much protein as you should. Quite literally if 1,000 people read this, there would only be one of you actually eating as much as 1 gram of protein per pound on the scale. That’s my goal and I still don’t regularly hit it. Protein is good for the body AND the brain. Same with creatine. Creatine reduces muscle soreness after workouts, and is one of the most studied supplements. Less than 1% of the population can have digestion issues with it. Probably not you and there is literally no other down side and huge upsides to taking it.
  4. Train most of your cardio in ‘Zone 2’. What is Zone 2? If you tried to talk normally while in that zone, it would be challenging to catch your breath, but if you were told at the end of your workout that you had to keep going at the same pace for 5 more minutes you could maintain that pace. So many people think they have to kill themselves with high heart rate cardio blasts. Still do this once per week to improve your Max Vo2, but 80+% of your cardio should be in Zone 2. My tracking requirements are a minimum of 20 minutes. I walk on a treadmill, on an incline, with a weighted vest most days. This is much lower impact than running, and I can still get in the zone. You want better weight loss gains? Cardio tip: Don’t eat before cardio. You want to drain your glycogen reserves and get to fat burn. Food reserves will be used as energy before fat. No food reserves means your body gets to fat burn faster. Mind you, this is moot if you aren’t in a calorie deficit.
  5. Weight train. Lift and carry heavy things. Muscles are quite literally things that you use or you lose. Research shows a direct correlation between larger muscles and longevity. Grandma or grandpa who can do a pull-up and deadlift their own weight are not the ones who are going to stumble and break their hips. They are also more likely to be cognitively’ ‘there’ compared to their sedentary peers.
  6. Weight lift your muscles completely to fatigue. This is called hypertrophy training, you are wanting to build muscle. First, because larger muscles means a longer (healthier) lifespan. Secondly, you are literally telling your body to stay young. Building muscles demands your body to be in ‘growth mode’ rather than in sunset mode on your way to the grave. Pick at least one muscle group and work it to failure. Personal secret: 90% of my workouts are done in 40-45 minutes with 20 minutes cardio and 5-10 minutes stretching. How do I get it ‘all’ done so quickly? Besides cardio and stretching, I just work one muscle group but I work it really hard. Yesterday was shoulders. I did 4 sets of free weight shoulder press (1st one at 1/2 weight for warm up, then 3 progressively heavy sets to 10-12, but the last set I could only get to 9). Then lateral raises, again ending with a set to failure. Today was biceps. Seated curls, then standing hammer curls, then 1 set of elastic ban Bayesian curls to fatigue. In both day’s examples the sets took 20-25 minutes. Tomorrow I’ll do abs and legs to give my upper body a rest, then chest the following day. I love when I go to the gym with a budy and workout more body parts in a workout, but I share my example to emphasize that you can make progress doing an entire workout in less time that it takes to watch a show on Netflix. That said, this is minimal volume and I know I’d make more gains if I did more.
  7. Stretch. I don’t believe you should ever stretch cold. That’s why I do cardio first. Research says that to slightly improve muscle gains, do weights before cardio. But on my daily (early morning) routine, I want to stretch before weights, and I want to be warm when I stretch. I’ll pass on tiny gains to get a routine that works for me. Stretching makes you feel better and more mobile, and helps to reduce injuries. It’s also a way to feel a connection to your body.
  8. Meditate. I cheat and meditate on the treadmill. I clip the emergency stop clip on me, hold the rails, close my eyes, and do a guided meditation. I find the physical activity a distraction that helps me reduce my mind wandering, and this also gives me more time in my tight morning routine because I’m double dipping. Meditation is not a state of quiet mind, it is a continual state of quieting the mind. It’s not about no distraction, but a state of coming back from distraction. Beyond that I’m years into my practice and still a rookie. Get meditation advice elsewhere, but take my advice and start a regular meditation habit. (I track this like I track my fitness, with stickers on a year-long calendar.)
  9. Have a workout buddy. I only get to workout with someone about once every couple weeks. I wish I could do more because being with him pushes me to be better. But even when I don’t work out with him, he and I keep each other accountable. We can share our highs and lows. I tell him I had a shitty workout, he congratulates me on showing up. I hit a personal best, I can share it with him and he’ll celebrate it with me, without it feeling like bragging. It’s our victory. Find someone to share you journey with.
  10. Routine, routine, routine. Build your habit so that you don’t require discipline. My favourite example of reducing workout friction and thus making my routine easier is my workout shoes. In my small basement gym I have workout shoes and a shoehorn. My shoes are pre-tied tight enough to walk (or run) on the treadmill, and I can still slip them on with the shoehorn. Why? Because I hate tying shoes and I hate getting on the treadmill with one shoe feeling tighter than the other. This was a pain point. What are your pain points? Remove them. You workout after work? Routinize having your workout bag by the front door the night before. Then put it on the passenger seat as a visual reminder when you get in the car after work. Reduce the friction and the habit will form, and then you’ll get used to showing up.
  11. JUST SHOW UP! The most important days in the gym are the days you don’t want to show up and you do anyway. These are the days that make the habit an actual habit. These are the days that make a routine an actual routine. The days you had to drag your ass into the gym and do the bare minimum are more important than the days you hit a personal best. And as a bonus, some of the days that you drag yourself in might also be a personal best day when you finally got there. Showing up then becomes a habit, and it no longer feels as hard to do on the hard days. Because if you ‘just show up’ enough on the hard days then showing up no longer feels like work. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle… But the early hard days are the toughest. Go back to tip 2 and Never miss 2 days in a row.

One final thought. While I’ve seen significant progress in the past 2 years, I’ve been on this path for 6-and-a-half years. I initially saw a good weight loss and small muscle gains, but it took the addition of creatine and a higher protein diet before I saw the most recent gains. Day-to-day I really haven’t seen a lot a gains anywhere. I share this because many people get discouraged when they don’t see the gains or fat loss immediately. Here are two things to think about related to looking for gains: First, if you are gaining muscle while losing fat, muscle is heavier than fat. Don’t focus on the scale, focus on the habits. And second, if you aren’t getting stronger, you are not really training your muscles to fatigue. These gains are slow too, but if you can only do 10 pushups and 2 months later that’s still your max, you probably could be training harder. If you walk on the treadmill at the same speed and incline every week, with no incremental increase and it still feels just as challenging, you probably aren’t working hard enough. Don’t look for gains weekly, but set goals for progress and even if you don’t hit them, make sure you are trending up. Trending up is often slower than you hoped, but as long as the trend is up… you are doing great!

And finally… if you see something that I’ve gotten wrong, please tell me and help me in my learning journey.