Round 5: Day 75: Shoulders and Arms

I've made a subtle adjustment to my nutrition by eating non-fat, non-sweetened, plain probiotic yogurt for breakfast instead of millet cereal in soy milk. That cuts down a little bit on my soy consumption and eliminates some grain from my diet. I've read The Primal Blueprint and have been somewhat convinced by its arguments, so cutting down on grains is a goal I'm working on. It's been difficult to do that, as my wife prepares our meals and she can't really get her head around eliminating grains. Also, the kids can be picky eaters, and it's tough to convince them to eat something other than those soothing carbohydrates. As always, I seem to be the poster boy for alternative nutrition in our family. I'll try to lead by quietly setting an example.

I'm really pushing myself now that the end of this Round is in sight. I try to spend a few minutes studying the workout sheet prior to each workout, to examine what I've done in the past, to consider what the day's objectives are, and to establish goals for the workout. Do I want to match what I've done in the past? Should I increase the weight? Looking over the sheet is a good way to see trends in your workouts. Have things been flat for a number of weeks? Is it time to push yourself harder? Today's review led me to believe that I could be doing heavier weights, so I set that as an objective and specifically targeted several exercises where I felt improvements should be attempted. I say "attempted" because I don't know whether I'll achieve success. Attempting is the key. If you attempt, but struggle and fail, you'll eventually succeed, because ultimately, success lies in the struggle.

Also, I'm of the opinion that your mind causes more failure than your body. Get your mind right, and your body will usually obey. Today's workout demonstrated all of the above. I set out to exceed what I had done in previous workouts, I got myself into a good frame of mind, and I pushed myself like crazy. The last three reps were extremely tough, but mostly, I succeeded in improving. The result was really satisfying, and I now know that I can bring this workout to yet another level. It will take a few more workouts before I hit 10-12 reps again, but it's nice to know that it's still possible to break through a plateau and keep challenging myself. Now, if I can only bring the same mindset to Insanity.