Cold Steel

  As I was working my way through my second month it really started getting cold out in the garage. I know a boatload of people would have hung it up for sure. I certainly am one that does NOT like the cold at all. It didn’t help that I was going out between 4am and 5am in the morning. There were a number of mornings where it was like -20°C. So besides fighting my tinnitus and back pain I had to also fight the cold.

 I surely admit there were many mornings I just wanted to dig into my warm bed and skip out but I was so determined to make this change that I just said F*ck it! I dressed in layers and just dove in. It’s a huge garage so there was no chance in heating it so the only thing I could do was MOVE to stay warm. It’s pretty much the same with anything you want out of life. You have to sacrifice and prove how bad you really want it. Again I could have come up with a ton of excuses but excuses get you nowhere and I was determined to get where I wanted to be.

 I would daily start out by stretching before going out into the cold. Once I got to the gym I would do jumping jacks and or jump rope to get warmed up. I went from spending 15 to 20 minutes out, to 30 minutes and some days even longer. My confidence was growing and my strength was improving daily. Some days I was hitting some sets of up to 8 on the pull up bar. 3-3 minute rounds on the heavy bag with a minute rest in between was getting easier by the day. I started throwing in some kicks and was surprised I could still get my foot up to eye level even with my bad back.

 As cold as it was and as much excruciating pain I was dealing with I gotta tell you the sense of accomplishment I would feel everyday after a session was exhilarating. I did my best to not think about the cold and the pain so much. I more focused on the results I was seeing and feeling. I also focused on where I wanted to be and imagined myself fighting anything and everything to get there and winning. 

 A huge motivator for me around this time was watching the iThrive Series. iThrive is groundbreaking 9-part documentary series on the twin pandemics of diabetes and obesity - and exactly what you can to do prevent and reverse it! It documents the journey of Jon McMahon and it was just so informative and inspiring. I give thanks to my sister for sending me the link to be able to watch it for free. When you are your own support and motivation it’s good to find inspiration and motivation where ever you can. I highly recommend watching iThrive especially if you are dealing with diabetes and obesity. Jon McMahon’s transformation was nothing short of a miracle, absolutely amazing. I will definitely create a post covering my experience watching the series in the near future.