It’s a warm, sunny day here on Long Island, and tonight’s the night! In a few short hours, my softball team will begin a best-of-three playoff series to see if we advance to the next round. Being that I’m going on vacation on Saturday for the following 10 days, this will be my last night of games during the summer season, so I’m hoping to go away riding high…
Sadly, a few guys on my team suffered a few significant injuries over the weekend. One guy, who will be playing, pulled his hamstring, and will be limited in terms of running. Another pulled an oblique, and will be a pinch-hitter at best (he would have been a key player tonight had he not gotten hurt!). And another may have done some damage to a disc in his back, and while optimistic in his ability to play later on, may be limited in terms of what he can do, as well.
Throw in that we were scheduled to play on a day where one of our key players will be late due to work (I blame poor scheduling on that one!), and we have an uphill battle to start things off tonight…
Fortunately, EVERYONE on my team is a quality player, and I’m sure we’ll pull together and rally for the ‘walking wounded.’ Once backup arrives shortly into the night, I think we’ll be just fine :-)
Now, being the neurotic control freak that I am, I’ve developed a plan for all the different scenarios that may transpire. Are the injuries ideal? Hell no! Can we still win and still move forward tonight with what we’ve got, regardless of how the ‘walking wounded’ respond to pre-game warmups? Absolutely!!!
This reminds me of a conversation I was having with a new client yesterday. Without giving too much away, she’s used to being in phenomenal shape (better than even myself!), and over the past couple of years , she’s not eaten clean or exercised consistently. Because of this, she’s obviously looking for guidance on getting back to where she was, which is certainly very attainable considering she’s only a couple of years removed from being at the pinnacle of human performance.
During our session, she kept doubting herself. She mentioned how heavy she felt, how slow she felt, how this is the first time in her life she ever had to lose more than a few lbs… And look, I get it! Been there, done that!!
When I gained 70 lbs in three short months while I was in college, you can bet that I was feeling a lot heavier, a lot slower and completely not myself. It took a long time to get back to where I started from, and I’ve obviously improved upon that significantly from even that point of progress!
However, when I started to right the ship, I was inflexible and had little-to-no bodyweight strength. I couldn’t perform a bodyweight squat without my heels coming off the ground and my form going to shit. I couldn’t do more than 10 pushups in a row before collapsing. I also couldn’t do more than three pull-ups in a row before completely crapping out.
But, I had to start with what I had. By learning flexibility techniques and with daily practice, my squat slowly began to improve. I added two pushups to my daily routine a week. I aimed for one pullup a week…
Today, I can comfortably hold a well-executed bodyweight squat with my butt touching the ground for close to five minutes straight, I can perform nearly 100 pushups in a row with perfect form (if I was fresh), and going into pull-ups fresh, I can bang out 25–30 (it depends on the day!) in a row before crapping out.
Movements that seemed so difficult became relatively easy, and because of my intense focus on them, I’ve greatly enhanced my functionality…
Tonight, my team doesn’t have its ‘best’ or most ideal lineup in place. When I started my 100 lb weight loss journey, I was far from being in ideal shape. You may be in the same boat!
Regardless of where you’re starting from, that’s all it is — Your starting point! Set some goals, and with persistent, DAILY action, you’ll get there!! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and don’t stop ’til you get enough (j’mon-ah!).
Until tomorrow :-)
Sincerely, Pete Weintraub pete@weightlossbypete.com
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