Change your questions, change your routine

I've been in a bad rut lately with lifting. And by "bad rut" I mean pretty much not really doing much lifting and by "not really doing much lifting" I mean not at all. I've been doing the stretchy-bandy-thingy's which have been good. And I found a way to hang by heavy bag outside,which is great. But I'm still having my own issues. And I'm still beating myself up.

Recently, I started reading a book called Change Your Questions, Change Your Life. The basic premise of the book is that it's not so much the answers we need but to ask the right questions. Now, before I get all Mr. Miyagi here, I do think there's a valid point to this. One I've been learning on my knees. And by knees, I actually don't mean praying.

Lately I've been feeling pain in my knees as I do dead lifts, squats, leg extensions, etc. That's not a good sign. Yet, I still press on with some of these exercises that work the knees. Why? Well, because, I need to work on my knees so they won't hurt. I need to exercise my quads and my glutes and all the rest of them muscles down yonder. Yet when I do, they still hurt.

After reading the first few chapters of Change Your Questions, I began to ask myself: "What questions am I really asking?" No, I didn't actually say it out loud, more like to myself in the inside voice type of way. But honestly, I realized that I was asking myself "How can I loose weight? How can I be healthy?" Good questions, right? Then I realized I needed to ask a different question: "How can I be healthy and kind to my body at the same time?" In other words, if it hurts when I do that, don't do that. Yet, I kept on doing squats.

Instead, today, I focused on cardio by riding the stationary bike. Guess what? No knee pain. I changed my question, I got a new answer. So, now I must ask new questions about the workout routines I've been doing.

What are some questions you might need to change. In order to find the answer we seek, we must first ask the right questions.

Training against disapointment like Rocky IV--A Lenten Meditation

After musing over my post on the X-Men and looking at things from different perspectives and rebooting new ways of looking at Jesus and life, I started to wonder what else I could reboot and relook at. Besides writing run-on sentences that is.

A little while back, I wrote about dealing with disappointment. I had purchased a weight lifting book I was really looking forward to reading over. I was disappointed by the exercises and routines they had in it. It wasn't what I was looking for. I tossed the book aside and let it be.

Over the last few weeks, I've been very busy. I haven't had time to hit the gym and that's been hard. Hitting the gym has been one of the best ways for me to recharge, refocus and to refresh myself. Hitting the gym helps me to keep on keeping on in many ways.

I've also missed my bag. My heavy bag. My heavy punching bag. I've had that thing since 2003. When my office was in the basement of our place while in Seminary, it hung next to my desk and helped me through Hebrew. That thing hasn't been hung up since we moved. No place to hang it safely.

The workout book I bought has a routine for those who are training for boxing. And I needed bands to use. I thought about it and finally bought some bands. I also found a way to safely hang my bag from a tree in the back yard.

I'm not so disappointed in that book now. My abs hurt, my arms are sore. And I got a chance to wail on my bag for the first time in a while.

After I was done, I began to think about something Paul said. He was a sports nut and used sports illustrations a lot. He made a boxing reference in 1st Corinthians

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Reading through this verse again after hitting my bag and doing those exercises got me thinking about that scene from Rocky IV

I'm wondering why disappointment stopped me? Why didn't I fight through it like I've done before? But once I fought through it, I saw the benefit of it.

One of the things that always got me about that montage from Rocky IV is the fact that he's not training aimlessly. He's going towards the goal. Granted, his goal is a very young and buff Dalph Lundren, but still, he's training towards the goal. For Rocky Balboa, Failure was not an option, it was a necessity. It was his failure, it was Apollo's failure, that led him to train harder. To not just train to shadow box, not just train to fight, but to train to win.

Esater's so close I can almost taste the Reese's peanut butter eggs (or it might be the ones I hid from the kiddos for their Easter baskets). Easter is the second time in the year you hear the most about Jesus. And it's the second time of the year that people tell me about their disappointment in him. But they don't get all Rocky IV on it. They walk away. If you do that, then the spiritual-communist-Dalph-Lundren-Characters win. And that ain't good.

Disappointment's always going to be there. It's going to be in my life at other points. Not just in books, but in myself and in what I do. It'll always be there. And so will Jesus. He'll always be there for me. This is a fight to be healthy physically, emotionally and most importantly, spiritually. I know it's going to be hard at times. I know I'm going to get disappointed at times. But I'm going to get all Rocky IV in my faith, for I'm going to train to win the prize and not shadowbox!