a little extra

I was so busy with work and some other things these past few days, I wasn't able to post an entry last week.  Anyway, I'm just glad I'm able to find the time to write one today.


One of the things that eat up a lot of time is working out.  I'm trying to put in at least one or two hours of exercise a day, three times a week.  I have the Jillian Michaels torture video, 30 Day Shred, and I remember her saying something like, 'Don't stop when you feel your muscles are getting tired, push yourself more because when your body feels stress, that's when it adapts and it changes.'

Most of the time, I'm so tempted to just stop and move on to the next circuit but what she said really motivated and pushed me. It got me interested, I looked it up in the net and saw an article from musclegaintruth. It's a bit extreme though, the author suggests that we train to the point of muscular failure:

"The more you approach the point of muscular failure, the more drastically the body is forced to respond. This time period literally comes down to single seconds. If you release the weights 5-6 [secs] sooner than the next person (it's probably closer to 1 or 2 seconds), you will be dramatically hindering your muscle growth and you will not approach extreme muscle growth...

..It's a fact that your ability to achieve extreme muscle growth literally comes down to these short moments at the end of each set and how much you are willing to push yourself at this time."

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  I guess that's the way it is with life as well. Sometimes, all it takes to succeed is to push yourself a little more, even if you think you've already given it your all. Those little extra seconds, going the extra mile.

Or instead of pushing, sometimes you have to hold out a little more, wait and be more patient before success comes to you. Anyone saw the marshmallow test? Very cute and funny. They say the kids that were able to control themselves did better in life later.

Lately, I've been learning how to underreact in stressful situations. I try to control myself and avoid giving any big emotional response when I hear something problematic. Just nod, think a bit and then react.  By pausing to think first, you get to see the bigger picture and you'll see more options on how to go about and deal with your problem. You'll avoid embarassment or getting someone mad (thus making them uncooperative).  It's really hard though.

However, there are times when you could go either way, act and give it your all or hold back.  How will you decide what to do?  Is it by experience?  Intuition?  Fate?  What if you reacted too late?  I guess it's also important to be prepared (as much as we can), so when those deciding moments are upon us, we'll know what to do.