168

We all have the same number of hours

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested.”

-          Seneca

Reflecting

168 hours per week minus 63 for sleep and rest and 14 for food prep and fueling leaves 91 for work and workouts.  My doctor estimates that I can stay at the highest level of concentration for only about 4 hours per day (and that each hour has only 50 minutes of focus within it).  So I estimate 28 hours per week for concentrated effort and another 28 for less concentrated work for 56 hours of sedentary office work.  While a lot of dudes (especially investment banker types as well as some litigators) brag that they sleep 4 hours per night and work ungodly long hours, I don’t really believe it.  Or at least I don’t believe that they work incredibly long hours of focused concentration optimized for the highest quality decision making.  Overtly hard work matters more for task jobs than judgment jobs. 

While schedules vary (I’m grateful to “commute” to a home office or via a <1 mile bike ride or walk to my other office), one quickly arrives at something around 35 hours per week of discretionary time.  I’d like to share two thoughts on optimizing this time.  First a comment on being realistic and intellectually honest about what one is accomplishing in the gym.  There are really only three options for me to take.  I could lower my standards for what I want to accomplish (nope to that).  I could spend virtually all of my discretionary time in the gym (but I far prefer to be outdoors so nope again).  Or I could attack my workouts with ferocious intensity.  What does that even look like?  While few people aspire to get as big as Dorian Yates, he reached the pinnacle of bodybuilding without spending excessive hours in the gym.  But he absolutely attacked his workouts.  Here's what real intensity looks like in practice:

With this standard for intensity, I can get my gym time down to twelve hours per week between seven hours of CrossFit, three hours of bodybuilding with my personal trainer, and two of accessory work I do on my own to strengthen some of my peculiar weaknesses including grip strength, neck, obliques, abs, and hamstrings.  When weights get heavy and the intensity hurts, I’ve been repeating to myself a mantra that runner Courtney Dauwalter uses in ultra-marathons:

This is exactly what you came for.

A second idea for optimizing this discretionary time comes from Dr. Cam Sepah (the source for many of my good ideas and also the wet blanket discouraging many of my bad ones).  Instead of silent, still meditation, get in your steps while you meditate with focused awareness.  I often walk to my work or gym but don’t always need to listen to a podcast en route.  It can also be an opportunity to practice mindfulness – drawing attention to breath and sensory perception.  With the fall colors and cool air, this is a perfect time of year for it.  I average about seven hours per week of walking and am starting to allocate about half to meditation.  Two birds/one stone.    

Training

This morning’s white board:

25-20-15-10-5

• Russian kettlebell swings with 70 pounds

• GHD Sit-ups

• 25 ft handstand walk each round

And a little Halloween themed run coming up:

Fueling

For lunch a rare 40 oz Pat LaFrieda tomahawk prime steak. 

Supplementing

Modafinil is a prescription stimulant used to treat daytime drowsiness.  Many pilots including US Air Force pilots rely on it.  200 mgs prolongs time to exhaustion by 10-15% without causing an overconfidence effect or interfering with self-monitoring.  One feels less exhausted working out and more self-motivated.  It doesn’t create jitters the way caffeine does; it is more like caffeine combined with L-theanine.  It is one more tool in your toolkit for optimized training, especially for days with multiple workouts.  If one takes it, it should be taken as early as possible in the day due to a fifteen hour half life in order to avoid any problems going to sleep at night. 

Closing

No matter how important or busy your work seems, hopefully you can get outside today and absorb some free vitamin D.

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