Giving Thanks

Every day.

“I don’t have talent, so I just get up earlier.”

— Henry Rollins

Reflecting

It is a jarring week. It abruptly pivots from the best American holiday tradition to the worst from Thanksgiving Day to black Friday, from sweet gratitude to vulgar consumerism. But there are a few ways to make shopping less bad. Verbs over nouns: never simply buy something then figure out what to do with it; instead deliberately pick your activities and buy only what you need to do them. Let actual demand prompt supplies.

If you’re unsure of something, let yourself go without it for a while. Feel the suffering just a bit to prove to yourself that you really need it. One of the mantras in scuba diving is “plan your dive and dive your plan” – the same goes true for shopping so that you never get distracted and manipulated by marketing. Whatever the sale price, the best sale is saving 100% by not buying crap that you don’t need.

Training

My grandfather called his morning routine his “little baby exercises”. My own version is stuff that I can do from my desk while on calls. It is a hodgepodge of accessory work that doesn’t require big gear, not intense enough to make me sweat a lot, and generally helpful to CrossFit.

I prioritize grip strength because it is something that I’ve been able to maintain regardless of injury status and because it helps Olympic lifts and gymnastics. Quite a few of the things I keep at my desk are on big sales today if you’re interested in replicating any of these little baby exercises:

• Heroboard core exercise

• Spinning Burn Mat Fraser recommended this one. The motion is much like the speed bag but requires more strength and less coordination; 20% off.

• Dynamo and Tornado forearm trainers 20% off.

• Dark elf for shadow boxing 5% off.

• Ironmind grip strengthener and bands

• Resistance bands for pull aparts

• Slackline 10% off.

• I’m generally a Rogue loyalist, but if you don’t have a few dumbbells at your desk, several of these weights are available for under a dollar per pound which is a great value, up to 35% off.

• These flex bars are great and 20% off but you have to work on keeping them slow, especially on the negatives. Otherwise they can accelerate enough to be ineffective and probably dangerous.

• Jaw exerciser 30% off and hard gum 20% off.

• Cheap cards for ripping 15% off.

Morning trail run:

Today’s whiteboard: every minute on the minute for 30 minutes —

1. 5 Back Squats AHAP

2. 10 DB Bench AHAP

3. 15 Sit-ups

4. 20 Cal Bike

5. Rest

Then rucking with this.

Fueling

One of my favorite afternoon snacks is this smoked trout – 28 grams of protein for 200 calories delivered to my front door for $11.20 on sale with no prep time. 20% off gets it down to $1.40 per ounce for delicious, clean, convenient protein.

Supplementing

Morislim is the best over the counter supplement for jacking up your metabolism. It works and it is 33% off.

Measuring

Overeating and rapid weight gain are bad, even if you subsequently work it back off... which you probably won't. Overfeeding increases postprandial endotoxemia in men: Inflammatory outcome may depend on LPS transporters LBP and sCD14 TL; DR -- put down the fucking fork.

Recovering

I get cramps at weird but repeated moments. Zero problems running. But when I go for a long run then drive to CrossFit, it gives me enough time to cool off and tighten up. By the time I get to the gym, I can easily get crazy Charlie horses in my calves, especially doing mundane things like jumping up to the bar for muscle ups. This is my best fix.

It is a great time of year for saunas. I don’t mind the cold and the dark, but on chilly wet runs, it is nice to have a half hour of dry heat waiting for me afterwards. To amp it up, I wear this. A half hour a few times a week helps me recover (and sweats out a lot of heavy metals and other toxins that otherwise stay in your body).

Closing

You are a meat robot (my long-suffering wife doesn’t like me calling her that so prefers me to clarify that I am a meat robot). Biology is a subset of physics. Your brain and nervous system are merely one of almost a dozen organ systems. Your mind needs work, just like muscles. Practice gratitude to get good at it. Put in the reps.