I recently hurt my knee while squatting, and have been doing this for recovery. Itās kind of funāconstantly looking over your shoulder to make sure youāre not going to run into anything, or not looking and vaguely anticipating running into something.
I stopped running for the summer and switch to cycling and swimming to give my joints a rest. When I started again this fall, the first run back sucked ass. Everything hurt, I couldn't get enough air, and my pace was embarrassing (compared to past performance). But just one week later, my legs toughened up, I felt bouncy, and my time improved. It's amazing how quickly the human body can reconfigure itself to meet a challenge. Runs are back to feeling fun.
When I ādidnāt believeā in God, and hated everything about the āGod concept,ā I started silently asking for help in the morning, and saying thank you at night. I had no belief, or faith, or anything other than a semi-open, but still mostly closed, mind. Over time, it became the most important part of my life. Prayer is something that can only be understood through the act. If you want to try it, do it every day for 2-3 weeks. You can make the prayers longer if you want to, or do a pre-written prayer, like the Saint Francis Prayer. Worst case scenario youāre just talking to a wall. See what happens.
The other day, I squatted 400+ pounds for the first time, and the Asian kid deadlift behind me literally told me, āYouāre awesome!ā I tweeted this, but it bears repeating: people just treat you differently when they know that you can carry the weight of three art student corpses on your back no problem. Imagine having sturdy, girthy, succulent glutes and quads beneath your torso as you go about normal activitiesā¦ Itās powerful. Squatting weight that could crush you is a spiritual activity. Guys, at least, as a rule, should have to do one hard physical thing every day.
My friend Patrick wrote a script about John Wilkes Booth. Itās totally thrilling and psychologically compelling. Would make a great major motion picture. Email [email protected] if interested.
