Course Corrections

When we work towards goals, sometimes there is a fine line between being committed to a course of action to reach a goal and failing to making necessary adjustments to reach your goal. Indeed, when we develop a plan we don't want to abandon it at the first sign of adversity. However, at times, we need to change our plan in order to reach our goal. Ultimately, our goal is the goal and we have to be careful to not follow a plan blindly. We have to check make sure the plans we make are still the best path towards our goal.

As a fan of the Buffalo Bills football team, I naturally loathe the New England Patriots. However, Bill Belichick - the coach of the Patriots - is a master of halftime adjustments. Unfortunately, I have seen many games where the Bill were winning going into halftime, only to have the Patriots come back to win seemingly with ease. Why? Because Coach Belichick made the changes needed to win, while the Bills' coaches couldn't adjust to New England's new gameplan fast enough.

Being able to make adjustments is crucial in all parts of our life. Fitness and health are no different. Currently, one of my goals is to increase the weight on my back squat. Specifically, I am currently working on the Low Bar Back Squat, which emphasizes the large muscles of the hips, glutes, and hamstring along with the back to lift the weight. After watching several videos and reading articles, I realized that none of the exercises in my current arsenal directly address the front of the legs, the quads. Hence, I decided to include the Front Squat into the mix. I eventually would have gotten this exercise into the mix, but I felt that doing so sooner was important for balanced development. 

We cannot get too attached to our tactics - the methods we use to reach our goals. If you knew you were headed the wrong way on the highway, when would get off the highway? As soon as possible! Success requires us to continually assess our tactics, and make course corrections along the way. 

November 9, 2015 Workout

Time of workout: 6:50 AM

Warm-up

Double stick practice - 3 minutes 

This gave me a chance to shake the rust off and the movements are very good for warming up the shoulders and arms.

Joint Rotations and Stretching - 2 minutes

Turkish Get-up: 18 pounds (dumbbell + 10 pounds) x 3 reps on each side.

These took longer than expected. Also, because i was using slightly heavier weight, I didn't want to practice poor form with fatigued muscles. I can probably practice this tomorrow or in the next couple days and continue to work on my form before adding too much weight. 

Front Squat: 

1. 45 x 5

2. 55 x 5

3. 65 x 5

4. 75 x 5

5. 85 x 5

This wasn't too hard until the last set. However, today I wanted to just focus on technique, which improved over the sets. I watched a video by Coach Mark Rippetoe which I found very helpful to explain some of the mistakes I made today. 

Here's a link of the Mark Rippetoe video on Youtube. 

Stretching: 5 minutes

Total Workout Time: 35 minutes