Tuesday, May 12, 2009

M1 | Day 52 and CONTEST | Day 10


Learning to change...

I was driving home from the gym this morning and marvelled at the magnificent, autumn shades and hues of the leaves on the beautiful trees in my suburb.

We are heading into winter and the days are getting shorter and brrrr. colder.

I remember just a few weeks ago those very same leaves were a verdant green, bright and happy almost like the trees were smiling at me ...

So it got me to thinking about seasons...how the seasons change and why the changes are what they are.

Then I got to thinking about how that mirrors our lives.

Why do we need seasons? Well for one thing, I believe humans do not do well on prolonged routine. It becomes boring and monotonous and we thrive on change and in fact need it in order to grow, both mentally and physically, even if we think we don't.

In the Southern Hemisphere we have long summers, full of sunshine and beautiful life giving rain which makes everything so clean and sparkly and shortish winters which by Northern Hemisphere standards are not really winter at all.

So, as the seasons change so does our attitude...note how people are more smiley and jokey coming out of winter and when the woolies start coming off.

Moving on from there comes, " How would we know".

How would we know what a beautiful mountain looked like if there were no valleys, how would we know a magnificent summers day if there were no winters, how would we know that we felt good, if sometimes we didn't feel lousy.

And that is why we change training routines every four weeks or so. The integrated human system is so magnificent that it will adapt to a training routine in about 4 weeks. And so we go from an entry level "break in" routine to a heavier routine to a circuit routine and so on. And through all of that, we change and grow and lose body fat. One is not better, they are all necessary.

Some of us change quicker than others and that is often because our metabolism doesn't trust us.

We have been on so many "DIETS" before, that our metab, says ughh, ughh, not going anywhere until you show me that you are in this for real.

That's why as in a previous post I gave an example of change only taking place in week 8 of a contest. Check out that post from the link below if you havn't read it.

http://www.shreddersphere.com/blog.php?b=1230

When the metab trusts us we start rocking and rolling..

Each of us have a different tempo when it comes to our own personal ups and downs and we all have to learn how to manage those to be succesful in everything we do.

Change is not only necessary but critical to personal success and patience is a component of that.

Imagine if we were a Bamboo farmer. The farmer plants the bamboo and then waits for ages before a shoot shows...but when it does it can then grows up to 2 feet per day.

We don't have that kind of patience when it comes to our bodies, but we have to learn. It's part of the seasons we go through.

Ultimately, we come to accept that we go through seasons, we have no choice, but it makes it a lot easier if we are in fantastic condition, physically.

Never, ever give up...It's only a matter of time before you see significant changes...may be faster or slower, they are all changes.

Point is, YOU WILL GET THERE IN THE END.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHAT a BEAUTIFUL post today! It's funny thinking you are just beginning winter, and we have finally finished with it! Spring came for about 5 min. here, and now it's summer!! Phoenix is getting 105 degree weather already. Thank goodness I'm in the mountains and it's only 85ish. I love the changing seasons. Our lives definitely mirror those changes. I am doing great. So glad you asked. Life is good, Love is good. :)

dougal said...

Hey Shari, it's wonderful having you visit, glad all is cool with you. Don't be a stranger.