September Update

Ok, this is going to be a really hectic post, because I really didn’t planned it. It’s just the intention to bring in here some updates that I consider worth sharing.

30 Days Exercising Challenge

The challenge went incredibly well until the day 18, and that would be yesterday. I decided it’s time to stop, because the next day (as in today) I was supposed to run 5km for a charity event at my daughter’s school. I thought it would be a good idea to go there relaxed and until some point, it was. Unfortunately, after just 400 meters I suddenly twisted my right ankle in a hole. The circuit was at that point entering a forest, and I didn’t take into account the forest field. Put in the same plate the fact that there were a lot of kids and parents running together, in a pretty crowded way, and you’ll get a picture. To make a long story short, today I violently hurt my right ankle.

I thought about turning back, but I just refused. Even my ankle hurt like crap, the only way out of that run was ahead of me, not behind. So, I crawled through the forest, being passed by kids and older parents, while my ankle was sending fire arrows to my brains. I was so keen to finish that I even tried to do some sprints, heavily using my left foot and dragging the right behind. That made me win back the position I was when I twisted my ankle, but not much than that. I finished in the first platoon, but I was there with the intention to win the race. I still don’t know if that was a good idea, to continue the run after I twisted my right ankle, but it’s in the past now anyway. Finishing the run was a blast. I felt incredibly well, while the ankle got bigger and bigger.

When I got home I put an ice bag on it and waited to see what’s happening. Right now it looks just inflated and no sign of dark color whatsoever, but I’m expecting this to appear later on, in the evening. Strangely enough, I had this specific type of accident 3 times in the last 4 years, almost in the same day. Same leg, same ankle, same type of twisting. I’m sure there must be a sign for something, but right now, apart from taking it as a sign to slow down a little, I don’t see any other interpretation. Having a Capricorn ascendant makes for a higher sensitivity to the lower part of the body, especially ankles, that I know. But what triggers that, still a mystery.

For the record, here’s how the daily workout went since the last update:

• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 30 minutes on the stepper
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups

The stepper time topped at 30 minutes after I gradually increased it with one minute per day, starting from 15 minutes. In the last few days, my pulse didn’t even cross 110 bpm, while in the beginning it wasn’t uncommon to see it up to 150 bpm. I feel so frustrated to stop this just after I reached a reasonable pace. But, as I said, there must be a reason for that.

Mentoring Program

At the end of the week I started a mentoring program. It wasn’t really planned, and as you can see, there is a lot that it isn’t planned on my agenda lately. I do feel the need to move outside the comfort zone, that’s for sure and these sudden rushes are a pretty good indicator of that. So, what’s this mentoring program about?

I picked 3 young entrepreneurs (who were in the same circle I was frequenting) and made another 3 spots available for a fee. In total, there will be 6 attendants. A part from this, each live session will have 4-6 guests /curious which will observe the session and interfere in a moderate way. The observer spots are for key persons in the industry as well for the people who want to try before they buy the program. Speaking about the price, this is 240 EUR / per person. This includes the weekly group session with all the mentees and observers (there will be 6-8 live sessions for the whole program), a 1 one-to-one by email each week, on a specific problem they had, and the final evaluation.

Again, if you ask me what was the reason for that, I’m not very clear, but it just felt ok to start it. Right now, there are only 2 paid spots left, so if you are a young entrepreneur in Bucharest, have an online business and a blog (those being the only necessary conditions to be eligible) you’d better run for it. Oh, the first session will start next Thursday, September 10th. If you’re wondering what’s going to happen there, here’s a quick list of what I am going to work on each session:

• personal productivity
• business strategy
• building relationships
• project management
• financial management
• partnerships

There will be an introductory course and a final evaluation course. If you’re curious about who are the participants, here they are. First, my 3 wild cards (I will just give you their Tiwtter nickname, so you can quickly follow them if you want):

@ViorelSpinu – he created and owns taskwriter.com.

@mihaim – he started twimarket.com.

@geea – she has several local projects, the most important being at this point arenabiz.ro, a young entrepreneur community portal.

The paid spot goes to @BobbyVoicu, one of the most visible online entrepreneurs in Romania, his last project, RevvNation just got a first funds injection a couple a days ago. As I said, there are 2 more spots open there, so if you want to grab a spot, better hurry.

Going to Las Vegas

At the end of the month, I’ll go the Las Vegas, attending StevePavlina’s first workshop ever. I already planned the trip a while back, but it’s only now that all the pieces came together. The workshop will be on October, between 2nd and 4th, but I will go 2 days early, to try coping with the jetlag. As far as I know, there are already a lot of people attending, and the audience will be quite interesting. I know Steve’s work from 2005, since his polyphasic sleep experiments, and I do think he’s one of the most interesting personal development bloggers in the world. I also read his book, and I intend to write a review about that pretty soon. Still ponder what would be the best time for that though, before, or after the workshop? Will see about that.

After Vegas, chances are pretty high that I will fly for New Zealand for a week, there are a few things that I need to solve out, now that there’s almost a year since I started my company there. As always, living in New Zealand, even for a limited period of time, will be just fantastic. Can’t wait for the experience.

Oh, and in the end, just a little teaser: before I will leave for Vegas I will launch on this very blog my first commercial product. It will come in the form of an ebook, if you’re curious.

Stay tuned.

30 Days Exercising Challenge – Days 5-7

The good news is that I’m still on the challenge, although I haven’t blogged about it in the last 3 days. The bad news is that I had to make some adjustments to it. Basically, I started to learn how my body reacts to various levels of effort, and made the necessary corrections. So, technically, it’s not bad news.

Friday

Woke up at 6:10.

• 1 rep 15 pushups.
• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups

No stepper whatsoever during the day, basically because I’ve spent the last day of the week socializing. Or trying to. The pause was good. My body thank me by providing generous waves of energy throughout the day.

Saturday

Woke up at 7 Am.

• 6 Surya Namaskara
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 19 minutes on the stepper

Felt extremely well, my heart rate never crossed 125. During the yoga part, I felt some sort of energy relieve in the joints, probably my body was so tense because I was trying to impose a little bit too much on it, a little bit too fast. In the afternoon I did another isolated rep of 15 pushups.

Sunday

Woke up at 6:30 although I went to bed at 12:30. This waking up early pattern seems to be so far pretty common and I’m happy about it. Today I woke up at 5:30 without any alarm clock and without being tired at all.

• 6 Surya Namaskara
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 20 minutes on the stepper (felt almost like a pleasure walk)
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 1 rep 30 abs

All on all, seems I’m doing much better with a single workout per day. My other activities are also much better managed if I’m doing this workout in the morning. I still track my weight but I  won’t blog about it unless there are very important changes. It seems to me that I need a body fat checker more than a weight scale right now.

I also noticed that some of the people who joined this are keeping their pace, which is something that makes me, in a very strange way, happy . If you are doing your own workouts, please feel free to share them here, along with your comments and other advice.

30 Days Exercising Challenge – Day 4

Woke up at 6 AM, in pretty good shape. My weight was weight 93.7. I’m starting to feel a little bit bored about this weight stuff, as I know it can be really misleading. You can have a huge amount of fat and hence be obese, or you can have a pretty important muscular mass, without being obese, of course. I know that muscle weights a little more than fat, so measuring weight alone can be misleading. I will do my best to find a way to check out my body fat, because I think I’m decreasing in fat and increasing in muscle at the same time, hence my overall weight is remaining the same. But without a body fat checker this is only a feeling.

Morning Workout

6 surya namaskara
1 rep 15 pushups
1 rep 30 abs
1 rep 15 pushups

18 minutes on the stepper

closing with another rep of 15 pushups

Heart rate at 135-138 almost never reached 140, so I guess my body adapted pretty fast. I will continue to increase the stepper time 1 minute per day until I will reach 30 minutes per session.

Total exercising time: 25 minutes.

Afternoon Workout

2 reps 30 abs
3 reps 15 pushups

18 minutes on the stepper (heart rate constantly at 139-140).

Total exercising time: 30 minutes.

Grand Totals

Total exercises:

90 pushups
90 abs
36 minutes on the stepper

Total exercising time: 55 minutes.

Things are shaping pretty well, although I do have a little bit of difficulty waking up in the morning. Today I woke up at 6 AM, but find it difficult to exercise. It was like my body begged me to make a pause. But more on that on tomorrow’s post, when today will be completely finished.

As usual, feel free to post your comments on your own exercising routine, if you’re doing one.

30 Days Exercising Challenge – Day 3

Day 3 went a little better than day 2, I was able to wake up at 6 AM, pretty energetic. Weight: 93.7 kilos.

Morning workout

• 6 Surya Namaskara
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups
• 17 minutes on the stepper

Heart rate was 122-124 for the first 7 minutes, then 130-134 for the rest of 10 minutes, never up than 137.

Exercising time 24 minutes.

Afternoon Workout

• 1 rep 30 abs
• 2 rep 15 pushups
• 17 minutes on the stepper

Heart rate never got higher than 145, half of the time at 137, even if I tried some “sprints” or accelereations. After the stepper I closed with:

• 1 rep 30 abs
• 1 rep 15 pushups

Exercising time: 28 minutes.

Total exercising time: 52 minutes.

Totla exercise:

• 75 pushups
• 60 abs
• 34 minutes on the stepper

Overall, I felt extremely good, but in the evening my whole body started to cry at me. I couldn’t find any position on the couch without some pain in some of my muscle. Fortunately, when I went to sleep everything vaporized and slept like a baby.

Some of the people reading this blog are already doing their own exercising challenge and I think this is wonderful. I really look forward to share some results and impressions after this period. But if you feel there’s something you want to share about it, feel free to do it right now, in the comments.

30 Days Exercising Challenge – Day 2

The second day of my 30 days exercising challenge started a little bit odd. For some reason, I wasn’t able to do my morning workout, so I had to postpone it for the afternoon. I started around 17:00.

After an initial 2 minutes stretching I had 1 rep of 15 pushups. 2 minutes pause and then my first rep of 30 abs. After another 2 minutes pause I had one more rep of 15 pushups. The first part was finished with 16 minutes on the stepper. I decided to gradually increase the time on the stepper with 1 minute per day until I will reach 30 minutes. That way I will do at least 2 x 30 minutes = 60 minutes on the stepper each day. It just seem doable at the moment.

The second part of the workout was made of 1 rep of 30 abs and another rep of 15 pushups. After that, I started the second 16 minutes stepper session.

Heart rate went to 146-149 and stayed there for the first rep on the stepper. On the second, I had around 5 minutes in which the heart rate went over 150, up to 156, but never higher. The last 5 minutes the heart rate was 146 steady.

Weight: 93.5 kilos.

Total exercising time, including breaks: 50 minutes.

Total exercises:

• 45 pushups
• 60 abs
• 32 minutes on the stepper

I felt good although it was really hot and lost a lot of water. I hidrated myself in the beginning, during and after the workout. It seems that my body is starting to adjust, although is really early to tell that. I found it pretty difficult to fall asleep in the evening, it was like my body was still alert, but didn’t have any difficulty whatsoever in getting up at 6 AM. More on that on the blog post about the 3rd day.

I started to read some material on the topic (specifically, the book presented in this comment) and also started to look around for a body fat checker device, but I’m not in a rush.

If you’re following this challenge and starting some exercise for yourself, feel free to post a comment here.

30 Days Exercising Challenge – Day 1

First of all, the feed-back from the initial post announcing that I’m  going to start a 30 days exercising challenge was fantastic. To be honest, I didn’t see it coming. Thanks everybody for your tips, suggestions and precious advice. It seems that I really have to go through this, now that almost everyone is watching

Now, the first day wasn’t spectacular, apart from the initial, usual enthusiasm. I think I spent more time moderating and answering comments on my blog than actually exercising. Which, of course, is not a bad thing at all.

Body Measurements

Since I don’t have a yet a body fat checker I will just note my weight, which was 93.6 kg.

Morning routine

Wake up at 6:30. Before starting to exercise I had 4 series of Surya Namaskara, or sun salutation. After that I had 15 minutes on the stepper, set up at 5 (more on the stepper a little bit later). After that, I had a 15 pushups session. That was all.

Evening routine

I started to exercise around 7:30 PM. Had another session of 15 minutes on the stepper, followed by two reps of 15 pushups each, with less than a minute pause between them. During the 15 minutes session on the stepper my heart rate went to 148-150 after the first 4 minutes and remained there until I finished.

Total exercising time: 35 minutes.

Fitness Gear

My stepper is Kettler verso 107. It’s an entry level device, but it does the trick for me. It has 7 difficulty levels, and I usually work at 5. It does have a heart monitor but it doesn’t have any programs so I just set up the main exercising time and start running.

After the first day I felt good, especially in the morning, a lot of endorphins running through my body.  I write this the morning after, of course, and I do start to feel a little bit tired and a small ache in my upper back. I usually get that after I start doing pushups, until my muscle pick up. Today’s morning was a little bit compromised, so to speak, so I will have to move my exercise session in the evening.

As usual, feel free to post in the comments your own fitness routine.

Starting To Exercise

Seems like August is my favorite month for personal development challenges. Last year, on August 4h I started my raw food diet, which lasted for more than 9 months. After my trip to Japan, in April, my raw food diet ended and you can read more about that in the post raw food diet blog post. Now, let’s get physical.

I intend to have a 30 days challenge in the physical area. In plain English: I’ll move my butt and start exercising a bit. I don’t have a very strict goal. In fact, I’m doing this just to create a scaffold for my physical body, to give it a little bit of rhythm.

You see, other areas of my life are already benefiting from setting a conscious rhythm. For instance, I have this goal of publishing at least 3 articles per week in the blog. I also check Twitter and email first thing in the morning, and sometimes several times during the day. I spend time in the garden, wetting the flowers or doing some other type of small jobs. This creates a pattern. After a certain threshold, I’m doing those things with much more ease. I’ve integrated them. For instance, I come to the point when interacting with at least 10 people per day on Twitter is something trivial. In the garden, I’ve gone from planting my own flowers up to setting up a little vineyard. Out of those small things I do every day, some great results are emerging. I call this setting a rhythm.

Now, in the physical area I don’t have yet such a pattern, but I intend to create one. I feel a little bit disconnected on this level, I mean every other parts are moving ahead, but here it seems I’m a little bit stuck. Like I already told you, I don’t have a specific goal, but I do intend to measure this somehow. I guess the best way would be to count the time, but I will also include some other specific measurements.

Based on my previous experience with exercising, I intend to reach 45 minutes of exercising daily, in the next 30 days. As for the type of exercising, I will stick to something moderate. I won’t hit the gym, because I already have quite a fitness setup at my house. The only tool I will use though would be a stepper, for the rest I’ll settle with pushups and small abs. I also intend to integrate some moderate yoga postures. I don’t intend to break any world record here, just to feel a little bit better and fitter.

As I write this I already had my first 20 minutes session early in the morning and I feel great. I will describe the whole thing, including my evening session, in tomorrow’s blog post. I don’t know yet if I will have 2 sessions per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, at this point just seems natural to have it this way. I’ll see what happens and adjust.

The longest exercising period in my adult life (not including the times when I was playing basketball in high-school), was 6 months and it ended just before Bianca was born. It wasn’t something very strong, it was a combination of yoga, stretching and meditation every morning, but I felt really, really great. I remember very clear the feeling of balance I had during that period.

I will try to blog as often as I can about this, but don’t expect anything too strict. It may be one post a day or it may be one post a week.

If you want to join me in this, feel free to comment and post your own goals. I think sharing this goal to as many people as I can reach will increase my motivation level. And I think it will work the same way for you.