AFTER...
So, I was looking for a new challenge for 2011
This wasn't for a film, this was for me...so I knew it wasn't going to be easy.
You see when it boils down to it, I'm lazy and I love my creature comforts.
I like sitting on the sofa and watching movies, playing computer games and spending a weekend watching an entire box set of DVDs in one sitting...that's pretty much how I roll.
But what I've discovered over the last year is that I can't help but respond to a dare...
To start with I needed that camera in my face just to get the motivation and the peer pressure to get past my fears and train. However, the more I got into the challenge the more self-motivation I found.
I began to get a buzz out of testing myself and failing. It didn't put me off, it just made me relish the challenge.
If someone challenges me to do something it eats away at me until I just have to try!
I was just about the worst possible candidate to take part in a full contact stick fight and I knew it, yet that was kinda the fun bit....
And apart froma few aches and pains, I had one of the most awesome times of my life facing that challenge!
I'm a new man because of it!
So for 2011 I knew I needed something difficult, something kinda reckless and something rewarding to kick start my ass off the sofa and push back my natural default slobbiness.
I had started to develop as a sequel of sorts to Is it 'cos I'm Fat...I was writing a treatment for a new challenge that would push me even further.
I've been hugely inspired by my crossfit contacts and their Paleo diets, I've also been inspired by Tony and his PDR guys and their training, by Sticky and his insane running challenges and of course by Lynn and his truly unique warrior lifestyle...those ideas were kind of melding in my head into this new epic challenge that sounded cool, but scared the crap outta me - perfect!
For my sequel I had planned another adventure, this time involving unusual diets, extreme exercise and plenty of pain and humiliation as a fat nerd pushed himself further out of his comfort zone...all in the name of conquering my demons and changing myself for the better, you know the drill. The usual stuff ;)
So I was hunting for the funding to pay for it, looking for mentors and contacts to help me and trying to find angles to make the film, and nothing ever really took off, things were moving, but very very slowly...Then over Christmas it struck me that this was just another excuse! Another reason not to train. Another reason not to change.
My awesome film adventure of 2010 was becoming my safety net!
Before even considering doing something again I was looking for funding and commissioners and all that film stuff again...and in the meantime three months had passed.
I needed to just act!
So here I am...
Coming up to the end of January 2011 and phase one of my ridiculous new challenge has kicked into gear.
I've gone paleo.
For people who don't know what paleo is, check out the amazing work of Mr Robb Wolf or some of his contemporaries.
It's quite simply a caveman inspired diet, looking back to how we once ate to find ways of changing our future selves.
As a pretty much quintessential couch monkey with a pizza and coffee addiction it sounded suitably difficult and fascinating to get my attention.
I've changed my diet considerably, cutting out dairy products, caffeine, sugar, chocolate, pasta, bread and rice amongst other things. I've cut my food intake dramatically and learned to enjoy preparing meals rather than grabbing the nearest burger.
it's not been easy. I suffered from crippling migrains and nausea for the first week, getting lightheaded by just standing up. I thought I was making a terrible mistake.
But a few weeks in I'm feeling great. I have more energy and I'm more alert...it's working really well. But this is just the beginning!
At the advice of a few paleo experts I began exploring other sides to the caveman / tribal lifestyle...
I embraced the social aspects of being a paleolithic man
I'm hanging out with friends more, socialising, laughing and joking. I'm watching less TV (and when I do I treat it like "around the campfire time" only watching it with friends and loved ones. No solo-trips to the idiot box for me!).
I'm going to bed much earlier (and sleeping in a pitch black room with the help of an eye mask I kept from my flight to LA) and getting up much earlier...As a result my days are much longer and much more productive.
I'm relaxing whenever I can, chilling out and taking a deep breath and learning to savour the moments.
All very hippy sounding I'm sure, but after spending last year in high stress mode -between my high pressure job and then being made redundant from my high pressure job right in the middle of making a movie and being more physically and emotionally drained than ever before..it kinda added up! - I can already see the results in my complexion, posture and by the lessening bags under my eyes...
Life seems to be moving slower and I seem to be getting more done.
Pretty good for eating different foods and acting like Captain Caveman, am I right?
So what's next?
Well then there's the exercise...
Eating and sleeping and lounging around like a caveman is no good without exercising like one too.
I'm determined not to give up all of the aspects of the warrior lifestyle I embraced in 2010...though many of the opportunities that the film gave me are no longer there for me.
I don't have training partners or a dedicated space to throw axes and swing weights. I don't have a film budget to spend on training gear and trips to visit instructors.
I'm starting slowly...finding out what I can afford and I can achieve as an ordinary dude with no film as a safety net.
I need stuff that's difficult, that's intense, that's mentally as well as physically stimulating because thanks to my twisted personality I need something to stop me from being bored and something that's ridiculous for a fat guy to attempt...otherwise I know I just won't stick to it.
Like a wise man once said; life should be comforting, not comfortable.
1) Tony Blauer's SPEAR / PDR stuff seems like an amazing fit. As a behaviourally and genetically inspired system based on flinch responses I think it's a great thing for a budding caveman to explore. I loved training PDR and found every training session removed another layer of the damage that bullying did to me...it was like therapy with punches! I need more of this in my life
2) Kettlebells. Kettlebells training is amazing, and RKC Kettlebell training is even more so.
I've been lucky enough to make some amazing friends in the kettlebell community and I want to keep this going...
Lifting and swinging and twisting and stretching...that all sounds pretty caveman right?
3) Running...I'm a big fat dude. Running sucks for me. Therefore, in my usual psychotic way...I need to learn to run. :)
4) Martial Arts. I loved training with Lynn and the Cold Steel guys. they opened my eyes to the fun of training in martial arts. However, I have no idea what I'm going to train or where...This one needs some thought...
5) Throwing. I don't have a range any more but I've not lost my passion for chucking sharp things. I think everyone needs to try it...It's a satisfying way to spend an afternoon. I dunno how, but I plan to throw again...
6) what else? Oh you can bet there's more ridiculousness planned. I have to keep mixing it up or I'll quit...but I'm not giving it all away in one blog post.
More soon, I promise
Here's to 2011, new challenges, new horizons and looking backwards to move forwards!
thanks
Andy
No comments:
Post a Comment