The Power of the Little Things

Workout #2: 2/9/14

1st set (very slow, intense movements)
Push-up to failure
Wide arm pull-up to failure
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure

2nd set
Military push-up to failure
Reverse grip narrow-grip pull-up to failure
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure

3rd set
Wide arm push-up
Overhang narrow-grip pull-up to failure
Squat (two 35 lb weight) to failure

5K walk with wife and dog.

I walk a lot during my day job.  When I'm not walking, I'm usually on my feet.  Healthcare workers, unless they have a desk job, are quite mobile.  As an operating room pharmacist, we specialize in dosing, making and delivering drugs to the right patient at the right time as quickly as possible in the OR.  We're constantly shuttling between operating rooms.  If, however, you find that you're at a job or have a daily routine that allows you to sit for extended periods of time, you may want to try getting a little weird.  For instance, even though there are chairs I can sit at when working on computers, I usually elect to stand for most of the day much to puzzlement of my co-workers.  Why?  It keeps my blood moving and my mind a little sharper.  Even Thomas Jefferson was famous for writing and working at his famous standing desk.  If a standing desk helped even slightly in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, I'm sold.  Say what you will of his politics, Donald Rumsfield is famous for using a standing desk as well.  Other such famous desk standers include Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Dickens and Winston Churchill.  Not bad company if I do say so.

I had an epiphany, or at least what felt like an epiphany, that the little things we do every day add up to great gains when given enough time.  These days, when a great idea strikes me, it doesn't take a lot of mental shuffling to realize my "great idea" was really something my wife told me was important to do a long time ago.  She's quite wise and I'm just stubborn about it until I arrive at the long-time-coming conclusion she was right all along! Did you know on average it takes about 35,000  to 40,000 steps to run a marathon?  If you followed the advice that it's a good idea to take 10,000 steps a day, every 3.5 to 4 days you'd walk a marathon distance.  What do you think about parking farther away now?

About a year and a half ago, when I first started taking running more seriously, I bought a pair of minimalist running shoes from New Balance called, wait for it, Minimus.  They are great shoes for running in that they helped me develop a better forefoot to midfoot strike while at the same time taking a significant amount of impact off my knees.  Alas, I think I pushed too hard, too far, too quickly and ended up developing iliotibial band inflammation in my right knee.  I wasn't properly stretching that ligament after runs.  Still though, it was quite an improvement from when I used to run in sneakers where within a few runs, I'd develop severe pain under my kneecap, curse the ridiculousness of running and swear I'd never do it again.

Even though I am training now for a half-marathon, I keep thinking about my wife's good advice...it's the little things that count.  It's the taking of the stairs, even if it's 8 floors up, versus using the elevator that will make all the difference if done on a daily basis and as often as possible.  Yesterday, I parked my car on the roof of the parking garage, went down the stairs and climbed them back up at the end of my shift.  In addition, as fortunately I am only required to wear comfortable shoes to work with covers on, I have decided to try to take as many steps as I can in my minimus shoes.  I figure if I am shooting for 10,000 steps a day, it should be, as often as possible, in the very shoes (well shoes like it) that I want to run in for the half-marathon.  Suffice it to say, after a 10 hour shift yesterday standing on my feet in thin soled minimalist shoes and climbing stairs, especially a day after working out, my calves and feet were pretty sore.  I will not rupture a tendon, pull a hamstring or sideline myself taking these small steps on a consistent, daily basis.  However, just like the power of saving 5 bucks a day, at the end I hope to have a good deal of capital saved up or in this case muscle strength, endurance and good ligament strength.  If you're feeling guilty about not getting a workout in, not running your usual 3 miles five of six days a week and you take the elevator to the 4th floor on a regular basis, you'll do yourself some good by deciding to save a little electricity and take the stairs.

I'll make an effort, in the moments between my workouts, to take more steps, climb more stairs and stand more often.  After all, slow and steady wins the race.  And in the future, when I write these posts, just as I am doing now, I'll be standing.  After all, if it was good for Da Vinci, it's good enough for me.