Salvation, thy name is exercise

When I get into a bad mood, my eyes tend to always focus higher than usual.  It’s like, if you were to be staring at me, you might think I’m looking you in the eyes, but in reality, my point of focus would be on your eyebrows.  But on a general scale, my point of focus tends to raise an inch or two, when I’m feeling upset.

I don’t necessarily know why that is, but lately it’s been occurring more than I’d probably be liking it to.  But I don’t know what’s really going on lately, but people can’t stop saying things that irk me, people I work with can’t stop being incompetent at their jobs, and when my mood goes sour, my general attention span and tolerance for the redundant reduce drastically, and I’m kind of just over, existence, to say the least.

I was running on the treadmill, building up a good sweat, and occasionally thoughts that serve as the stimulus for some of my brog posts come to mind.  During my general state of discontent with the world, it occurred to me that the gym, but more specifically the act of physical exercise seems to be a great outlet from the rest of my small little world.

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The answer is always yes

In moments of frustration, have you ever asked the types of rhetorical questions that are directed to people responsible for said frustration, regardless of if they can even hear you or not?

“Is _____ really that difficult?”
“Is your job really that difficult?”
“Is driving a car really that hard?”
“Is it really that difficult to use your turn signal?”
“Is it really that difficult to re-rack your weights?”
“Is it really that hard to wipe down that bench?”
“Is parallel parking really that hard?”
“Is parking really that difficult?”
“Is it really that hard to check your email?”
“Are you really that stupid?”
“Are you really that dense?”
“Are you really that oblivious?”

And the list goes on and on.  I ask these kinds of things often.  Sadly, it’s taken me longer than it probably takes other people to realize that in 100% of these inquiries, the answer is always yes.

So lately, whenever I reflexively blurt out these questions, or ask these things in my head, I actually have to consciously remind myself that the answer yes.

When it comes to the rhetorical questions, inquiring about the difficulty of common human behaviors, the answer is always yes.

That being said, I am apparently very good at many, many, many difficult things.

Getting a mental edge

Whenever the term “mental edge” comes to mind, I think about Dual Survival, and how Joe Teti uses the phrase at least once every single episode.  But the instance that stands out the very most of Joe’s constant pursuits of mental edges was the one episode where Joe and Cody were in some desert, and like in most cases, dehydration was a massive issue.

Despite Cody’s logical (and truthful) objections to doing so, Joe insisted on drinking his own urine.  And despite fully agreeing with Cody’s rationale why drinking urine while teetering on the edge of dehydration was a bad idea, Joe overruled logic, stating that simply getting the feeling of wetness in his mouth would give him the mental edge needed to persevere in the desert a little bit longer, even if the source of said wetness was his own piss.

Joe pissed into a helmet and drank his own piss.

For that mental edge.

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My gym is awesomenot

I don’t really like to waste time at the gym.  I just want to go in, do some cardio, do some lifting, sweat like a madman, shower, freshen up, and then leave.  I’m not there to socialize, gab about fitness, coach or be coached.  If words with other people occurs, I prefer that they’re minimal and as not time consuming as possible.

In fact, the ideal day at the gym has words spoken only as a quick greeting with the guy at the front who scans my fob, and maybe a hello and see you later with the unofficial gym mayor who’s about the stature of Michael Clarke Duncan.

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Treadmill selection etiquette

When it comes to selecting a treadmill to run on at the gym, it’s my belief that it’s very similar to that of selecting a urinal in the men’s room.  In other words, choose the treadmill furthest from another human being, and at the very least, leave a gap of at least one treadmill in between people.  The gaps are to be filled when there are no other options available, and even then, try and find the treadmill between at least one attractive woman.

Yes, I’m aware that my rationale and decision to write about something to trite and petty makes me sound psychotic, but these are thoughts that genuinely swirl through my head, when I’m on treadmill #17 out of 25 available, and in spite of the fact that pretty much 1-10 were completely unoccupied, two grown men insisted on using #16 and #18.

This, I do not believe, is in the least bit cool.

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lol Planet Fitness hypocrisy

Long story shortWoman signs up at a California Planet Fitness to begin light physical therapy, and is immediately flagged as intimidating and showing off after just 15 minutes of walking on a treadmill.

Real article synopsis: Woman signs up at a California Planet Fitness to begin light physical therapy, and because she was not a fat, physically incompetent blob of a human being, she is immediately flagged as a tryhard for actually exercising at the gym, and cited as someone intimidating other patrons with her toned body.

The link to this story gave no indication that Planet Fitness was involved, but I knew right away that it had to be Planet Fitness, since it hinted at people being intimidated, and only sissies and people who don’t take exercise seriously go there.  And it didn’t take long for Planet Fitness to be outed as the place where this incident occurred, naturally.  And the second I saw the name Planet Fitness, the entire rest of the story was pretty much not necessary to read, although I did, in order to piece this puzzle together.

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Pretty sure I disagree with this phrase

I saw someone wearing this statement on a shirt at the gym.  And I am pretty sure that I disagree with it, completely.

Simply put, in my opinion, I interpret the word “obsession” as having taking sort of enjoyment out of the subject being obsessed over, be it anything like Indian food, the Halo series, making and/or watching cat videos on YouTube, to the morbidly extreme, like disemboweling homeless people, assaulting hookers, or torturing small animals.

To some degree, I do not think there is a particularly positive connotation to the word “obsessed,” and is probably grounds for some concern for me, if it were ever directed at me for any reason.

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