Plan All the Things!

My mind is wrapped around planning right now. 

We plan all the things that we do. And really, we have to. There is too much going on to not plan things out. I find myself the least successful when I just “wing it.” 

“Winging It…” I’m sure there is an AF pun in there somewhere.   🙂

I’m probably thinking about it because I seem to do so poorly at it. 

What are the things that knock us off our plans? 

1. Other People’s Plans. You know, like our bosses. This is very true in the military. Not that your supervisor knocks you off; but everyone else that outranks you, and calls upon your services. Let’s face it, every Colonel is your boss…unless you’re a General Officer.   🙂
2. Poor Planning. Not leaving margin (space) in the schedule for flexibility. While it may annoy me, one thing I hear a lot is “Flexibility is the key to air power.” It’s usually said when someone is about to mess up my plan. We have to leave time for the unforeseen. A packed schedule is one doomed to fail.
3. Procrastination! Yeah, this is my sin of choice. This…and sugar. But, that is another post. I can find a dozen reasons to put something off. They all sound very rational at the time…hence the negative aspects of “rationalizing.” 
4. Competing Priorities. This is real. Work-Family-Faith-Self Improvement… Even now, I have a conflict. I find that early in the morning is my best time. I think better. I find solitude better. It is a time when I know that I can get one important thing done. After that, the day really begins. And we know what happens then…other people’s priorities start showing up. Well, my conflict is what to do with it. Should I have a quiet time, or go work out? Whatever I choose to not do, probably won’t get done. Both are important. Both have positive and negative impact depending upon my choice.  Sure, I can go to bed earlier, but that then interferes with another priority…Family. I’ve limited time after work for family. I get about two hours with the boys, and maybe two hours with my wife. If I go to bed earlier, I’m cutting away time with my family. 

As you can see, everything affects everything else. I can only do that which I believe is the most effective for my life. 

So, this is where my mind is this morning. 

What about you?

Dear Lord, 

Help me with my planning. Help me to be effective and beneficial for your kingdom. You’ve given me a great gift. Help me to  do my best with it. 

In your name. Amen.

F.Y.S.A.

I learn new things in the USAF all the time. One of the things you quickly get used to is using acronyms. 

Here is one I learned early on: F.Y.S.A.

“For Your Situational Awareness”

We use this in the place of FYI, “For Your Information.” 

You see, the USAF doesn’t just want you to have the information. They want you to be aware of everything around you. They want you to see how things affect everything else. They want you to be aware of what is around you, on top of you, and underneath you. Sometimes you’ll be told to “keep your head on a swivel.” Same concept.

That is Situational Awareness. 

I want to be aware of God today. I want to see his comings and goings. I want to be aware of his movement, in and through me. I want to be aware of his presence and leading in every situation that I find myself in. I want some Spiritual Situational Awareness. 

Dear Lord,

Grant me ears to hear, and eyes to see. 

In your name… Amen.

To Write, To Workout, To Whatever…

Tags

excuses

Do it anywhere!

Things became very busy.

Isn’t that a common excuse. It’s true, no doubt. It’s common, that also is without doubt. If anything thing, it is part of our shared experience. But, I also said its an excuse.

That’s kind of negative, isn’t it?

An excuse. That is a reason given for me doing (or not doing) something. It seems that we tend to use the word “excuse” when we assume that the reason isn’t good enough. It would also apply when the reason is good enough. But, we tend to use it in the negative sense of the word. Again, a shared common experience.

I will admit that there are reasons, excuses that are good enough for us to have missed something. But, my experience tells me, that usually my reasons are pretty inadequate.

For instance, not taking the time to write. Have I been busy? Yes. We’ve had a lot going on. But, does that mean I didn’t literally have 15-30 minutes when I could have typed out 250-500 words? Of course not. That’s the thing, we usually have time in the midst of the busyness to do whatever it is we desire to do. I did laundry this week. That was two hours of my life, where I waited on the wash and drying to finish. That would have been a perfect time to write.

Shame is another reason that I don’t write. My workout took a nose dive this past week. I did some stuff, yes; bot not nearly like I wanted to. Shame keeps us disconnected. That really is a shame! Our connectedness is exactly what we need to keep us going.

There is an old running proverb. “He who wants to run fast, runs alone. He who wants to run a long distance, runs with others.”

Ok, that is my paraphrase of the “saying.” But, you get the point.

If you so desire, feel free to “ping” me. I welcome your company, and your accountability. You can leave a comment, and it will automatically send an email. It would be a form of motivation for me, And, I would greatly appreciate it.

One last thing, my planning has gone to pot. It’s Tuesday, and I have a whole week ahead of possibilities. That is one thing I want to do this morning, is lay some of it out there. I was out most of yesterday, dropping off people at the airport and such. But, today is a good day to set things in motion for the rest of the week.

Let’s do this!

Tim

Workout Day #10

iPad much?

Another upper-body day is done! Day 10 of 84 is in the books. Actually, its in the Excel app on my iPad.

I can’t say that I did it to be ecologically friendly. I would rather not take a tablet into the gym. Too many people throwing heavy objects around. But, I had forgotten to print out this weeks worth of workout pages, so this worked in a pinch.

Ouch!

Taking about pinches. I noticed that I had a pinch in my right shoulder during my shoulder press exercises. I did finish the reps, but that may have been stupid. I can just hear my physical therapist saying, “If it hurts when you do it, don’t.”

Actually, he would say, “If it hurts more than a level 1-2 out of a possible 10, then don’t do it.” But, the shorter version sounds better. 🙂

That being said, we do know the difference between soreness and pain.

Muscle soreness is what you feel as the muscle heals itself after a great workout. We will be sore for a couple of days. If it is your first time working out, you’ll be horribly sore (delayed muscle soreness) for a quite a few days. But, when people talk about a sharp pain, a pinch, a pull, or some other modifier…its not a good thing. That means that something is happening that shouldn’t.

The Way Ahead…

I’m a novice, so don’t take my advice. I’m sure that you know much more than I do. But, here is my plan for next time.

1. Take down the weight a notch (about 5lbs if possible). I’m going to start at a lower weight.
2. Focus on form. I could have pinched a muscle, nerve or whatever it was that made me grimace due to bad form. I know what good form is. So, I’m going to concentrate on that next time.
3. Use a different workout for the same muscle. So, instead of doing a Shoulder Press I might do some Deltoid Raises.

Seriously though, if you have some advice I will gladly take it. I’m not changing my basic workout plan. But I can use all the advice I can get on proper form, technique, lbs to use, etc.

So, how did your workout go?

Tim

“Hope is our weapon against the Darkness.”

Workout Day#9 of 84

This is a thing.

 

So, I did this thing this morning. It’s called a run.

I know, it sounds painful…and it is!

Context

You see, I’ve been on an unofficial profile for the past few months. I had a Physical Therapist (an Army MAJ) tell me to not run during the period of my therapy. Well, she is gone and another Physical Therapist has replaced her (still an Army MAJ). I asked him about running, since the USAF is a running culture. He said I could start, but take it easy. Run/walk, or run/jog…not that there is much of a difference between my run and jog!

Rainy Tuesday?

So, on a morning best stayed in bed…

Honduran Dry Season, WAT?!

I got out after Formation and went for a little run.

I’ll have to do a PT test when I get back to home station, but I’ll also have 45 days to acclimate beforehand. My real goal is to run another 5K. It’s been a while, and I would like to do one.

It may look like I’m not sticking to my plan, but I am. My goal is to follow the BfL workout routine for the weight training, but to up my cardio to running (end goal 1.5miles under 14 minutes and future 5K). I’m not tied to the HIIT Cardio routine in BfL, because it doesn’t train me to my end result.

It’s now 0700; time to hit breakfast and then to work.

Post Run Energy Drink

What have you done this morning?

Tim

“Hope is our weapon against the Darkness.”

Workout Day #8

Tags

#22pushups, ‪#‎22Kill‬, leg day, lowerbody, workout

No picture this time, but I did work out! I also did the 22 Pushups for my Facebook page as well.

Today was a Lowerbody day. The Body for Life plan is fairly simple. It has you working major muscle groups, and giving you a lot of rest in between. For legs day: I did Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, and they also add in Abdominal muscles. I won’t do lowerbody again for about 4 days. It will go tomorrow – cardio, day after – upper body, next day(3) – cardio, then finally back to leg day (aka. day 4). And you just keep on going with that routine. It makes sure that your body gets plenty of rest before working that particular muscle group again.

You see, it isn’t complicated. Just about anyone of any experience level can do it.

Are there more advance, and dare I say effective, techniques out there?  Sure. I can’t say that there isn’t. People have been lifting weights, doing cardio, and trying to stay generally healthy for years. I’m sure there are better ways. But, this is the way I’m working right now. This is the plan.

As one Army Major once told me, “Don’t fight the plan.”

So, with whatever you’re doing…do it. Do it to completion. Don’t cut corners. Don’t try to “improve on it.” Just do what you set out to do. Once you do it, then you can change it if you want.

Set the goal. Work the plan. See what happens.

I’ll be here to cheer you on.

So, what are you doing?

Tim

“Hope is out weapon against the Darkness.”

22 Push Ups for Veteran’s Suicide Awareness

Tags

#‎22PushUps, ‪#‎22Kill‬

Yesterday was a bit of a drag. Had to move out of my really nice living quarters, to a room of lesser dimensions. 🙂

Is that a good way to say that?

I also didn’t workout, so I missed day#6; unless you count moving as a “workout.”

I did do some push-ups, though. I’m doing it on FaceBook to raise awareness that 22 Veterans are estimated to commit suicide per day. I lost a friend a little over a month ago. Granted, he was active duty and not a veteran; but the loss is still there.

Here is my FB post, along with a youtube video of my pushups:

Day 2 of 22
‪#‎22Kill‬ doing ‪#‎22PushUps‬. I, Tim Dahl am pushing in an attempt to raise awareness to the fact that on average 22 AMERICAN VETERANS commit suicide per DAY!
There is no shame in asking for help whether it’s the veteran’s immediate needs post-injury and deployment or dealing with the aftermath.
Today, I’m challenging all military personnel and dependents.
If you accept, copy and paste this to each video. Please spread the word that veteran suicide is not the answer.
A new video will be posted each day for the next 21 days, each with someone new being challenged.
-How it works; video yourself executing 22 push ups to your ability level.
-Post the video to Facebook and other social media using the hashtags above.
-Talley your pushups (I.e. a group of four people in the video doing push ups would look like this ‪#‎88PushUps‬ for #22Kill)
-call out your friends, family, Battle Buddies…The POTUS, anyone…the sky is the limit. The goal is to raise awareness for our Service Members who are battling this demon.
The organizations at the links below are raising the bar in creating a culture that OUR Veterans know their sacrifice was not in vain. To participate visit
www.22kill.com
Share in this noble cause.
http://www.honorcouragecommitment.org/
This organization promotes Veteran Entrepreneurship. Help spread the word.
#22Kill #22PushUps

I was able to get a fellow Airmen to video me with my iPhone during dinner. On top of it, you can hear the smart remarks from my buddies during the video. I didn’t consider how nasty the DFAC floor was until after I was done!

Tim
“Hope is our weapon against the Darkness”

Workout Day #5 Upperbody

Upper Body, Day #5 out of 12

Was able to make it at 0500 this morning to the gym. The first time since I’ve been here that I was waiting at the door for them to open up! That felt good.

Usually, I walk in around 0515. Never getting quite enough time to completely finish the workout before formation at 0600. Today, felt good. I’m in the tweaking stage, finding out exactly where my workout lbs need to be for the right intensity level.

Now, I need to do better on my eating program. The ideal would be a frequent feeder program. 1/protein, 1/carb, and all the veggies I can eat per meal. I would be eating 6 meals per day. My issue is that 1) our DFAC is open for three meals per day, 2) we are limited to what we can take out of the DFAC for later, and 3) I’m on a limited budget during my deployment, which limits my food purchases. Finally, our PX/BX will run out of stuff, and not have it for weeks; which makes it difficult to plan based upon what I can purchase.

Maybe, I can start taking a yogurt for my mid-meals (the 1000 and 1400 meals). It won’t be perfect, but it might help out a bit. Maybe I can buy some cottage cheese and fruit to eat at those times. Hopefully, it won’t be too expensive out here.

I’ll let you know!

What do you do for an eating program to fuel your workout?

Tim

“Hope is our weapon against the Darkness.”

Workout Day#4 HIIT and Push Ups/Sit Ups

Morning of Day#4 is in the books. Here’s the pic of what I did.

It doesn’t look like much. I did the HIIT routine on an elliptical. I stretched for a good 15 minutes afterwards, focusing on my left T-Band. Then, I did my Sit up and push up routine.

That consisted of three sets of unassisted sit ups and modified push ups.

Sit ups were pretty standard. So for my first set I did 12 sit ups, followed by 20 push ups. By modified, I mean I used a small 8lb medicine ball to make it harder. For the first 10 of my push ups, I had the ball under my right hand. For the second 10 push ups, I had the ball under my left hand. Basically, it makes that set harder for one side; and makes it difficult for the other side to assist.

Second set was 10 sit ups with 10/10 push ups.

Third set was 9 sit ups (muscle failure) with 10/5 push ups (to muscle failure again).

Let’s keep going! Perhaps you’re trying to reach a personal fitness goal? If so, let me know.

Tim

Workout Day #3

I got into the gym again this morning. This time it was a lower body work out.

If you notice, it only has three actual leg workouts, and an abdominal workout. I absolutely love this plan for beginners, especially people that don’t necessarily “like” it yet. But, as I mentioned before; it isn’t meant to get someone to USAF PT performance levels. So, I’m adding my own ab and push up workout to the process.

While I did start the logged ab workout, you’ll notice that I didn’t finish.

Leg Day!

I ran out of time, and had to get to formation.

Tim