Day 4: Rock n’ Roll
Going into Day 4, I went to bed around 11:30pm, woke up at 1:39am, and got the best rest I’d had all week. Well, it’s not exactly how it sounds.
For whatever reason, I woke up ready and raring to go around, what I thought, just a few minutes before 4:51am — I felt great, well rested, ready to get up and start my day, so I rolled over to check the time…and it was 1:39am. Go figure. I still had 3 hours before it was time to roll. Back to sleep… When it was time to wake up, I did, with a huge smile on my face.
The mind is a powerful thing. 5 hours of sleep seems like a lot… when you compare it to 2 hours.
With that kickstart, Day 4 of my 30 Days of Discipline (recap) was awesome. The rest from the Spartan workout on Day 3 really did wonders, and I felt incredibly rejuvenated. I got my 100 pushups, 100 air squats, 100 situps (let’s call them “the hundreds”) out of the way in record time, and all before I left for work.
So when I say “record time” for the hundreds habit, there’s a specific goal that goes along with it:
You will start your pushups and do as many as possible in a row. If you don’t finish 100 in a row then you will take as many “sets” as you need to finish the 100.
After pushups you will do body squats. Your first set you will do as many as possible in a row and then break the remaining into sets of as many as you can do.
After body squats you will perform 100 sit-ups. Your goal is to get 100 sit-ups in a row, but you may take as many sets as you need to finish the sit-ups.
Attention should be paid to the time. Each day you should strive to do all the exercises more quickly than the day before.
You will need to keep a record in your notebook of the amount of pushups, body squats and sit-ups that you finish each day. Also keep a note of your start and end time. Each day you must break the previous days number of pushups/sit-ups/body squats in a row or they must be completed in a shorter amount of time.
Days 2 and 3 I was so sore that had I trouble sitting down, so sitting up wasn’t happening early those mornings, I had to push off the hundreds to the evening. But on Day 4, my body had recovered and I was able to get them done early, and well, and it’s always an encouragement to see progress.
Day 4 was also the third day of the beginner Spartan workout plan. As I mentioned in the Day 3 post, the beginner plan is 4 workouts a week, with the focus on 8 primary exercises during those workouts.
The workout’s creator further describes the Beginner Routine as follows:
When beginning a weight training program it is not advised to go balls to the wall on strength exercises. The most important part of starting is getting the form down correctly and getting comfortable with the weights.
Beginners on the Body of a Spartan routine will need to focus on main exercises only. Beginners will focus on form rather than heavy weight.
The beginner routine will be 3–5 sets per main exercise. Each set will start with light weight for 15- 20 repetitions. Weight should be added to each set and the number of repetitions should decline for each set. For example, repetitions should be:
15–20 for the 1st set / 12–15 for the 2nd set / 8–12 for the 3rd set / 6–8 for the 4th set / 5 for the 5th set
Day 4’s workout focus areas were: Chest / Back / Triceps / Neck, and consisted of 4 exercises with the following instructions:
Bench Press: 5 sets, add weight each set for a top set of 5 repetitions
Deadlift: 5 sets, add weight each set for a top set of 5 repetitions
Close Grip Bench Press: 5 sets, add weight each set for a top set of 5 repetitions Neck Bridge: 3 sets to failure
Most of these exercises are probably familiar to you, with the possible exception of Neck Bridges. I had never heard of them, and when I saw the photos and instructions on how to do them I wasn’t really looking forward to them.
The Neck Bridge focuses on your neck, traps, back, and core. You need to do this exercise on a mat, and basically, you lie on your back while using your hands for support to raise yourself up on top of your head. One rep is raising and lower your mid-body into the air and then back down again. Here is a photo:
This just seemed like a bad idea, so I did some research and, just like everything, everyone’s got an opinion. Since I’m not exactly begging for injuries these days, especially one involving my neck, I’ll be breaking away from this exercise (despite the workout creator’s admonishments) and finding other ways to strengthen this area of my body.
In the Day 3 post, I mentioned wanting to explore different books that I’ve been reading, and referenced Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men. If you’re in our Bible study or if you’re a man who’s had a longer than 10 minutes conversation with me, you’ve probably heard me ranting and raving about this book at some time or another.
This book is in my top 3 in terms of “Most Inspiring” and “Most Influential” that I’ve read in my life. I’ll let the author, Stephen Mansfield, speak for himself as to the purpose behind writing this book:
My goal in this book is simple. I want to identity what a genuine man does — the virtues, the habits, the disciplines, the duties, the actions of true manhood — and then call men to do it.
To be clear though, this isn’t a book of chest-thumping or misogyny. Again, I’ll let the author speak to how this book relates to women:
This book is about men being strong, moral, dutiful, virtuous men — frankly, great men — in part because it is the best gift we can give to women. There is nothing in this book that diminishes women, dismisses women, or denigrates women. Instead, much of this book is about how a man is measured in large part by who he is for the women in his life. I can certainly understand why some women might fear a book about how men can be “true men.” This has not always worked out well for women in the past. Trust me, women will only gain from what this book encourages in their men.
Without this focus, this book would be worthless. My faith is clear and explicit on how husbands should treat their wives:
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. ~Ephesians 5:25
In short, as a husband, I’ve been blessed with the gift of an incredible, lovely, and godly wife. And I’ve been charged with the responsibility (and privilege!) of loving her just as Jesus Christ loved the church and sacrificed himself, his very life, for the goal of saving us from ourselves and making us clean in the eyes of God. There is no further sacrifice that a person can make than giving up their life for another person. A husband is called to love his wife THAT far, THAT much. To sacrifice his wants, desires, and comfort for her good, rather than dominate, crush, and walk all over her. Now my wife will tell you, if you ask her, that the husband I’ve just described IS NOT ME — I’m nowhere near the man I should be. But I’m trying, every day — this is the goal and the ideal. And you have to have something to strive for.
My goal and prayer in sharing excerpts and my thoughts on this book is to encourage and persuade any man reading this book to pick it up and learn from it. It will change your perspective and your life. I’ve done just about everything I can to push this book into the lives of the men around me, sending the Kindle version to all of the men in our Bible study and the occasional hard copy to the friend who can’t or won’t deal with Kindle. (Quick plug for Kindle: Hey look, I love the hard copy of a book much better too, but that little thing that often seems to be attached to your hand, i.e. iPhone/Samsung, has a Kindle app on it, and then you can read anywhere you go without having to carry a book — two birds, one stone, no excuses). I know it’s hard to find time to read, but if you chopped your Facebook/Instagram/Twitter use in half, and tapped on the Kindle button instead… hey look what just happened: time. Give it a shot, if you regret it, I’ll pay for the book, just send me a message.
That’s all for today, if you got this far, thank you for reading, you can check out the rest of the story below, and stay tuned tomorrow for another episode in my 30 Days of Discipline.
Day 2: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”
Manfield’s Book of Manly Men: An Utterly Invigorating Guide to Being Your Most Masculine Self
Quote of the Day:
“Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.”
~From the movie, Vanilla Sky
If you have any feedback, please send me a message or leave it on my Facebook page or Twitter. This is a new project, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Encouragement and criticism are always welcome.
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