Weight: 86kgs
I’m writing this to the steady drumbeat of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club iconic Beat the Devil’s Tattoo.
And it’s fuelling my internal desire to move again.
But the most important change to my desire to move, is the fact that I have genuine reasons to improve in the gym.
I’ve realised that the idea of a target when going to the gym is very important. A vague goal like “losing weight” isn’t good enough for me.
There needs to be a purpose behind every exercise I do.
Baseball has now become that purpose.
I’m going to try out for my local baseball team in March for the winter season.
To ensure that I make a good first impression, it’s time to start exercising at the gym to specifically target the exercises that make me a better baseball player.
Sprinting is now key, as well as building up my conditioning so that I don’t gas out by the midpoint of the game. After all, if I’m going to play in the outfield, I need to be agile, with a focus on running hard and fast and moving between the bases.
I’m now also focusing my efforts of getting stronger muscles, so that I can hit the ball harder, as well as focusing on my hips, to ensure that I’m getting good rotational movement. My arms need to be flexible as well, so that when I throw the ball long distances, it moves quickly and accurately.
There are so many things that I am excited to go to the gym about now.
It was like this when I was obsessed with tennis a few years ago. There is something about a bat/racquet and ball sport that fires me up. I love the repetitive nature of it all, how, no matter what you do, every single hit is a tiny bit different to the thousands you’ve done before.
But you keep trying, you keep making tiny adjustments so that one day, it’ll feel natural and smooth and you can control the outcome.
My weekly batting practice has now got me to a level where I know when I hit something, I can predict what it is going to do. I know how I need to arc my arms, when to follow-through and when to toss the bat and run like hell to first.
Even before I got into tennis, I was desperate to start racing professionally. This desire to trim down on all levels so that I was lighter in the car, resulted in one of the most dramatic weight losses I’ve ever undergone.
This is what I need to figure out to lose weight. I needed a specific target, a sole goal that everything leads into.
I’m still the same weight I was so many weeks ago, but this need to be lean and keen for my baseball try-outs is lighting the right kind of obsessive fire in me to succeed.
I’m ready to hit the gym and just give it my all so that I can be the best player and asset to the team I can be.
The last thing I want to hear is that I’ve let the other guys down because I refused to stay in shape.
Let’s play ball.
~ Damocles.
Damocles' Journal 