Day Two: "Tools of the Trade"

"To become a better player, you have to take care of your equipment. The same thing applies to a chef (and his knives). You're a professional. You earn money with a profession therefore you respect the tools you use to earn the money."-- Ichiro Suzuki, MLB player in reference to his bats [Source: ESPN]

It would be just a little bit of a stretch to call ourselves "professionals" of the PCP--okay, it would be a monumental reach--nonetheless, I'm already finding that the tools we choose to use are important. As Patrick says, our jump rope is going to be our best friend for the next 89 days. In choosing the right one(s), I intend to respect my rope and treat it well, and I hope it reciprocates in the form of helping me achieve my goals by the end of the program.

Until I began the PCP it hadn't really occurred to me to think about different types of jump rope. However, there are clearly many kinds. Rubber, plastic and other synthetics, traditional rope, and even leather. Until yesterday, I had a plastic/synthetic one that my kick-boxing trainer obtained for me a couple of years ago. That's the green one depicted below. Yesterday, I also picked up one more plastic one at a shop in Jimbocho for 1300 yen and another one--good old fashioned rope--at a different shop for 945yen, also in the photo. Having tried both now, I can say unequivocally that for me, the heavier rope is better. It's easier to keep a rhythm and the jumping that I struggled with so mightily yesterday went by a lot easier today thanks to the weighting. I am still totally out of cardio shape so I was struggling by the end, but it was my own fitness and not the tools I was using that was the issue.

I also picked up a new scale. Weighed in at 70.35kg, at the same time of day as yesterday. My old scale was still showing 71.4kg. I think the old one is way off, since the scale at the gym is more like 70.5kg as well. So I am going to go with the new one for the purposes of this program. At the very least, it is more precise as it measures down to 50gram increments instead of 200gram increments. So I am not quite the heaviest I've ever been, but close enough.

Tomorrow, the real challenge begins as we need to balance our work schedules with our training. With the right tools of the trade, instead of wrestling with a rope that isn't right for you or becoming frustrated by a steamer that doesn't work, it should be easier to have a more enjoyable experience and that might turn out to be one of the keys to making it through the program successfully.