Day Thirty-eight: "These Dreams of You"

I dreamed you paid your dues in Canada,
Left me to come through
I headed for the right way
I knew exactly just what to do... - Van Morrison

After I graduated from university in Vancouver, I left Canada to come "back" to Tokyo to begin my career. In one sense I "headed for the right way," certainly when it comes to my career. Yet in another I didn't know "exactly just what to do." And I headed for the wrong way, health-wise.

I am not going to moan or whine after the fact about the hours and stress that come part and parcel with working in finance. We know what we are dealing with and we are hardly alone. I certainly did not help matters with my personal choices, however. Going out drinking until extremely late on some occasions and then only getting two or three hours of sleep before going to work or staying up all night watching every minute tick of the U.S. market when things are totally out of my control and I might as well leave things be and get a good night's rest.

Another aspect of that is the lack of physical exercise. Yes, I've done triathlons, etc., while living in Tokyo, but it was never as easy to get some gym time in or go play basketball or just be outdoors as it was back in Canada. Effort required when you live in the big city. Too often I was too tired after work to make that effort.

Now I've got nine years' worth of bad habits to make up, and the PCP is helping me to fix some of these things. When I am done the program, I will still go out and drink--but only on occasion. And I will binge less. And I will exercise more than before. This can't and won't just be a 3-month, slightly-longer-than-usual-flash-in-the-pan sort of thing, because I don't want to be destructive to my body every day anymore. I won't be weighing my food all the time, and I will eat out at restaurants and have wine, but all the same, I need to make this a turning point in terms of how I treat myself and my body and my health going forward. I'll have two caiprinhas on the beach instead of ten. And get some exercise in beforehand...or something like that. Am not entirely sure what the final form or thoughts will be, as we still have a long way to go here.

Question on the ski-jumper exercise. Elbows tucked in close to your body seems to result in more tricep-focused burn. Is that right and is that what we are going for?