It’s that brief but magical time of the year in Florida where on a few days it is very nice outside. Soon, it will be unbearably hot, humid, and with afternoons full of steaming hot rain. BUT until that time, I try to get outside (in the shade at least) as much as possible.
Yes, this is a silly graphic, but it’s 100% true. I really enjoy observing the occasional bird of prey, and it is uncanny how many of my own workouts and those of the kettlebell small group are attended by a hawk. It’s probably the time of day, but it still seems very special.
Slacklining is a great excuse to go out and play, and yesterday I decided to also take along my very cool mace from Stronger Grip.
As you will see in the video, it has been around the block! I’ve had this thing for several years of tough use and plenty of rattling around in the trunk of the car. It’s super sturdy though, having been hand made here in the USA by non-other than Ryan Pitts, strength-training equipment maker to the stars (No really, quite literally as you will hear in next week’s podcast! OH NO cat is out of the bag! Oh well.
If you’d like a mace like the one in the video, please click here, and know that they’ve been vastly improved since I got mine back in the day. They’re easier to add weight to, you’ll see me fail to open mine, though its probably better than me spilling BBs all over the park.
I love to experiment with unusual training methods to “fill in the gaps” in my lifestyle. Even though I have worked with the slackline and the mace separately for a few years, I still consider myself to be a beginner with both. Slackline helps me get into a flow state. It challenges me mentally as well as physically and is a great way to practice concentration and focus of a very peculiar variety.
Sunday was a very good day for not only some focusing, relaxing, and active rest, but I managed to come back from this session and get an absolute ton of work done late late late into and past the night into the next morning (as is my habit on several nights a week… it’s not for everyone, but it’s apparently what I do… since like… 1995). I support this bizarre but highly productive lifestyle with over the top superior nutrition, low to no-sugar choices, sleeping like a rock, high intensity interval training with kettlebells, skill and strength training with calisthenics, lifting heavy things with a focus on power (but being smart about it), and adventures in recovery methods like cryotherapy which I am super into right now. I’ve actually been doing it twice a week for several months and am enjoying the effects. The Orlando Predators football players have also started with cryotherapy at the same location, and I’ll admit being entirely too amused at how nervous some of these big guys are about trying it for the first time.
Other ways I chill out and give my brain and body a break include massage, slacklining, nature walks, qigong, what I remember of tai chi, and now checking in on other people’s cool projects at the local makerspace. What are some of your favorite methods of chilling out and recovering from a long week of work and workouts?
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