Stairs of Death

Capped the day off with a stair workout at the UWS Tower of Pain...

We started off with a "stair warmup" consisting of ~20 flights, some skipping stairs, some hitting every stair, some skipping stairs with both feet. Nothing too pressing, but it got the heart pumping, lungs working and sweat uh... sweating. Then we moved to the roof and did the Leg Circuit for the week:

20 Bodyweight Squats
45 sec rest
10 Lunges per Leg
45 sec rest
10 Step-ups per Leg
45 sec rest
10 Jump Squats
2 min rest

Repeat Circuit 4 times.

After this portion, we went back to the stairs and did a number of stair reps that blend into a mish-mash of pain and thankful oblivion. My legs felt surprisingly light at this point, and I remember pushing through it rather successfully. Mind you, I was completely worn out at the end of this experience, but fighting through the workout is always a sick internal joy of sorts.

A thousand things run through my mind as I do these punishing workouts. Lists of players I want to work over, teams I want to beat, goals I want to throw, cuts I want to shred on, Big Games that I will win. And then I notice other things rattle through my head... Past failures spurring me on, teammates who are working just as hard joining me in spirit, even things as odd as family members who I feel the need to honor with my play and dedication.

It is strange how my own obsession with this game and my level of play is projected onto others in my life and in my past. When I focus on something as deeply as I do ultimate, there is essentially no other paradigm through which to interpret the events of my life. Everything is relevant to ultimate somehow. Every slight is motivation on the field or in the gym, every encouraging word pushes me further in ultimate.

I'm a sick puppy in some sense as ultimate is ultimately so meaningless (just like all of the other sports I love) in the end (and even in the present). In another sense, I choose to interpret my world in this manner. Whichever parts of my life I choose to emphasize are the ones full of import. In the same manner that Shakespeare via Hamlet posits "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so," there is nothing either vital or trivial, but thinking makes it so. I choose to prioritize my life this way, and, at least for now, this is how I prefer it. Eventually, this is sure to change, but for the present, I will continue to throw myself into this sport and love every minute of it.
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Workout total:
20 Minutes Stairs
20 Minutes Leg Circuit