Making your body stronger inside and out


Nowadays I'm working on my inner strength, which I know will make me physically stronger. I'll see if I can explain.

I've never considered myself tough at all. I was a fragile little kid who read a lot of comic books and disliked going outdoors because I hated the cold in the winter and the mosquitos in the summer (Minnesota), and as I grew up I made life more and more comfortable for myself. The net effect of being so soft inside is that when I faced a real challenge, like having a stroke, I crumbled. It not only hurt, it was uncomfortable, and I spent most of my time finding ways to increase my comfort. This made me fat, and at some point I decided that I didn't want to be a fat man, sitting on the couch.

Unfortunately, I threw myself out at things that were just way too difficult, and wildly uncomfortable, which just led me back to comfort. It took me quite a while to realize that I would have to ease into making myself stronger, and it's something that I'm still working on.

I know some really strong people, and they will usually just shrug their shoulders and think nothing of things like going without enough sleep, or not being able to eat meals on a regular schedule, or eating food that tastes awful, just to keep going. I just watched a video about the food that the astronauts ate during the moon shots in the 1960s, and these guys were the absolute definition of strong on the inside and outside. You know, the right stuff. And I suppose if you asked them how they did it, they would just shrug and say that it's no big deal, it came naturally to them.

For me, as an analytical person, I'm inclined to think that a lot of these tough guys started young. And since it's too late for me to start young, I can at least start small. I'm gonna try to skip lunch today, which I've never, ever done in my entire life. OK, I had an apple - I told you that I'm starting small.

I'll let you know how it goes for me. Here's my ride from this morning:

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