Winning despite losing

Today, my team is a winner despite scoring less than our opponent in a game of cricket. For it is not winning that makes you a winner, it is refusing to fail.

I sit here - completely exhausted, running a temperature, without the energy to move even an inch, with a bloody nose, with mud in my hair and on my body, with an aching head and next to a pile of clothes that are totally soaked in sweat. Yet, I am in the best spirits - knowing that I have left everything I had on the field, knowing that there is not one thing that I could have done more to alter the outcome, knowing that we were resilient to the last moment and most of all, knowing that ten of my teammates are in the same state that I am in.

I am proud of the way my team has rallied, of the camaraderie we share and that the thought of losing did not cross our mind even when we were up against a near impossible target.

Now it is time to move on. We have a match tomorrow and I have to do everything in my power to be 100% for it. Not playing is not an option.

100 Pushup - Week 3

Week 3

Day 1:
25 ups followed by 60 sec rest
17 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
17 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
15 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
Max push ups > 25 (I did 19) - Not enough. Repeat Day 1

Day 1 (Repeat):
25 ups followed by 60 sec rest
17 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
17 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
15 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
Max push ups > 25 (I did 25)

Day 2:
27 ups followed by 90 sec rest
19 push ups followed by 90 sec rest
19 push ups followed by 90 sec rest
15 push ups followed by 90 sec rest
Max push ups > 25 (I did 25)

Day 3:
30 push ups followed by 120 sec rest
22 push ups followed by 120 sec rest
22 push ups followed by 120 sec rest
20 push ups followed by 120 sec rest
Max push ups > 27 (I did 30)

Push ups this week: 421

100 Push Ups Challenge - Week 2

Now I am into week 2 and the routine is as follows:

Day 1 (August 11):
12 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
12 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
9 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
7 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
Max push ups > 10 (I did 30)

Day 2 (August 13):
16 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
13 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
11 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
11 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
Max push ups > 15 (I did 20 with some difficulty - laziness)

Day 3 (August 15):
15 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
15 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
12 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
12 push ups followed by 60 sec rest
Max push ups > 15 (I did 20)

Day 4: Number of consecutive Good Form Push Ups done: 50 (improved from 43)

Total Push Ups this week: 263

Total Push Ups since I started the program: 494 !!!

Moving on to week 3 .... it is going to get tougher

Sufi Poetry

My love for all things "Sufi" now extends to Sufi Poetry. Here is a piece that I absolutely loved. It takes our image of death - going from leading a vibrant life into a confined coffin - and turns it upside down. Beautiful.

In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep.
He said, "This world is like a closed coffin, in which
We are shut and in which, through our ignorance,
We spend our lives in folly and desolation.
When Death comes to open the lid of the coffin,
Each one who has wings will fly off to Eternity,
But those without will remain locked in the coffin.
So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off,
Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God;
Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers."

Farid ud Din Attar, translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - 'Perfume of the Desert'

100 Pushups Challenge - Week 1

Day 1 (Monday, August 4) - The routine required the following:

• 10 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 10 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 8 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 6 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• Max Push Ups - In my case, I did 20.

Good start to the challenge

Day 2: (Thursday, August 7) -

• 12 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 12 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 10 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 10 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• Max Push Ups - In my case, I did 20.

Day 3: (Saturday, August 9) -

• 15 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 13 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 10 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• 10 Push Ups followed by 60 sec rest
• Max Push Ups - In my case, I did 20.

Good week 1!!

What I am currently reading

I have picked up "Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk" and 50 pages in, I find it extremely informative and fascinating.

The book delves into human history, starting with the ancient Greeks, and identifies the important milestones that have changed the way we manage risk and the impact this has had on human civilization. It starts with an interesting idea - The boundary between modern times and the past is the mastery of risk: the notion that the future is more than a whim of the Gods and that men and women are not passive before nature.

This is a book that should be markedly different from what I have read in the last few months. I am sure I will enjoy reading it and I hope the ideas introduced in the book stay with me well after I am done reading it.

100 Push Ups Challenge - Initial Test

I finally started the 100 Push Up challenge that has been on my mind for a few weeks.

The first step is to put yourself through a test of how many good form pushups you can execute at one go. I am glad to report that I could perform 43 pushups before my hands gave up. That puts me in Rank 4 - a very good starting point for the challenge.

The goal of this program is for you to be able to perform 100 good form pushups in 6 weeks. Sounds exciting! I will post a weekly status on this blog.

For more information on the 100 pushups challenge - Link Here