DAILY MINDSET
“I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at their rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” – Jacob Riis
We crave the confirmation of progress. Whether that be weekly increases in weights, continual raises at work, or anything between. It can be in our nature to seek out those signals. Yet we can learn something from the stonecutter.
When a stonecutter addresses their next task, splitting a giant stone in two, they starts hammering away. One blow at a time, they line up each and every strike with meticulous precision. 10 strikes pass by, and there is no visible change to the stone. 50 strikes go by, and still no visible change. No cracks, dents, or any indication of… anything. 100 strikes pass, and, the same. On the 101st strike, it splits in two.
Through the 100 strikes, there wasn’t an external signal or sign that this was working. But beneath the surface, invisible to the eye, the stone was splitting with each passing blow. It wasn’t something different about the final strike… it was instead the culmination of all 101 blows. Impossible without a single one of them.
True change takes place from the inside out. And much like the stonecutter, we have two options: to spend emotional energy worrying if we’re making progress, or to have full faith in the process, spending every ounce of focus we have on that next strike.
Warm Up
30 sec
Easy Bike
Active Spidermans
Moderate Bike
Active Samson
Faster Bike
Slow Air Squats
30 sec
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts
Wall Sit
Dumbbell Front Rack Reverse Lunges (Alternating Legs)
Front Plank
Dummbell Pausing Front Squats (2 Seconds in Bottom)
Mountain Climbers
Performed with Light Set of Dumbbells
Mobility
- Pigeon Pose on Box: 1 Minute Each Side
- Dumbbell Ankle Stretch: 30 Seconds Each Side
WOD – “Rugrats” – for time
On the 4:00 x 5 Rounds:
9 Burpee Box Jump Overs (24/20)
15 Dumbbell Front Squats (22.5/15s)
15/12 Calorie Echo Bike
sx
9 Burpee Box Step overs
15 Dumbbell Front Squats (17.5/12.5s)
15/12 Calorie Echo Bike
fx
9 Burpee Box Step ups to suit
15 Air Squats
12/10 Calorie Echo Bike or stop at 3min
*Bike movement sub - Equal cal Row/200m Run
