I joked around last week running in my Black Panther mask.
Some people said it was wrong to play around like that, but I’ve just been trying to lighten it up a bit.
All the negatives of this situation are straight up obvious, when it can be valuable to look for a more positive side.
That’s what I did with the masks too.
Have you seen these training masks?
It sends a bad signal to me seeing healthy people wearing medical masks on the street.
And I figured so long as you’re wearing a mask you could benefit from a functional version.
In the old days when masks were like wearing your undies outside, I’d occasionally see people running or at the gym wearing these masks.
I didn’t get what it was all about, but having worn this training mask for a week or so…
Now I do.
“Getting strong, now”
Do you know this song from Rocky?
In the video you see him doing sprints on the beach.
We all get that running in sand is way harder and increases the amount of effort you must put in.
And these training masks work the same way.
By restricting your oxygen intake they force you to really suck it in, which apparently “exercises” your lungs. (which also seems beneficial with a respiratory disease going around)
You really feel being pushed
Like training at altitude, you really feel it in the lungs.
To the point where, when you take it off, you feel like you can run forever.
I remember that feeling coming home from skiing the winter in Vail.
And after driving race cars a few times, and then getting back in your regular street car.
Once you challenge yourself to operate in more extreme conditions, everything else feels a whole lot easier, doesn’t it?
That’s another silver lining I see from this situation
In many ways you see us getting stronger.
When things are good you can get complacent, yet harder times force you to get stronger, don’t they?
You see it talking to many people.
We’ve had to become mentally and emotionally stronger for ourselves and for others.
And many people are also using this time to get physically stronger.
Unfortunately, we all know it can take something that really pushes you to get stronger, and we can always choose this too.
Building a stronger you
Last night running, lungs friggin’ burning from that mask, I really saw this.
At first I resisted, I wanted to stop, coz for the amount of distance I’d covered I was beat.
But I was listening to my Stronger track from the Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Masterclass.
And that ranting idiot just kept telling me that’s the point.
Forcing yourself to do hard things…
Only makes you stronger.
You see it everywhere right now, beneath those masks, stronger yous.
btw, if you haven’t already, you might get something on this from this free video program for the Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Masterclass.