This week is hell week at Boot Camp. We didn’t find out until after the first session (which involved a massive uphill climb which I doubt a car would’ve been able to make).

Today we were confronted with Big Bertha and Little Bertha. Bertha is the name they give to the dreaded rope. The Bravo group (my group) got to use Little Bertha which was nice. Not so heavy but the challenge is much the same. We ran a course of approximately 4kms with this rope on our shoulders. The person in front had to peel off, run around the back of the group, back to the front, tag the front person, and then join in at the back. So, we all got a few turns at running around a running line of people. Fun - NOT! Every 1km or so, we got to put the rope down. For the break, we had to do 10 push-ups and 10 crunches/sit-ups.

You couldn’t stop or you’d be left far behind and you didn’t have the help of your swinging arms either which made the run a little more difficult. It wasn’t until we hit the beach that the pain really started to hit me. Thankfully this was the last stretch. We made it! 4kms with very little stopping (except for strength exercises) and no-one dropped off. I never thought I could actually do it. My first goal of jogging 2kms without stopping by the 24th of February is well achievable now.

As an added bonus, here are a few health, fitness type sites I’ve been reading lately:

• A time to run - Beginner’s section
• POSE running technique
• Using heart rate monitors for weight loss and fitness
• Running tips, workouts and gear

I’ve been reading a bit about this since watching “The Secret” last week. Now let’s get the gripes out of the way first…

The tele-movie was crap. The more I think and research it, the more I believe that this is simply a clever marketing tactic to promote the speakers and the producer. The general premise of the show is this:

Anything you wish hard enough for, will come true. If you are thinking about good things, then good things will happen to you. If you are thinking bad and negative thoughts, then bad things will happen to you and your life will continue to suck.

We all like to be accepted
Again, the tele-movie was total and utter crap. The foundations it is based on however are far more interesting once you dig deep enough. Let’s start with this scenario…

You drive out of the car dealership driving your brand new red Mazda3. Over the next few weeks as you drive about, you suddenly realise how many other Mazda3 cars there are on the road. They are everywhere.

“It must be a pretty good car given it’s so popular,” you think to yourself.

You continue to drive around in your new Mazda3 feeling pretty good and confident about your new purchase.

This is a very common scenario. Many of us naturally look for acceptance and confirmation of our actions. When driving in your new car, you see more of the same type of car because your mind is looking out for them - to confirm that you made the right purchasing decision. You find exactly what you are looking for.

The Law of Attraction
The Law of Attraction is nothing more or less than your subconscious mind confirming your conscious thoughts. If you wander the streets thinking that bad things always happen to you, then every time the smallest “bad thing” happens, you reinforce the fact that you were correct. And thus begins the vicious downward spiral.

Good things still happen at the same time, but your mind is more attuned to recognising the bad. Why? Because that is your mindset and you are built to look for affirmation.

The same happens with positive thoughts. Go around seriously thinking you will have a great day. If your thoughts and will are strong, no matter what crap is thrown your way during the day, you will continue to recognise and seek out the good.

How we might use this to our advantage
Keeping away from new age tendencies, positive reinforcement thinking can actually be quite powerful. It is well known that by simply writing down your goals and reading them once every day, you will be more likely to achieve them.

Personal trainers and motivators use these techniques to get extraordinary results from ordinary people. They use positive phrases (you can do it, you’re a great runner, this is easy for you, etc.) to seed your mind with positive thoughts. When you do achieve a goal, endorphins release, you feel great and accept that what you thought was right. This reinforces the belief and the cycle continues.

Steve Pavlina, although sometimes a little new agey for me, has some great articles on this topic with relation to goal setting:

• Cause-Effect vs. Intention-Manifestation
• Million Dollar Experiment

For the first time in my life, I’m going to begin writing down my goals. I might even join Steve’s “Million Dollar Experiment.”

What a load of re-hashed crap.

“The Secret” is a telemovie produced by Rhonda Byrne, and Australian producer with Channel 9. Here’s a brief Herald Sun article about it.

Now, get past the funny science and illogical philosophical proofs, and there is a gem of substance beneath it all. Unfortunately Rhonda Byrne has taken some simple positive thinking, positive reinforcement and goal setting tools and manipulated them into a money spinning sensation to fund her retirement.

I’ll write a bit more about the gems in this doco some other time. This quote sums up the essence of the telemovie:

Not too much searching online reveals that the movie is part of an elaborate advertising campaign to get people interested in working with the various “teachers” it features. Just like What the Bleep is a recruitment vehicle for Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, The Secret is an infomercial for its talking heads. On a purely business level, it’s brilliant. Too bad this is the last thing it’s target audience actually needs.

God like production - bulletin board, posted by Boogie

The photograph shows what looks like a pretty fun activity. When I was researching Boot Camp, this is one of the images which actually motivated me to join up. It looked like tough but rewarding work.

I now have nightmares about that 100kg rope and dread it making an appearance again. It was by far, the hardest single piece of exercise I have ever done. Ten people jogging in soft sand with a 100kg shipping rope on their shoulder. Ten kilos each doesn’t sound too bad. Believe me, it is awful!

Apart from the rope, the rest of our first week was awesome! The activities are somewhat varied although there is far too much uphill running for my liking. Wednesday was on the beach (with the rope) and a solid session of boxing practice. Friday was even better and mainly focused on sprinting with strength exercises to break it up.

I feel like I’m slowly getting better and definitely have a lot more energy through the day. We’re both eating really healthily too which makes a huge difference. Surprisingly, I’m not craving chocolates and other sweets like I usually do.

By the end of our first 4 weeks of Boot Camp, my aim is to jog an entire 2kms in our fitness test. It doesn’t sound like much, but I am a hopeless runner and get puffed really quickly. Achieving this will be a massive thing for me. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

For anyone needing a good kick to get started, I would highly recommend this tact. It’s not easy and you get pushed to your absolute limits, but it is incredibly rewarding.

This exercise thing is much harder than I thought. My calves and pecs are quite sore at the moment. I guess it’ll subside eventually. I hope it’ll subside soon!

Fitness test
Boot Camp started for us on Saturday morning with quite a rigorous fitness test. We started with some stretches which I liked very much. They weren’t too onerous. Then we jumped into a “Beep Test.” From memory I think I got to level 5.6 or somewhere around there. That totally killed me and really managed to aggravate my asthma for two days.

A few push-ups and squats followed and we ready for our 2km run. Now, you need to realise, I have never run 2kms in my life. In-fact, I have never even run 1km before. This was quite a struggle for me and I had to walk part of it. My aim is that I can run the entire track by the end of the course.

The first session
So we got up just after 5am. The only time I get up whilst it’s still dark is if I have an early plane flight. Getting on a plane is exciting so I’m usually motivated. This morning was completely opposite. We turned up whilst it was still dark, did some stretches and had a roll call.

Then we were forced to do 20 push-ups because two people didn’t turn up. Then we had to do another 10 because we didn’t line up quickly enough. This is going to be an interesting course and I feel there will be many people with black eyes if they continue to wag training sessions.

I think I did better at today’s session than I would’ve expected. It was a dirt running track right near the beach. We had to run for a bit, do a series of push-ups, run some more, run up an incline, struggle through some sit-ups and more push-ups, then run back to the start again. The course would’ve been between 1 and 2kms and we had to do it continuously until the hour was up.

I pretty much ran the entire first circuit and had to walk sections of the second and third. E did really well getting in 6 laps. Much to her disgust, The Sarge ran along with her for the last three!

One day of resting now before our next session on Wednesday which will be on the beach. Argghhh, running on sand - fun!

You see, I’m engaged!

After five and a bit years I finally asked E. to marry me. Actually it was more like, “So, you wanna get married?” Thankfully she said “yes.” Wedding plans will now take up most of my attention this year.

We had a wonderful holiday in Tasmania. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good relaxing and interesting holiday. More on the trip some other time. Just wanted to let the three readers of this blog know that I’m still alive and very well.

Alright - for me, most of my time is taken up by travel because I live so damned far away from civilisation!

The rest of it, well, it just gets really filled up. Some things that have happened lately:

• Finished the deck building experience (landscaping still to come)
• Travelled on a train from Frankston to the city
• Enrolled in Boot Camp for February
• Booked our holiday through Tasmania in January
• Completed all the Christmas shopping
• Paid a multitude of bills
• Fed the dog

Will write more about these incredibly interesting experiences soon.

I wouldn’t usually bother blogging about this type of this, but I couldn’t just let this one go by. You have to watch this animation - It’s freakin’ amazing!

A pretty great idea. EnviroMission is planning to use natural convection (i.e. hot air rising) to create energy. The thing I love about this energy idea, is we have trials running in Australia!

Take a look at the EnviroMission site and also this video which explains the idea perfectly.

In my previous post, we explored a pretty straight-forward scenario. The decision whether to sacrifice the one to save the many is a relatively simple one. When we come to more loaded issues such as abortion and euthanasia, the decision people make is highly polarised. It is usually heavily influenced on their religious beliefs.

A new scenario
So, to get away from the effects religion has on making moral decisions, a woman named Judy Thompson created the following scenario:

A woman wakes up one day and there’s a man lying in bed next to her. Another man walks up to her and says, “look I’m terribly sorry, we’re from The Society of Music Lovers, the man lying next to you in bed is a world famous violinist, he’s in kidney failure and I hope you don’t mind, we’ve plugged him into your kidney. If you stay plugged in for the next nine months he will survive and you will save the world’s greatest violinist.”

What would you do? Is it morally permissible for the woman to unplug herself from the violinist? Most people would agree that it is. The woman had no choice in the matter.

The similarity of this situation is similar to that of a pregnant woman where the violinist/fetus required the woman for it’s survival. The difference is that there is no commitment requirement from the “host”.

Let’s change the scenario slightly...

She says, “sure, let’s stay plugged in”. So for two months she makes the commitment. To make IT really like the abortion case, the violinist is unconscious, so her commitment is to the guy from The Society of Music Lovers. She stays plugged in for two months and after two months she goes, “this is a drag, I’m unplugging”. So she pulls the plug out and he dies.

Is it morally permissible for the woman to unplug herself from the violinist? Most people would disagree here specifically due to the commitment she made to stay connected.

Does it depend on your religious upbringing?
The interesting thing discussed on the show was that people who differ in their pro-choice/pro-life or religious beliefs did not differ in their judgment on the above situations.

So, why does religion play such a huge part in politics and debates where these scenarios are tested out? What is it about the terms “abortion” and “euthanasia” that cause people to change their moral judgments?