Hey all,
The newest and most significant habit of my life at the moment is the absence of coffee. Today marks 2 weeks without any of it. I’ve had some slight sleeping issues for the last couple of months and I’ve determined that caffeine is probably one of the biggest causes – apart from working until 8 or 9 every night. Here’s the thing – caffeine IS good for you in moderate doses. But it’s good to go off of it sometimes to give your body (and your adrenals) a break. About 10 days in I noticed that I wasn’t really having headaches anymore, or even desiring coffee. So I felt it was safe to have some tea yesterday. Hint: Twinnings Irish Breakfast Tea is the way to go, if you’re ever looking for a strong black tea. This isn’t the end of coffee for me, but I will use it more sparingly in the future.
Book I’m reading right now: The Warrior Ethos – Steven Pressfield 
This is a super simple read filled with excessively macho concepts. That’s all I have to say. I picked it up from my book shelf because I wanted something simpler to read than Seneca. It was entertaining enough to read about 2/3 of it (which took me 25 minutes or so), but I wouldn’t recommend it. I bought this book because of one of the author’s other books. Steven Pressfield has an awesome book called Gates of Fire, a novel about the Battle of Thermopylae. I highly recommend that.
Music I’m listening to: Alone – by Marshmello
Still on an EDM binge, it appears.
Fitness focus: Deep squats with more hip engagement
I’ve been focusing on engaging all of the muscles in my hips in a deep squat lately. Getting deep into the squat, but making sure that every little thing is right – glute engagement, inner thigh engagement, hip flexor, and core engagement. Then, Iift my arms straight overhead to work on shoulder mobility as well. It adds a TON to the exercise. Try it out! (I just posted this on my Instagram today, Friday, August 5. Check that out if you need more of a visual aid.)
Food of the week: Smoothies
I’ve been messing around with smoothies this week as an alternative to cooking some of my meals. My issue is I want to have as many vegetables as possible, but still need some fruit to make it taste bearable. I haven’t found the balance yet – more info to come when I do!
Finding inspiration from: Defeating coffee.
I was drinking 2 cups of highly caffeinated coffee per day just weeks ago. Everything in the morning seemed to revolve around me getting my coffee, and that dependence didn’t sit well with me. Getting off it was much easier than I expected, and even though I don’t plan on staying off of it for good, it’s good to know that I’ve made coffee my b****.
Cheers,
Dean