There’s a punching sequence as I flip by FitTV. I, all of 16 years and 130 pounds, stand up to give it an ironic go.
“Jab, cross, hook, uppercut!”
YAH! My arms flail about as one swatting bubbles in midair.
“This is easy,” I think. “They call this a workout?”
“Jab, cross, hook, uppercut!”
Old-school fitness lord Gilad Janklowicz tells me to put my hips into the each punch. Now pivot on my foot.
OK, OK. A little attention to detail makes a difference.
“Jab, cross, hook, uppercut! Every move deliberate!”
I sharpen my punches so each fist hits at the same spot. I put my paltry weight into each blow. My torso is twisting to generate what little power my body can produce.
Well great, now I’m sweating. After five minutes. I was just goofing at first – I don’t need a full-on cardio burn.
The workout goes to commercial. I change the channel and move on with my life.
I wake up the next morning. As a teenage jackrabbit who ran 5 miles a day, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time: soreness above my legs.
After 20 years of Gilad workouts, I believe in the art of deliberation beyond boxing moves.
Every rep, every brushstroke, every investment, every “hello,” must be done with intent to get the maximum result. No wasted movements.
When you are deliberate in your craft, it can be exhausting. But you discover so much more about yourself in the process.
I am not a shining example of this. It is merely the baseline to which I anchor myself.
As a writer, intention is more than picking the right words – it’s picking the right topic and exploring all its themes wholeheartedly.
If you want your work to matter, you have to care about it enough to understand each piece that creates the whole.
Jab. Cross. Hook. Uppercut.
Every. Word. Deliberate.
