I am, quite literally, sore and stiff from head to toe this morning. My recipe for this wonderful feeling is as follows:
- Start by moving large quantities of trash and recycling to the landfill Saturday morning. This works those lifting muscles in the back that you don’t use all that much if most of your daily activities consist of typing.
- Attend a Karate class late morning to early afternoon. This works to exercise different muscle groups than your regular ones used in Aikido. (Note, if you normally practice a hard art, go to a soft art class instead.)
- Move heavy furniture in the afternoon. This builds on that warm-up you got in the morning with the trash.
- Drive a friend/family member’s vehicle to the dump. This is particularly useful if the vehicle is significantly different from what you normally drive (e.g. a van as opposed to a Subaru). This works different muscles to maintain posture or stretches you in somewhat different positions.
- Sleep.
- Sunday afternoon, hop on your mountain bike. Go straight up for 2.5 miles of class 4 road. Pause momentarily at the top, then plunge straight down something that Jeeps would hesitate to tackle because the mud, rocks, trenches, and logs across the road give them pause. Do not pause.
- Arrive at family’s house and eat 2-3 times more in one meal than you have been in an average day. Feel the stomach muscles stretch in response!
- Finally, wake up on Monday morning and regret everything that led up to this “wonderful” feeling.