Week in Workouts and lessons from a documentary

Happy freaking Friday! This week was a pretty good week in workouts, even if I didn't make it into the gym everyday like I wanted. Having only one car kind of puts a damper on those things but I deal with it and do what I can ;)

So here are my workouts for the week:

Monday
3 miles with the stroller and the little man. And then an hour of yoga.

Tuesday
Full Body Strength Training in the garage. Here's what I ended up doing:

3x10 Bench Press
3x15 Decline Pushups
3x10 Shoulder Press
3x10 Underhand Barbell row
3x10 Front Squats
3x10 Overhead Lunges
3x10 Bulgarian Split squats
3x10 Sumo Deadlifts

It was a pretty grueling session but I definitely plan to do it again someday. I loved that I was able to squeeze it in during Caleb's nap time and that I managed to hit the entire body using compound movements. I felt awesome afterwards!

Wednesday
30 minute treadmill HIIT run and then a yoga class at the gym. I tried to take a picture of my workout on the treadmill because I was so proud, it was one of the fastest runs I've had in awhile. Unfortunately, one of the daycare workers stopped me right at the end of my run to get me to console Caleb (he had a horrible diaper rash that day) and when I hit "stop" it cleared all of the data on the treadmill. I swear this treadmill must have been built in the stone age, usually when you press "stop" on the machine your workout results will pop up and blink a few times before completely shutting off.

Oh well, I'll go back next week and try to recreate my run ;)

And I shared this on FB about my yoga class because the class was amazing:

Thursday
3 miles with the stroller. I really struggled this morning, mainly because I'm still so sore from Tuesday. My body just isn't handling DOMs as well this pregnancy :(

Friday
Heading to the gym today to do another full body strength training workout. Maybe I'll repeat the same one from Tuesday? Wish me luck!

*****

So tonight the hubs and I decided to check out a documentary about a legendary 86 year old sushi chef in Tokyo, Japan. He owns one of the most famous sushi restaurants in the world, a tiny underground restaurant in a subway station that only seats 10 people and has no bathroom, yet it takes months to get a reservation and it costs $300 per person at least to dine at his restaurant.

Here's the trailer if you're interested:



I'm only a year late on watching this film but in this case, better late than never. The documentary truly is a work of art and there were so many valuable life lessons to be learned from it.  It was such a beautiful documentary, all the way down to Jiro and his family's inspiring values, the food cinematography, and the beautiful music (I'm a sucker for anything classical). Not only that but the sushi porn (even better in slow motion) made me fall even more head over heels in love with sashimi ;)

Anyway, since the documentary left me so inspired I thought I'd share the top 3 lessons that stood out to me the most from the film:

1. Find your craft, and dedicate your life to mastering it. Jiro stressed that you don't need to do everything well, but to do your one thing to the best of your ability and to continuously improve on it.

One of my favorite quotes from Jiro:

"Once you decide on your occupation, you must immerse yourself in your work.  You have to fall in love with your work.  Never complain about your job.  You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill.  That’s the secret of success and is the key to being regarded honorably." ~ Jiro Ono

2. Be ethical. In one part of the film, Jiro's son mentioned how he wished the government would regulate fishing. Even though their business thrives on the availability of fresh fish, they wished that people would stop overfishing and instead focus more on quality and not quantity. They were also so honorable in their work ethic that they worked tirelessly all day, trained for 10 years, and never complained once. Even if it wasn't the most lucrative or glamorous job, they loved their job and they loved to be the best at it.

3. Quality over quantity. Instead of sucumbing to usual business practices of trying to make a good product as cheap as possible, Jiro's son went to the fish market every morning and dealt with only the best fish dealers, and bought only the best fish of the day, regardless of price. He simply wanted to make the best quality sushi and that was all that mattered to him. His work was never about money or fame.

3. Be humble. Even though Jiro had been a sushi chef for 75 years, he was still relentless about perfecting his practice. He stressed that everyday is a new day to learn, and a chance to get better at your craft. He dedicated his life to creating a perfect plate of food, even while knowing that perfection is impossible to achieve. 

Of course, there are a number of gems from this movie that I could quote all day. I don't think I'll ever tire of this documentary and if there's a day I'm where I'm feeling unmotivated, I'll definitely come back to this film. This documentary makes me want to WORK. But I'll let you experience the documentary and decide for yourself.

To me, it's funny how our night started out as a casual night of relaxing in front of the tube while eating Chinese food, but then turned into a transformational night where we were both left empowered. The documentary was that moving for us and I strongly encourage you to check the documentary out. even if you're not a sushi fan, the story of his life and his family is interesting in itself and I promise you won't regret it.

But I have to ask...how can you NOT be a sushi fan!?

And one last gem from this wise man before I sign off: “Always doing what you’re told doesn’t mean you’ll succeed in life."

Preach, Jiro, preach.