Mobility habits of choice

1. Yoga This has been a constant hell yes in my repertoire. What I love about it:

• requires just a single mat, some space, and you of course
• take it outdoors or indoors
• make it solo or social
• plethora of moves, flows, variations
• decompresses, twists, challenges and relaxes the body

There is so much breadth and depth to yoga. You can identify your needs and compose your own sequence of moves for a perfect regimen.

Ease into building mind-to-muscle connections with intentional practise. A simple flow can help you stretch and awaken muscles throughout your entire body in the mornings. A more intense session can make you sweat, really engage your core, build muscle anywhere you desire, and simultaneously improve your flexibility.

2. Pilates I see this as an extension of yoga, where you...:

• take those muscles and really target them
• core building. yes, it can burn (good burns)
• evokes a good sweat
• again, you only really need a mat, some space, and you

3. Running This is more commercial so I won't delve but I suppose I'll touch on some struggles I've had and leave some pointers:

• not pacing myself properly —› start small, even if it feels easy on day 1, you have plenty of days ahead of you to push your limits
• long-term consistency —› timeblock in your schedule, find a friend to run with
• post-exercise coughing —› keep walking outside whilst you cool down (avoid sitting straight down in a badly ventilated indoor space)

Make sure you give yourself rest days! I cannot emphasize this enough. You will thank me later.

4. Tennis & Football - stress relieving - satisfying to smash/kick a ball - game element, strategy - involves both running and staying still, mix of stillness and running

I've oftentimes enjoyed such sport after a long day of work, or at the end of the week on weekends. It can be rewarding to practice precision, the types of ways you can serve or return the ball to achieve a pre-determined trajectory or tactic. It really works your arms and legs and reflexiveness.

Some of my favourites!

5. Climbing (bouldering) So far, each time I've climbed, I've gone with an experienced climber. Each time, I have noticed that they move with smoothness and reduced inefficient movement and tension. It's mesmerising to watch, and I've come to appreciate the sport as an art form.

It may be one of the most challenging sports I've ever done. Don't be deceived by the height of the walls that only seem to last a few meters... There are varying levels of difficulty for every climber. Quick overview:

• bouldering walls have colour coded grips that belong to different paths of distinguished levels. Start hands are often labelled for you
• once you reach the top and final grip, both hands must meet the grip together
• you can use any grip from any path on the way down, or jump from a reasonable height (don't worry, the floor is well cushioned...)

The sport gets you out of your comfort zone, testing your grip, toes, agility, back and arms — practically everything. It requires a lot of planning and strategy, and at times trial and error to figure out different paths.

With it, your mental strength and stamina are put to the test.

It can be discouraging when you can't make it to the top in one go (a "flash"). You may feel vulnerable, "failing" in front of other observing climbers. Whilst you're climbing, you may panic due to the sheer height, tense up, or feel like your arms are giving out.

But learning that...:

1. there's no time limit. Take your time solving a path, or move on to others
2. it's okay to turn back and fall, you can always try again, today or another day
3. other climbers are always friendly, non-judgemental, and willing to help
4. this becomes good practice of failure, challenging and believing in yourself
5. perseverance becomes resilience — you become less fear-ridden with time

has honestly led to immense self-growth in a short amount of time:):

Just yesterday, I went climbing, and felt proud of myself when I managed to clear
a route I thought I wouldn't manage. I felt stuck 80% of the way up and had to rest
about 3-4 meters above ground due to muscle fatigue.
But after giving myself a moment, I pushed myself up to the last grip. And boy,
was it undeniably satisfying.

Mobility Habits & Code

With programming, you always meet a multitude of debugging issues. Just like a grip that may have been out of sight, you may have missed something so blatantly obvious.

It may be frustrating (in my case, I end up hysterically laughing). It's discouraging when things don't quite work. But similarly to yoga and climbing, you make attempts, you see improvement, you reach higher and you push yourself incrementally. The way you address problem solving may become more precise and efficient as you unlock thought processes and improve the quality of your code.

Sometimes, simple code is the best code. You don't want to overcomplicate or overwork your muscle movements, you want them to support your objectives. Similarly, your code should be there to help you accomplish your goals, not diminish them.

These habits have and hopefully will continue to feed in to my journey with programming in a symbiotic manner. Timeblocking periods of exercise into my schedule has improved my concentration and sleep quality, and diminished that mental block to simply do things and get things done.