Movember: Week One

It begins...

As promised, for the next month I will be writing weekly blogs on the progress of this year’s Movember campaign. There’s also going to be regular updates on social media of progress towards the goal of a luscious mo. Complicating things, next weekend I will be travelling on work business to Salt Lake City to attend the National Arts Marketing Project Conference. Nonetheless I will have something to post.
 
So a quick recap. Myself and a few of my rugby colleagues are participating in Movember this year, raising money for initiatives that support Men’s Health issues such as Prostate/Testicular Cancer, Mental Health, and lack of exercise.
 
You can help support this worthy cause by donating here!
 
So as part of Movember, we are taking part in two challenges. First, for the entire month we have to grow and cultivate a moustache. As I noted last blog post, this will be a difficult undertaking for me, given a natural inability to grow decent facial hair. It will be especially difficult explaining the weird facial hair at next week’s conference. My work colleagues have suggested buying a fake moustache from the dollar store in case the real one turns out horrid. Wonderful support there…

Artist's Impression

The second challenge we are undertaking is the MOVE Challenge, comprising 30 days of daily physical activity. Unfortunately I have kind of shot myself in the foot on this one. After a rough day a fortnight ago I sought to work out my stresses by hitting the gym hard, and overexerted myself by lifting too much weight, tearing some leg muscles and inflaming a hip joint. Added to that was the foolish decision of continuing to train and play rugby whilst injured. It got to the point where I could barely walk last Monday. After a trip to the doctor I was told not to return to exercise until the pain had completely subsided. It threw a wrench in the plans of exercising hard for the MOVE Challenge. It also meant spending the last couple of rugby training sessions on the sidelines, longing to be out there in the fray.
 
However, the good news is that the pain has subsided as of today, just in time. Still, it’s small steps for now as I return to full capacity. So today’s MOVE Challenge activity is a session of Yoga and stretching exercise, making sure that the injured muscles recover well without any heavy impact on the joints. Despite its new-agey, skintight pant wearing image, Yoga is great for physical and mental recovery. Many of the poses are being incorporated into stretching programs for sports; even rugby teams are getting into it, as it focuses the body and the mind, and helps recovery.
 
And with that, this is a good time to announce the first of the stretch (no pun intended) goals for the Movember challenge. Through your help and support, if we reach the target of raising $1,000 for Movember, I will go and do a Bikram Yoga session. That’s the one where the room is unbearably hot while you work out.
 
There used to be a Bikram Yoga place back in Melbourne that had glass frontage on the street so you could stand outside and watch all the people sweating. There was also a gelato place two doors down where people would buy a couple of scoops and torture the participants by standing at the window. I may have done this for a cheap laugh in my younger days…
 
So by donating to the campaign, you too can be a part of karma getting one back on me. As of today we’re already 40% of the way there.
 
Help make it happen - donate today.