How I start Monday morning

My Monday starts on Sunday night.

Ever since I started working, that has been the point when my mind turns back toward the week. What needs to get done? Where does my attention need to go? I want a clear head before Monday gets loud.

I like going all out. I also want enough energy left to do the work. But I know myself: I need a sense of achievement early in the week. Something real, before the messages, tasks and everything else start competing for my attention.

For me, that starts at the gym.

Monday gets my hardest session

I usually work out five or six times a week. Monday is the one I want to make the toughest.

I take CS4, a circuit class that mixes weights and cardio. It is a 60 minute class, but I do not want to spend it just getting through the movements. I want to run faster, challenge myself with the dumbbells and give it my full attention. My instinct is to keep going.

There is something about the Monday crowd, too. I am not talking about how anyone looks. I notice the commitment. People showing up, doing the work, trying to improve their lives. That is the kind of energy I want around me at the start of a week.

I want to leave with an achievement, not just an attendance record.

Inside CS4. Faces softened for privacy.

What this Monday looked like

Today, November 2, my WHOOP recorded 55 minutes and 48 seconds of HIIT. Zone 4 was the biggest share of the session: 39%, or 20 minutes and 57 seconds.

The numbers help me look back at the effort. They do not tell the whole story, and they are not a target for somebody else to copy.

Going hard is not the whole story

I cut the sauna shorter today. Twelve minutes, instead of the 15 or 20 I had in mind. My heart rate was already above 145 bpm, and I knew I needed to slow down.

During the cold shower, I saw a reading of 193 bpm on my WHOOP and Garmin Fenix. That is what the devices reported, not a medically confirmed measurement. It is not a badge of honor or a number I want anyone chasing.

I can talk about how clear I felt afterward without pretending that a higher heart rate means a stronger mind. This is my experience, not a prescription for mental health. Giving everything and paying attention to my body have to belong in the same sentence.

And yes, I drove Lyft

On the way to the gym. And on the way back.

I was already going in those directions. If I can make some extra cash along a route I am taking anyway, why not?

That detail belongs in this story as much as the workout does. I like using my time well. Some mornings that means pushing through a demanding class. Sometimes it means noticing that the drive is useful, too.

The feeling I want to take into work

After the workout and time to recover, I felt mentally sharp. I had already given something my full effort. Monday morning had an achievement in it before I got into the rest of the day.

Now there is work to do. Tasks to finish. Things to build. And yes, I am the kind of person who gets excited about a fresh week of AI usage limits. More room to put the tools to work.

In that moment, I feel invulnerable. Obviously I am not. But you know that feeling when you have shown up for yourself and suddenly the week looks different? That is what I mean.

My all time activity summary. Not a weekly training plan.

I want that energy to travel

I think a lot about energy. The attitude we bring into a room. The way a conversation can leave us ready to act, or completely drained. How that carries into relationships, business and everyday life.

That is a personal belief, not a claim about physics. I try to bring good energy because it matters to how I live and work. I want my community to feel some of that momentum, too.

You do not need my workout, my numbers or my Monday to find yours.

Find something that lets you start the week knowing you showed up.

I won my Monday morning again. Now I want to do something with it.