There are many, many, movement and fitness options available today, many of which are focused on maximal gain and maximal efficiency. Many (though not all, be careful out there) are backed by sound evidence and experience. That's OK, but I don't aim to add to that world of expertise. I like to think that there are other approaches to great fitness and health than the shortest. The strongest, fastest and most skilled in any human endeavor have got there through commitment and practice. It takes time. Most of us don't have that level of time and commitment, and many people want to be just fit enough - sufficiently capable but not challenging the elite, or even the serious. There is a place to be fit and healthy without attempting to bust anything.
Don't misunderstand, please. I'm not suggesting that good quality and targeted services for strength and conditioning are unnecessary. I'm recognising that there is also a more relaxed way to achieve some of the same goals - over a longer period and sustainably. It is legitimate to build any ability or skill slowly and with leisure. So you don't get maximal benefit per unit cost? Fair point, and if aerobic capacity and/or force expression are your main metrics for success then there are many effective options available. For people who don't like the idea of a hard workout (go figure!) there are still ways to say in shape beyond walking a couple of flights of stairs and denying yourself the last cake (what!). That doesn't mean I encourage not working enough, but there is a line that is all too easy to cross and it can alienate people who would like to get fitter rather than fittest.
So, my philosophy could be summarised as;
Idle fitness - roll with it, the quality of the journey is the point.
Some days you want to push, some days you don't. And that is OK. In 'born to run' Christopher McDougal describes advice he was given that to run well you need to run;
Easy, then light, then smooth. If you get all that right, fast comes too.
Well, if it works for running (and it does) there is no reason that the same principles cannot work for anything with a bit of adaptation.
That does not mean that effort is unimportant; of course it is. At the right time, in the right way, its essential to see improvement. But if general fitness, health and enjoyment are your goals you don't really have to periodise and optimise to maximise if you don't want to. Of course you can, if you want the fastest immediate improvement, but you don't have to. If the process of getting fit isn't enjoyable are you sure that you will keep with it? What if you feel shattered and its a maximal session scheduled and you just can't face it?
Is your approach;
Do, or do not. There is no try.
Or would you prefer;
Do something, anything, practice a weakness, roll with it?
No one likes a whinger, Yoda may have had a point with Luke, but seriously, if you aren't Special Forces you don't have to train as if you were (unless you do want to be ;-) ).
I spent over ten years as an academic before turning my hand to public administration and management. I know how to fly a desk. Gradually over my thirties I spent less time doing the exercise that I really loved and more time pretending that I was ambitious and that I wanted to be as senior and well paid (and important) as possible. Should have been a different person really, it didn't come together like that. After some time I realised that while I cared deeply about the quality of my work I also cared about the quality of my family and my friends. The latter didn't pay me money, but I valued what they gave me (and still give) equally (but differently). Trying to balance the need to be seen to work all the time with actually seeing family and friends I gradually squeezed the fitness out of my life. Roll on a decade and you would meet a genetically thin man with stick arms and legs and a cute little pot belly. I didn't feel good.
Since around 2007, when I reached 40 years of age, I have gradually been trying to become more active again. I've blogged on and off since then (more often off than on, admittedly).
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On the way to my first "pop-up" |
This blog series started in 2009 and reflects that I like to be active for myself and dabble with things that appeal to me - capable of many things, excelling above everyone in none. I've seen fitness experts and personal trainers who trot out impressive accolades to stress their prowess and intimate knowledge of skilled performance - world titles, European records, school badges - before describing how teaching other people is the only thing that they exist for. That isn't me. I know some stuff. I like working out with like minded people; pushing my limits, learning, competing, messing about and relaxing with trusted friends.
I looked back over some of the things I've written and it looked like a cross between eulogising my latest interests (barefoot running is better for your gait) and trying to distill some of the reading I'd done to spread the word (or some words anyway). But none of that seemed to really make much difference (if anyone even found it). If you really want a good read, go the the sources themselves. Here is a list of people who's published work I've been inspired by;
Frank Forencinch, Prof John Noakes, Christopher McDougal, Phil Maffetone, Scott Jurek, Kelly Starret, John Brown Jr, Tom Hodgkinson, Mercedes Pollmeier, Todd Hargrove, Stu Mittleman, Joe Hyams, Laurence Gonzales, Katy Bowman, Dan Edwardes ... You get the idea. These are the people I can think of off the top of my head without checking my bookshelf or kindle. Then there are people like Rafe Kelly, Ben Medder and Erwan le Corre who share their passions and interests on the internet (as well as in real life!). There are sites like BreakingMuscle that act as a repository of all things fitness knowledge, and many others. We truly live in an information age. A lot of these people seem to practice what they talk about.
So, rather than just pushing and summarising other people's information I thought that I'd use this blog more personally, to reflect on my journey so far; where I've come from, what I am doing and where I may go. Firstly though, I wanted to share how excited I am to have completed my MovNat level 2 training certification. So now I'm a psychologist and social researcher with a training qualification for movement fitness!
I've spent quite a while thinking about how to apply the principles and techniques that I've been taught, how to make interesting training sessions, how to make a business. I started off setting it all out on paper, generating ideas, writing them down, creating plans, hating their rubbishness. But then I had a better idea.
I went for a run. Not just any run though, an assault run, or adventure run. Instead of running around obstacles and following the trails I deliberately launched into the surroundings to exploit the opportunities to challenge my physical skills, vaulting fallen tree trunks and fences, climbing trees and jumping between branches, crawling under and through bushes, doing pull ups on branches, then swinging and jumping off them again. It was a blast and I saw my local environment in a new way. Not only in the sense that there are more things you can interact with than we normally do, but that from different angles I literally saw things in a different way.
So that, combined with my bad attitude to work for working's sake, has become the guts of my training philosophy; its got to be fun, or worthwhile, preferably both, in and of itself. Otherwise what's the point (apart from making you fit by accident)? Of course looking buff and shedding pounds are important and valid goals, but if you don't need to achieve it by yesterday then why rush it? If you get shredded in six months, or whatever awesome rate of progress you are assured, what happens when you reach your goals? Or if you don't reach your goals - is that a problem?
I went to see a PT and was hyper-competitive about my progress - was I gaining as much as most people? Am I lifting as much as most people? Am I as fast as most people? Turns out the answer to all of those questions was no. But by taking a relaxed approach, doing just the things I fancied, making movement part of my journey to work, I have kept up the momentum for several years now. I'm a couple of years shy of 50 and I feel stronger and leaner than I did in my 20's, and am not stopping any time soon. Who's in for the long-haul?