A new (old) fitness paradigm

So, I've been posting and blogging a bit about movement and I was taking to my brother in law and he said words along the lines of "whats that all about?" A fair question, and one he soon regretting asking because I only went and told him. I'm not inspired to move to just be fit and healthy. I can do that going running, or a circuits class at the gym. As long as I eat fewer pies than I sweat off I'm going to live forever, right?

No. 

For me movement brings having a great time into my favourite place - the outdoors - and adds that special motivation - it makes you awesome. Like a real life action hero. Watch some of the videos of people who really understand how their bodies work, and I bet you'll be watching people who are pretty incredible. There are loads of them, and that's the unspoken secret. It is easy to be awesome, but you do have to pay your dues putting the time in.

I heartily recommend that everyone reads Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall. It's a story about wartime (WWII) high jinx interspersed with science stuff and personal experience. As with his previous book, Born to Run, its a cracking read, and quite inspirational. If you lack time, I have distilled the entire book down to four main lessons, but you don't get the overall narrative in this version, no plot spoilers here;

1.    Your whole body is connected through chains of connective tissue, and in reality you are one integrated unit not a set of components. Motion comes from coordinated movement not just muscle strength.

2.    When endurance running it is quite easy to burn fat rather than rely on carbs that you have to eat on the fly. The body stores thousands of (K)calories so there really is no need to refuel for events up to several hours. I know that this is true as I ran a 3:30 marathon with only a protein bar for breakfast and one sip of water at the mid-point. Nothing else.

3.    You may be effective at doing a thing, but you need skill to achieve movement efficiency and economy. Skill is a neuromuscular thing, not just a muscle thing.

4.    Our senses of hunger and thirst do work as effective warnings of need, the idea that they are too slow and too late is marketing lies.

Do what you do with diligence and don't try to cut corners and you'll suddenly find that you are more awesome than you thought.