3-2-1: Training as Activity

Thursday 3-2-1 for October 29th, 2020

In an effort shamelessly stolen from James Clear, on Thursdays I will be dropping a post containing 3 things to check out, 2 personal thoughts, and 1 challenge, all on the topics of health, wellness, and fitness.

Photo by Philip Ackermann from Pexels

3 Things to Check Out

1. Ross Edgely is such a fun person to watch and read. But I really liked this video about sprinting in the sand as well as this video on a British style of trail running with lots of hills and loose ground called fell running.

   I think what I like about these videos is that he’s doing two sort of grueling activities, but treating them as activities. He knows it will be ugly and that form will suffer, he knows he’s going to be gasping for air, but he’s doing it because he sees the outcome as beneficial. And this is how I like to treat conditioning sessions - give yourself a time limit and just do work in that limit. Let your body regulate itself, going slower and faster based on feel.

2. Thinking about the previous point reminded me of a program that Christian Thibaudeau posted to T-Nation called the Russian Strength-Skill Program. This program is about training strength in a way that mimics manual laborers. Pick up a heavy thing, carry it over there, set it down, walk back.

   I think the generally accepted definition of a strong person tends toward people who have done physical work for a while. We have terms like “old man strength” or “farmer strong” that specifically reference this. It’s worth trying to view training as the practice of strength more than it is work to improve your numerical strength. It isn’t as much an attribute as it is a skill.

3. Being indoors a lot more these days, eye strain is becoming an issue. And the 20-20-20 Rule is important to keep in mind. It’s interesting to note that research shows that digital device use doesn’t harm your vision, but looking at close things and not blink so much can.

   This is one of a mulitude of reasons I love to tell people to workout outside. It’s a counterbalance to all the close-work we do with computers, phones, books, and more. Look at the sky, look at the trees, and let your eyes relax a bit.

2 Personal Thoughts

1. I see a lot of trainees that focus on numbers. They want their squat weight up, their mile time down, to do more pushups, whatever. And these are great goals to have. But I think it’s easy to get myopic about numbers. Viewing training as practice, as an event in and of itself, is the area that I think benefits most people. Think of is as practice first, practice that helps improve your numbers. But don’t focus so much on increasing weight or distance from session to session - that’s not conducive to life long fitness.

2. It’s getting colder outside, and being outdoors or training outdoors is getting harder and harder. But that’s all the more reason to do it, in my book. Training reslience is one of the cornerstones of my philosphy. Fall and spring are some of the best times to slowly ramp into the harsher temperatures of winter and summer. Get out there now in the drizzle and wind.

1 Challenge

1. Assuming you journal or record your workouts or training sessions regularly - I challenge you to not record your next workout. Still do it, but don’t write down anything. Don’t post it on instagram, don’t log it in your calorie tracker, don’t tell your friends. Just do the workout, practice what you do, and then let it only exist in your memory. Disconnect the activity of bettering yourself from your desire to quantify it.