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.
3 Things to Check Out
Unplugged is a video by Green Renaissance about getting outside and connecting with people and the world. I was particularly taken by the points that technology created to help connect seems to inhibit connection, and technology created to organize your life so you can live better seems to be pushing you to spend more time organizing your life instead.
I donāt truly wish to vilify social media or the internet, but I do think that a lot of these tools distract us from focusing on ourselves, our own desires, and our own health. At one point a woman mentions that she would go out in the world with no intention to have fun, but to capture pictures and video of what looked like fun. Thatās a powerful takeaway for me.
On Perfect Technique by Derek Miles puts to pen something I couldnāt quite elucidate about a lot of the fitness world. Itās common to see folks say that āform matters most of allā when it comes to all sorts of fitness pursuits. In my experience, this mindset holds a lot of people back, and this article dives into why.
My 2 cents on the matter of how important form is in training is simply: yes itās important, but itās a destination. Youāll get there some day and lapses in form are normal, expected, and nothing to beat yourself up over. Just do better next time.
Iāve learned a bit about Tony Riddle lately. Some of his stuff is a bit out there for me, but he bills himself as a naturalist and spends a lot of time barefoot running, in the outdoors, and all that sort of stuff. You can find a lot of his interviews on YouTube.
I checked out his Chair Sitting Offsetting tutorial (which does cost about $25) where he goes through a number of seated postures that allow you to work, read, or hangout on the ground. These are not resting postures, but ones that take a small amount of effort that will eventually become uncomfortable, encouraging you to change positions. Doing this as a background activity when on a laptop, reading a book, or watching TV is very reminiscent of yin yoga, and could go a long way toward improving mobility and helping you wind down and relax at the end of the day. Iāve been doing this for a few weeks now.
2 Personal Thoughts
Being fit and strong isnāt about the right program, or the right exercises, or even the right trainer. We see it time and time again with absolute novices who do the weirdest set of exercises or some program that flies in the face of conventional wisdom and they still make progress. Thatās because ultimately the results of training come from the time invested time, from cold hard miles on the road. Itās measured in sweat. Almost everything works, for a short period of time. So follow the words and advice of professionals, but donāt seek out āoptimalā - just put in the work and you will see results.
Stress is real high right now, for a lot of people. Finding a way to disconnect, detach, and de-stress is super important for not only long term health, but your immediate well-being. If youāre too stressed, you breathe worse, sleep worse, start eating worse, and start skipping training sessions. But de-stressing doesnāt need to be about sitting like a pretzel and humming to yourself - go on hikes, read a physical book, take a bath, do a jigsaw puzzle, visit a library, whatever. Find something you can do that takes you out of your worries and the world for a small bit of time.
1 Challenge
Itās getting colder around these parts. This weekās challenge is to perform two workouts or training activities outdoors, for at least 30 minutes each, with no digital distractions. Leave the headphones at home, and get outside twice next week to walk, run, haul or whatever you want.
Comments are open for everyone if you want to talk about the content and format of this post. It was fairly fun to write and Iām looking forward to doing it more.