Some people are resolutely themselves, moving forward strongly regardless of what life throws at them. Others are yielding, easily affected by their environment. It’s like wearing a coat with something heavy in one pocket. This won’t effect some, they will walk tall with shoulders squared. Others will be pulled over a little by that weight. If they carry it around all day there will be a sense of having been slightly pulled out of shape. They will be aware of this weight. Days like these, if repeated, will permenantly change and weaken the yielding person. For the resolute, that extra weight will only strengthen them, and it’s likely it will go unnoticed throughout the course of the day.

 

I don’t know the best way to lose weight.

I don’t know the best way to exercise your body

I don’t know what is best for everyone. I’m still trying to learn what is best for me

I have a basic understanding of some principles but I don’t know. Too many people claim expertise in fields they only have a rudimentary understanding of. They act and claim that they know. But it’s just their opinion based on limited reading and personal experience. The least someone should say is ‘this could work,’ or ‘this has worked for some (or me).’

I don’t know anything with any technical certainty. I am not a primary researcher. I have not looked through a microscope, tested blood or conducted a double blind experiment.

However, regarding health and fitness I can claim to ‘know’ the following:

I know that exercise makes me fell better, happier

I know that my clients have felt better as a result of exercise, on the whole.

I know I can safely and competently train people in basic fundamental movements (see Dan John, for someone who does know)

I know how to have an engaging conversation with my client. And I am mostly successful in making them feel comfortable when they train.

I know that keeping things simple is easiest for me to teach and for my clients to understand.

But I don’t know infinitely more than I know.

It is not sexy or marketable to say ‘I don’t know’, but it is at least honest, has integrity and can start a conversation. Claiming ‘I know’ is rather like issuing an order – I know, so you should fall in line and do as I say.

Maybe from a conversation, a new experience. With that experience a little more knowledge, and a tiny step toward knowing a little more.

Or maybe not. I don’t know.

 

“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”

– General George S. Patton

 

Exercise. Everyone seems to be looking for the perfect, the most efficient, the next big thing. But really it is all about doing something now. Stop. Get down do 10 pressups, or as many as you can, then continue reading. Don’t wait til the end of the article. Just start now.

You don’t need new trainers or fancy equipment. What most of us need the most (and don’t get) is to feel uncomfortable through physical exertion.

Set up a timer for 10 mins. Do your best attempt at exercise. Pressups, squats, burpees, planks, run down the street, jog on the spot. Whatever. Just do as much as you can in 10 minutes. Then you’re done for the day. If you feel inspired write down what you just did. Otherwise get on with your day.

See you tomorrow for the same.

 

Options (for tomorrow):

Download round timer. (My favoutite at: http://www.plainandsimplesoftware.com/site/roundtimer/) .

Set up 10 x 1 minute rounds

Each minute: 10 pressups or 30 sec plank.

Rest, then repeat on the minute every minute for 10 rounds.

Total 50 pressups or 5 mins plank.

 

Most importantly just do something. And whilst your doing something do it as hard as you can manage. And when you are recovering from today’s workout then read up, learn, seek inspiration for tomorrows workout. Don’t get delayed by the search for the perfect workout now. Do your 10 mins now. Don’t daydream about next week.

 

 

In the first episode of Designated Survivor, Kiefer Sutherland is sworn in as president after a devastating attack that wipes out the entire government. In his first meeting in the Oval Office, everyone is talking, pushing their ideas and agendas. He finds this overwhelming and seeks refuge in an empty room -he needs some alone time to gather his thoughts. Obviously our day to day lives are not so dramatic, but modern life can become overwhelming. Information is launched at us at every turn- advertisements, social media, public announcement systems, work, even the well meaning opinions of our nearest and dearest. This can lead to a sense of being overwhelmed.

When we feel overwhelmed our judgment suffers. We may feel fatigued, our blood pressure goes up. We become more reactionary. So we are controlled by the environment, by the accumulation of outside factors. What we really need to build into our lives, our days, is quiet time in solitude. This does not mean that we must walk to the top of a lonely mountain peak to forsake our relationships and the trappings of modernity. It might mean a half hour walk in the park. Or a lie down in a quiet room. But an effective practice is meditation. This can be practiced anywhere. It is not necessarily the absence of outside noise, but our decision, whilst meditating to focus on our own breath. This is simple and helps clear the mind.

It is remarkable how a little time out in the day to dedicate to oneself can help reframe the urgency of certain tasks. Decisions can be made more clearly and hopefully one will feel an increase in control of emotions, physical wellbeing, and humour.

The health conversation is always going to be skewed in favour of opinion of the sick or the super healthy. The sick will give you reasons for the sickness. The cure that saved them or the wrongdoing that led them there. The super healthy will equally be selling their own version of reality- the superfood that gives them vitality. The exercise that will be miraculous. I inhabit that murky middle ground: How do you find a path toward better health without paying full subscription to someone else’s brand of health, fitness or sickness?

Youth is not expertise. It is circumstance, accident. It does not guide, nor is there wisdom. It is reaction and performance. The worship of youthful athletic exploits and gym gains is lazy thinking. How we adapt and refine as we age is truly interesting.

The education, knowledge, understanding stored within us. How we express that and protect it in a strong and healthy body. How we educate ourselves further. How we make ourselves stronger.

“Idle dreaming is often the essence of what we do.” – Thomas Pynchon