A few thoughts on what matters

So it was a long day at work with a variety of stresses and challenges.  At the end of it I sat back, drank a glass of wine and thought about the day in the context of the rest of my life.  This is what resulted:

It is ok to be nice. Alphas are overrated and the true alphas are the good guys. In the nursing home the winner is the guy with the smile,  the alphas burned out long ago or are sitting there alone with no visitors. 

Humour, being cheeky, being human is right and can be professional.  I like you.  I want to help.   If you do not see the humour then you are lost.

You still need to know your subject. Honesty beats confidence.  Don't talk rubbish with confidence.  The ones who know their stuff will realise that you are empty.

You buy from those you like and that includes buying ideas. So be likeable.

Nothing is really that important.   Stand back for a minute, think of your best moment then return to your problem.

You will die, become sick or demented. What will matter then? Truth matters. Love matters.  Moments matter - that hug, sunset, meal, laugh.

What more do you want?

Back to it ......and what really matters

Back to it now....

I took that photo a couple of days ago, just south of Edinburgh.  It was beautiful.

I spent a few days with family and again it puts things in perspective.  All this fitness stuff has to improve your life, your happiness, your health and longevity.   That is so much more than performance.

The metric has to be health and happiness.

I'm Back and some thoughts

I've been away for a few days visiting my parents.  My Dad is getting old and quite frail and it is very hard to see him like this.  Most of this year I've spent watching my girlfriend's Dad deteriorate and die.

All this puts a lot of things into perspective.  You see what really matters.  Family, faith, health.  We are all going to die.  Some of us are going to get old as well. 

Health is important, fitness and function too, but family and friends are high up in the mix too.  We can't forget that.

Fitness Geeks / Nerds

This raised a smile

(more here) This is certainly true in the fitness / health world. Especially among the blogs. It made me think of something I read on the Moynihan Institute recently which was riffing on how divorced this subculture is from the rest of the world. The things we obsess about are just off the radar to most people:

Are you a member of the fitness glitterati?

05/11/10
Chances are that if you reading this that you are a member of the fitness glitterati. It’s kind of like being a new ager. New agers never admit to being new age or even liking things of a new age nature. Their lives are simply so intertwined with new age mumbo jumbo that they can’t distinguish otherwise. It’s called denial.

You most likely fancy yourself as a regular guy that just likes to train and doesn’t want to deal with all the bullshit that goes on in modern day gyms. This may be true but this is the standard prerequisite to becoming a member of the fitness glitterati. I realized that I was indeed a member of the glitterati when talking with a family member the other day. I would say she is knowledgeable about fitness. She was a competitive athlete in college at an elite level and stays fit currently.

I knew something was wrong when I was talking about certain health and fitness issues in a very matter of fact way and she was looking at me like I was mad. I took for granted that she knew what I was talking about. We develop our world view based on those we surround ourselves with. In one study when college grads were asked to estimate the percentage of Americans with college degrees they routinely responded that 60%-70% had degrees. They were astonished that the actual percentage was well under 30%. In their world most people had college degree. We gravitate towards people like ourselves.

Well I and presumably you have done the same thing. We spend out days discussing the next big thing or some new study on the various fitness forums. We forget that most people are unaware of most of this crap - and yes most of it is crap. Most people don’t workout and are generally unaware of what they are doing to their bodies. They simply don’t care. Those that do train generally still train like quasi body builders with their body part splits and cardio days. They might do some yoga, Pilates, spinning class or some boot camp bullshit.

The vast majority of people that train are deeply entrenched in the bourgeois camp. They eat low fat and think breakfast cereal is healthy. When they train they actually wear shoes with a lot of support and they almost never train outdoors unless its cardio day and they are out jogging or cycling. Every thing about their training is so 2007. They are quite simply squares.

We on the other hand glitter. We transcend bourgeois values. To us these people are the Hoi Polloi, rabble, Philistines. Here are some things that are a must among our crowd this year. Simply everyone that matters is either doing them or in some case no doing them.

No one sits anymore. As I am writing this I am standing in front of my makeshift workstation. We all know that sitting is bad for you even worse than smoking cigarettes. Sitting is so 2008.

The other day I walked by a 24 fitness and guess what I saw? Throngs of people were jogging on treadmills. But wait it gets better. They were wearing shoes! Actual running shoes! I mean really, who wears shoes anymore? How tacky. Everyone knows that these days it’s barefoot or at the very least a pair of Vibrams.

Can you believe that there are people that still eat grains? I mean the other day I saw a guy eating a bagel. What is this the 80s? And how embarrassing is it when some rube asks you if you are eating low carb? No one says ‘low carb’ anymore. It’s Paleo. We eat Paleo not low carb. Low carb is for fat guys in t-shirts and Bermuda shorts named Jimmy.

You really know your in Palookaville when you walk into a gym and 2/3 of the guys are bench pressing? Don’t they know benching in non functional and that a guy that snatches 45 pounds is really stronger than a cat a that benches 500. Geez. No one benches anymore simply no one.

We may not bench or do barbell curls anymore but we do Olympic lift. Sure our numbers are paltry and our form is suspect. We may even be doing more damage than good but that’s not the point is it? The point is that were not benching anymore and we’re doing something that Hoi Polloi doesn’t which makes us better than them. And in the end isn’t being better than everyone else what it’s all about?

And what really distinguishes the glitterati from the rabble is our post modern approach to bodybuilding. We don’t body build even though we in actuality body build. We eschew bodybuilder even though we are in fact bodybuilder. Crossfit is the personification of this madness. They shroud their objectives with terms like functional, tactical and warrior. They spout off platitudes about being athletes and other bullshit when in actuality all they want to do is find acceptable venues where they can strip off their shirts and show off their 6 packs like a bunch of ************.

It’s not easy being member of the glitterati. It takes effort and hours way from your job, family and other responsibilities that most people put first. I’m mean the volume on has to keep up with. This week it’s 5/3/1 next week 99-trx-z, The Gaymes, Art DeVany doing Smith machine squat…ad nauseam. It ain’t an easy job but somebody’s got to do it.

Diverted by novelty....

This post follows on partly from the last one.

I keep getting diverted by novelty. It happened again this week. Thinking back over my training I was starting to realise a few things:

• I made my best progress in strength and gaining muscle years ago on very basic routines, from Hardgainer magazine. Stiff Leg deadlifts, Dips, Press, Row. Not to failure stuff, but just weekly adding tiny bits of weight.
• I am getting tired of being sore from exercise.
• I do not want to be put at risk of injury - I've a demanding job and can't afford to be out of action from training. So Bill DeSimone's ideas will influence my exercise choice and range of motion.
  
• I need to do some rehab / posture exercises - TGU, bridging, birddog, plank.
• I want to be fit for the things I enjoy - Hillwalking and Krav Maga (Krav is fun but for me it is about learning a self defence - I am not bothered about grading, and there are better ways of keeping fit)

So I'd decided to get back to something basic. Two major exercises - Stiff leg / Romanian deadlifts & Dumbbell Floor Press - for 2x5 each building up weight over time. Lots of rest between sessions

Day 1 - Deadlift, then some easy pushups
Day2 - Floor Press, then some easy pullups or curls and some wall sit.

With posture exercises thrown in almost daily and lots of walking. All using Bill De Simone's prescribed ranges of motion

Keep it simple.

Then John Little publishes his new protocol and I start to get diverted into wanting to try the new thing. I am not going to. I am sticking to the basics for a while.