Soooo many things! Some happen over time, some happen immediately. But so many things are not spoken about much. These are some things – in no particular order – that might happen, when you start exercising in a formalised sense. If you are prone to anxiety, you’ll hate training at intensity – initially at least. The symptoms – shortness of breath, rapid heart rate – they’re too similar. You might start to feel strong, or you might start to feel weak. When we train for strength, the actual training will leave us feeling weak and vulnerable. Then we adapt and recover and grow stronger. Training for endurance will leave us feeling exhausted. Then we adapt and recover and develop the capacity to endure. Training for fun will, hopefully, leave us feeling like we had a good time.
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Grab the bar, stand up straight. Pull the bar back against your thighs. Drop and repeat I was at my gym, preparing for a deadlift session, and The Sound of Silence started playing. I commented to the other guy who was there about what a good training song it is, and that launched us into a lengthy conversation about appropriate training music. The Sound of Silence is a great example of something that helps me to focus – with that music playing I find it easier to achieve a single pointed focus, a Zen-like concentration if you will, or a calm attentiveness, and this serves me perfectly. It helps me to pay attention, to train truly. The last thing you want, when lifting heavy, is to be distracted. I used to work at a different gym – it was new and not very busy and I was sick of the usual radio stations, so I used to play ABC Classic FM when I was there early in the morning. Lots of classical music, no ad breaks. A number of people commented favourably on the selection, but as the gym became busier over time, the demand pushed the radio station back to more poppy, upbeat, energetic music. Which is to say – boring or distracting. Don’t go back to the thing that hurt you. Exercise – it’s the same as choosing a partner – don’t stay with someone abusive, someone who always wants you to be different, someone who exploits your fears to make you stay with them, who tells you that you aren’t good enough, and that you should be thankful because if you didn’t have them, you’d die alone. Sometimes you’re better off alone. The way to combat these sorts of harmful relationships with exercise is the same as the way to combat these sorts of harmful relationships with people – I’m generalising like crazy, but as negativity begets itself, so does positivity. Choose methods that you enjoy, that make you feel good – not those that make you feel judged or inadequate. Invest in developing your own sense of self-worth, and as you do so, you’ll get better at choosing the thing that does not exploit you. What makes you feel judged and inadequate? Counting calories and measuring waistlines. Sure, it’ll keep you going to the gym if you’re wired that way - but at what cost? I’m interested in building character, not eroding it. What makes you feel good? Moving for joy and freedom. The pure physical expression of human emotion. Now how can you systematise that? Strength training does not have to be complicated. All movements you can do at the gym, or kinda in ‘real life’, can be broken down into three categories: pull, push and squat. All exercises are some variations of these... depending on your point of view. You can break it down further – there are twisting actions, which might also be either a push or a pull, there are lunging and jumping actions which often relate to a squat, and there are leaning actions which could combine a twist and a pull, or a push and a pull on different planes of movement. I’ve written about this exercise before, in broader strokes, but there are some finer points I was hoping to clarify. The Bulgarian Split-Squat is great for the buttocks and hamstrings, quadriceps and hip-flexors, for a few reasons. It stimulates muscles that often aren’t utilised for their potential to engage, and it stretches out other muscles that are often overworked or simply tight – but all of these benefits come down to leverage, angles and depth of squat rather than the exercise itself. If you haven’t read the first post, it might be a good idea to do so, but hopefully this won’t be too technically focused that it doesn’t make sense. To summarise, this makes for such a good postural exercise because it engages and exercises the glutes and hamstrings of the front leg, while stretching out the quads and hip-flexors of the rear leg, whilst under load. Why that is a good thing will hopefully become apparent. Of course, my first recommendation for anyone is always to do what they find helpful. This is an exercise, a technique, and as such it might be something you find helpful, or it might not. For many people it is too challenging to be helpful, and for others it is too easy. Never mind - your ability to squat does not reflect on you as a person, despite what some would have you believe. I was talking with a Pilates instructor some time ago – I might have mentioned this once before – she was doing some gym training, three sets of eight to twelve reps. I asked her why, and she just kindof shrugged and said something to the effect of – well, that’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? I wondered, because I figure she knows about developing strength. The thing is, the ubiquitous three sets of eight to twelve is an old bodybuilder protocol. Steve Reeves used to do it, he talks about it in his book. If you’re not a bodybuilder, why are you using a bodybuilding protocol? Lots of mainstream fitness info has filtered down from bodybuilding culture over the years. But if you take one or two things here and there – a body-parts-based training approach, a given sets and reps scheme, or a lifting tempo – and you don’t also eat a lot or you don’t train frequently enough, or whatever – in short, if you take some bits but not others, you get a really disjointed and ineffective training routine. And when you stop to think about it – how crazy is it to employ watered-down bodybuilding methods if you’re not actually looking to get big and muscular? If you want toning, fat loss, or any of that other stuff we so frequently go to modern gyms for – why use methods that were intended to make people big? I now have t-shirts for sale! And there are other things afoot, but firstly, the t-shirts: if you go to my page at Red Bubble, you’ll find six designs currently on offer. Red Bubble make to order, so if you pick one, they print it on whatever colour-garment combination you choose, and they’ll ship it to you. I’ll make a small commission, but it’s not about the money. What I’m interested in, ultimately, is helping to grow a culture of physicality that exists free from the demands of the beauty standard and prejudice about body-image. To this end, I’m also working on another website. It’s called Silverback Physical Culture, and although nothing is really up there yet, there will be training programs for sale, but they won’t be too prescriptive. You will be required to bring your own awareness and sensitivity to the information presented, and you’ll be in charge of structuring your own training. I will provide appropriate techniques and methods for athletic progression, and in this way, for those of you who are interested, I endeavour to help you develop your athletic capacity as well as your physical confidence and mind-body awareness, on your terms. You’ll be reminded that you’re in charge of exactly how little or how much, how gently or how hard you train. And in this process, we learn about ourselves. It’s about awareness and curiosity and progression, not obedience. I’m very strong. I can squat all the way to the ground with 115kg loaded up on my back, I can bench press equal to my own body’s weight, and I can belt out a casual couple of chin-ups any time of day. And I can run pretty fast, when the mood takes me. I’m no powerlifter or professional sprinter – not by a long shot, but I have nothing to be ashamed of. And here’s a novel thought: nobody has anything to be ashamed of. Sunday through Tuesday I was a bit sick. I still have some vestiges of a cold. And today, for the first time in a week, I trained. I did five sets of squats and five sets of bench press, and after twenty minutes I was totally shagged. I called it a day. All up, there wouldn’t have been much more than five minutes of actual work in the whole session. I would say it’s joy. But we train as if the purpose of exercise is to change the shape of our bodies. Really, the bulk of what I have to say on this point can be summed up in three words: what the hell? And I could just leave it there, but I’ll elaborate. Evolution is the new black. Many people are doing the ‘paleo’ thing, looking to evolution and vaguely nature-based ways at optimising health and performance – and if you’re going to buy into the evolutionary thing, the paleo ideal – what sense does it make for exercise to change the shape of our bodies? I’ve touched on this before – if running all day caused us to lose a substantial amount of weight, the species would not survive. And on the other hand, how can adding pounds of muscle be a good idea – in the context of survival of the species? It requires so much damn food to maintain that extra mass. There’s no logic to it. Seriously - squats, deadlifts, cleans, snatches, lunges, jump squats, skipping, burpees, mountain climbers, chin-ups, sprinting, rowing, kicking a bag, boxing drills - what's the difference? Body parts, intensity... If it's a full-body exercise, performed at intensity, strength and cardio become meaningless terms. Totally redundant.
Ever done a set of six heavy squats? Sprinted up a hill? The heart-pounding, leg burning, lung heaving results are almost identical. Strength and cardio don't really exist - they're at opposite ends of an intensity spectrum. Sure, you can walk and not really build your strength, or you can do isolated biceps curls and not really stimulate much of a cardiovascular response, but... Here's pretty much what it comes down to: if you want to develop strength and skills, full-body practical strength, train full-body movements at intensity. Rest for a generous while, then repeat until you're satisfied. If you want to develop your cardiovascular capacity, do the same things, with the shortest rest periods you can manage. That's all. It only comes down to rest periods. There's no reason why you should rest for a while or a moment - beyond what you feel like. Afterwards, you can always isolate a weaker muscle group, do some postural work, stretch, or go for a walk or a jog if you feel like your workout didn't quite capture what you were after. That's the role for isolation work in my book - after your main things, to bring up your weak points. And cardio too, if you haven't quite satisfied yourself, you can always go for a little jog or something. But this strength vs. cardio thing - I just don't buy it any more. Your body doesn't categorise - it knows work and rest, intensity and duration, but it doesn't care at all about our concepts for exercise. |