Fitness has taught me more about life, than school did. I was just on a lunch break with a friend, and he recently started working out. He was asking all the right questions, but there was one thing, that kept popping-up.
“What technique should you use to bench press”. And while this is a perfectly normal question, the context here was how can he (a literal toothpick), lift a heavy barbell, through sheer use of “technique”.
ME: “You Need To Get Stronger”.
HIM: “No, but wait, how about the angle of your arms, and the position of your torso, and how do I….”.
ME: “Just get stronger”.
It kept going on, for quite a while until he finally understood, that no matter how much he focuses on achieving that lifting goal, through improving his technique – it just won’t work, because he isn’t strong enough yet.
Seems pretty simple right? Nevertheless, this conversation got me thinking about a larger truth that many of us overlook, why do we all want to get something out of life (Money, good job, business, friends, connections, health, freedom, love, relationships) all through a use of techniques, shortcuts.
How we all want to a shortcut in Life
We are so caught-up chasing the leaves of the tree, that we completely neglect the roots. Those leaves represent our desires, and the more we fixate on them, the harder it becomes to actually get them. Because most of the time, we tend to put it as an external force, that we now can’t really do anything about. So in turn, it would be very easy to sell us onto some special solution, special formula, which of course doesn’t exist, because, what you need to do, is become stronger inside out.
I bring this analogy of a tree with roots and leaves, because, if we focus on the roots, the rest of the tree will get the water and minerals that it needs to flourish, without you even needing to think of the tiny leaves and branches.
The Primal Evolution
Now what are the roots of the tree? In other words, what do I focus on?
So, I am working on a roadmap, and the very first stage, I call it the “primal evolution”. Primal, because the things that you do here are extremely simple.
Pretty much your goal at this stage, is to get out of the “lacking energy to do things” cycle.
Most people are living through life in between these 2 states:
- Functioning just enough to not feel sick
- Feeling sick
Below that, is death, which well, I don’t think you need guidance to get there. And above that, is the area where you wanna be, it’s the state where you’re gonna have a surplus of life juice, that you could then spend on doing the extra things, that will in turn give you that magic that you’re looking for.
So where do we start from in this stage?
Plain and simply, it starts from your body. There is no point of me telling you to go out there and do something big, if it is difficult for you to get out of your bed early in the morning, if you can’t focus for an hour on a task and if you feel weak and lost.
This isn’t to discourage, but rather to encourage you to start from the things that you can control. And most, if not all of you, should be able to control what you do with your body.
There are 5 main bodily practices that we should all strive to do for life:
- Do some form of muscle stimulating activity (strength training). Frequency varies based on your goals.
- Do some form of cardio activity, at least 1x a week.
- Do a cold exposure (in a form of a cold shower or cold plunges) at least 1x a week.
- Fasting (either intermittent or prolonged infrequent fasts), at least 1x a week.
- Static exercises (could be yoga, meditation, etc), at least 1x a week.
And the main shift that needs to happen, is that these aren’t privilleged activities that you should be doing when everything else in your life is “solved”. Stop treating your health as optional. It’s your base, it’s where your life starts and where your life ends. And it is the single most neglected aspect of people nowadays, yet it is the easiest one to take control over, so start with it.
If you install all the software in the world on to a computer, but you then don’t plug it into the electricity socket, it will eventually run out of power. Same goes for your body.
It’s just astonishing how many people simply suffer from the fact that their body is in a sleeping mode, and how much better their lives would be if they were to take care of the 5 points mentioned previously. No matter how much knowledge and skills you obtain, you will never be able to utilise it and uncover your full potential if the cell that you’re living in is sick and tired.
And stop blaming external events for the lack of your commitment. A healthy body will give you a:
- Healthy mind → more productive in all areas of life
- Better mood → improved relationships
- Better looking → more opportunities in life (shocker)
- Stronger willpower → able to be above circumstances, not under circumstances
All of these will inevitably ripple across your existence resulting in improved social, professional and personal life.
And if you have gotten the urge to start with all of this, please do yourself a favour and read my very first article, where I talk about, how to approach these types of changes in your life, to make sure they stick.
