A Fitness Footnote
THE OVERLOOKED OBVIOUS
As we try to grasp how things work on a more fundamental level, we will always benefit from starting with a consideration of the overlooked obvious. This is especially true of our bodies because we invariably take them for granted.
Peter Ralston
I’ve written—and you have read—about the importance of staying aligned with the physiological principles that govern our body and mind.
If you want to be fit, that is.
I’ve further explored how aligning with these principles doesn’t just make fitness possible, but makes it easier—or more accurately, as easy as it can be.
And further still, that—like our order of operations—there is a hierarchy of principles. The more fundamental the principle, the more weight it carries, and the easier everything downstream becomes.
Consider anyone operating at the peak of their game—in the zone. Even relative to other highly skilled performers, it looks like they’re playing a different game. They make it look easy.
It looks like magic.
And indeed, that’s all magic is. An understanding of perception, timing, blind spots, misdirection— all the relevant principles in play. And even when others know these same rules, as with Penn and Teller in the clip below— and know exactly when and where to look — the magician is still operating closer to reality than they are, and would not be able to fool them otherwise.
This effect is so alien to our sense of “normal” that we instinctively think of it as bending or breaking rules, laws, or principles—when it is precisely the opposite. It is simply observing them more closely. At higher resolution.
Speaking of which.
Gyms are now full of those set on proving—once again—that a new year and your best intentions for it can part company on a remarkably efficient timeline.
Some are playing out this resolution ritual for reasons other than fitness—social, performative, symbolic—which is no judgment, and they may well succeed on those terms. But where fitness is the aim, and people still fail predictably, it’s because they are operating some distance from reality.
So today, I’m going to suggest something different. The subjective nature of the task makes it a stretch to claim I can make getting and staying fit easy. But hand on heart, this approach doesn’t just give you a better shot—it arms you with all the available ease there is.
And we’ll be guided by martial artist, teacher, and author Peter Ralston, whose work centres on what he calls body-being: how the body organises itself most effectively when awareness—not effort—leads.
Awareness, built on bedrock.
In his book Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power, Ralston sets the table with the Oxford English Dictionary of principle as follows:
_____________
principle
/ˈprɪn(t)sɪpl/
A primary element, force, or law which produces or determines particular results.
The ultimate basis upon which the existence of something depends.
That from which something takes its rise, originates, or is derived.
______________
He then offers aerodynamics as an example: the characteristics of air are consistent, and so are the principles governing our interaction with it. Design must obey those principles. Beyond that, anything goes.
Ignore them, and you fall out of the sky.
But as Ralston writes: ‘A principle is not a restriction, it is a possibility.” The more fundamental the principle you align with, the more possibilities open up. The more ease flows downstream. Similarly, I’ve long argued that physiological principles like SAID, Wolff’s Law, and supercompensation make fitness non-negotiable. I don’t debate it. I don’t bargain with it. I’m under no illusion I need to like it.
I just do it.
Taken together, these principles do all the motivational heavy lifting I need. However, I also acknowledge that absent curiosity—or drowned out by distraction—they remain abstract and too easily dismissed.
The good news is that effective as they are, these principles are derivative. Move more fundamentally still, and you unlock far greater leverage that will float your fitness boat yet.
The bad news is that if the fundamentals don’t, nothing will. Actually, that’s not quite true. There’s always the major medical motivation that finally brings the fitness mountain to Mohammed.
But we wouldn’t want that, right?
So let’s begin, as Ralston suggests above, by making sure you’re not missing something right under your nose.
Something like your foot.
Ralston writes that the foot embodies two unmistakable principles:
Gravity. It looks nothing like a fin.
Movement. It looks nothing like a pillar or a root.
Look at it, and it tells you all you need to know. The structure itself tells you what it’s for and, by extension, what it needs. Gravity and movement have shaped every bone, tendon, and arch. These aren’t accidents of evolution, they’re solutions to fundamental problems: how to stand upright under load, and how to move while doing so.
Whatever your foot might ‘need’, it needs alignment with what it is first. And what’s true of the foot is true of any other part of the body, and, of most relevance to us, the body as a whole.
In making the case for fitness—your undeniable need for movement and stress in that Goldilocks zone of adaptation—I submit Exhibits A through Z.
All YOU, baby.
And the prosecution rests.
Any rebuttal is betrayed by your architecture. Granted, this might seem— and indeed is— about as literal as the term ‘self-evident’ gets, but if intellectual agreement were enough, fitness would be the norm, not the exception.
And gyms filling up in January don’t signal any sudden collective awakening. These are people giving scant regard to principles and more typically running headlong into them. Whatever is driving them, it’s about as far from fundamental as it gets.
And if that sounds unnecessarily harsh, I’ll point to a whole lot of effort for little reward. The final proof is in the post, and we’ll soon see gyms emptying again.
This rarity of fitness tells us that humans—and humans alone, not just in the animal kingdom but across the bewilderingly wide scope of all life (that’s how fucking weird it is)—choose to either:
Do what we’re NOT made to do.
NOT do what we’re made to do.
So if you’re unfit and hoping this is your last false start—with the promise of never again needing motivation to get and stay fit—this January, I suggest you sit it out
Not to do nothing. But to do the most fundamental—and therefore the most important—work of all. Because damn near everything in modern life encourages you to overlook, or too easily dismiss, the fact that to not be fit is not a lifestyle choice, a preference or inconvenience. It is to deny what you are.
Let that sit.
And if you doubt it, look again at that foot above—or better yet, your own—and sit with it for another moment.
That sitting-with is the point.
Because distraction will always offer an out. Something more comfortable, more palatable, more familiar than confronting the obvious. Something to think about instead of something to feel.
Ralston calls this body-being: the recognition that you do not—and cannot—consciously sequence all the relevant principles. Too much is happening, too fast. Instead, you develop sensitivity to what is and what isn’t.
Navigating by feel.
And while this might sound advanced or esoteric, there is nothing mystical about it. You learned to ride a bike by feel— not by studying physics. You learned to catch a ball by feel. Walk down stairs by feel. None of these require you to intellectually sequence the principles—you just... feel your way into alignment.
Fitness is no different.
You already know what your body needs: movement, load (or other stress) and recovery. You can feel their presence and absence without understanding biomechanics or endocrinology. But for now, we’re not acting on that knowledge; we’re grounding it.
And with feeling as our guide, January turns out to be quite useful.
Taking nothing for granted, let’s say —hypothetically— you were interested in developing a sensitivity to the fundamental organisational principles of fitness.
Close your eyes for a moment— put your feelers out— how does January feel?
More specifically—how do your thoughts about fitness feel right now? For many, it’s panic. Urgency. Obligation. FOMO. Anxiety. Impatience. Noise. Maybe you’re an exception. Maybe you feel nothing at all.
Either way, the question isn’t moral or motivational. It’s fundamental:
Does this feel aligned with what you are?
At risk of leading the witness, I’m betting these fundamental principles are already demonstrating their power and, in their very first trial, your seedling sensitivities are screaming: fuck no.
And that is embodied intelligence.
Those sensations are not guiding lights; they’re red flags. They’re telling you to pause. Again, not to do nothing, but—to introduce a final, often-misunderstood martial arts concept—to yield.
Because that is what the moment calls for.
Not what January demands. Not what you think you should do. And, sure as hell, not what everyone else is doing. Just the active, intelligent suspension of force (effort) until you, or other conditions, are better suited to apply it.
Because you will never perceive underlying principles when reacting to something more superficial. And whether it’s the flakiest Instagram trend or some deeper esoterica and philosophy, everything is superficial to the fundamental.
Yielding is how structure reorganises. How sensitivity sharpens. How force stops being wasted and starts being effective. So this fitness sabbatical isn’t postponement, it’s preparation.
It’s the refusal to waste another January on certain failure. It’s stepping outside the noise long enough to feel what’s real, so when February arrives—quieter, emptier, stripped of urgency—you don’t “start”, you continue. From clarity. From alignment. Under conditions that support instead of undermine you.
Not because you’re motivated, or inspired. Not because it’s a new year. But because you’ve accepted what you are and stopped arguing with it.
At that point, fitness stops being a decision at all. You won’t revisit it—any more than you test gravity. The principle is settled. Accepted. You move on. Ready to build a sustainable practice from that foundation.
That’s when Leftfield becomes useful. To give you the structure, education, and support that translates principles into practice.
Fitness: To be, or not to be, ain’t the question.
The fact is: You are.
No willpower required. No discipline summoned. Just reality, clearly perceived.
Enjoy your weekend
- OLI