A Thought Experiment
Housekeeping:
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Okay, let's get into it.
I often describe Leftfield Training as a philosophy.
If you doubted Leftfield might offer some help in your fitness or dietary pursuits before, that will have done little more than underline it. Twice.
Because if seeing our physical development consigned to the dunce corner won the race for ignorance disguised as intelligence, in more recent times, the humanities are running a close second.
The value of hard sciences and STEM are not to be dismissed, but you need only spend a few minutes on social media or read the news to see how that's working out for us. And were it not seen as an intellectual indulgence with little relevance outside academia, we're well past the point where philosophy might step in.
Because, as Thoreau said, the job of philosophy "is to solve some of the problems of life, not theoretically, but practically.”
And that, I humbly submit, is exactly what Leftfield Training does. Or to be more in keeping with the strictest definition — it's what you do via a Leftfield framework.
Now, given the sideshow that fitness and diet have become in the modern day, you'll be forgiven for thinking that sounds a little grandiose, but fitness must be inherent to philosophy. Not surprisingly, it is.
If we look to the ancients we find physical development so obvious as to be assumed — in Western philosophy, or packaged up with the doctrine in the East as with Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong. And while I'm sure we could find exceptions, if we hold philosophy to be that operating system for life, then, if it doesn't include fitness, it's not much of a philosophy, is it?
Although primarily in the fitness and nutrition domains, with tools including change psychology and habit-building the Leftfield applications are endless: a framework of exercise, nutrition — and anything else — that best influences your behaviour towards your desired outcome.
Not mine. Yours.
With exercise as the medium of self-discovery, the resulting connection to your body puts you squarely on the path to arguably the most philosophical maxim of all: know thyself.
This is not the forum to get down to those specifics as they pertain to exercises, programming etc. because, whatever the question, it inevitably comes down to that boring but true fitness catch-all: it depends.
Nevertheless, it's here at the 10,000-foot level that Leftfield is best placed to guide you now. Because before we get to the granular, Leftfield is, first, a way of thinking about fitness and diet and the rest.
Which is not to detract from its practicality, but a sure sign of it. Because what you think is forever informing — if not outright determining — how you behave downstream.
So today we're going to go back to the the same point I started at over 13 years ago, with a thought experiment.
The analogy is not exact, but, were I so inclined, I could figure out how to solve a Rubik's Cube. The information is readily available, so following along, step-by-step, I could do it. So could you.
If solving a Rubik's Cube served up even a fraction of the benefits of being fit, I reckon I would. The physiological principles behind fitness — the mechanisms of effect — are similarly well established. No conjecture, no dissent.
DO THIS = GET THAT
So why then, are most people's experiences of fitness one of frustration and failure?
There are a host of reasons but, I think, a single, fundamental one. But let me know what you think in the comments.
In any case, give it some thought.
- OLI