So we were on our way to the Dagobah System. But then questions were raised as to what I was talking about when I said you’ll never exercise again. (It’s time for your training)
Something along the lines of: what the hell are you talking about?
And fair enough, what with me always telling you to exercise and only more so coming from a Leftielder who was, at that very question-time-moment, exercising.
Or so they thought.
Only they weren’t exercising, they were training. I was making damn sure of it.
And given how much more we must cover in your Jedi training we might as well take a little detour now, to look at the lingo. At least as I see it, because unlike the obvious misuse of the word ‘weight’ when you mean fat (loss), here, I don’t suggest these terms can not be, or are not, seen as broadly synonymous.
Some will meet the conditions as outlined below and still call it exercise. And that’s fantastic. I don’t care what you call it. I make the distinction so it’s clear what I mean, but also because there is much lost in not realising these differences— whatever you call them. And this is the first of two subtle (mainly mindset) shifts that, without exaggeration, make all the difference, to everything.
Our first qualifying factor is one of effort: physical stress. So let’s start with neither exercise nor training but movement.
Pretty self-explanatory. I’m moving as I type this but it hardly belongs in the exercise or training columns. As with most daily movement. For that to be the case, it must elicit some degree of stress. It’s a stress that is both relative and subjective. Presently, I wouldn’t count walking— unless it was for many hours and/or on a steep gradient—but if I was unconditioned, ill, or injured, I might.
By then adding the requisite stress you can be doing many things that fall into this exercise column: running, swimming, dancing, jujitsu, kettlebells, deadlifts, Olympic lifts, pullups, spin classes even. But also, should you dial up the pace sufficiently, housework. You can consider any sufficiently challenging movement here, but also— with isometric exercise— muscle contractions without movement.
So you name it. The variety and scope of what we might include here is endless. And yet none of it, necessarily, makes it into the training column.
And indeed, for most people it rarely does.
Some argue the line is drawn between those seeking these broader ‘general’ fitness (and health) qualities on one side and more specific or specialised ‘training’ goals on the other. I don’t. Not least because you can train for general fitness —and at Leftfield we do—but because we must. Because we are training for a purpose that could hardly be more general: life. General purpose.
So while your training goal can be narrow like improving your 5k time or some other metric, it can also be as broad as ‘better’.
A lens that further ensures everything is aligned within the broader context of your everyday life in a way that exercise often isn’t, with many already bowing to chronic stressors in their lives exercising in a way that only further compounds it.
In any case, for our efforts to graduate to training, they must further be harnessed towards some end and I once believed this distinction to be simply one of intent. No doubt, some exercise with no expectation of a defined outcome— no bad thing, necessarily, as I’ll come to— but it doesn’t account for the many more expecting a result and not getting it, so I’ve now come to think of it (training) as prioritising intent. Not surprisingly, Dan John reached that conclusion long before I did with his famous maxim:
The goal is to keep the goal the goal.
That’s training. Simple enough on paper. But also a pointer as to just how slippery it is, and how intentional you must be. Because when it’s lost somewhere in translation to real life: that’s exercise.
As alluded to above, absent any goal, exercise may substitute for training. As a hobby, stress relief, social occasion, some alone time, or just movement, yes, for the sake of it—exercise can be all these things and more. I’m not saying any of these things are wrong. But if they determine what you do over and above the combination of exercise, load, intensity, rest, volume and frequency, etc. required to elicit the adaptive response (fitness) you want then you can expect not to get it.
There’s no harm, no foul, if your expectations are similarly aligned. But frustration signals otherwise. Your body reflects what you do with it. Exactly. And with enough aimed towards whatever end, training is high-fidelity.
You can hang your hat on it. Set your watch to it. Frustration can only mean your actions aren’t right. Or your expectations aren’t.
The good news is that with just that subtle shift towards prioritising intent, it’s not that you can’t have fun, meet new people, and even be entertained. You just ensure none of those factors dilute or outright detract from it such that it compromises the whole idea. Which is to say, if you have an intention, honour it.
Employ the correct mechanism of effect —program, exercise, tool,— enough of the time, with enough effort. All offset with enough recovery.
Leading to the only possible outcome. Happy days. And further sweetened by a collection of happy side effects like improved mood and mental strength.
Remember, your body won’t change for the sake of it and training ensures you get what you want for your efforts while guarding against unnecessary risks or sideshows.
Exercise, by contrast, is a lottery at best. But more often you have only the pretence towards a desired end. You have theatre. And so it’s no wonder so many come to hate it. I don’t blame them.
The cure, as for so many things, is training.
- OLI