From Activewear to Everywhere
But I don't want fitness to dominate my life!
To cut to the chase:
Same here.
Today we're taking a little detour on the path to practice to address the universal objection. After many years of introducing the idea of a fitness (fit for purpose) practice, I know what’s coming. Adding the ‘all things considered’ qualification only underlines it.
An objection I can set my watch to, although one perhaps not unreasonable in light of the intentionally extreme advice— you make fitness your number one priority.
I well know how crazy that sounds. But do you think I'm aiming for the fraction of a percent who might not baulk at that advice?
No. Like here, the apparent absurdity is intended to make you pause. To make you wonder: he can't mean that surely...
And you'd be right. I don't mean that. Firstly, because you’re still thinking of fitness as something you do in activewear rather than the totality. Secondly, because what you imagine it to be is not it, so it's less an objection than a misperception.
And also because ultimately, and candidly, I intend to change how you think about it.
Because our minds take us directly to what it's not. Even with all the caveats:
We're only making things better.
Easier
And not detracting from anything
Right now the idea that fitness takes precedence in your life is so foreign you're close to rejecting it out of hand. I say close to only because you're still reading but that may be to humour me and you may have already done so.
From the outside looking in, you decide it's not for you.
As I've said many times, I am all for scepticism when it comes to fitness and dietary claims, but, I promote the practice— and the all things considered—approach so it doesn’t come to dominate your life.
Because what we're talking about here as a first order of business is minimal fitness. That which allows you to do whatever you need (not want) to do, such that it doesn't detract from your life.
Fitness bedrock. And the point below which it will, absolutely, begin to dominate your life. And increasingly so.
Even so, this objection can take another form— but I don't want to live like that!
This too, because what people hear/read/understand by 'all things considered' is that everything comes to be seen through a strictly fitness lens.
And this is a little stickier to unpick. I didn't suggest you look at everything, or indeed anything through a strictly fitness lens if you’re still thinking ‘activewear fitness’.
We are best to think of fitness—as the sum total of inputs and outputs— as everything and to consider that through an everything lens. And, most pointedly, not to pretend that fitness is not fundamental to all of it.
To do otherwise, there's always a strange compartmentalisation going on. Not all things considered but most things studiously and willfully ignored.
But nor is this one more boring pitch for work-life balance or the hustle culture drive to optimise. We're inundated with images of success and perfection, creating a standard less inspiring than paralyzing and only further disconnecting us from our bodies and any realistic chance of genuine well-being.
The practice, above all, is that: realistic. It’s dealing with reality. Not maximising but muddling through. A messy, imperfect trial-and-error search for a bit better. Cumulatively. When everything is aligned you do less not more because it’s all pulling in the same direction.
But that’s fair warning too. Because however messy and imperfect it might be it IS effective and so utterly at odds with the many options designed (or at least claiming) to preserve your existing lifestyle. To offset, or excuse it.
No. Change is the point of the whole endeavour. There’s no magic here and your life will be different exactly where it needs to be for the outcome you want. But you’re not going to turn into a Crossfitter, I promise.
In any case, another advantage of this approach is that you can try it on for size and make an informed decision in the relative short term. The practice playing out in your life is something you can gauge from the get-go.
If you’ve been doing nothing about getting fit and waiting for the planets to magically align or if you have chosen to address it and immediately set your sights on a program (or diet) end, when you’ll finally be fit, slim or whatever, your true happiness is forever postponed. Somewhere out there over the horizon. Imaginary.
A practice is all about the present. If it's not doable or enjoyable, it's not a good practice. So change it.
The practice gives you leverage, flexibility and adaptability. It’s resilient to the vagaries of life. It's a reflection of who you are as a person, your age, body shape, fitness level, skill, injuries, interests, commitments... need I say it... everything.
An absolute minimum level of fitness—such that it doesn’t otherwise detract from your life— is a low bar. But it's also the only place to start if you never want to start again.
And as we look to the HOW, that is the promise of the practice. Not that you’ll get fit— but, of course, you will— but that you will never be unfit again.
Enjoy your weekend.
- OLI