The Welcome Mat
Welcome to the Leftfield Training newsletter in its new guise and new home.
The idea here, as the name suggests, is to map out an unconventional approach to fitness, diet and lifestyle. Not to be contrarian, or for a marketing-inspired point of difference, but simply because the conventional approach has demonstrably failed.
That we arrive at adulthood with little understanding of our basic operating instructions is, first, a failure of our education. Given the importance, it’s reasonable to think we would all enjoy this subset of knowledge, but, quite evidently, we don’t.
Aside from the repeated patterns and frustrations this condemns us to, it further leaves us ripe for exploitation.
Scratch the surface of the prevailing fitness and dietary paradigm and you’ll find… nothing whatsoever: it’s all hype and no substance. Our lack of knowledge is so complete, we’re unable to even determine that. And the downward spiral continues.
And I get it, the idea of any industry is to make a buck, but if we might generously, if not naively, assume these industries were more than pretending to help in this regard, every relevant metric tells us otherwise.
And there’s a good reason for that.
It’s less that the physiological principles governing our body and mind— or other relevant realities— go uncredited, it’s that these mechanisms of effect are rarely present at all.
By contrast, Leftfield Training is the reconciling of physiological (and psychological) realities with the reality of our daily lives.
And so the responsibility lies squarely with us. With you. The happier news is that if you’re able to get outside the mire of the mainstream for just long enough, choosing to align yourself with these principles, you’ll quickly find you can’t help but move the needle. And then the whole edifice comes crumbling down.
But you need not take anything here on faith. The principles prove themselves; that’s what principles do. Moreover, the problem detailed above, at least in part, stems from believing we need an expert, someone to whom we can outsource the basics. Were you to boil these ideas down, you will only ever arrive at:
It’s your body. Use it. And listen to what it tells you.
While you could target the summit— it would be impossible to reach without employing these principles— this is not about optimisation or peak fitness. The promise here is that you can enjoy a base level of fitness— still comparatively elite— without it dominating or otherwise detracting from your life.
I also well know the language I use here for lack of alternative: words like ‘unconventional’ and phrases like ‘listen to your body’, are often code for the quackery this space is a magnet for. But here you can expect evidence-based information incorporating the best practices of exercise science, nutrition, and behaviour change. There is no detoxing, juicing, or any other 'modality' synonymous with pseudoscience. Reality is forever our guiding light.
But there are a couple of important points to note.
First, when I say ‘fitness’, I am not referring only to the sum of those qualities we might elicit from physical exercise, but our sum, full stop. Where the general populace— that’s you and me— are concerned, the purpose of exercise, or any other protocol, is not to make us better at exercise, but better at life.
Fit for purpose is the idea. Indeed, failing to appreciate that the divisions we imagine between exercise, diet and broader lifestyle behaviours are largely illusory, typically only has us creating a problem while ‘solving’ another.
And finally, none of this is prescriptive. However I might present these ideas, I am never suggesting you should be doing something. You’re an adult. You can make your own decisions. It is all offered on the understanding that you will use it, or not, as you see fit. The only intention is that it might make your life better.
That way, unlike the perfectly understandable sentiment you’ll no doubt be familiar with from the conventional approach to fitness and diet— how long must I do this?
It instead becomes, why the hell would I stop?
Welcome.
I well know from group coaching that interactions — the shared experiences and troubleshooting between participants — far outstrip any coaching I might do. A soapbox is far less useful for all concerned than a forum of exchange, so please share, and, if moved to do so, comment.
But, most importantly, if you read something here you think is wrong, challenge me, or others on it—respectfully. I'm more than happy to have my worldview updated, revised, or otherwise corrected.
In any case, I would implore you to read, certainly, but don’t just read. Nothing here helps until you do it.
You can email me directly via the contact page, so if you have any questions, an area you’d like me to write about, or just want to say hi, please do so.
For now, you can expect one newsletter a week, on a Saturday. Noting that it's a Saturday in the perhaps vain hope you might have a little bit more time in which to immediately test-drive some of these protocols…
Again, don’t just read!
But I thank you for doing so.
- OLI
