Attuned

Ben said something beautiful yesterday which struck true with me.

… that when you really *know* something, you no longer need to trust.

A lot of us struggle with energy and mindset around training. We try to over-analyse while also lacking clarity and energy.

We mistakenly think that the deep / thorough solutions will cost more energy or be harder to implement.

This isn’t true. Fixing your problems at the root costs less. It’s just that you pay up front and the gains are compounding.

Whereas superficial fixes cost only a little, but you pay for them again and again… so you bleed time and energy slowly.

It’s sad because when we lack energy or knowledge, we go for the option that looks cheaper now, not realising we’ll pay heavily later.

Even a partial deep fix is better than a complete shallow fix. Be patient. Be kind to yourself. Take time. But don’t take shortcuts.

Don’t eat random red berries

The spine will have to flex at some point when you lift weird shaped things BUT not all rounding is equal.

“The spine is designed to move”
“The spine should remain neutral”
“Rounding ruins discs”
“Learn to segment your spine”
“Do Jefferson curls”
“Learn to brace”
“Do spinal waves”

^ a list of generic s**t trainers often say when parroting one another, despite having no idea why they’re saying it.

Generic advice is shallow advice. Whether it’s any good or not depends on what YOU need. And all of these statements need more context in order to be useful.

Now let me chime in with some things to UNDERSTAND - not to go blindly do.

1. Rib shift - how the ribs are positioned over the pelvis. Everyone who’s been around fitness for a few years has learnt how to pelvic tilt. But pelvic tilt is LESS than half the picture. Learn to tilt your ribs and learn to shift them back (posteriorly) and forward (anteriorly) over the pelvis so that you can maintain awareness of your “optimal” rib-pelvis stack while lifting/moving. This will help you leverage your spine’s inherent strengths and protect its inherent weaknesses.

2. Strategic rule breaking - how can I most safely compensate to go “out of alignment” knowing that at some point I will be forced to? How can I prepare for this in a way that feels NOURISHING for MY body and is therefore “within alignment”? Don’t copy Jack. Try to understand Jack and apply for YOU.

3. Breathing - how to use the ability to talk or breathe as a metric of safety and ease. If you can talk and breathe, you’re owning a position or skill. If you can’t, you know you’re at your limit. Therefore, you know a skill or position is becoming solid when when you can perform it at high standard while having a chat or breathing more easily. Using “lift maximum weight” mindset all the time isn’t necessary for progress in strength training. Use breath as a metric too because it will improve your entire life.

A wordy post, yes. We all want a quick answer… but if you plan to train for life then you’d be wise to get to know the body you’ll be training in better than the back of your hand. If you’ve got this far, you’re probably on the right track.

10th July 2017 Diary with a video much older than that.

“Everyone has the capacity to be creative, but most lack inspiration. The thing is, we probably spend too much time looking for inspiration around us. The world is full of stuff - art, people, beauty, tragedy, hope, suffering and love. It's easy to see why we look outside of ourselves for that magical spark we feel we need to produce something worthwhile. But in comparison to the wide world and all it's stories, the chances are, we'll think our own is pretty ordinary. The truth is, it is far from ordinary - it's just familiar. Very different. Really though, the familiar doesn't have to be boring and uninspiring, because in everything familiar, there is something unfamiliar. That's the beauty of time; everything changes and if it doesn't seem to, we still do. Once we become conscious of this, the ordinary is no longer taken for granted. Meaning is found in the simplest things. Patterns are found and strange moments of synchronicity reveal themselves. The unpredictable collision of consciousness with constant change is the source of true inspiration. We must be conscious to recognise change, and the projection of our consciousness towards something is, in itself, enough to create change. It's that easy. You don't have to go trawling for information. You don't have to try so hard. Become aware of yourself. Become conscious, become still and you will notice that everything arises from a state of stillness. In this state, nothing is taken for granted and inspiration comes from within. The mind is a sponge. It can't help but soak up everything it meets and it has done since you were born. When you feel uninspired, you are really just overwhelmed. Do less. Fall behind the chaotic swarm of information. Become the silent watcher of thoughts. Allow yourself to express freely and without self judgement. Begin to know yourself well enough and authenticity, energy and art will seep from your pores.”