3 EFFORTS FROM ME

1)  Everything we do is something else we do when performing exercise.  Take this Low Sled Push variation, this Inverted Bear Hold and this Goblet Split Squat.  People may say something like they use the same “core” muscles.  That’s fine, but what really matters is if a similar strategy is used to perform the exercises.  Exercise requires us to control internal pressure to promote or maintain a body shape/position.  Certain body shapes/positions are needed to access unrestricted, and pain free, joint range of motion – if that is the goal.  So, similar body shapes/positions can be repeated throughout a workout to reinforce the same movement goal.

2)  It is the time of year when I give “the talk” to college athletes about the virtues needed to achieve success with exercise, but the message applies to any endeavor.  The first virtue I always discuss is accountability; we have to know what we are responsible for.  Well, fundamentally there are two guarantees in our lifetimes: we will die… and we will make choices.  We don’t necessarily control our time of death, but we incessantly make choices.  The goal is to compound more wins than losses with our choices.  However, we must recognize our responsibility for choosing the actions we take in every moment to accumulate those “W’s” or “L’s”.

I recently read a section in the book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant that evolves my model of “choices” a little more:
 

“In any situation in life you always have three choices: you can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. 
If you want to change it, then it is a desire.  It will cause you suffering until you successfully change it.  So don’t pick too many of those.  Pick one big desire in your life at any given time to give yourself purpose and motivation.”

Naval’s advice to pick accepting?  Embrace death.  “You are going to die one day, and none of this is going to matter.  So enjoy yourself.”

3) A have a client complete a side bridge variation with a different top arm position relative to the execution on the first side.  He says, “That is like a totally different exercise.” Correct!

Most of us adapt left and right muscle/tissue asymmetries from how we produce and absorb force to manage our center gravity.  So, how we perform an exercise, a.k.a. how we create specific adaptations to manage our center of gravity in a particular context, matters… a lot.  Arm, leg, and external resistance (i.e. dumbbell, kettlebell, etc) placement greatly impact the position of our center of gravity.  Thus, they influence our ability to regain velocity of motion as well as confident movement from pain free joints.

Email me if you have any questions or topics you would like me to discuss!

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Best,

Dan