What you took as yourself begins to look like a little prison-house far away in the valley beneath you
– Gurdjieff
I know some people that from their own perspective are perhaps overweight, unhealthy, and out of shape. And of course it is a matter of personal perspective. Some of these people feel that they are being held prisoner by their own minds and bodies. Some seem, at least outwardly, on the surface, content to remain in that prison. Life sentence. Three hots and a cot. Could be worse right.
Hilts: Wait a minute. You aren’t seriously suggesting that if I get through the wire… and case everything out there… and don’t get picked up… to turn myself in and get thrown back in the cooler for a couple of months so you can get the information you need?
Bartlett: Yes.
Others finally crack. They can’t take it anymore. So what do they do? They start hatching a breakout plan. Yeah… that’s the ticket outta here. Gonna change my life, go on the straight and narrow. Exercise, diet, the works. Some folks just like Capitan Hilts, the Cooler King, break out a lot of times. I have a buddy who was a self proclaimed expert at quitting smoking, considering he had done it so many times. And this happens. The first try may not be successful, nor the second, nor the tenth… Sometimes people just need to go around in circles enough times to reach escape velocity.
Some got six months, some get one solid year. – Lewis Noah, Viola Lee Blues
There are seemingly countless ways to accomplish this. The folks in the multibillion dollar health and fitness industries are lined up around the block just waiting to help. I’m not knocking some of this. People need to get their information somewhere. Yeah of course some of the stuff out there is unscrupulous, bullshit, or even downright dangerous. Some of it is purposely designed to bilk you out of your hard earned cash. Some of it is well meaning , but just plain wrong, or bad advice. And some is pure gold. Some is so-called ‘Bro-Science’, which in itself ranges from “say what???” to actually good stuff. It has to be up to the individual to sort it out, and therein lies a dilemma.
I totally understand the frustration and confusion some people must feel when faced with all of the choices presented to them. I mean seriously, just on the exercise front alone… jogging, running (there’s a difference?), aerobics, weightlifting, biking, treadmills, pelotons, swimming, yoga, Pilates, Zumba, Jazzercise, kettlebells, bodybuilding, calisthenics, walking, CrossFit, P90x, 75 Hard, 6 minute abs, HIT, powerlifting, martial arts, and an endless parade of TV gadgets, just to name a few. And each of these will have their zealots, prothleziers, and detractors. Running will hurt your knees, and you do realize that Jim Fixx died of a heart attack. Oh and by the way squats will also hurt your knees. Deadlifts will hurt your back. And ladies please take note that bodybuilding will make you look like a man baby. Yoga isn’t Christian. Don’t worry, kettlebells are the answer to everything, or is it cold exposure?
Even in a single exercise there are lurking multiple options and conflicting and confusing choices. Take running for example… Track running is best, or is it trail running, or is it sprinting? Fartlek; you want me to what now? What about marathons? You need cushioned shoes. You need motion control shoes. Zero lift shoes. Minimalist shoes. Better yet barefoot running; yeah I read this really cool article about the Tarahumara Indians.
It may be even worse in the diet and nutrition world. How many diet books and schemes are there? How many companies out there? Don’t worry, this plan is Dr. recommended. Backed by science. The people from Okinawa eat this way. It goes on and on. Vegetarian. Vegan. Keto. High Fat. Low Fat. Carnivorous. Juicing. Intermittent Fasting. Grapefruit Diet. Mediterranean Diet. South Beach Diet. Weight Watchers. Atkins. Nutrisystem. Warrior Diet. Gluten Free. One Meal a Day. Grazing. Some well meaning people will tell you that the average American gets more than enough protein in their diet, and other equally well meaning folks will tell you that we fall woefully short in protein intake. And just please don’t get me started on Paleo or the fucking caveman diet.
I knew a guy who wouldn’t eat anything white. We’re talking, potatoes, pasta, bread, rice, etc. Seriously? Whole empires were built on potatoes. Sophia Loren once quipped… “everything you see here I owe to pasta”. Processed foods. Oh dear, you must avoid these at all costs. Guess what? That bottle of fancy drinking water you got from the South Pacific was processed in a factory. And what’s up with these guys putting butter and coconut oil in their coffee? The horror! One of life’s great pleasures ruined… To be fair… I tried this for a while. Performance boost, maybe a slight one, but ultimately not one significant enough to offset mutilating my cuppa joe over. As I write this I realize that I am in a sort of coffee prison. Highlighting I suppose that we all have our individual boundaries or beliefs that we hold dear, and are loath to relinquish or discard.
Diet or exercise… everything works, until it doesn’t.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking the actual escape either. But here’s the rub. Some people are escaping from one prison, only to find themselves locked in another one. I know these people as well. And yes, they may be ‘better off’ than they were before, but they are still in a prison nonetheless. I’m sure that you have met some of these folks. “I can’t eat that” “I’ve run every day for the past year” Bad things happen when you miss ‘arm day’ bro. Chouinard called these folks body nazis, and found them “exceedingly dull to talk to”. I suppose that this is the brunt of the whole story. These people often don’t even realize that they are still trapped. They become a slave to their diet, their exercise programme, their new way of thinking. But surely they are healthier and or fitter now you say. What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that a good thing? Well yes it is. To a point. I hear variations of this line of thought all of the time: “I’m going on a family vacation and I won’t have access to my kettlebells, what kind of training should I do as a substitute?” These fellows are going into withdrawal. The thought doesn’t even enter their minds to actually have a vacation, and spend time with their families. They are too afraid of loosing their ‘gainz’. Prison.
I’d rather climb 5.14a and eat whatever I want than climb 5.14d and measure out my food – Sonnie Trotter
John-boy, lemme tell you something. You know, them chains ain’t medals. You get ’em for making mistakes. And you make a bad enough mistake, and then you gotta deal with the Man. And he is one rough old boy. – Luke Jackson
Sometimes the new prison is just fine and dandy. But there is another way in that it sometimes isn’t. Injury. And yes I see a lot of this as well. Especially with the newly escaped. Many of these think that they need to make up for lost time. And they do. There is a way to go about it however. Rushing in headlong is oftentimes not the best choice. Or choosing exercise or diet modalities that aren’t appropriate or suitable for an individuals unique situation. To use another example drawn from running… An already somewhat fit person who wants to get a little bit healthier and maybe a bit leaner, might benefit from adding a judicious amount of running to their lifestyle. Some poor soul who is 350lbs, and has no history of activity, probably has no business running, and is going to open up a whole world of hurt. Indeed, even walking might be over the top for them at the moment. Yet you see this type of behavior a lot. The person gets injured, decides that they are better off in the old prison and head back there. I mentioned P90X earlier. I knew a guy who owned a successful physiotherapy clinic. He just loved P90X. He claimed it helped supply him with enough customers to stay in business.
Others, maybe longer term escapees, become zealots. Rabidly and voraciously consuming workout after workout. Those folks that ‘train’ until they puke at every CrossFit class they go to. The runners and tri-geeks that have chronic stress fractures and other health issues whilst they are on their way to collect as many race finisher medals and t-shirts as they can. Prison.
I get it, and I’ll admit that I’ll have tendencies leaning that way myself at times. My point is that sometimes we really don’t need perfection in a thing and attempting to achieve it may require paying a pretty high price. A price that may or may not be offset by the benefit. Again this is an individual choice. The Buddha talked about detachment, but he also talked about the middle way. Avoiding extremes. It’s highly unlikely that any olympians or professional athletes are reading this. If they are, then they get an exemption from all of this, for hopefully obvious reasons.
Dans ses écrits, un sage Italien
Dit que le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.
(In his writings, a wise Italian
says that the best is the enemy of the good) – Voltaire
I’m not here to offer any advice. I have none. Especially not on the subject of diet or weight loss. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. If you want advice on weight loss then go and find someone who was once fat and now isn’t and ask them how they did it. Success leaves tracks. Follow them. What they did might not work for you… but it just might.
There must be someway out of here said the joker to the thief. – Bob Dylan