A Physical Life
Erase the line
"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both."
– L.P. Jacks, Education Through Recreation, 1932.
In the same way that one can generally identify a frat house by the presence of empty beer cans in the yard and random Greek letters affixed to the entrance, an easy way to know that a building is occupied by military personnel is that somewhere nearby one will likely find a pullup bar.
Whether on a remote island off the coast of Central America or in front of a training barracks in Coronado or Fort Benning, the pullup bar will be an integral part of daily life. At times it will be mandatory to do a number of pullups or pushups every time one walks past the bar. Other times it's just something one does because it's part of who you are.
It's the same mindset that one would observe with kids who always seem to have a skateboard with them. When they've got a spare moment, they'll often be found repeatedly practicing specific movements or experimenting with new tricks. Playing.
In a physical culture like the military, this play encompasses things that most people would only consider doing when they're subjecting themselves to "exercise."
This play serves a purpose. Every repetition further ingrains a pattern of movement, creating more efficient motor engrams and making the movement easier to recall. It's developing the nervous system. The effectiveness of this process depends significantly on the frequency. It's been said that true proficiency in a movement requires around ten thousand well executed repetitions before that pattern is available for reflexive recall.
Those ten thousand reps will be much more effectively ingrained when spread out evenly and frequently over time than if they're piled into occasional heaps every week or two.
Outside of cultures like military special operations, it's rare to see the integration of the physical into daily routine. As a result, when an office dweller steps into a gym or onto a playing field, he or she is confronted with an almost foreign world. It's like watching a toddler take his first steps. Everything is new, uncoordinated and novel. Basic motor patterns have not been ingrained and cues which otherwise would occur reflexively, without conscious thought, require significant effort. In this case, there is a distinct divide between the world of physical effort and the person's regular life.
One thing that crosses this void in civilian life is the presence of home gyms in garages, basements and sometimes people's living rooms. I've got some friends here in Denver who have climbing holds and a finger board bolted to a crossbeam in their living room. They play on it periodically almost every day and these few minutes of physical practice go a long way towards improving their coordination and efficiency on rock climbing trips. The physical world is a part of their daily life; not a separate component of it.
While I was living in South Dakota, I had a squat rack with a pullup bar and some rings hanging from the rafters in my garage. As a break between sessions of writing, I would go out every hour or two and do a few pullups or practice on the rings. Suddenly, knocking out sets of multiple muscle ups on the rings during workouts became easy.
How steep is the divide between your physical life and everything else? Do you define physical activity as exercise and have to put on a special outfit and grab a certain logo-clad water bottle before you can start? If so, why? How did this happen?
What can you do today to reconnect yourself with the physical world?
Comments for This Entry
At the risk of sounding like I'm sucking up - another great post! Thats a beautiful quotation at the begining of the post. Reminds me of some of my teachers for whom the divide between their work and leisure was dim.
If we could flow easily between being physically active and being desk bound life itself would be easier. I am typing this but does'nt mean its always brought into practice. (Of course I also think there is something to be said for heading to the gym all prepared with a slight pit in your stomach!).
I think you decrease the divide by looking for opportunities to be active. That hill in front of your house, bodyweight exercises as and when you can, cleaning the house, going for a quick swim - even if half an hour etc. But all this happens if you Believe that exercise matters - otherwise what is the point?
Posted on 12:26AM on April 07, 2010 [permalink]
I can totally relate with this post. My favorite days often consist of a mixture between work and play without a clear definition of which is which. I had one of these days yesterday. We had beautiful weather here in Cincinnati so I went to my parent's and helped out with some yard work. While it was hard work, I had a lot of fun feeling the ground under my bare feet and I got a nice tan too.
I have a similar situation to the pullup bar. At my parents there is a tree in the middle of the yard with a branch that sticks straight out, about 8.5 feet high. Every time I walk by I jump up and knock out a few pullups. The branch is about 3-4" thick so I can only do 4-5 at a time, but its really fun. I don't think of it as exercise... its just my way of having fun.
Posted on 07:49AM on April 12, 2010 [permalink]
I work as a professional bouncer.My fitness and confidence in my athletic abilities is essential in my work.Through many years of training,I have found that the best way to be in great shape is to do at least 2 training session a day.It doesnt matter what.
Minimaly,I do one short session in the early morning and one in the afternoon or evening.
I just put 2 sessions in.Sick,tired,hang-over,stressed,whatever.
It works great. ;))
I am great fan of your work! Keep it going! ;)
Posted on 06:33AM on May 04, 2010 [permalink]
I also served in the military and beside my barracks in Germany were a few pull-up bars. It was daily routine for us to do pull-ups every morning before PT and anytime we walked by those bars. Other than dips, pull-ups are one of my favorite exercises. Now that I'm out, I am so physically active everyday that It's hard for me to actually put on weight when I want to... I lift weights 4 days a week, climb 2-3 times a week, kayak when the weather is nice on weekends and hustle all day at work. It drives me nuts when I see people move around sluggishly with no drive or hustle in their step.
Great posts by the way, I stumbled upon this site through T-nation and have been re-inspired by your writings!!!
Posted on 12:13AM on May 08, 2010 [permalink]
the new apartment i moved into had a pull-up bar in the doorway to the bathroom. everytime i went in for anything i would knock out 10 and eventually worked up to 15. when i get my next place im gonna get a power tower and put it on my balcony. thanks for the great tip.
Posted on 02:35PM on June 11, 2010 [permalink]
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