On CrossFit

On CrossFit

  With any training methodology it is first necessary, for any rational discussion, to distinguish between theory and application. Think of it this way: in theory, deadlifts will provide an incomparable stimulus for developing power and mid-line stability, in application, however, they can literally break you. But, to keep the discussion in the territory of logic, we must not observe isolated incidents of application as though they represent an entire theory, lest we wish to commit an inductive fallacy. In theory, CrossFit is the most effective strength and conditioning modality. Firstly, I’ll detail the theoretical components and then discuss how to move into application.

  CrossFit essentially distills into three elements: weightlifting, gymnastics and metabolic conditioning. I’ll detail the contents of these three variables later. Within this there is an infinite variety of challenges you can assemble, manipulating the intensity and volume variables as much as your imagination allows. Following the actual prescription of CrossFit inc. the structure of your typical program is as follows:

3 Day Cycle 1 Day Rest

Day 1: Metabolic Conditioning (Running, Rowing, Swimming, Biking, Skipping.)

Day 2: Weightlifting (Clean and Jerk, Snatch, Deadlift, Squat, Overhead Press, etc.) Gymnastics (Pull Ups, Dips, Muscle Ups, Handstands, etc.)

Day 3: Metabolic Conditioning, Weightlifting, Gymnastics.

Day 4: Rest.

   The pattern is that on day 1 you focus on a single skill, mastering the mechanics and concentrating on what most needs improvement. On day 2, you mix the two skills you didn’t practice on day 1. On day 3, you combine them all. On your successive 3-day cycles you select a different skill for day 1 and adjust days 2 and 3 accordingly.

   As with any program involving complexity, variety and heavy loads, practice mobility and stability drills and know when your ego is pushing you into danger. Be brutally honest with yourself; master the fundamentals with patience before progressing. The beauty of this methodology is that, after suitably gaining proficiency, it becomes absolutely liberating. Everything becomes feasible; you’ll never find yourself rejecting a challenge because it conflicts with your sport: CrossFit is the exploration of the unknown and unknowable. 

The Progression of Pondering

  I think a vital yet commonly deficient practice would be the internalizing of ones awareness. Our culture constantly bombards our existence with archetypes, products and expectations that seldom do we just retract our awareness internally and revel at the majesty of self. Immediately prior to writing this, I submerged myself in an Epsom salt bath with only my mouth and nose above water to procure air, with the lights off, for about an hour.

 Water is perhaps the most fascinating property of the universe, a transparent swath of chemicals that moulds around solid forms. With your entire head and body submerged, with the exception of the mouth and nose, all you can sensually detect is the sound of your heart persistently sustaining your system. You begin to feel the multitude that is self, with billions of individual yet integrated cells and organs constantly active. Simultaneously, however, you feel the self dissolve, it's a truly peculiar thing, to be so intimately aware of the self yet intimately aware of dissolution. 

 Once you have transcended the incessant sensual input we've been conditioned to expect, the brain becomes increasingly calm. As though a previously expended energy has now returned, capable of formidably addressing any deeply-imbedded question you may have. Questions regarding the nature of the individual self, your goals and desires, your ritualistic behaviour. You essentially acquire the focus that was previously spent on processing the incessant bombardment of sensual input and can now freely allocate it. Much like the moments before sleep, only in conscious meditative practices you can intentionally end the experience and translate what you thought. How much of your brilliant internal inquiry have you forgotten because you slept on it?

 Every single moment, since our birth, we have been subject to the temporal condition of day and night. We intuitively measure the passage of existence through the circadian rhythm of life on earth, determined by the length of daylight to darkness. To what extent are we most fundamentally tethered to this cycle?

 I have identified a correlation to distress and confusion that I think, combined with hydration, movement and nourishment, constitutes a cause. It seems that those who regularly practice alignment with the Earths circadian rhythm and joyously practice healthy eating, movement and hydration practices have a higher propensity towards kindness, serenity, tolerance and open-mindedness. It just seems to foster an ethically prosperous demeanour that encourages good characteristics. 

 The reason for this isn't solely identified in those practices, but in the type of behaviour and outlook those practices engender in the individual. Responding to and managing the fundamental conditions of existence creates the source from which you proceed into everything. Each problem that arises is consequently managed with clarity and focus, every interaction is managed with virtue (given the reciprocal conditions of your exchange,) and your daily thought patterns are generated from a vital and healthy source.

  Primarily, I think this is where our inadequate educational system commits its biggest deficiency. When do they properly foster the correct appreciation and attitude towards holistic excellence? When do they remind you that your body is an integrated system? When do they remind you that glucose, which is most abundantly derived from carbohydrates, is the necessary biological currency you require to function exceptionally? These are the most fundamental conditions of existence: how to manage and know yourself. 

 I don't necessarily want to accuse or blame anything for this, but if you're going to practically rob the first portion of my existence and impose pre-requisites upon me, you should be responsible for instilling the fundamental lessons necessary for life. Allow me to explicitly clarify now: I understand you have the potential of studying these things in college and/or university. That's completely aside from the argument, however, because these are lessons necessary at a young age. Not when you're navigating the minefield of university, practically structured to extract as much money from you as possible. 

 Neither are these practices that necessarily require quantification, with each student being measured against each other. These are just fundamental practices that influence who you are on the most intrinsic levels. They produce better people, encourage fulfillment and excellence.  They need not be converted into competitive strides to bolster ones pride.

The Anti-Writer

The Anti-Writer

 In the pursuit of cultivating a skill, often times we encounter a deterring resistance. For the case of writing, it appears as the "Anti-Writer." The anti-writer can be obvious thought patterns that detrimentally impose their force on your will to write or subtle forces that operate beneath detection. 

 Obvious ways in which your anti-writer wreaks its will on you would include any thoughts that counteract your desire to write. They are immediate and declarative. You have the will to write and suddenly you encounter an opposing thought. Perhaps, also,  you encounter your anti-writer in your daily internal dialogue frequently, confronting resistance every time you even think of writing. 

 Subtle ways in which your anti-writer sabotages your excellence is by operating in the subconscious, by surreptitiously influencing your behaviour. You set your alarm for 6am to seize an extra hour to write before work or school, but you stayed up later the night before by "accident" thereby hitting the snooze button repeatedly. Or you sit down to write but find yourself becoming excessively engaged in research (perhaps not even related to what you intended to write) and not actually writing. 

 Our daily behavioural decisions influence the sustained success of our desires. One means of cultivating a cognitive "smoke-detector" would be to create a repository for all of your immediate and declarative deterrents. Those thoughts that appear immediately when you have the will to write. Create this list and amass as much as you can in a period of two weeks. With each deterrent, generate a positive or neutralizing response. 

 Try implementing these responses proactively each time you encounter a deterrent. The goal is to, with time, have those positive responses become the default thought-pattern. Writing, or really any skill, begins first in our conception and conviction. We must be able to conceptualize our potential and have the necessary conviction to execute it. So the initial, default thoughts that appear are immensely impactful. 

Expressive Motion

The human form is profusely expressive, we've become so "civilized" that we've forgotten the captivating thrills of expression through motion. Movement isn't necessarily about calories burned and prestigious accomplishments, these are by-products, but not causes. The causal variable in highly active people is the beauty of mind-body integration, the inexpressible trance of being fully engaged. 

 Motion through landscapes can be perhaps the most romantic existential experience; being not only in the environment but integrating yourself with that environment. Breathing in the molecular products of nature inadvertently labouring away for your benefit. Intersecting and connecting your destinies with  unknowing critters. This is where I derive my motivation.  

 What the fitness industry has done is it has eloquently bottled up and sold what you can freely and naturally obtain with visceral curiosity. Find a natural landscape and plot numerous ways to navigate through it: be that climbing, running, walking, swimming,  or a mixture of all of the above. Rekindle your intimate connection to the Earth and relish in its bounties and abundance. 

I would of course first encourage you to learn the requisite skills and perform the requisite tension-release and postural alignment prior to this.

 When it comes to expressive motion (or "fitness") it has, experientially, been most prosperous and fulfilling to not entrench yourself exclusively in any single form. A specialty is necessary for mastery but within maintaining a mastery there can be many auxiliary practices. A runner can be a gymnast on the side, a weightlifter can be a track athlete, a gymnast can be a weightlifter. To immerse yourself without pretence is most resourceful.

Personally, the philosophical and visceral insights garnered through navigating forests (trail running, hiking) has yielded the most substantial mental and physical gains. I derive the largest sense of satisfaction from long distance runs in nature, be that with a small tribe of like minded individuals or by myself. Nothing can replace the visceral bliss of a sun-kissed run deep in the bellies of the rainforest geared as minimally as possible.

 

The Progression of Reflection

  

    At the beginning of this week, I committed to running a total weekly distance of 50km in the mountains. I surpassed my goal by 5km, which infuses me with a new sense of strength, capability, and determination. I'm exceedingly eager to see where I can take this ability and how many more goals I can accomplish. Prior to this week, I was absolutely unaware I could successfully complete 55km running up and down mountains and through winding, technical trails. 

   Running, to me, has become the most lively defiance of mortality that I've been able to experience. In my old age, I'll be able to say that, while I had it, I used it. I didn't squander my youth by constantly waiting for the opportunity, instead, I created the opportunity. I want to be able to say that I didn't let the enormous burden of mortality prevent me from exerting my youth to the fullest. 

 Environmental integration is also a massive part of why I run and why I choose to identify as a "trail runner." When I'm immersed in the bellies of the rain forest, exerting myself and breathing heavy, I don't feel like an anomaly that's just passing through. For the period that I'm in a particular area, I feel an intimate connection to that landscape. This sounds a little woo woo, perhaps, but I'm of the conviction that simply because my sensory magnification doesn't allow me to see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. We're in a perpetual state of symbiosis with the environments we're in. We just can't ordinarily detect it. 

  Of course, also, running simplifies and purifies life by removing the trivial exigencies and restoring the basic necessities. When you're out there on a long run, the only thing you're concerned with is ingesting oxygen, drinking a bit of water here and there, and moving. You can only be concerned with the fundamentals of existence. I think it's what you'd call a Pure Experience. An experience absolutely unadulterated by prejudice or pre-conception, you're just living in that moment engaged in that activity because there's absolutely nothing else you'd rather be doing. At least, that's how it is for me. 

 

Authenticity and Free-Will

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHT-xeU1LEk

  Heidegger introduced the identification of the "Dasein," the part of yourself you're probably most familiar with as you're lying in bed waiting for sleep to overtake you. Dasein is the "you" that examines yourself almost as a separate entity; it's often been identified as a spirit.

  As a social animal and in our modern predicament where we're forced into social institutions from kindergarten until grade twelve, it's easy to become a construct of your social environment; to let the opinions and definitions applied by someone else dictate your character. Of course, as a social primate, the idea of living authentically, or separate from the social consensus, weighs heavily on our shoulders.

  So how does one live authentically? According to Heidegger, the first step is asking the question "What does it mean to be?" Because in the pursuit of this often tantalizing, often enriching, and sometimes depressing, question, we must confront our own mortality and conjure up our own meaning. No one can live your life or die your death, it's entirely yours to live and die.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tf6BS9B2pY

  Do humans possess true free-will? Or are our actions ultimately determined beyond our cognizance, giving the illusion of free-will? Personally, I'm a proponent of a sort of constrained-freedom idea, in that, at any given time the choices available to us are limited and our choice is determined by listless variables that likely operate sub-consciously and many that operate consciously.

  Furthermore, the ability to detect the contributing variables varies by the person. Some people are super-tuned, capable of detecting most of their motives and variables that factor into any given decision, whereas some people make immediate and irrational decisions in the absence of consideration. Given that mindfulness is a measurable skill, I'd assert that your level of active mindfulness would determine how "free" you are in deciding your actions.

 I think it intimately connects to what Heidegger identified as our "Dasein." The individual-awareness that we each independently possess, and how it can be trained. To illustrate a rudimentary analogy, imagine your dasein as a muscle. The more you exert your dasein and tread into previously unknown territory, the more resilient and tough it will become. As your dasein gradually becomes more resilient and tough, you'll begin to notice that you're consequently becoming more reflective about everything, from the minutiae of existence to the more grandiose exigencies of existence. 

 Certainly, there is always a limited pool of options for us to fish from, but as our dasein becomes increasingly competent, our fishing gear improves. We acquire sonar, an advanced fishing-rod and superior bait. We become able to select rather than allow, which fish we hook. 

The Progression of Pondering

  Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EB9avF1EXY

 The largest source of existential angst is the quest for purpose. It's a ubiquitous condition amongst humans, we seem to crave a meaning. Personally, when I was younger, the search for meaning weighed heavily on my shoulders and invaded every aspect of my existence. As I've grown older and actively pursued excellence in athletics and personal academic study, I've come to the conclusion that there is an important distinction to be made. There are two types of purpose, one of which being prone to fallacy: extrinsic and intrinsic.

   I've viscerally felt the connection we all have to the universe. I've spent much time amongst natural landscapes, breathing deeply and gazing at each and every inhabitant of these landscapes. Viscerally, I know we're all manifestations of the same source; perpetually locked in an everlasting cycle of forms, incessantly growing and decomposing. So, for me, a logical progression from there is that, through us, the universe acquires meaning and purpose. If it can be intrinsically-generated, then it exists.

   The confusion and anxiety I experienced when I was younger was a consequence of the notion that purpose is extrinsically-assigned. That we're each born with a destiny to fulfill. Indeed, the condition of purpose being an intrinsically-generated destiny is exceedingly liberating. Imagine if you were actually born into a pre-determined destiny, one which you had no agency in creating and were inevitably forced to follow. What a miserable, constraining existence an extrinsically-assigned purpose would be.

   I remember laying in bed at night sometimes frantically scrolling through potential "roles" I could fill. As though I needed to be the embodiment of some cerebral, cultural archetype. As I've come to intimately know myself through copious hours alone, I realize that the ego is extremely pliable. You could be a traveling bard one year, traveling through towns and strumming your favourite instrument, while the next year you could become an ultra-marathon runner. Of course, culture will tell you to buckle down, go to school, get a career, fill a role. Don't be silly, what're you? A hippy?!

 This existence, in this particular generation, is one of innumerable opportunity. Don't rush into university, you'll be so frequently bombarded with extrinsically-designated tasks that you'll be left scant time to discover your intrinsic nature. Discovering your intrinsic nature is fundamental to everything you will do in this life, it is the source from which you will proceed into everything you do. I've previously outlined many methods in which you can probe into your intrinsic nature, I do this purely as a service to you.

 The only inherent freedom you have in this existence is the ability to harmonize your mind and body to explore, learn, conquer and exert effort. After an arduous sentence in the public education system, I've realized we're doing it all wrong, especially in an era of amazing scientific progress. Humans are born naturally curious about the natural world. The absolutely most stifling thing you can do to this curiosity is to shove young humans into a classroom and force them to sit down and learn about the world through a book. The world is right there beyond the windows! Let them explore it! Isn't that a peculiar thing about our education system? It's absolutely devoid of experiential learning, which, in my opinion, is the most effective. I wouldn't assert that it's one or the other, a healthy balance of experience and book-studying would be much more conducive to progress.