Judgement

Is the fitness industry judgemental?

I was doing a gym orientation the other day, going through a programme. I noticed half way through that the woman was a bit off, and I don't know how we got onto the subject, but she said "I bet you're judging people all the time working in a gym."

Firstly, I was taken aback that she would think that. My response was 87 to 88% of the population don't go to a gym or a health club or leisure centre, I have respect for anyone who walks through the door and decides they want to go to the gym or a class for whatever reason. And I genuinely hope they start to enjoy exercising and get all the benefits from it that I know exist.

So no I'm not judging anyone who makes the decision to try something new and get out of their comfort zone. She perked up at that point.

But it got me thinking as an industry do we come across as judgemental and elitist, am I giving off that vibe subconsciously?

All the coaches I personally know are willing to help people. If someone is new to exercise, is open to new ideas of what will work and actually shows up for appointments, most coaches I know will go above and beyond to help this person and want them to get results and enjoy the process.

I am not immune to it either.

Actually on the same day the above event happened, I signed a lady up to the gym and was showing her around. I asked if she wanted to get booked in for a class as she had expressed an interest in certain classes. Her response was along the lines of "one step at a time, it was hard enough for me to join today, its easy for people like you, you don't understand what its like."

When I thought about it, we all fear judgement and looking like we don't know what we are doing.

My response to the above lady: I too recently joined a new gym, and you know it's the same for me walking into a new place. Will the pin code work? How do I get through the door, where are the changing rooms, where is the equipment I need, are people looking at me because I'm new? Are they judging the free t-shirt that I'm wearing.

Yes, I probably didn't have the same level of fear and apprehension as this lady, but it was there.

Another example is going to a Yoga class. I have the flexibility of a breeze block and have gone into a few yoga classes. And the feeling for me is probably the same as a woman walking into the freeweights area. Yoga classes are 99% women and the occasional Yogi  guy doing a back bend. I walk in and my monkey mind starts racing with a thought train along the lines of "everyone can do this, they are judging my lack of co-ordinated yoga clothing and my cheap mat from Sports Direct, they are wondering why a lone guy has wandered into their class, no I'm not a weirdo, I just want to improve my flexibility and work on mindfulness."

Of course, in reality they are all welcoming, not everyone is an expert and the teachers are always friendly and helpful.

But if  I'm thinking that, (and I have been in gyms 20 years plus and have no problem walking into a Bro-central area and start doing some dynamic effort front squats), what does the average non gym going sedentary person feel like when they decide to get fit and lose weight.

Sorry to every woman I ever asked if they were entering a fitness competition.

Along with judgement are the pre-conceived notions and assumptions.

If I ask a woman what she is training and she says something like "arms". My next reflex question is "are you going on stage or competing?".

Yes its wrong, and I'm sorry woman-kind. If I ask a guy what he is training today and he says "arms", I don't assume he is going on stage or is going to be a bodybuilder. I assume that's what most guys do in the freeweights area, its their hobby.

But of course, women can lift weights and have an arm day, because they enjoy it, and they like lifting weights, and they like getting stronger and they are not trying to lose weight.

If a woman was doing 12 spin classes a week I wouldn't assume she was training for the Tour De France, I would assume she just liked spin classes.

And if a guy wants to go to an LBT class that's fine too, as they can be freakin' hard.

Fitness people, are we all judging each other?

There can be a subtext of "my workout is better than yours".

Powerlifters judging guys 'just' train for aesthetics, or crossfitters judging powerlifters, or if I am training for a sport or athletic endeavour then my training must be more valid than yours. None of this is true, we are all just training, we are in the gym mainly because we enjoy it.

Recently I had to  stop training for a while, I would walk in and all the Bros with their gym caddies* would piss me off. Now its not their fault, it was my problem. They were just doing what gym Bros do - wear vests and do chest & arm day.

Eventually I got over it and started training again.

We are all in it together. From the powerlifter to the old lady on an exercise referral scheme.

Judging other trainers.

These days if I see personal trainers in the gym I don't judge what they are doing. I don't judge other peoples programmes, I'm not in possession of all the facts.

I am curious why they may be doing certain exercises. Why they have chosen them for their client.

We all have our own biases, our favourite exercises and routines.

But I am cognizant of the fact that if some trainer saw me training some of my clients or if I posted up their squat technique in the perfectionist world of social media they would flame me and say how terrible the technique is.

But they don't know how far that person has come, what their mobility and strength was like before, their injury or medical history. The specific adaptations I had to make for them.

Hence I'm willing to cut other trainers the same slack as well.

Only dogmatics and dictators think they have all the answers.

Exceptions to the rule.

Of course, I wouldn't be me if there weren't some exception, it can't all be a 'love in.'

I will judge you if:

You don't put your weights away. You do partial rep speed alternate bicep curls standing right in front of the dumbbell rack. Someone asks if you have finished with a piece of equipment and you say yes and walk off with all the weight still on the bar. You bully or intimidate other people in the weights area, especially beginner or smaller guys.

I will also be somewhat judgemental if you keep cancelling appointments at short notice and wasting my time.

I have even had guys tell me that there are too many women in the power racks, and they are "not lifting enough weight to justify using them" and should make way for them as they are doing "proper training.". Yes, misogynist Donald Trump types in a training vest.

The Power Rack does not judge or discriminate.

In short, be polite and courteous, don't be a douche bag and realise the training environment is for everyone. It is still a select band, and we should support each other.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

Ultimately, we are constantly judging ourselves and end up thinking others are doing the same. The self critic in the head can be overwhelming and you start to think that's what everyone else is thinking about you as well. Except, they are all locked in their own battle with the inner critic and don't have time to think about you as well.

Don't be so hard on yourself. If you are training, making an effort, you are doing the best you can do today.

We are all fighting the good fight and confronting our inner demons on a daily basis.

(Top tip: Loving Kindness, Metta meditation can help. First it makes you not be so hard on yourself. 

Then it makes you thing about strangers you meet on a daily basis but don't really know, like the guy serving in the coffee shop. Think about all that is going on in their life, all the things you don't know about them and then wish them well and happiness. 

And then think about difficult people and people from your past as well; wish them well. Of course, this in no way changes how they think or feel or react, they have no idea you are doing it. But it changes your mindset, makes you be more kind to yourself and ultimately others).

You can never tell who is going to make it. Don't judge a book by its cover (there I said it).

In ultra runs elite sub 2.30 marathon runners drop out at aid stations, meanwhile you can be passed by a 4ft11 mother of two going up some mountain pass. And there is always some old guy in a pair of shorts he bought in 1986 who finishes.

Comfortable.

Our job as an industry is to make the environment and atmosphere as welcoming and as comfortable as possible. And then letting people know that the training they will have to do to reach their goals is going to be uncomfortable.

Hats off to anyone who made it through the door of a gym or laced up a pair of trainers and hit the road.

Remember

"Cut yourself some slack. Remember, one hundred years from now, all new people." 

-Message tacked to a tree by monks at Wat Umong, a 700-year old temple in Thailand (Quoted in the book Pivot by Jenny Blake)

*Gym Caddie - a term invented by me. When gym bros train, they normally train in pairs, the alpha gym bro who is normally bigger and more experienced and his smaller gym caddie. The gym caddie is responsible for making the alpha bro look good and tidy up after the alpha bro. If the gym caddie neglects his duties, the gym can be full of loaded bars and dumbbells on the floor. This is a disaster for everyone.

Olympic Legacy. Same as it ever was?

The 2016 Rio Olympics finished one week ago.

In case you missed it Team GB are now a world sporting superpower. Beating China in the medal table, a country that has 20 times the population and a state sponsored sporting programme. We also won medals in 19 sports, a more diverse range of sports than the USA or China.

I was surprised by the level of TV media and print media coverage. August may be a slow news month but the headlines and top stories were always Olympic stories. Why the media chose to prioritise the Olympics over war and economic crisis is a whole other article; but they deemed it important enough to be the headline news, and that impacts the national consciousness.

But now as the summer fades into Autumn, and the next mention of Olympic stars will probably be on Strictly Come Dancing or a voice over on BBC sports personality of the year with elegiac music playing in the background; What will be the legacy?

Will sport participation increase? Will TV coverage revert to its old favourite of football, despite the fact we are truly terrible at football and Sport England figures show more people participate in swimming, athletics and cycling than football.

I saw the chairman of UK Sport, Rod Carr, on TV, he said

"We want to see a healthier nation that takes part in exercise. We've played our part in that. We need a collective effort."

The subtext here is that they delivered what was promised, now someone else needs to do something. 

Sport participation down since the last Olympics.

Sport England's figures show a decrease in sport participation since 2012, down from 1.7 million in Oct 2012 to 1.56million in April 2016. And even more surprising there is a decrease in disabled sport participation since the Paralympics in London.

15.8 millions people play sport or exercise once a week. The biggest growth has been in �keep fit and gym�, so not actually a sport. Unless you count Crossfit as a sport and there are no figures for Weightlifting.

Yes, the lottery funding has worked for elite sports and Olympic cycles. But has it filtered down into the general population, are kids more active? And are there more opportunities to participate in sport and activity than before.

Since the last Olympics, the Olympic athletics stadium is now a football ground, the track where Jess Ennis trained in Sheffield has closed down. And I know from personal experience that trying to get funding for a local running track to have a better surface put on it is near on impossible.

Has there been a sudden rise in the number of 50 metre swimming pools or velodromes? The answer is no.

There is a sport we are world leaders in, cycling. Apparently 2.5 million people take part in this per week ( and this doesn't include commuting ) and we dominate track and road cycling. Something that was unthinkable 20 years ago. And yet, has there been a massive increase in the building of cycle lanes, cycle paths, mountain bike courses, BMX courses? The answer is no, no, no and no. Last time I looked Denmark and the Netherlands put us to shame.

We are willing to spend billions on infrastructure projects like high speed railways, road widening, congestion charges and even nuclear power stations. But something that is a green form of transport and good for your health. Nah, take your chances in the bus lane.

Rightly or wrongly, physical exercise is a big part of the governments strategy for tackling obesity. (Many people argue there is a lack of emphasis on nutrition, and as all the research shows for weightloss nutrition is more important than exercise).

As we know exercise is one of the greatest things you can do for all aspects of health. But does the Olympics have a trickle down effect?

We know there is no trickle down effect from football. A game that is worth billions of pounds has not impacted the grass roots game. Outside of the Premier League, clubs struggle. There is no co-ordinated national programme. The Premier League is a business showcase for international players and managers, but participation in football is down and trumped by cycling.

More adults take part in cycling or swimming than football or golf. Source: Sport England.

A working class hero is something to be.

Sport participation in the poorest social groups is down according to Sport England data.

In the London Olympics a disproportionate amount of medals were won by people who had attended private (public) school. The figures for Rio 2016 are looking somewhat better, but still over one third of our medalists went to private school, when only 7% of under 16's go to an 'independent' school.

Let's face it, to take up rowing or show jumping you need access to those facilities and there aren�t many fencing clubs on housing estates.

Private schools tend to have running tracks, swimming pools, rugby tours and more. Other schools had to sell their playing fields.

Even the Sport England figures for athletics are a bit misleading, as they count road running and jogging as athletics, not only track and field. I would be interested to see the figures for athletics if you took out jogging and park runs. If a young girl wants to emulate Jess Ennis or Katarina Johnson Thompson and practice these events, access may be somewhat harder depending on your location in the country.

Some sports have always had traditional working class roots like Boxing, and even middle distance running. But unlike Kenya or Ethiopia we don�t have 10 people waiting to take Mo Farah's place, as a nation our marathon times are slower than in the 1980s.

Running is essentially free, but there is something else at play, something deeper.

Badminton is available at nearly every leisure centre, but it still tends to be an �old persons� activity.

Television.

The Olympics are great, you get to see all these sports that never normally get shown. For example, the BMX was exciting, I personally like weightlifting and had to find it on the red button.

BMX: Way more interesting to watch than cricket. Source: bmxnews.com

They still showed an inordinate amount of tennis and golf, which we get to see all year round anyway, we won gold so you can�t complain.

But once the Olympics is over, you will need to tune into Channel 4 at 7am on a Sunday to see anything different.

Even the Tour De France, which we actually win, is on ITV4 despite the fact more people take part in cycling than football. What's more, cycling is seen as the 'new golf' for more middle aged men, the section of the population most likely to watch sport on traditional TV.

But there is a perceived wisdom in the media. The nightly news will show football and cricket results and assume you know what they are talking about. No need to explain the rules (and I still don�t understand cricket even though we had to do it at school.). But show some cycling and they are explaining yellow jerseys and stage wins like we are dumbasses at home.

Mainstream TV really needs to start showing these sports, they could buy the rights for pennies. We literally have hours of coverage of snooker and darts, and I have nothing against this but with digital channels, iplayer etc there is so much more scope.

Kids do what they see.

Some sports don�t translate well to TV, for example, squash. But I can�t see badminton being any less compelling than tennis, and if people watch golf and cricket for hours then surely anything is fair game.

Coaches, Paralympics, Weightlifting.

American Universities have state of the art facilities, tracks, stadiums, pools and coaches. There is a high school system and a college system that feeds basketball and football (NFL). The idea of the coach is embedded in their system.

Fees at many UK universities are now comparable with US Universities, but good luck seeing that reflected in facilities.

Now I'm not saying the American University system is perfect and we should be handing out scholarships to people just because they can play basketball. But there are lessons to be learned in terms of coaching and facilities.

The US system is used to having coaches at school and college level. In our system there is a coaching void until you reach the high level. Also note the level of foreign coaches at the highest level � rowing � German coach, rugby � Australian, cycling � several nationalities.

We still have an amateur approach to coaching at most levels. After the last Olympics I expected there to be an explosion in coaching opportunities, especially with athletics and weightlifting. There wasn�t.

Weightlifting lost its funding because it hadn�t attracted enough people to the sport. Despite an explosion in Olympic weightlifting in gyms and crossfit facilities, there was no push to get younger people into the sport, despite ready-made facilities and coaches good to go. In Rio 2016 Colombia had more athletes competing in weightlifting than us.

A few years ago a disabled gentlemen was interested in taking up some athletics, I contacted several organisations about how he could start and how to find a coach. All the organisations were very supportive and there to 'facilitate' disabled sport but no one knew how I could find the guy a coach or how someone would become a coach. After seeing this page from Paralympics I hope the situation has changed, http://paralympics.org.uk/get-into-sport

But disabled sport participation is down since 2012. 

After The GB Women Gold in the Rio Hockey final, the importance of their Strength and Conditioning coach was cited, and how the coach was moving on to another sport. Surely we should be cultivating coaches at all levels of sport?

Women in sport.

Everyone in leisure knows if you want some funding for a scheme, say you are trying to get teenage girls involved in exercise, and a cheque will be winging its way to you before you can say �zumba�.

The lack of participation of young girls in exercise is a worrying trend.

And yet we have young black female sprinters winning medals in the 4x100m, and golds in female cycling and hockey players. How can we convert this into more female participation in exercise?

Rio 2016 GB Female 4x100m team. Ask them how to get more girls involved in sport.

I know not everyone wants to be an elite sports person, and some girls may be put off by the idea of competing, but surely there is someway we can use the likes of Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita and their coaches to galvanise girls to take part in sport. I note that Dina Asher-Smith is from my hometown and is also currently at Kings College University, surely she is a role model not some chump on reality TV?

Would more female sports on TV help? Our female hockey players and female football players are more successful than their male counterparts. Do we need to encourage more female coaches?

I see the GB Hockey team doing the rounds on TV, they are passionate about their sport and want more people to participate. It's a game involving a ball we actually won, the media need to take note.

Legacy reboot.

After London 2012 the legacy trail went cold. As someone in the leisure industry there was no big investment, or campaign or grassroots uptake of sports. There was no investment in facilities or coaching.

Yes, things like Back to Netball, No Strings Badminton and Go-Trihave been launched to try and encourage more people into these sports but have these worked?

The problem was no one was clear on what the legacy was meant to be. Was it to create another successful Olympic games, in which case success; cased closed. Or was it to increase sport participation, or increase levels of activity and exercise, or was it to make a healthier nation with less burden on the NHS? No one was sure.

We do know that exercise is as close to a magic bullet as there is for brain health and disease prevention. Survival rates from stroke and heart disease are way higher than in the 1970's mainly due to early medical intervention and drugs. When as everyone knows, prevention is cheaper and more effective.

We need to be clear on the goal. Who are we trying to attract?

The media will play its part, facilities will play its part and an increase in coaches will play its part too.

Otherwise in  four years time we will be having the same conversation. Four years of non mainstream sports being ignored, four more years of people asking what can be done about the burden on the NHS and peoples health.

Am I setting the bar too high? It's hard enough to get the most of the population to go for a walk and yet we are now an elite sporting nation. Is there a disconnect between the general population and the sporting elite?

What are your thoughts? What is the legacy? How do we get more people active? Does it even matter to you?

Links

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36540017

https://www.sportengland.org/research/who-plays-sport/

https://www.sportengland.org/research/who-plays-sport/by-sport/

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/aug/22/third-britain-medallists-rio-olympics-private-schools-sutton-trust

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/rio-olympics-2016-schools-praise-their-team-gb-medal-winners/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36691182

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37153683

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dina_Asher-Smith

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryll_Neita

This month I have mostly been watching and reading this... from vegetables to netflix.

If you live in the UK right now, you probably want to put your foot through the gogglebox as the media goes into hyperdrive panic and you realise its all "talk talk talk talk until you lose your patience"*.

So rather than worrying if your passport will still work in 2 years, why not edify and enlighten yourself with my top picks of health and fitness news stories, and non fitness books and youtube videos over the last few weeks. Plus my top Netflix pick.

First up

Vegetables on the rise.

The BBC and several other media outlets report a rise in vegetable consumption in the UK of 4% in the last 5 years.

See the BBC video at this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36560796

At last a positive news story, the British public aren't all eating deep fried mars bars, with a Glasgow salad, and diabetes in a can. All the more surprising since vegetables have no advertising budget or celebrity sponsorship, people aren't all mindless consumers.

Yes, a few people spiralising courgettes on the internet has probably helped.

This has lead one supermarket to trial 'vegetable butchers'. Someone who will show you how to chop a carrot. Fair enough, someone might need help with that.

A vegetable ready to be butchered or wrangled or chopped.

What I can't grasp is why would you call them 'vegetable butchers'. Vegetables are the last thing you would associate with butchery. This makes as much sense as calling them 'vegetable bakers' or 'vegetable fishmongers'.

Why not call them 'vegetable chefs' or even cooler 'vegetable wranglers'?

New fitness trends: rucking with a rucksack.

Those kids you see lost in your local forest with massive rucksacks on, they may not be the annual Duke Of Edinburgh intake, they may actually be 'rucking'.

In case you can't guess, this involves going for a walk with a rucksack. I'm guessing the term comes  from the American military, as they call backpacks rucksacks, whereas in the UK the military call rucksacks Bergen's.

I can't find the original post I read about this, but a quick google search and it turns out this is more popular than I knew.

http://breakingmuscle.com/endurance-sports/ready-to-ruck-how-to-get-started-and-what-to-buy

Of course, going for a walk is always a good thing. And as Stuart McGill,  professor of spine biomechanics, has shown, walking with a backpack can even be good for people with lower back pain. He even gets a mention in this Mens Health article on rucking:

http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/top-fitness-trend

What always makes me laugh is  when something that is completely non specialist and simple gets packaged into a new product. With advice on things like how to pack your rucksack, just in case you've never been on holiday and don't know how to pack a bag. Add in the military element, and bingo, you've got a hardcore fitness product.

I spent a large proportion of my youth wandering around the Brecon Beacons, Dartmoor and Scotland with a 'backpack' on, little did I know I was actually rucking.

In fact, every commuter and tourist in London is inadvertently 'rucking'. Whats more, most tourists have their rucksack on the wrong way, with it in front for security reasons. Hence, they are making rucking even harder. I call it 'Urban Rucking' (patent pending, copyright) unless someone else got there first.

My book recommendation of the month is: Deep Work by Cal Newport

I saw this in a bookshop and bought it on spec without reading any reviews. I really enjoyed it, Newport has an engaging, easy to digest writing style, I read it in a couple of days.

The basic premise is that to do deep, important work, you need to shut off distractions and focus.

This is increasingly difficult in the connected, social media, internet world. Don't confuse 'busyness' with productivity. As anyone who works in a modern office knows, people are busy all the time sending emails, but they generally aren't being very productive or doing anything of much importance.

The great artists, writers, scientists and thinkers find time to do deep work and avoid distraction by becoming hard to find at certain times.

And Newport should know, he is a MIT post doc professor in computer science who has written several books and publishes several papers every year. All while never working past 5.30pm at night.

You need a plan, a daily/ weekly ritual, you need to monitor your deep work hours and as Newport says

"Focus on a small number of wildly important goals."

One thing he recommends doing is quitting social media for 30 days. I am currently on day 26 of doing this (which is probably why I am writing this, rather than posting video clips on facebook). And so far, I would say it has made me more productive. I will write more about this in part 2 of my post on how to form habits).

In this article Cal Newport summarises how he manages his time.


Reading this book led me to find Brian Johnsons youtube channel, he actually does a really good job of summarising the ideas in Cal Newports book (see video below).




He has some really good summary videos of various books and ideas, in what he calls 'philosophers notes'. I have been watching quite a few of these (probably due to quitting social media!).

My favourite youtube channel is: The School of Life

Yes, you could watch some Vloggers trying to sell you their latest product placement, or showing you how to cook microwave rice. OR you could fire up the digital zoetrope that is youtube and watch this channel instead.

Don't have time to read 1000 pages of War and Peace. No problem, the school of life summarise Leo Tolstoys life and philosophy for you, and how it is applicable today.




They also cover Proust, Emerson, Dostoyevsky, Dickens.

(Talk about deep work, these guys in the past all managed to write paradigm shifting epic books, sometimes in between being imprisoned and sent to labour camps, and I struggle to write 1000 word blog once every month).

Some of the other videos I like are Who Am I, Wabi Sabi, What Nice Men Don't Say to Nice Women.

This channel is a mix of philosophy, life advice, education and commentary on modern day life.


Netflix top pick: Love

I watched this the first time it came out, and liked it so much I just watched it again over the last couple of weeks. Currently only one season is available.

See the trailer below. It is actually better than the trailer would suggest. Its funny, touching, shows how relationships really are, how they pan out, and how people interact with each other. It also has a cool soundtrack.





Careful when you go on Netflix, don't click on the erotic film of the same name by mistake like I did!

Here are three of the tunes from the sound track.
Elvis Costello
Wilco
And a Pete Townsend song I've never heard before.

Well that's a wrap. Have a good week. I'm off to change my pounds into euros ready for a holiday (if only I had done it last week) and prepare to end up paying the equivalent of �8 for a cafe au lait in France.

*Springsteen reference for the day.

What I learned from 30 days of yoga (and 100 days of meditation). How to form habits. Part 1.

"I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail, poisoned in the bushes and blown out on the trail." - Bob Dylan, Shelter From The Storm.

After a long time ultra-running my body was gradually breaking down. I'd made perfunctory efforts at mobility and tried to stay strong as well. My right ankle mobility was gone, my calves were always tight, my right hip and right knee were like rusty hinges, and my T-spine had always been like a breeze block, and it later turned out to be Sheurmanns disease. I was chronically stiff, and my posture was edging towards Mr Burns on a bad day. It was time to do something.

Mr Burn: former ultra-runner

I had to dedicate specific time to mobility, flexibility and breathing. Tacking it on to my normal gym workout wasn't going to cut it.

I decided to do some home Yoga. I knew I wasn't going to commit to going to a class, due to my schedule changing, trying to find a class near me that suited my time (and budget) and my general male ego of going to a class of mainly female Yogis. Also I knew doing this once or twice a week wasn't going to be enough.

Don't get me wrong, I knew the benefits of having a teacher who could correct you 'hands on' in the moment. I had a one to one with a Yoga teacher I work with, which highlighted  even more the stiffness in my joints and what I needed to work on. But having one to one sessions every week wasn't an option. And I knew without some kind of guidance I wasn't going to break into spontaneous self guided Yoga sessions at home.

I tried some Yoga apps, they were okay. Then I found some Yoga channels on youtube, these were more like it, Yoga with SarahBeth and Yoga with Adriene. I liked the fact the videos were at varying lengths, some only 15 minutes, some longer 30-40 minutes. Which I could fit into my schedule. I also liked the tone of the videos, passionate about Yoga, good teaching without being overly serious.

I started doing a few a week, mainly in the evenings before bed, I liked the Yin Yoga ones, good for relaxing, and focusing on the areas I needed to work on. Plus for me, I didn't need to really focus on the strength moves, I didn't need Yoga for weightloss or anything like that.

Then someone mentioned ROMWOD. A crossfit website, with 20 minute routines. I signed up. This involved holding the poses for a long time, holding poses like lizard and pigeon for 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes at a time. This is hard. Each session may only contain 3 or 4 poses or positions at most.

This felt like what I needed, these longer holds to really open out. After a while though I began to dread another session of holding Lizard for 5 minutes. It became too repetitive for me. Sometimes it felt like I was getting better, but other times it felt like my hips were feeling chronically worse. I decided to cancel my subscription. I still think it is a good option for a lot of people.

One of the yoga youtube channels had a 30 day yoga camp, so I decided to do that.  I knew from previous experience, that one way to ingrain a habit was to commit to doing it every day. I had done it last year with meditation.

This would help me form the habit. I would start on the first of the month and do every session for 30 days.  First of all I couldn't believe that this was actually free, a new session every day, varying in length from 15 to 50 minutes. Second, I knew doing it everyday was the best way for me to form a habit.

100 days of meditation.

I'd always been interested in meditation, and like many people, had tried a few times, sporadically to do it, but given up.

I had started reading increasingly about mindfulness, neuroscience and decided it was time to really try meditation again. (please note: this isn't going to be a discussion about the benefits of meditation or mindfulness, but how I formed the habit).

I already had a comprehensive guide in meditation, a whole set of DVDs I had bought from Zenways years before. I had watched all the DVDs. dabbled in the meditation and then given up. I even had a meditation cushion. And when I realised I couldn't crowbar my ultra-running hips into a lotus position I bought a meditation bench as well.

In the little booklet that came with the Zenways DVDs, Wake Up and Live, it mentioned the practice in Zen tradition of meditating 100 days in a row. So I decided to try 100 days in a row, if you miss a day, you start again.

I didn't realise at the time this is a productivity idea called breaking the chain, attributed to the comedian Seinfeld (Of course, there is a good chance the Zen monks probably came up with the idea before Seinfelds sitcom aired and Jerry came up with the funky slap bass opening theme tune). When asked about writing jokes, he said write every day, and mark off on the calender everyday with a big X, it will get to a point where you don't want to break the chain, so you keep going. This article here explains it.

Class calendar picture

And so it was with the 100 days of meditation. I didn't actually mark anything off on a calendar, and I didn't write it down as a goal, I just resolved to do it.

I started with the 8 week mindfulness audios that come with the book 'Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world'. It was easy to commit, some of these were only 10 minutes a day.  I already had some John Kabat Zinn guided CDs as well, which I had done a few times.

I then moved onto the Zenways 8 week course, starting at the beginning,

As I had resolved to do this every day no matter what, the times I did the sessions were variable. I don't work 9-5 Monday to Friday. Sometimes I would do the session in the morning, other times I was doing them at 11.30pm at night, making sure I was getting them in before midnight.

I committed 100% to doing the session by the end of the day no matter what, however tired I was, whatever was happening that day.

I also downloaded the insight meditation time app, I can't remember when. This has a timer on it, and other guided sessions. Even now I use this to get a 10 minute meditation on the bus or at home.

All these various guided sessions were very useful in forming the habit. Especially with meditation it is very hard to sit down yourself and essentially do nothing. The guided sessions give you a sense of 'I have to do this', the guiding voices help. Also, I can get annoying pulsating tinnitus, Bodhidharma may have stared at a wall listening to ants scream for 9 years, but he probably didn't have to put up with tinnitus. At one point, I was on holiday during the 100 days, and I had to do the sessions in my hotel room unguided, sitting on pillows every morning after breakfast, but at this point I wasn't going to stop.

It was the same with Yoga. I could have tried doing Yoga by myself everyday with no videos, after all I know a lot of moblity and flexibility exercises. I just knew, that wasn't going to happen for me. Much like going to a class, I need to switch off and be guided by the teacher at first.

At some point I  passed 100 days of meditation, and I kept going. The habit was formed. Later in the year I went to a meditation retreat for a few days, and that was a good experience. It was good to hear that you can't really do meditation 'wrong', if you're doing it, you're doing it.

"Think of your meditation practice as mental training." - Julian Daizan Skinner.

Once the habit was formed, missing a few days here and there didn't matter. No need to beat yourself up, you always know you are going to come back to it, the ground work has been done. I knew I was going to do this forever.

I could apply the same to Yoga.

30 days of Yoga: First let go of judgements.

One thing I had probably learned from meditation, or it would be more proper to say 'gradually absorbed' rather than learned was to be a bit less judgemental and open.

When it comes to exercise, I have quite a strong evidenced based idea of what I think is 'good' and 'bad' exercise. With the Yoga for 30 days, I decided to do all the exercises and moves that came up regardless of what I may have previously thought about them or judging them.

Same with the idea of Chakras and that type of thing, it get mentioned a fair bit in Yoga, and I decided to be okay with that.

I did the 30 day Yoga Camp with Adriene on Youtube. And much like the meditation, I did it whenever I could, it might be 7am it might be 11pm, it helped that the sessions varied in length.

Unlike the meditation, I did write down everyday in a journal/diary what I had done. I also put asterisks next to sessions I really enjoyed so I could go back to them again. I also started to write down meditation sessions in the diary.

After a while I didn't want to break the chain, and more importantly, I was enjoying it, I looked forward to doing it, especially at the end of the day after being at work. I could see how people called it moving meditation.

At some point I decided it was time to buy a Yoga mat. (This involved a trip to the land of sub minimum wage worker exploitation Sport Direct, explaining to the girl I didn't want the pink mat, I needed the black manly mat, which involved her having to go up a ladder to a high shelf. I'm sure official ladder training protocol had been broken).

I did also go to a Yoga workshop and Yoga Nidra session. The Yoga workshop was hot Yoga, for me there was no benefit to it being hot. And some Yoga sap who was sweating profusely said he wanted it hotter, at which point I could only think of Hank Hill, King of the Hill, 'If it gets one degree hotter I'm going to kick your ass.' But hey, each to their own.

Hank Hill after going to Hot Yoga

I liked the Yoga Nidra, it was basically a progressive relaxation technique.

After 30 days.

The 30 days finished, and I carried on. I'm no Yogi, I'm never going to have the perfect technique or posture. This is not a story of transformation, I can't suddenly do the splits, and all my injuries didn't suddenly disappear. But it did help, I feel more mobile, without sounding like a cliche it does make you feel better mentally and physically.

This isn't meant to sound all 'look how great I am I did Yoga for 30 days and I meditate too'.  I'm essentially a neophyte when it comes to these things, I'm no expert. I just happen to like them and think they are beneficial.

I'm not saying you have to go and start meditating or take up Yoga, that is up to you. What I am saying is you can apply this simple technique to forming any habit.

And for me this technique works, do something for 30 days or longer, resolve to do it everyday, no exceptions and the habit is well on its way to being formed.

In part 2, I will briefly show have I also applied it to nutrition and social media. And the reason why these are harder habits to form, and why I still think SMART goals are dumb.

Resources.

This is a list of resources I used. I am not affiliated to any of them. And I'm sure there are equally good youtube channels and meditation apps and books I am not aware of.

Yoga with Adriene, the youtube channel for the 30 day Yoga Camp. Why don't I live in Texas?
Sarah Beth Yoga, another youtube channel I like, especially the 20 minute deep stretch videos.

Zenways, comprehensive Rinzai meditation course. Plus I also have their summer Yoga download and Spontaneous Zen download.

Mindfulness book and 8 week audio course. From the guys at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, no religious  or 'new age' overtones if you don't like that kind of thing. Practical and clear.

Romwod : Crossfit mobility videos. Good if you need to hold stretches and positions for a long time to see results. There is a 7 day free trial.

Insight meditation app for your phone or tablet. Loads of guided meditations or just use the timer.

Training: Stop making it so complicated.

Accommodating block conjugated periodised occlusion based eccentric triphasic dynamic effort Bulgarian HIIT HIT isometric energy systems based steady state interval training Karvonen Maffetone method. Confused? You will be.

All industries and professions like their specialised language and nomenclature, it's what separates a professional from a normal member of the public.

Now with unprecedented access to information and knowledge in the arena of training there are more and more complicated and advanced training techniques being used on a daily basis in gyms around the world.

Gyms have mostly moved on beyond rows of cardio machines and some chrome dumbbells.

But do the general public need complicated training programmes?

Now, if you are training for the Olympics or you are are at Westside trying to get your deadlift from 950 to 960 pounds then stop reading this article now. You need to do the things that give you the extra 1%. If not, then read on.

Intelligent and effective programming doesn't have to be complicated. However, complicated can be confused with effective.

As every Instagram coach knows...

If you are selling programmes then complicated looks good.

To use a nutrition analogy, for most people to lose weight and get a bit healthier the advice is obvious - eat less junk, stop smashing a bottle of wine and a pint of Ben & Jerry's every night and eat some more vegetables. But that doesn't sell many customised nutrition plans, where the coach has worked everything out to the gram. It also doesn't sell much bone broth, or gluten free bread or special powders.

As every instagram coach knows

1. Complicated looks effective
2. Most things work for most people most of the time as long as...
3. .. they are committed and believe in the programme.

No one is going to pay you to write 5x5 starting strength, because it's too simple, it's available for free all over the place. And people like to think they are more advanced than they are, or there is a special secret sequence of exercises that will transform them.

Advanced training for beginners.

It's not unusual to see band resisted and chain resisted movements, and Olympic lifts in the average gym. The level of access to equipment is unprecedented. 10 years ago power racks were as rare as unicorns in gyms, now it's not unusual to have 2 or 3 of them in a health clubs or budget gym. When we first bought a power rack for the gym I work in, probably 8 or 10 years ago, hardly anyone used it, no one knew what to do, they kept doing squats on the beloved Smith machine.

Training programmes can become massive hybrids, coaches having people doing Russian squat cycles combined with Olympic lifting, add in some condition and WODs and don't forget to somehow combine body part split training with powerlifting training. Hint: If the kid is squatting less than 80kg you probably don't need to be doing all this.

See the picture below of Paul Anderson. One of the strongest humans that ever lived. No power rack? No problem, dig a hole. Also note the lack of a special Texas power bar or buffalo bar. Now I hear people complaining that there gym doesn't have Eleiko plates or bars or a freaking vibrating platform.

Paul Anderson: He's stronger than you. Can't find any weight plates? Get a couple of passing  'broads' to sit on some barrels. Picture source: oldtimestrongmen.com

Looking at programmes of professional athletes, it is surprising how simple some of them are. Everything that doesn't work has been stripped away. There is a laser like focus on the goal at hand, to improve performance in one area, while preventing injury and burn out.

Joe Kenn, is the S&C coach for the NFL team the Carolina Panthers. In a presentation I watched he stated there are three guys in the NFL he would trust to do dynamic effort work with bands. And yet in the average gym you see average guys attaching bands to things all the time. Many NFL teams use machines to train, and completely avoid movements like snatches, instead favouring jump squats and less technical movements. Don't forget these are elite professional sports-people.

Read Verkhoshansky's Special Strength Training; Manual for Coaches,  and many of the routines for specific sports consist of two exercises. Depth jump and scissor jump anyone?

The difference is, the athlete is expected to do these with 100% intent and explosiveness. Not tack them onto the end of a leg workout as a 'finisher'.

Olympic lifting for who?

Training doesn't need to be advanced to be effective. I like Olympic lifting but it doesn't mean everyone should be doing it.

Go into the average gym and literally everyone and his aunt is wearing lifting shoes. I've seen people do their entire workout in lifting shoes including warm up. And the only people who should be wearing heels this much in a gym are Brazilian fitness models.

A complaint I here  more and more from people, is my knees hurt all the time squatting, invariably they are wearing lifting shoes for most exercises.

If you like Olympic lifting fine, if you are competing in Olympic lifting or crossfit, also fine. If you just want some general fitness and weightloss (90% of people in the gym) then you don't need to be doing a Bulgarian lifting programme, plus met-cons plus biceps plus low carb etc etc.

The average client does not need an overly complicated or technical programme. Spending hours with someone on a platform trying to get them to do something that they don't have the hip mobility or need for is a waste of time. You're basically trying to teach someone a sport. Would you take the average client and try and teach them to be a decathlete or high jumper if all they wanted was some fitness?

If an NFL pro is not doing overhead snatching then your fat loss client probably doesn't need to either.

In this example, you can replace Olympic lifting with any complex skill based activity such as plyometrics or gymnastic moves. If you really want to learn a new skill and love the idea of complex technical things, and you are injury free, then these are for you. If not, think again.


Special populations are the easiest.

In the UK, there are level 4 fitness qualifications. These are the highest fitness qualifications and are generally concerned with training so called special populations, like those who have had a stroke, cardiac issues, diabetes or blood pressure problems.

If you do one of these courses, you spend a lot of time looking at medications, stages of change models, working out % of VO2 max (which you will never use again) and so forth.

It is made to sound like these populations are the hardest to train, and the most complicated. In fact, they are the easiest. The nature of the population immediately narrows the options available to you.

They are starting at such a low base, that anything works. Guess what, going for a walk is one of the best things you can do. Add in some chair squats, step ups, and if you have access to resistance machines you can a few of them in too! No machines, grab some resistance bands.

It's all movement. If someone hasn't really been moving, get them moving and moving often.

Show up, take it easy at first, gradually progress, listen to your body. That's it, level 4 referral right there.

These populations are generally easier to programme for,  compared to trying to get someone ready for competition, dropping their fat percentage down to 5%,  or trying to finish top three in a race. Now you are dealing with the fine details, now you might need to be complicated. But what proportion of the population does this apply to?

Of course, there are some caveats to special populations, sometimes the details matter. For example, exercise for back pain. But these are not the type of things they teach you on a level 4 back pain course anyway.

What to do? This.

Most people most of the time need a total body training approach.

Do they need a specialised bicep day? Probably not. Does attaching a band to an exercise instantly make it better, probably not.

For the average client think:

Squat
Hinge
Push
Pull
Core

Then get their heart rate up in some way.

Machines are okay, they are not some dark force sent by Globo gym, some people benefit from them. Scale the workout to the client. Use the tools you have available, but use them correctly, at the right time, in the right dose.

Examples:

Squat could be bodyweight, goblet, back, front, or could be leg press or step up.
Hinge could be RDL, glute bridge, deadlift with kettlebell or bar, or guess what ,you might have to use the leg curl or swiss ball leg curl
Push - press up variations, DB press, shoulder press
Pull - rows, TRX row, low row machine
Core - pallor press, plank, dead bug

Rep ranges, don't get hung up, enough to get a response.

You get the idea.

Generally whole body movements for most people most of the time. Could be barbell, could be kettle bell or dumbbell, could be bodyweight, you might use some machines.

Paretos Law states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts or resource or customers. So it is with training, 80% of your training results are going to come from 20% of your exercise selection. This means the 20% that directly impacts your goals, the big compound movements. The rest is garnish, dedicated forearm and calf exercises and 1000 crunch variations are essentially garnish.

Of course, there needs to be some progression. And guess what it can be fun. Not everything you do has to come from a peer reviewed double blind study. But conversely hardly anyone wants to be a competitive bodybuilder, adding another complicated bro-science routine to the mix.

Sometimes, it's harder to think about what you need to take away rather than add in.

Anyone, can keep adding into a clients workout until before you know it they are training 3 hours at a time, and doing every exercise variation under the sun. If you love training like that, fair enough, bear in mind most people don't want to spend 7 days a week in the gym. If it's your hobby, your passion, you're in the minority.

We live in the age of distraction. This applies to fitness as well, so many machines, so many gadgets, so many exercise variations. It might seem like you need them all. But you don't. More does not equal better.

Do I need my Suunto GPS to tell me my average heart rate and recovery time in hours? Probably not. Does the client who is aiming to run a 55min 10k need a Garmin, does the client looking to lose a few pounds need a fitbit or should they just try and be more active during the day? Gadgets and variety are fun, but don't lose sight of what most people are in this for.

Only make your training as complicated as it needs to be. Your clients will thank you in the long run. Generally simplicity and hard work win.

Progression, habit and consistency are the keys to success.

Percy Cerutty, iconoclastic renegade running coach, leads Herb Elliot up a sand dune hill session. No GPS, no heart rate monitor, no shirt, no shoes. Source: tonireavis.com

There is a quote by Michael Pollan about food:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Here is my paraphrase of this for training:

Lift (relatively) heavy things. Get your heart rate up. Mostly walking.

The Wu Wei of Ultrarunning. Beyond Flow.

"Wherever you are, be all there." - Jim Elliot

Definitions

Wu Wei: (pronounced ooo way), from Chinese Philosophy. Literally means non action. But does not mean not acting. Non self conscious yet perfectly responsive to the situation (Van Norden, 2011). More like effortless action. You lose the sense of yourself exerting effort (Slingerland, 2014).

Flow: What athletes would call being in the zone. "Flow states tend to occur when a persons skills are fully involved in overcoming a challenge that is just about manageable. A typical day is full of anxiety and boredom. Flow experiences provide the flashes of intense living against this dull background." (Csikszentmihalyi 1997;29-31)

Mindfulness: "Paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment." John Kabat-Zinn


4am
It's dark and even in August there is a chill in the air, because we are above 10,00ft. Head torches flash around. We start running, telling your mind to calm and your body to relax, your body doesn't want to be doing this at 4am, it knows there are 100 miles to go. A rhythm develops, you trip over a tree root, land on your knee, stumble back up and keep going. Into the first aid station, a half marathon has passed but it feels like no time at all since you started. Half a cream cheese bagel from the volunteers and you keep going. The sun rises over the Rockies, you remove some layers of clothing off. Ascending, it should be hard, walk, but it is easy, there seems to be no gradient, you run up above 11,000ft. Then descending back down. Your GPS has gone haywire and stopped working, you have no sense of time or speed. Down through the trees into Twin Lakes. 45 miles have passed, how long you don't know, 8 hours? A working day? You're not sure. You feel fine, effortless.

You keep going. It strips you to the bone. Worn down like an old weathered skeleton in the desert. Wearing away an older version of you. Eroding the past, eroding who you were. Who were you again? An entire day passes, 26 hours. You're down to nothing, there is no happy or sad. 

Ultimately, running for 24 hours strips away everything until when you finish it feels like 'nothing special'. A lady embraces you and says "welcome home".

Looking Down on Twin Lakes from Hope Pass, Leadville.

And yet another time
It's hard, there is no flow, everything hurts, you retch by the side of the trail, trying to throw up. You go into aid stations, you're not sure what to eat or drink. It all feels clunky. You want it to be over. You grind it out, grimace. It feels like maximum effort but you're moving through treacle. Through the streets of the town, people cheer. It's over and you never want to do it again.

Two runs, two different situations, one of Wu Wei and flow, one not.

Wu Wei and Flow

Wu Wei or effortless action is an ancient concept of Chinese philosophy that has been around since 300-500 BCE and was espoused in various forms by Confucius, Laozi ( Lao Tzu) in the DaoDeJing (Tao Te Ching) and Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu). It is hard to describe. Van Norden (2011) likens to it to trying to explain to someone how to ride a bike. It's very hard to explain, but when you get it, you just know.

It is kind of like the concept of flow. See the figure below, which shows where flow occurs. You are fully immersed and absorbed in what you are doing.  You lose a sense of time. Flow states are about complexity and challenge, "our personal skill is perfectly calibrated to the task" (Slingerland, 2014, video lecture).

Classic examples are rock climbing, a surgeon, skiing a technical route.

If you're still wondering what flow is, Ayrton Senna explains it perfectly in this clip, 35 seconds in. (and if you haven't seen the film Senna, you need to).



It differs from something like binge watching TV, in that you emerge from the couch potato state with less energy and flow, it saps you of something. Whereas, when you are in a flow state you are energised.

However, Wu Wei is more than flow. People can experience flow in non complex situations like walking around, socialising, playing with their kids (Slingerland, 2014). Wu Wei is being absorbed in something bigger than you and it is positive.

In the classic book the Zhuangzi, there are a series of stories about skill and Wu Wei. One is about Butcher Ding. It is metaphor for how to move through the world.

"Cook Ding laid down his knife and replied, �What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now � now I go at it by spirit and don�t look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and following things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint." (Watson translation, 2013;19)

This doesn't mean you have to go and become a butcher. It means the barrier is your mind. You need to switch off the analytic part. You move effectively. But it comes with practice. Your body is the blade and it moves through the world avoiding obstacles effortlessly, or in running trails, you run a technical trail with flow not by rationally thinking where you will next step.

Slingerland argues that pursuits like Ultrarunning are not Wu Wei because of the way they are pursued in modern Western culture. He states

"In our culture activities like running ultra marathons or exploring new art museums tend to be solitary and aimed at self improvement"

"It is the connection with a larger, valued whole that allows Wu Wei or true flow experiences to leave us feeling 'clean and happy'." (Slingerland, 2014;46)

Furthermore

"Wu Wei is about more than isolated individuals incrementally improving their personal bests in the Ironman Triathlon or making a new level on Tetris. Wu Wei involves giving yourself up to something that because it is bigger than you can be shared by others."

and

"An essential fact about Wu Wei is that it is not just about the experience unfolding within the mind of an isolated individual but also about social interactions between people." (Slingerland, 2014;52)

I would argue that Ultra running, specifically trail and mountain ultra running meets all these criteria. It is not just an individualistic pursuit of self improvement. Yes, some of the people racing at the front of the pack are running to win, but most are not. Even the elites at the front are part of a certain ultra running community and culture. And having seen Rob Krar run past me in the opposite direction, I can say if anyone was in Wu Wei, it was him.

There is a reason most of these races take places in wild, mountainous places or desert environments. The ultra that takes place on a track doesn't capture the imagination in the same way. For sure, it is hard and requires a certain mental fortitude and skill set. But it is nature that sets apart the trail run.

The trail has a mixture of monotony and complexity. Simplicity and toughness.

Then there is the fact that pretty much no one runs these races without a crew. You are a team, you are not a lone individual. And if you don't have a crew, there is still the aid stations, the sense of community and support. And why do most people enter these races rather than run alone in the wilderness. The community, the social aspect of like minded people, you are not alone. The tribe.

Leadville 100.

Yes, there is flow, but it is more. The ethics of running in the wilderness. Leave no trace, leave no tracks. Can you be an ultra runner and be a bad person morally?

Default Mode Network (DMN)

A common question is 'don't you get bored running?' and 'what do you think about when you are running?'. The answers are no, and nothing really, I'm not really thinking about anything, I don't know what I'm really thinking about for all those hours. Something has been switched off.

You brain has something called the default mode network. It is several parts of your brain linked together, and it is what you mind does when you are bored. It wanders, you day dream, you think about the past, you think about the future. It is your brains default setting.

But you can quiet it down, you can focus on the present, the now. Several studies show that one way of turning down the DMN is mindful meditation. It helps you live in the now.

In mindful meditation you let thoughts come and go, you don't become attached to them. There is awareness, but a loss of your socially constructed self.

But don't think this is an airy-fairy state. Robert Wright, professor of evolutionary psychology says

"There is an edge to mindfulness. A rebellion against natural selection. A radical re-organisation of the mind." (2015, lecture Buddhism & Modern Psychology)

If you are driving a route you always drive, it is easy for your mind to wander, the task is easy. Its the same on the standard 5k route that you run out of your front door. You know it so well, that you don't really need to think about the run. You start to think about what you are going to buy for dinner and how to quit your job.

But trail running is technical. If you stop concentrating you might fall down a hole, or on a race, you might miss a turning. You need to be in the moment. I would argue that your DMN has been turned down.

A koan is a paradoxical question used in meditation. It helps to break down rational thinking and focus on the now. Such as what is Mu? Who am I? What is the sound of one hand clapping?

The question is repeated over and over. Does the repetition result in a flow state? The question is complex and simple at the same time, and the act of repeating it over and over again is also simple on one level.

Is ultra running a moving koan?

Not just the question of why the hell am I doing this?! But the mixture of repetition, relentless movement and complexity.  The trail can be complex, it can be simple, and then it goes on for a long time, maybe a whole day. You have to be flexible but have a strategy but you have to focus on each moment on the trail.

Is ultra running moving Zen. Hakuin (a Japanese Zen master from back in the day) said

"Meditation in action is a thousand times superior to meditation in stillness." (quoted in Skinner, 2015;78)

Do Zen, Moving Zen. Calligraphy by Shinzan Roshi.By Shinzan Miyamae Roshi (Daizan Skinner Roshi) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Transient Hypofrontality

There is a part of your brain called the Pre Frontal Cortex (PFC). It is the higher part of the brain involved in decision making, planning, working toward a goal, differentiating between good and bad, working memory and more.

The work of Arne Dietrich shows that endurance exercise essentially switches off the pre frontal cortex. In a similar way to meditation, hypnosis and certain drugs.

"Although the hypothesis of exercise-induced transient hypofrontality was developed to account for the beneficial effects of exercise on mental health, the prolonged disengagement of higher cognitive centers in the prefrontal cortex also offers a neural mechanism that provides insight into the alteration of consciousness known as the runner's high. Some of the phenomenologically unique features of this state such as experiences of timelessness, living in the here and now, reduced awareness of one's surroundings, peacefulness (being less analytical), and floating (diminished working memory and attentional capacities), are consistent with a state of frontal hypo- function. Even abstruse feelings such as the unity with the self and/or nature might be more explicable, considering that the prefrontal cortex is the very structure that provides us with the ability to segregate, differentiate, and analyze the environment" (Dietrich, 2003;241)

So we have

• a sense of timelessness
• living in the here & now
• peacefulness
• not being so analytical. Switching off our rational mind

In Dietrich's studies total exercise time was no more 50 minutes, at 70-80% heart rate max (Dietrich 2004). Now imagine what happens to your PFC if your are in this zone for 5,10, 24 hours?!

You are returning to the mind of a child in some senses. As the PFC does not develop fully until your late teens.

Down regulating your PFC helps us to break categorical inflexibility. In other words, think outside of the box and not have such rigid ideas. It is one of the reasons that children can play with a cardboard box for hours, they don't just see it as a box. Their thinking has not become rigid and PFC dominated yet.

Or in the words of the DaoDeJing

"Concentrating your qi (vital energies) and attaining the utmost suppleness, can you be a child?" (Chapter 10, Laozi) 

Endurance exercise is literally causing areas of your brain to switch off and return to a more child like mind! Now imagine if you take that exercise out of the lab and transpose it to a natural environment.

I went into the woods.... Attention Restoration Theory

Thoreau famously went into the woods. He realised the power of the natural environment.

Thoreau quote. Source: www.panampost.com

In one study (Berman et al 2008) two groups of students were given a memory task called an n-back task. They had to remember numbers and look for repetition, it means you have to hold 4 numbers in your head at any one time. After the initial task, half the group was sent for a 20 minute walk around the local town, the other half went to the University Arboretum.

Before the walk they were equally matched. After the walk, the group that had been in the more natural environment of the trees were significantly better at the task than the walk in town group.

The natural environment allows your directed attention to be restored and replenished. The natural environment is inherently rich in fascinating stimuli. There is a modest engagement, it doesn't take much to disengage and look at something else. Look at tree, look at the mountains, feel the breeze.

This is unlike the urban environment which consumes your attentional resources and drains you. Adverts are shouting at you, there is traffic. If you are out running, you have to cross the road, avoid getting run over, swerve around people.
  

"In sum, we have shown that simple and brief interactions with nature can produce marked increases in cognitive control." (Berman et al 2008;1211)

This is why the 10k road run is never going to cut it in terms of restoring your attention or letting your DMN quieten down. Urban environments are draining your attention.

Whereas running in a natural environment is having a restorative effect.

The quality of your mind is affected by your local environment (Clifford Saron, 2015).

Nature is effectively restoring your attention reserves and allowing your brain to work better.

Nothing special. Trying not to try.

Wu Wei is a paradox. Like an athlete trying not to choke when making a crucial play. Or like trying not to think of anything.

It can't be forced. But certain circumstances will allow it to happen more readily.

Ultra running is mix of endurance exercise, repetition and complexity. Ultra running is working at several levels:-

1)It can put you in a flow state. You are at the edge of your abilities and getting constant feedback (you are either moving forward or not).

2)The act of running, the repetition, the rhythm is akin to counting your breath in mindful meditation. It is down regulating your default mode network, and puts you in state of awareness, being fully present in the now.

3) The endurance exercise turns down you pre frontal cortex, the transient hypo-frontality makes you lose sense of time and rigid concepts.

4)The natural environment is restorative and make you feel part of something much bigger.

5) If you are lucky it engenders a sense of Wu Wei. You are engaging with the ground. It feels effortless.

It is beyond flow.
You, the environment, your crew, the other participants, it is all in harmony.

Running is simple on one level. Running 100 mile has no benefit outside of itself.

In the words of Shunryu Suzuki when he is talking about meditation and zen and trying to attain something, it is "nothing special". In that sense running ultra marathon is no more special than not running them, or playing ping pong or washing up. But on the other hand it is a very special experience.

It is a paradox, if you go on to the trail looking to find something or change something or transform yourself, you won't. If you chase after it you won't grasp it. As some Chinese guys figured out over 2000 years ago without running a step.

The trail is waiting, it is always there.

In short, go for a trail run. It will literally change your mind!

It is the totality of the experience. It is carrying everything you need. It is being in the wilderness and switching off from everything. It is sitting in tents at night talking, lit by head torch. It is the specialness of brewing instant coffee early in the morning while chatting. Forest, beach, ocean. It is running at night with your brother, deep in the forest. I emerged from the forest, running the sand covered fire breaks down onto the beach. The sea was crashing in. I ran south. It felt like I could run forever.

"One who is good at travelling leaves no tracks or traces." (Ch 27, DaoDeJing)

Related blog posts from me:
The Trail (Homecoming).
On Mindful Training.
On Wasting Time.
Vanishing Point. Zen and the Art of Training.

References

This post is massively indebted to the MOOC Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science, taught by Prof.Edward Slingerland at The University of British Columbia.

Books
Csikszentmihalyi M (1997) Finding Flow

The translations of the DaoDeJing are taken from Ivanhoe PJ & Van Norden BW(2003) Readings in Classical Chinese

Suzuki Shunryu (1970) Zen Mind Beginners Mind 

Van Norden (2011) Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy

Translation of Zhuangzi taken from the Burton Watson translation (2013) The Complete Works of Zhuangzi

The Zen Character: Life, Art and Teachings of Zen Master Shinzan Miyamae. Edited by Julian Daizan Skinner (2015)

Slingerland E (2014) Trying not to Try. Kindle version

Journal articles
Berman et al (2008) The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature. Psychological Science

Dietrich A (2003) Functional neuro-anatomy of altered states of consciousness: The transient hypofrontality hypothesis

Dietrich A and Sparling P (2004) Endurance exercise selectively impairs prefrontal-dependent cognition

MOOCs

Clifford Sarons The University of Virginia. lectures on the neuroscience of meditation. Tibetan Buddhism and the Modern World

Robert Wright, Princeton University, the section on default mode network and meditation. Buddhism and Modern Psychology