I traded the elliptical and weight machines for forest trails and a yoga mat in 2020. So far, I haven't wanted to go back to the gym, but I do see the appeal of your more concentrated method. I devote a lot of time for less dramatic physical results. Yet the luxury of contemplative mind space and sensory pleasure gleaned from time spent hiking has become priceless to me. It's good to know what fuels us, isn't it? I appreciate your writing and the way you dovetail it with an existing work.
The same thing I mean could just as easily apply to yoga. One manages a pose or a flow and feels a sense of accomplishment; the next time one approaches the mat there’s a fear that one will not be able to repeat the success. I’m sure the same solution applies- to move past ego and seize the moment for the sake of the duty to remain fit and healthy. I commend you for your effort to that end and wish you well on your fitness journey.
I don't lift, but I do some core strengthening exercises, I hike, snowshoe, x-country ski...and I dance with wooden swords I made and deer horns from a deer I shot. Which, I keep being reminded of that Way of the Sword post I have been (fearfully) avoiding.
Great essay. Absolutely true about writing. I never find it is writers block. It is always fear. An anxiety you will fail. Very easy to avoid writing because of this. Yet there is the duty. We have all read something that has touched us, made us think or even changed our lives. So the duty part is important.
I enjoyed the flattery of feeling only those striving for excellence hesitate. Perhaps. Although I do agree the mediocre churn out bland boilerplate with ease. I do think there is some link between hesitation and depth. Or perhaps just knowing there is something of yourself you are exposing in your writing.
Yep that fear. You captured the essence of it quite nicely. You were also very generous and encouraging saying that only talented have the block . This is also a good writing.
I like to lift. Both free weights, machines and real movements (difficult for me to translate but a 1/3 of the moves I perform at the gym is simulating physical labour, only in a much more controlled fashion to prevent injury - say loading a bar up with a 16 pound weight disc on only one end and then slowly simulate chopping wood, digging or such).
I like marching when out trekking the forests, mires and bogs and fjells. 30 to 50 kilometers (18 to 30 miles, roughly) per day in rough terrain is "skammens gräns" (border of shame, it's an idiom, the meaning should be clear).
I know gyms have replaced physical labour, but consider putting a set together which simulates it. It activates and involves all of the muscles in a given motion, not just the main ones. Compare an ordinary biceps curl using dumbbells, with using a bucket of water (or a can with a lid if you're indoors) of the same weight - very, very different. The water moves, making all yout wee "helper-muscles" kick in to help the main ones.
Or howabout loading up a rucksack to full load and doing the "hunter's march" (don't know english name, is when you take a step forward and bend knees so back knee is almost on the ground, all angles 90 degrees, then you march forward always dipping low like that for every step). Or frog-crawl on hands, knees and elbows uphill with at least half your weight on your back.
I've met so very many people atvatious gyms, they work out well and good and build their bodies - but it's all one-dimensional. Soon as they try a motion slightly off kilter from the normal, they have to lower the load to bare minimum.
Dare to experiment, with care. Always start slow and low. If you like me have niggling injuries, don't hesitate to consult with your physiotherapist about risks, tips and tricks.
It is the Will that moves the Iron in the end, no?
You are absolutely correct. In fact, I’ve transitioned more to heavy clubs, maces, and kettlebells as I’ve gotten older. I take them with me when I go hiking and do a set before or after I hit the trail. There are a lot of videos now about clubs and such; this guy from Italy is one of my favorites. The mountains and the 80s metal just add to the charm.
I got my idea of this from in part older relatives, both men and women, who in their youth worked physical jobs (it being the 1920s-1930s in the countryside, no surpirse there) - grandmother did their laundry by hand until the late 1950s, and stirring a huge tub of hundreds of liters of nearly boiling water with a sturdy wooden ladle big as an oar, for an hour on end...
In part from having had plenty of physical jobs myself, when younger - makes you lean, fit and puts that bounce in your tread that suit&tie-jobs never have (for me at least).
Inspiring video, to say the least! That's exactly what I mean - the clubbell thing is what I've done but with a barbell instead.
Oh, and my personal bias: if it's not 1970s/1980s metal, it isn't metal. "Heavy metal, or no metal at all..."
I traded the elliptical and weight machines for forest trails and a yoga mat in 2020. So far, I haven't wanted to go back to the gym, but I do see the appeal of your more concentrated method. I devote a lot of time for less dramatic physical results. Yet the luxury of contemplative mind space and sensory pleasure gleaned from time spent hiking has become priceless to me. It's good to know what fuels us, isn't it? I appreciate your writing and the way you dovetail it with an existing work.
The same thing I mean could just as easily apply to yoga. One manages a pose or a flow and feels a sense of accomplishment; the next time one approaches the mat there’s a fear that one will not be able to repeat the success. I’m sure the same solution applies- to move past ego and seize the moment for the sake of the duty to remain fit and healthy. I commend you for your effort to that end and wish you well on your fitness journey.
I don't lift, but I do some core strengthening exercises, I hike, snowshoe, x-country ski...and I dance with wooden swords I made and deer horns from a deer I shot. Which, I keep being reminded of that Way of the Sword post I have been (fearfully) avoiding.
I would love to read your Way of the Sword post. Do tag me in it when you finish.
I mean, I don’t wear panties but I’ll happily throw my boxers at you.
I’m good like that.
I guess my Mishima vibe was TOO on point . . .
😂
Great essay. Absolutely true about writing. I never find it is writers block. It is always fear. An anxiety you will fail. Very easy to avoid writing because of this. Yet there is the duty. We have all read something that has touched us, made us think or even changed our lives. So the duty part is important.
I enjoyed the flattery of feeling only those striving for excellence hesitate. Perhaps. Although I do agree the mediocre churn out bland boilerplate with ease. I do think there is some link between hesitation and depth. Or perhaps just knowing there is something of yourself you are exposing in your writing.
It is indeed a duty to those with the calling.
Yep that fear. You captured the essence of it quite nicely. You were also very generous and encouraging saying that only talented have the block . This is also a good writing.
Thank you very much.
😁😁 I laughed…. At the first two paragraphs 😂.
I like to lift. Both free weights, machines and real movements (difficult for me to translate but a 1/3 of the moves I perform at the gym is simulating physical labour, only in a much more controlled fashion to prevent injury - say loading a bar up with a 16 pound weight disc on only one end and then slowly simulate chopping wood, digging or such).
I like marching when out trekking the forests, mires and bogs and fjells. 30 to 50 kilometers (18 to 30 miles, roughly) per day in rough terrain is "skammens gräns" (border of shame, it's an idiom, the meaning should be clear).
I know gyms have replaced physical labour, but consider putting a set together which simulates it. It activates and involves all of the muscles in a given motion, not just the main ones. Compare an ordinary biceps curl using dumbbells, with using a bucket of water (or a can with a lid if you're indoors) of the same weight - very, very different. The water moves, making all yout wee "helper-muscles" kick in to help the main ones.
Or howabout loading up a rucksack to full load and doing the "hunter's march" (don't know english name, is when you take a step forward and bend knees so back knee is almost on the ground, all angles 90 degrees, then you march forward always dipping low like that for every step). Or frog-crawl on hands, knees and elbows uphill with at least half your weight on your back.
I've met so very many people atvatious gyms, they work out well and good and build their bodies - but it's all one-dimensional. Soon as they try a motion slightly off kilter from the normal, they have to lower the load to bare minimum.
Dare to experiment, with care. Always start slow and low. If you like me have niggling injuries, don't hesitate to consult with your physiotherapist about risks, tips and tricks.
It is the Will that moves the Iron in the end, no?
You are absolutely correct. In fact, I’ve transitioned more to heavy clubs, maces, and kettlebells as I’ve gotten older. I take them with me when I go hiking and do a set before or after I hit the trail. There are a lot of videos now about clubs and such; this guy from Italy is one of my favorites. The mountains and the 80s metal just add to the charm.
https://youtu.be/c1LdlS1_kdg?si=MWT0KE4vj8-wL_kQ
I got my idea of this from in part older relatives, both men and women, who in their youth worked physical jobs (it being the 1920s-1930s in the countryside, no surpirse there) - grandmother did their laundry by hand until the late 1950s, and stirring a huge tub of hundreds of liters of nearly boiling water with a sturdy wooden ladle big as an oar, for an hour on end...
In part from having had plenty of physical jobs myself, when younger - makes you lean, fit and puts that bounce in your tread that suit&tie-jobs never have (for me at least).
Inspiring video, to say the least! That's exactly what I mean - the clubbell thing is what I've done but with a barbell instead.
Oh, and my personal bias: if it's not 1970s/1980s metal, it isn't metal. "Heavy metal, or no metal at all..."