What is the best workout?

There are two questions that I always get and two questions that are really hard to answer.

The first, “what kind of workout do you guys do?” and the second “what is the best workout for me”

In both situations when I hear that question my first thought is that I must hold back the eye rolls, it is simply impossible to be that reductionist about a movement and exercise program. After fighting the urge to be a pretentious prick my answer will always then be ironically reductionist. Walking. It is that simple, use it or loose it, if you are fortunate enough to be able to walk then go for one.

Let’s go a little deeper though.

The Word Workout

First up, let’s talk about the word workout. I don’t dislike the word at all I just feel that it can’t fully encapsulate the world of movement, exercise, training, physical and mental practice. The word workout implies the depletion or completion of your ability to work. ‘My body’s all out”, I got bupkis, nada, ziltch., not a dam thing.

Working your body to complete and utter physical exhaustion is not a terrible thing to do, it solely becomes terrible when it is all you do. An exercise program that is designed to improve movement, health and performance can’t be described with one word. So let’s find a word or phrase that can imply the improvement of health not just the performance of a vigorous physical task till failure. A phrase that encompasses the coagulation of physical exertion, mental focus and clarity, bodily awareness, movement quality and healthful lifestyle choices. A practice of finding balance.

I have always tended to the describe the practice as holistic exercise. Unfortunate that the word has been somewhat monopolized by the gurus and the nebulous, so I am open to any of you word smiths out there who want to give me a suggestion. Something that let’s people know that if they come to a class at Hanuman they may end up working on breathing for the hour and that this will be just as beneficial as the vigorous work.

The ‘Perfect Workout’

There is none. That’s the truth. The question always comes after voicing my displeasure with some branded boutique gym like Barry’s Bootcamp, Orange Theory or some such nonsense. This is not to belittle anyone’s choice in the gym they choose. The displeasure comes at the marketing of these gyms which preys on the insecurities of self worth that all of us feel. It preys and capitalizes on this by taking the easy way out…making impossible claims that their ‘patented workout’ is proven by either science, celebrity or other such capitalist deity.

It is simply not that simple. A well curated health and exercise program is not a list of exercises and the perfect one for you may be completely different from the perfect one for someone else. If you are choosing a gym and find that it has a trade marked name for it’s ‘workouts’ or even uses the word workout as a noun then run a way as fast as you can.

The best program is the program that connects you with your body. That has you mindfully moving through space. That challenges your movement capability with thoughtful skill acquisition. That challenges your physiological ability or fitness with a progressive and intelligent overload. And one that also challenges you to slow down with attention to the breath.

In very short terms. It is about becoming present.

Designing said ‘Perfect workout’

First and foremost, 1.what do you want?.

Really understand why you are designing an exercise program. Is it for general health, is it for some physical endeavor? Is it to get stronger, is it to loose weight, is it to get more mobile. In general we need to focus on of these things in isolation. We don’t need to be exclusive but we need a vision of what we want and where we are going in order to build the map to get there.

There’s very little point in saying you want to get stronger and then doing spinning classes.

2.Slow down.

Slow down your expectations. Don’t design a program for some lofty goal in 6 weeks or even 12 weeks. Broaden those time horizons. Set long term physical goals 3 or 5 years from now, then set smaller ones in reverse of that. But please slow down your time line. Your not going to run a marathon in 12 weeks if you never ran a 5 k. Your not going to look like a super model in time for summer, so chill out.

Also literally slow down. For the love of Pete Sampras will you slow your body down.

In literally everything you do speed is either the expression of mastery or the mask of incompetence. Don’t kid yourself you know which is which.

My cousin almost killed me in Slovakia once. I went mountain biking with him, terrible idea. Anyway hurtling down the mountain at extreme speeds he had a smile as wide as the Atlantic but I looked like I had was being circled by sharks. His enjoyment was from expressing his mastery through speed. My fear was that I knew I had no idea what I was doing at speed. Three seconds later was writhing around the rocky trail holding my leg in agony.

The moral of the story slow down. Please, please, please SLOW DOWN. Move fast when you feel in control of the movement and understand why you are doing it. Moving fast is the goal…but earn your right to do so.

Therefore you need to choose movements you can control and understand what that control feels like.

3.Stay in it.

This one is easy, thinking about your bills, lovers or leftovers in the middle of movement? Then your doing it wrong.

I know we have the attention of a goldfish now but if your not holding your focus in a movement for the duration of a set then that movement is not challenging you enough. This means it is either too complex for you or the intensity is not high enough. Refer to the above point to have a guess which is more probable.

The nugget here. Choose exercises that you feel and stay present in your body throughout. If you do that then you never need to ask ‘am I doing this right’ because you will be able to feel it.

For example I really want to be able to have a 60 second handstand one day. I know that mindlessly throwing my legs into the air is not going to achieve this. Instead doing exercises where I can control and feel the joints of my body that I will eventually end up using in the handstand will be much more beneficial.

4.Don’t stay in it.

Oh lord I love being confusing. Stay in it, don’t stay in it, what the hell is it man!?

Once you have understood the concept from point 3 you understand staying mindful and present in the movement. Next we must strive to progress that movement or the intensity behind it.

So you feel focused, controlled and strong doing a reverse lunge for 8 reps with 25lbs. Excellent, now don’t accept that, challenge it. Next week can you maintain that quality for 9 reps, and the following 10 reps and then 12 and then with 35lbs. Consistently challenge yourself to grow and adapt but do so under the principle of point 3.

5. Live.

If your reading this there is a very high probability that you are not making a living by competing in a sport that requires you to destroy your body like football, WWF or powerlifting or a sport that requires you eek out every last drop for speed performance, like a Olympic sprinter or weightlifter. If you are one of these people this doesn’t apply to you. Go use your bodies, makes those duckets and get that glory.

If you are making a living from your body, like a performer or skill based athlete then this applies to just as much as everyone else, maybe even more so because you want to remain gainfully employed for as long as possible I would imagine.

For everyone else who thinks they are Olympic athletes or highlevel performers, your not. No really those humans are the genetic freaks, we are mere mortals. Therefore, don’t think you can train like them, you don’t live like them. If you do live like them then what’s the matter with you? You will get neither get the duckets nor the glory.

Try to design a health and exercise program that allows you to live. Perhaps your ultimate balance and peace is working out 7 days a week for 3 hours while meticulously tracking every particle of food and liquid that goes in your mouth. If your a normal person with a functioning brain though that lifestyle probably causes you anxiety because it is impossible to keep. Don’t think that abstinence and discipline is always the healthiest. Think of how good you feel when you break bread with some of your peeps at a great restaurant. Don’t worry the few glasses of wine and that pasta wont kill you. You may not look like mr.universe but at least you will able to laugh.

The take away here. Go back to point number 1. set your goals, then live accordingly. If your lifestlye can’t match your goals then either one or the other needs to change. This is basic balance. Want to have the mental acuity of Mikhail Tal into your 80s but cant bring yourself to bed at night then forget about it. Sometimes the goal isn’t worth the lifestyle change, some times it is. You just have to answer that question for yourself and answer it honestly.

6. Stay consistent

This is really easy, just stay at it. What it may look like could change over the years but make sure you just keep showing up. Try not to move on till you are some what competent. But at the end of the day there is no end until the ultimate end. So you just have to keep showing up.

As always I am sorry I gave you a big rambling blog post on what makes the perfect workout, but it just isn’t that easy. If you would like to discuss what this looks like for you uniquely then please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask.