Martial Arts, Exercise and fitness

 I think that this one is just about ready:

Advice:

If someone asked me, "How do I get into martial arts?"

Or, "How do I learn and practice self defense?"

Or, "How do I learn to fight so that if I have to fight or otherwise choose to fight I am more likely to win?"

Then I would tell them to do Judo.

I would tell them to do Judo because I think that judo is the best thing that you can learn and practise. It's the best approach to training in my opinion.

But I would tell them some other things along the way...

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Do judo, but also do a little bit of Muay Thai.

Go to judo classes for 6-12 months. And then once you have done that, go to some Muay Thai classes for 3-6 months. That's your introduction right there. You will learn a lot.

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Additionally, I would suggest to people that they learn to punch straight away if they don't know how. Do this before you even go to judo.

This is actually quite easy. Just find a friend with pads, Thai pads, focus mitts, or better yet a punching bag, and have them tell you how to adopt a good boxing stance, and how to punch with good technique. And then get a bit of practise. But that should only require a few hours practise over the course of a few days or over a couple of weekends.

For example, you could get it done over the course of a Saturday, Sunday and a Wednesday. It might take you sixty minutes on the Saturday, ninety minutes on the Sunday and half an hour on the Wednesday.

This is just so that if you don't complete the program which includes Muay Thai that you haven't neglected to learn  to throw a punch.

It's really easy.

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Other than that, focus on judo, and then Muay Thai.

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For best results, you want to be fit, healthy, active and just a little bit "sporty" walking into your first judo class.

If you're not in the habit of playing a sport, you may wish to play one for a while before showing up at judo. Something like any one of the following will do: soccer, cricket, netball, basketball, rugby, touch rugby, field hockey, tennis, table tennis, squash, baseball, snowboarding, rowing, pickleball, badminton, softball, or dancing. Any one of those is more than adequate.

If you're unfit, you may wish to spend some time cycling and walking that you can build adequate levels of fitness. Perhaps go cycling 2-3 times weekly for 20-30 minutes per ride and walk 2-3 times per week for 30-90 minutes. My personal preference for cycling is (was) to ride for about 30 minutes, but to vary the intensity during and throughout the rides. Sometimes you ride slowly, sometimes you ride quickly. Like peaks and troughs. For walking, my personal preference was to walk for about 45 minutes at a time. That's the sweet spot. Swimming, cycling, rowing and jogging/running are also acceptable. This step will help you to have adequate cardiovascular fitness going into judo. Judo takes a lot of cardio, and you want to have a least a little bit of cardiovascular fitness going into it as a beginner.

If you're not strong, then you may wish to strengthen yourself and build up your body through movements and exercises such as squats, sit-ups, push-ups, planks, star-jumps, and jump rope. Movements such as lunges, calf raises, bicep curls and bent dumbbell rows may be appropriate also. Side planks and twisting sit-ups can be very helpful too. When it comes to squats, I suggest a combination of bodyweight squats and goblet squats (or kettlebell squats) with a modest amount of weight. This will help you to be strong enough to start doing judo, and to more fully appreciate it and profit from it.

If you're inflexible, then you may wish to do some stretches, such as hamstring stretches, quadricep stretches, calf stretches and groin stretches. Stretching your back, your lats, pecs, triceps and perhaps delts might also be worthwhile. Learning to "touch your toes" might be quite worthwhile (more like getting to the point where you can touch a spot in front of your feet with the tips of your fingers, but whatever).

Other ways to become more active include hiking, climbing, mountain biking and kayaking.

These are all just ideas. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

If you're already fit, active, healty, strong, sporty and tolerably flexible then my advice might be less useful. For example, if you already do squats, bench press, deadlifts and sit ups and cardio and play a sport, and you're flexible enough, then maybe you don't need to follow my advice, or adopt my approach, or take my suggestions to heart. If you have your own approach, then you have your own approach already. Use your own judgment.

You may wish to have a period of 8-12 weeks of practising normal levels of exercise and fitness activities, along with playing a normal amount of sport (e.g. 1-2 times per week) before you show up to Judo. I.E. you spend 12 weeks just doing normal and appropriate levels of exercise such as cardio, strength training, walking, stretching and regularly playing an ordinary sport as preparation before you go to class.

And then you go to judo, and then you go to Muay Thai (aka kickboxing or Thai boxing).

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Somewhere along the way, hang a bag in your garage. Make sure to buy some normal gloves (16 oz is nice, 14 oz is okay), wraps and a mouth guard. And a really nice jump rope.

Jump rope is the best thing... in the universe.

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After you have finished your 6-12 months of judo and your 3-6 months of Muay Thai then you just chill out, stay fit, remain physically active. And take a break from actively training in combat sports and martial arts.

Playing a normal sport of some kind is a fantastic idea at this point. You should also stay fit and active in general. And probably be doing some ordinary strength training, cardio, walking and stretching. Keep it super simple.

Table tennis is a great sport if you're looking for one.

This phase lasts 6-12 months.

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And then if you're really enthusiastic and you really love this stuff, you can go back for another stint of 6-12 months of training in something. Judo is a great option, it's perfect. Muay Thai is totally okay, it would be a fantastic choice.

Some people might also try wrestling, particularly if they're young (careful, it's tough!). But in this case I would suggest judo and Muay Thai before I would recommend wrestling. I'm just including wrestling because I don't want to reject or insult it, because it's actually really good. I wanted to include it on this page. I reckon that you might be able to circle back and try out a little bit of wrestling at some point. Even if it's just 6-8 weeks of it. Maybe the way to do that is to call around the local MMA and wrestling clubs to ask if they're beginner friendly and suitable for adults without wrestling experience. There might potentially be some really, really good wrestling coaches in your area who would love to teach adults, especially if you're a self starter who is fit, healthy and has done judo. There are some real gems and legends out there in the world. But anyway, judo and Muay Thai are my recommendations all the same.

And during this second stint, see if you can develop better cardio and strength, unless you're already fit and strong. I which case, keep doing what you're doing. Just basically condition yourself to become stronger!

Don't over do it or burn out.

And then maybe quit.

That's enough practice!

And that might be enough of an investment in self defence (aka fighting for the sake of self preservation). To be honest, you probably had done enough after the first stint! What I am saying is that at a certain point you have made a sizeable enough investment in training and stuff. But it's so easy to love this stuff because the training and practise are themselves enjoyable and satisfying in and of themselves, and so what that means is that the cost side of the cost-benefit ratio is really low and the benefit side of the ratio is high! It's only time and energy you're spending. As they say, "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." Again, use your own judgement as to how much time and energy you want to invest in martial arts and learning to fight.

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Maintain your skills by maybe punching a bag in the garage. Or by doing a few judo drills, or by hitting Thai pads in the garage. Or by doing some shadow boxing. And jump rope.

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As for boxing: it's awesome, and it's so much fun. And training in it is a fantastic challenge. And the process of learning it is quite satisfying. If you want to get into it, do it because you think you might enjoy the sport for a while. But not because you think you're obliged to do it. It's a sport for madmen. It's great, it's the best. But I can't necessarily recommend it to all and sundry (sorry!). It's actually pretty dangerous, and the wear and tear can be quite significant. It's one of those "trade offs" things. And there is a decent bit of a time investment to be made to get good at it. Lastly, as for self defense, it's fairly suitable for self defense. If you can get good at boxing, then you can probably defend yourself tolerably well. It's very effective. However, getting into boxing just for the self defence aspects might not be the best and most efficient option available given the cost-benefit situation and the pros and cons involved. It's a fair bit of work!

If you decide that it might be your cup of tea, then I would suggest that you get fit before you go though, with things like push-ups, sit-ups, cardio and jump rope!

I really liked it though.

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Plan B: Do karate for a couple of years. Shotokan looks like a good flavour of karate to me, and it's very popular and therefore widely available.

Plan C: Do exactly one year of Muay Thai. Just go to classes twice weekly for one year.

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Why?

Why Judo and why Muay Thai?

Answer:

The pedagogical approach in judo is excellent. They teach you well. And their philosophy is excellent and intelligent and very practical. The overall learning experience is great, or in other words, the "product experience" is good. Sorry for the corporate speak..

They took jujitsu and made it safer to practice. They took some dangerous stuff out, and turned it into a sport. Which makes it a pleasure to train instead of being a bit too hazardous. And because it is safer, you can practise in an "alive" way, which can help to develop you very well. And you can even compete in it, in tournaments, without it putting you in the hospital or otherwise getting injured too much. And you don't lose teeth or get your face damaged and changed from being punched in it. Now it is still a contact sport, so it isn't perfectly safe. But it isn't the same as competing in or practising bjj, wrestling, mma, boxing or Muay Thai.

It's fantastic.

You will get faster, stronger, better coordinated, you'll learn to fall well and get back up again. And you'll get back up again and again. You will learn to stay on your feet. And to put your strength up against someone else's strength. And to do so intelligently. You'll learn how to take your weight and mass, and use it in connection with and against other people. And you'll learn to "off balance" other people. It is a fantastic base for whatever else you may do. And it's great in its own right.

He took the process of learning to fight, and turned it into a sport, and perfected that process so well that I just don't think that it can be improved upon very much. It's a sportified approach to training where practising and playing the sport educates, trains develops and improves you.

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Why Muay Thai?

It's just a great learning experience too. The pedagogy is good. It directly programmes you to hit and hit hard. This is because you practise by hitting pads that provide resistance. Umm. The practice teaches you and makes you stronger at the same time. You'll learn to punch. And you'll learn to throw good knees, which when combined with a clinch are extremely effective. And you'll learn kicks and elbows too.

And it's easier to learn than boxing.

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Why spent a few hours learning to stand in a boxing stance and throw punches? Before you even do judo (or simultaneously to first starting at judo)?

Aka, why learn stance, punching and boxing?

Answer:

Expedience.

You might spend a few hours over a few weekends learning to punch with a friend. Maybe 1 hour this Saturday, one hour next Saturday, 90 minutes the following Sunday. The reason you do that is because... basic punches are quick and effective and quick to learn. And you don't want to be caught out unawares while still practising judo. You just get it done. Just in case you forget to do the Muay Thai. And you need your stance. Punches come from your stance. I used to say to myself that it all comes from your stance. I don't know if it's true! But it's what I used to say. Don't overthink it.

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(Digression: I used to say funny things like, everything is stance training. I'm boxing at least. Everything you do trains your stance into you. Engrains it deeper. Or at least a lot of it. Maybe not all of it. Stance training was a massive fundamental of mine. It was the first basic and the first fundamental. I had a list, and stance was number one. It's the first fundamental thing, or so I believed back then. I used also to say that "boxing is all about footwork, but you should never train footwork. Other than jump rope, and always jump rope". Now that statement is a lie, I did practise foot work, but approached it obliquely; at a tangent. I pretended that I wasn't practising footwork. I said, I'm practicing _footing_. I shadow box but pay attention to footing. Or I do drills, but the drills have a lot to do with the way I use my feet. Or I would say, I'm just putting this "platform" (my stance) in the right place for "delivering" punches. And so it was like about positioning and mobility. Sorry about the digression. But back to the main point, the stance is fundamental. And training the stance into you is one of the basic things you do, either directly or indirectly. I had my own private vocabulary. And all of this just to become pretty decent at boxing [fairly good, though it pains me to say it] and then not compete).

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And that's it for now.

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Why did I do this short page?

The answer is that I wanted to clear up confusion and counteract bad information.

___It's about disinformation___

The answer is that the culture is lying to you, tricking you and fooling you into being weird about fighting sports and martial arts.

They want you to become crueler and more callous. And to become less kind.

They also want you to learn to fight and get hurt in the process. By suggesting inappropriate training.

They want you to conflate manliness and masculinity and fighting prowess. And push propaganda like, "A man must fight". And also show actions movies and fighting movies that make you think that real men are tough guys.

The culture sometimes implies that you ought to train like a ufc guy so that you could immediately throw down in an mma match at the drop of a hat (not really, haha. But some of the online advice suggests it).

And so the conversations about learning martial arts have been ruined.

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But maybe you want to still learn about self defense, martial arts or fighting for the sake of self preservation.

Or just you want to learn to fight because if you end up fighting you want to improve your odds of winning.

And so I wanted to counteract the disinformation by putting something that's "basically good" out there. Without trying to make it perfect.

And so I put this page up.

Ps: I sometimes dislike the way that many of the martial arts talk about it only being about self defense. They do actually have a pretty good point. But sometimes the way that the language is used is clunky and annoying. But then again, I grew up being taught things like "love your neighbour as yourself", "turn the other cheek", blessed are the peacemakers and "do onto others as they do to you". And so maybe their rhetoric was lost on me a little bit. I actually already believed in ideas like "blessed are the peacemakers".

PPS: I put a bunch of stuff out there ages ago. That was a sneaky and clever piece of work. It was designed to trick people into thinking for themselves. And to distract people with nonsense while I played for time. Besides, every time I tried to write my story, I got attacked. And writing my story was the primary thing for me.

Extra note: people get hurt a lot in BJJ. They hurt their knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows, necks, and the tendons and ligaments in their hands. And they hurt their fingers quite a bit. If self preservation is what you're looking for, then BJJ might be a false economy.

(Judo hurts hands, fingers and toes as well, but it's not as bad).

The system wants you to waste time and energy on stuff that gets you hurt. It wants you to get hurt in training. It really does. It wants you to need surgeries. The system sucks. Just be aware of that

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Tldr; Do 8 months judo and 4 months at a Muay Thai class. It's fun, you'll love it. Get fit first.

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Some cultural analysis and discussion

Is it manly to fight?

Is it a great example of masculinity? To be fighting and able to fight?

Is it good to devote yourself to fighting? And learning to fight?

Should all men learn to fight?

Is it honourable to be a warrior and a fighting man, in the area of unarmed hand to hand combat?

Is it a kind of lunatic mad man type of thing?

Is it virtuous?

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Question: Is watching prize fighting, like the MMA or a professional boxing match a moral thing to do? Is competing in prize fighting a moral thing to do?

Answer: I would ban prize fighting if I could. I think it's bad for the culture of our society. I would keep amateur boxing around though. And do nothing to change judo or wrestling.

Question: Why is prize fighting and watching people hurt one another horrible?

Answer: It desensitises us to violence, and makes us a little more callous. It turns it into fun and a spectacle. It allows us to become crueler and less caring.

Answer: monkey see, monkey do. When these things get into the culture, we copy them. Because they're cool. We copy Tekken and the karate kid. And we learn MMA because it is on TV.

Answer: it makes people feel that fighting is a good way to solve problems, instead of just having good justice systems (good laws, lawmakers, lawgivers, judges, honest jury's, good policemen).

Question: what are some upsides to learning to fight?

Answers: It's just plain fun!?!?!?!? You can defend yourself if attacked, in some cases.

Random Point: boxing is actually a ton of fun. And it's addictive. Learning it is fun, and sparring is fun.

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Ummmm. I think that prize fighting is bad for the moral character of a nation. Just like gladiatorial combat. And I don't think that people should emulate prize fighters or seek to be like them. I also worry that people encourage street level violence in society, and then tell people learn to fight in response. People are encouraged to see violence as a highly appropriate form of  dispute resolution. I just don't like the way things are. I think that people are encouraged to fight with one another over women. And that seems daft to me. Or to prepare for fights what never happen, and then fight a neutral third party to prove that they can fight. So that they can have women.

But at the same time, it's kind of fun to learn the skills. And to get some basic ability in fighting isn't too difficult to get if you're healthy. Just as an aside, I think that playing a contact sport for a while in your youth is very good. And I also think that wrestling for a while is great, or judo. But that's not the same as becoming an mma fighter.

I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say.

I think it takes up a fair bit of time and energy for some people working to become a great fighter. And it might not be energy and time well spent. And people get injured and hurt. Training in fighting wears away at you. This might displace other things in your life.

Or what about the idea that a primary trait of a man is his ability to do violence. Is this just plain dumb? What is masculinity? What about the traits of honesty, and not speaking lies? What about integrity or intelligence? What about good judgment? What about discernment? What about the ability to make good judicial decisions (like King Solomon)? What about good administrative skills, what about ability in governance? What about inventiveness? What about the ability to give good counsel? What about the ability to give good advice? Or the ability to educate others and draw the best out of people? What about the ability to be a peacemaker? I think that the father in the book the Swiss Family Robinson is a good example of a male role model. A good example to follow or to learn from. And I think that Mark Watney in The Martian is a fun character to look at. He solves problems! What about William Wilberforce? Anyway, I'm rambling.

Are people who learn to do MMA truly warriors? Or are they just gladiators? Are they fighting for someone or something good? Or is it just human cockfighting? What is a good warrior fighting to defend? They might fight to defend the weak and defenceless, or to fight against injustice, or to fight against religious oppression? But are these fighters fighting for anything worthwhile?

Propaganda: there are lies, misinformation and untruths in our society which tells you that you need to learn to be tough, gung ho and good at martial arts and fighting. Or at least it tells some people to see that way. Correction: but I just don't see it that way. You don't have to be. It's an option for some people (many), but it's not compulsory. And besides, learning to be "tough, gung ho and good at martial arts and fighting" is hard and it takes a fair bit of work,it's not just learning a few skills on a 12 week long course. It often involves practise and  development and training. And time. And it might be an unreasonable amount of investment to make. Doing 6 months of judo when you're 16 isn't excessive. Or adding 4-5 months of Muay Thai to that a year later, that's not impossible. But some people train for years to become good and hone their skills.

And also a lot of people aren't fit and robust and coordinated enough to do that well in the first place. Or they would have to become fit, and play a different sport first, and put on weight and muscles before they could learn much. And it might be an unreasonable amount of work. And that's just for people who want the 6 months judo, 6 months Muay Thai level of training... they're not _healthy_ enough to go there and benefit thoroughly from it in the first place, or even to cope! So I dunno.

Unmmmmm. People emulating their favourite mma guys. They see an mma guy, and they're like. I want to be like him!! And then they copy him. And want to train to do the stuff they do. And also they start smoking weed. Emulation. And these people glorify a criminal way of life and sometimes associate with dodgy people, or criminals. And have a nasty way of life. It desensitises people to it. These are not good examples for how to live! They don't have high standards! But the counterpoint is that they're kind of cool and interesting, and so it is easy to get interested in their lives and to want to listen to them. They're likeable!

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More discussion:

Some of the advice out there sucks. I'm trying to help with that. And I'm helping you by just letting you know that some of the advice out there sucks. And by giving you different pathways.

Note: Karate is still okay. It's still an okay way to train. And there are tons of awesome good faith people out there practising and learning it. Have at it! There was some propaganda out there about it.

Note: a lot of boxing theory and pedagogy is disinfo. Or just plain lies. But I don't know how to explain it. And I don't know how to counteract it. Basically, I don't have the time or energy to deal with all of it. I'd just have a bunch of beginner friendly advice. Like "stance first", stance is fundamental. Your stance is basic. Learn your punches and learn them well. Punches are basic. Hit the bag, hitting the bag is good. It toughens you up. Jump rope, jump heaps. It puts more awesome stuff into you for punching and moving. Or boxing footwork is all about footwork, but never practise footwork (other than jump rope). That's sort of a lie. Or I'd explain to you what shadow boxing is all about. Or tell you to do pushups, sit-ups and cardio. And I'd tell you to build up your obliques to survive body blows. And I'd tell you about sport science and how to drill stuff into you. And strategy and ring craft. Oh yeah, and don't watch pro boxing if you want to get good at boxing. Watch amateurs at the gym sparring. And always make sure you can do damage. Boxing is damage. And keep your hands/guard up. Bag work IS resistance training. If you can't keep your hands up in sparring for a few rounds at a time, take a break to build strength in your delts. Unrelated, bicep curls are legit. Cheeky trick in sparring: fatigue their delts with assertive/aggressive hard swatting parries. Interference with arms in general can be good. Basics first though. Practise ducking punches; but without losing mobility. Practising just moving around well in shadow boxing. Just learning to move around well is nice and useful. Chasing points over doing damage might be a mistake - you're trying to defeat someone, to damage them until they're finished, not just tickle them for points. Maybe see yourself as working to beat them, and end the fight. Not just scoring points. But in sparring, practise the skills and stuff you need for that mindset and approach, but just pull your punches a bit!? Or skip certain punches. You're trying to win. To overpower, damage them, or finish them. For lack of a better word, to dominate them into your victory? I dunno how to give advice.

I'd they're covering up, and you're not, that's a good thing. Covering up obscures vision, and punches to your arms and gloves wears you down. Force transfers into your head through gloves that get hit. If you're doing the hitting, and they're covering up. Then that's good. Push them towards the ropes, deflect their counters. Progress towards a victory. Break their guard and posture if you can. Amateur isn't pro. A good jab is a good thing to have. I don't know what else. You need to be able to brawl and box. When I boxed that meant you need to be able to fight in the pocket and also do your outside boxing, or long range boxing. That's all I got. Take it with a grain of salt!

More added: if you're shadow boxing, you shouldn't be breaking a sweat.

Shadow boxing is gold. I repeat, it's gold. Maybe you need to get good enough in sparring. Or at least a little bit of experience. And you need the basics. You need those before it gets really good. But it's great. What is shadow boxing? It just practise when it's just you in the room, and no opponent. I could say you're doing mental practise. You're creating scenarios, and practising them, and drilling them. So that when you're in the ring sparring, it's not the first time you're done that scenario. And you take the experiences home from sparring, and turn those into fodder for shadow boxing. It's visualisation practise, mental practise, but you precise it kinaesthetically and physically. You picture stuff in your head, and then practice it in person. Shadow boxing is very important. It's an important part of practise. There is a lot of sport science and sport theory that goes along with this sort of thing.

BJJ: why no BJJ on here? Ummmmm. It is because I told you to do judo! And judo is awesome. And BJJ descended from Judo and Jujitsu.

Sambo: As a matter of practical concern, if you want to learn to box or do judo, there are lots and lots of places where you can learn that. But if you want to do something like sambo (which is awesome), there aren't many places where you can do that. And there are probably local places who do boxing and local places who do judo. You could just do those instead.

Stance: And when it comes to MMA and bladed stances or normal boxing stances.. it's a matter of practical concern again. If you want to learn these skills, and techniques, and to train, and to develop yourself... where can you go? The local boxing club might be a good bet? And if you're there, you practise with a normal stance. And... you're better off with a straight, basic boxing stance that you practise with, than a bladed stance that you felt is better in theory. Where are you going to get practise if you want to box in a bladed stance!? I don't know where I could have found sparring in a bladed stance in Kapiti. There was just kickboxing and boxing and judo. For sparring. Like, practically speaking where do you _literally_ practise!?! If you want to box, you just do normal stance and practise with the boxers. And then maybe you quit after 6-18 months. And you don't even think about blading ahahah, because you're only just getting the hang of normal boxing, and training it into yourself.

But seriously, where do you get the skills and the practise.

Use the normal basic boxing stance. It's good. It's a sensible one to train in. It's teachable and learnable. The exceptions might be if you're really into judo or wrestling (or sambo). They might have a modification to their stance that makes sense for judo/wrestling while still being okay for punching (and kicking, and throwing knees). If you want to know more, and this is perhaps a foolish thing to suggest, you might watch some Sambo on YouTube. That might give you some ideas for stance. But at the same time, maybe the boxing stance is still good? Because there is the shoes difference? So maybe that part of the conversation was foolish and unnecessary.

Anyway, that's enough discussion.

Ps: Ban MMA in New Zealand. Ban professional boxing and professional kickboxing in New Zealand. Make boxing and kickboxing amateur only, and keep it that way! And ban MMA tournaments and bareknuckle tournaments altogether. Professional is where the athletes can win money. Amateur keeps money out of it. That means you can still beat one another up in boxing, but you can't do it for money. And it's only three rounds allowed in amateur boxing!

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Quick and uncomplicated:

8 months at a judo class, follow by 4 months at a Muay Thai class. Run away and quit straight away!!

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Other:

The cost-benefit ratio of judo is good:

Fewer injuries and much less chance of harm than practising boxing or BJJ. Which reduces the "cost" side of the equation. And then the "fun" side of the equation means that... you can use "fun" and satisfaction as kind of a metaphorical "tax deductible" against the cost side of the equation. By the way, people get hurt a lot in BJJ and boxing. And you can even do tournaments and meet ups in Judo as an amateur without getting too badly injured and stuff. Which gives you way more chances to improve your skills and practise. It's just a smoother, broader road to improve yourself. I think so at least.

If you've got 60-80 years here on earth, why not waste 2-3 years of it in your youth doing judo? It might be the best option amongst the martial arts. After all, time you enjoyed wasting isn't time wasted.

^It isn't finished, but it'll do.

Friday, 24th July

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A rudimentary approach to moderate fitness and exercise

This is a rudimentary approach to moderate fitness and exercise. I'm not sure exactly who the target demographic is. But the idea is that it contains ideas for moderate exercise and moderate physical activity in appropriate quantities. Please note, it doesn't have to be a life long approach. Because life has seasons. Sometimes you're training and practising hard, sometimes you're not. Sometimes you're trying to develop new skills. Sometimes you're just trying to stay fit and healthy. And sometimes you're trying to rebuild after a surgery, illness or injury.

This is just one approach to fitness and exercise...

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One:

Play some sort of a normal sport or engage in some sort of normal sporting endeavour.

Any one of the following will do quite nicely: table tennis, badminton, tennis, squash, pickleball, soccer, rugby, touch rugby, field hockey, netball, basketball, cricket, baseball, softball, snowboarding, rowing, kayaking, indoor climbing, light mountain biking or dancing*.

I would recommend soccer, cricket, table tennis, tennis and basketball as the best of these. But badminton is great as well, especially for women.

*(dancing is what I might call a "sport-like" activity, or close enough. So I'll put it on this list, even though it doesn't really fit). 

Two:

Do some light-moderate resistance/strength training on a regular basis. Keep it light and keep your goals modest: just make sure that the muscles stay strong enough to maintain good, robust overall health. Low weight, high reps, low overall intensity. Just showing up and being consistent is the thing. You can use the machines at the gym, free weights, body-weight exercises, compound movements and isolation movements are all good and all have their place. Working out at home is fine, and working out at the gym is fine too.

By the way, you don't have to "lift heavy"! That's just bad dogma. You don't have to "lift heavy" to benefit from weight lifting or strength training as a normal person. You just need to lift or otherwise engage in some sort of strength or resistance training. It's extremely beneficial for many people from many different walks of life.

/opinion

Three:

Do some light-to-moderate cardio: 

Including walking (some people say that walking isn't cardio, but it basically is. It's good for you anyway. And it's good for your heart, lungs and circulatory system, so I reckon that it counts as cardiovascular exercise.) You might try 2-3 times per week going for a decent walk, plus get some walking in every so often throughout the day. The best thing about walking is that it is relaxing, and the second best thing about it is that it is usually well tolerated. If hate walking, it's okay to give it up for something else such as some other type of light "cardio".

Plus 2-3 times per week something like cycling, swimming, rowing, elliptical machine, hiking. Or with some caveats and disclaimers, jogging*, dancing*, jump rope, jumping jacks. Don't push yourself too hard!

That is 2-3 times walking and 2-3 times other light-moderate cardio.

*

The disclaimers and caveats are... 

That I don't like jogging and don't want to recommend it. Instead of pure jogging, I would suggest instead going for a bike ride 2-3 times a week, and then run for a couple/few stints of 2-3 minutes in the middle of it. Just a few hits of 2-3 minutes running in the middle of your bike ride. That energises you tremendously. Running must boost your feelings of energy and vitality. Or else don't do it. I know I'm silly, but I still have opinions haha. If you hate my advice, then jogging/running is still ok. It's still good for you. Or you could just do cycling, swimming or use the rowing machine instead of running.

Dancing: If you dance for cardio... be very wise about it. Don't sacrifice wellbeing or the health of your your joints just to burn fat. And don't ruin your form or. Maybe some dancing is for improving your skill and grace, and some is to burn fat, and some is to have fun, and some boosts energy. Be sure you know why you're doing what you're doing. Don't do gruelling stuff that just harms you in the name of mindlessly "burning calories".

Jumping rope and jumping jacks: Uhhh. Just do them as part of something else. A few sets of 2-3 minutes of jump rope as part of an exercise routine is fine. I looooooove jump rope. But don't do it in a gruelling manner unless you really need to for a different reasons (for example, if you box?). Just make sure it's not hurting your knees, and it's boosting your energy levels not making you feel haggard. If you're trying to do cardio, then maybe jump rope for 2 minutes to warm up. Then do some  jumping jacks, and some other calisthenics. Then 2 more minutes of jump rope before more jumping jacks and then a bike ride!! And jumping jacks (aka star jumps) are a warm up as well, or a minor exercise.

The point I'm making here is that you probably don't want to just do 30 straight minutes of jump rope as a normal person. And you probably don't want to do 30 straight minutes of jumping jacks as a normal person.

I will say that both jump rope and jumping jacks are great ways to warm up before strength training.

Anyway, cycling is possibly the best of the bunch when it comes to ideas for cardio or approaches to cardio. Followed closely by swimming. And then hiking is also is one of the most suitable and achievable and realistic forms of cardio for a lot of people (hiking is where you walk for 90-120 minutes on slightly challenging terrain - anything less than that is a nice comfy walk. Hiking also includes multi day hikes/tramping, where you could be walking for up to 6-8 hours in a day).

And an extra note for people who swim. If you swim, then for best results, do a little bit of cycling or jump rope as well. Or something else. Do something for your legs sometimes. That's just a suggestion.

These are just ideas.

*

Four:

Learn new things every so often. It's good for your brain!

Learn to juggle?

Learn to play hackey sack!

Learn to play croquet and pétanque, and practise them regularly for a number of weeks, along with other lawn games

Learn to play table tennis

Learn to dance

Learn to play darts

Learn to play pool

Learn to surf

Do exactly 6 months of Pilates, including reformer Pilates (six to twelve months might be just the right dose - Pilates doesn't have to be a lifetime commitment)

Just find a way to learn new things. Do a short stint of this sort of thing at least once a year. Just learn something every now and then!

Five:

Relax

Do something to relax once in a while, but it doesn't have to be eastern mystical stuff. It can just be a walk in a forest, sitting in pleasant natural surroundings, reading a book, doing cross stitch, going for a walk. It can be shinrin yoku or a hike or listening to music. Or just relaxing by drinking tea and reading poetry in a forest clearing 10 minutes away from where you parked. Or a walk on the beach. Or a warm bath. Or you could just sit outside and gaze at the stars with something warm to drink. Of all of these, listening to music with a cup of tea is one of the best options.

*

I think that meditation and qigong and yoga are overrated for relaxation. See appendix/notes.

***

And those are the top 5 things!

And the top three are the most important.

Ummm. Stretch at some point.

***

Do a module sometimes.

Here is a list of what I call "modules". They're like add ons. But they're not modules. So I need a better name.

Modules:

Learn to dance: just ten weeks, unless they're done it before

Kung fu stances

Calisthenics: like Iroquois twists, and also marching and posture stuff (cut word posture)

Climb trees

Climbing walls

Child's pose and a couple of token poses, like warrior one and two; then table tennis on back of bat. Brisk walk to start and end.

Lions breathe and a couple of token poses. Like warrior one and two. Only twice a week and only for three weeks. Chasing the feeling of melting tension with this is a mistake. Just do the exercises and call it a day. Oh, and do some normal tmj exercises to open the jaw. And the arms don't have to face the other way around with this. Don't over think it. But the tongue connects with tons of stuff.

Throwing and catching

Shinrin Yoku

Learning to jump rope

7 weeks Buddhist meditation: inoculate; and never again: don't take "thought drop", clear head, clarity mind, mud settled state of mind with you into daily life. It's super bad for you if you want to be a problem solver or a super awesome thinker!! You need to be thinking heaps. The absent minded genius trope exists for a reason. The absent minded genius always has his mind full of other stuff. 

A few other things

And so that's five things plus the "modules".

Appendix:

Note 1:

Some of that "woo woo movementy" stuff can be used to solve problems.

But then it causes problems. It like, detunes and slackens and mis-calibrates you?

Now while you're using it to solve problems, it feels like you're "releasing tension" or getting rid of blockages or things that impede "natural flowing movement". Or block energy. Or get rid of "excess hardness".

And that stuff feels great! And it might actually be solving problems. Perhaps you have solved a few problems, and gained some relief and some genuine actual improvement (like a mobility problems, pain problem, or an injury, or a stress problem, or a posture problem, or a voice problem). Maybe the problems aren't totally solved, but they're massively improved. Or maybe you solved a problems outright.

And then you say... If it feels good, and if it helps me solve problems, and if it is natural, and it's helping me to achieve a more "natural" type of body and movement style, then I am going to embrace it!

And you do more and more of it, and you feel better (subjectively) and you chase those subjective feelings of improvement (or release of tension), or you use them as a guide to doing more. As a signal that it is helping. But actually, it isn't helping you. It's making you less capable and excellent of a person (physically). It's actually bad for you and mis calibrating you.

It's giving you problems.

***

There is a Ray Bradbury story about it (or about something similar). This movementy stuff and the way it harms you. The person's spine and bones vanish. Ray Bradbury is an extraordinarily nasty person.

***

Why?

I don't want people to miss out on the awesome benefits of exercise just because they think you have to do something epic and massive just to receive and enjoy all of the good stuff that comes from a fairly ordinary and moderate approach to exercise.

You don't have to do hardcore exercise if you don't want to. And you don't have to do hardcore exercise to be able to do fantastic things for your overall health, fitness and wellbeing.

**

Why?

Some people do things like trail running, iron man competitions, brutal combat sports, dangerous rolling, hurt their hips, shoulders or neck doing yoga.

You don't have to do anything gruelling to be doing cardio. You don't have to do high intensity interval training to do cardio. You don't have to lift heavy.

Strength is a bit of a project. It's a project to build it, and then you maintain it.

****

****

I think that meditation is overrated for things like stress relief or relaxation. I also couldn't recommend progressive relaxation for relaxation. Ditto for yoga nidra (which is similar to progressive relaxation).

Qigong might often cause problems just as easily as solve them (depending on  a lot of things and how long you do it).

Yoga is... odd? But I think that it's popular enough that if you find a class where your friends do it that it's not that bad. I still think that Pilates is better. I would suggest to people that they strictly avoid head stands in yoga though.

When it comes to eastern stuff as a whole, it can sometimes solve problems and resolve issues. I think that sometimes it might "rejigger something" and fix a problem. That's nice! And make you feel good! But chasing those "feel good feelings" can make you have problems long term. Such as weakness or poor coordination. The eastern stuff like yoga, meditation, qigong, t'ai chi and internal martial arts and even external martial arts can sometimes feel like it holds great promise, and even help things in the short term, but not give you the long term positive results you wanted. You might not feel satisfied with the outcomes long term... But anyway, be careful with that. And don't chase feelings of "wellbeing". Those feelings are deceitful. "Releasing tension" isn't always what you need.

I will repeat that: you can sometimes cause problems with Eastern stuff, such as weakening yourself, making your coordination worse, and damaging your body awareness and giving yourself joint pain. 

I have tried meditation, progressive relaxation and a couple of other things. Progressive relaxation was okay, but I wouldn't want to do it often.

A short program of meditation can be useful for developing new skills relating to awareness and consciousness. But I can't recommend it. And if you meditate, they will mislead you and basically ruin your cognitive excellence in foolish ways. They will tell you that it's normal to take that feeling of "mindfulness", ie empty head feeling, where you're immersed in the reality around you, into daily life. But it's dumb. It makes you less bright and smart and fun and creative.

Progressive meditation can teach you new things too. But I can't recommend it either.

Qigong is weird, but a short stint of it might not do you much harm. 

****

****

Extra notes: badminton is extraordinarily popular for women in China. And for good reason. It's a lower impact sport and suitable for life long participation.

****

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Note to self: Do the strength thing properly.

But I didn’t put in the explanation of strength training or a program. Which is silly.

Maybe as a male, get to the point where you can do:

50 pushups (5 sets 10)

50 squats (5 sets 10)

50 sit ups (5 sets 10)

20 lunges (whatever sets idc)

20 calf raises (whatever sets idc)

20 bent dumbbell rows (whatever sets idc)

30 dumbbell curls each arm (whatever sets idc)

Jump rope a bit first

And then do it 4-6 times a week. And then you’re healthy. It’s okay.

Maybe learn to do 5 sets 20 pushups, and do that 2-3 times a week. This can take time and also consider doing some kettle bell squats with kettle bell somewhat less than half of your bodyweight. Or whatever feels right. And do 3 sets of 8. Maybe use a 16 weight, then a 24, then a 36. Do you really need anything more than that!? And do it 2-3 times a week.

**

Orrrrr, just go to the gym three times a week.

As for stretching, do it 2-3 times a week.

**

As a woman, do women’s push ups.

Also, don’t start everything at once in the program.

And think of these and guidelines. And I’m not the boss of you. And you can literally just ride a bike, walk, and play table tennis or badminton, touch your toes sometimes and be okay. Maybe not everyone, but many people. And a few squats.

/ women.

**

I’m tired and can’t be bothered fixing it. The strength part.

Everything in moderation, except for moderation.

Ps: one of the purposes of the old basic fit page was to buy time and create confusion so that could invent. I’m unsure if it was a good idea!! But I’m struggling a bit here!? And it’s not the right saying, but I’m also “flying by the seat of my pants”!!! I’m making everything up as I go.