Exercise and Fitness

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

No one has to do this!! It’s just to make you think and give you good ideas!!

It’s not really closely related to the politics thing. It’s totally disconnected.

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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.

It’s about basics, moderation* and fundamentals. And “right sizing” your investment in exercising and fitness.

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

*Moderation in terms of intensity, not necessarily frequency or quantity.

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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, volleyball ball, snowboarding, rowing, kayaking, indoor climbing, rock climbing, handball, light mountain biking, lacrosse, fencing or dancing*. Even curling or other exotic sports are totally cool.

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.

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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)

Learn to hula hoop, practise a little bit ahah

Learn to roller blade

Fool around with poi and devil sticks (similar to juggling)

Try stilt walking for a smidge, if you’ve never done it before (low stilts only)

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.

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And those are the top 5 things!

And the top three are the most important.

Ummm. Stretch at some point.

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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. Maybe do no more than one or two of these per year.

These things could be very useful for problem solving!

Modules:

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

Kung fu stances, practise kung fu stances for seven weeks

Practise bouncing a ball on the back of a table tennis bat

Calisthenics: like Iroquois twists (see the Simpsons), and also marching on the spot and star jumps, and just whatever else makes sense, for seven weeks three times a week

Climb trees for four weeks, twice a week

Climbing walls, twice a week for four weeks

Module: 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. Routine: brisk walk 6-7 minutes, then child’s pose, then warrior one and two for 30 seconds each side for each pose. Then child’s pose. They warrior one and two on each side for 30 seconds each. And then child’s pose for the third time. And then 6-7 minutes brisk walk, and then bounce a table tennis ball on the back of a bat.

Three week module: yoga poses: Lions breathe and a couple of token poses. Like warrior one and two. Only twice a week and only for three weeks. Lions breathe: Chasing the feeling of melting tension with this is a mistake. Just do the exercises and call it a day. 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. Routine: walk for 6-7 minutes, then do warrior one and two 30 seconds each side, and then do lions breathe. Then do warrior one and two 30 seconds each side, and then do lions breathe. Then do warrior one and two 30 seconds each side, and then do lions breathe.

Oh, and do some normal tmj exercises to open the jaw. For a few weeks.

Throwing and catching: practise throwing and catching every Saturday and Sunday for five weeks. Something like a softball, rugby ball or baseball with glove.

Learning to sink hoops in basketball

Shinrin Yoku: every week for four weeks.

Learning to jump rope, and do it well. 5-12 weeks to practise

7 weeks Buddhist meditation: just do it to inoculate yourself with the weakened strain of it; 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.  Don’t take mindfulness with you into daily life!

Do the Muslim prayer postures five times per day for a month. This might actually reset parts of your posture. Really good.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

It's okay to put a bit more time in between sets for rest than you might think. Try to feel fresh for the next set. I dunno. Instead of like 10-15 seconds. You can have 30-120 seconds.

I have a theory (unproven) that taking a little extra rest between sets is good for you. Even if you haven't done anything strenuous at all (absolutely nothing is strenuous about those above ideas).

Hmmm. I'm not sure how much people should rest between sets that small and easy. But I have a theory that if you rest extra, but combine it with low intensity exercise strength training, that you feel better. And have better energy levels.

You can just get up and walk around and even grab a cup of tea between exercises. Just pad things out with rest. It's an "unproven" theory. But many of the best ones are. Don't forget, you're playing a bit of sport a couple times a week, you're walking, and you're doing some light cardio a few times a week. Therefore the strength doesn't have to make you feel knackered for it to count as proper exercise.

Padding the strength practise out with rest is perfectly fine.

Also, Pain is no gain.

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

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

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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.

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

Everything in moderation, except for moderation.

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Total flip side: or you can say to yourself, weight lifting is my hobby. Or something that I’m passionate about. And say… I want to build strength, mass or athletic ability. Just know why you’re doing it. But that’s different to my ideas for moderation.

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I reckon that learning fun things like hackey sack or playing things like table tennis and badminton or soccer, or learning to play pool/darts for the first time, or getting dancing lessons or playing softball or basketball is more interesting than moving weight around at the gym for an extra 200 grams of muscle.

Now it's very important to have some muscle for around well-being and fitness. Extremely important. I think that it might be the second best* investment based on exercise that you can make towards your fitness. But uhhhh... there is such a thing as diminishing returns. Or "right-sizing your investment".

And I still think that weight lifting and strength training (aka resistance training) is extremely valuable. It's just a question of how much. And to what end and for what purpose.

* best investments

1. Walking

2. Weight lifting, in a light-moderate way, with modest goals (aka resistance training)

4. Playing sports, without overdoing it

5. Light/moderate cardio

6. Learning new skills to grow your brain

7. A little bit of stretching 

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Extra note:

Jokes: 

Galaxy sized brain take: I lift weights, but like uhhh. Mostly light ones. It’s just a choice I made, I made it freely. Ahahahhahahhaha. I used my own judgement. It’s the right level of investment for me. Maybe some medium ish level weights too sometimes. Light-moderate/medium weights; modest goals.

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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.

PPS: when you’re young, you should do something a little bit dumb! Like rugby, ice hockey or boxing! But not too dumb, and not for too long! Do a contact sport or something crazy. Or something fun.

If you’re a girl, I dunno. Dancing or martial arts or horse riding or hema, or ice skating? I dunno. Maybe not so much contact sports for women.

But moderation long term is actually good.

This is just my opinion, but normal, healthy people should play a contact sport for a year or something. Maybe two years. It’s good for you. But do it when you’re young! It’s great for life experience and personal development. It’s okay if you want to do it for longer, like 6-7 years from age 11-18. But you don’t really have to do things for that long. And play a little bit of rugby and tackle bullrush casually at lunch time or after school. That’s normal!

And also you should goof around with your friends a bit when you’re a child too, by doing things like play fighting in a field, or wrestling people to “dunk” them at the swimming pools.

Did you know that a lot of schools BAN unsupervised contact sports at lunch time! As well as banning climbing trees!

But that’s not about “martial arts” or training to fight. It’s just normal human development in childhood and adolescence.

PPS: moderation helps you to be less likely to “burn out” or to wear yourself out.

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Final phrases:

Exercise and fitness and the culture associated with it has become a bit of a massive vanity and pride driven preoccupation in some corners of society. I think that it’s a good idea to sometimes scale things back.. and just make sure you’re doing things that make sense both for you as an individual and for someone in your particular social  context. And sometimes you need to “right size your level of investment in fitness”. Some people could do a little less fitness related activity in their life or reduce the intensity.

And also maybe… the flip side of that is don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Just because some people are overly preoccupied with fitness, it doesn’t mean that you should say… “I’m going to skip it (or just do one thing and half arse it) it’s too hard to do it ‘right’ anyway!” Nah, maybe people can just find the right level of investment for them. Which I believe could/should include: a sport (or dancing), a bit of strength training, and some light cardio (walking can be included in that). And I think people could/should choose to learn new things sometimes (it grows the brain).

Moderation in all things, except for moderation. Be immoderate in your level of engagement in light-moderate exercise and light-moderate physical activity with modest and appropriate goals! Hurray!