03-21-13 09:32 AM - Post#765512    

Reasonableness
Let’s just get this out first: I believe that a Reasonable Way of Eating and a Reasonable Training model trump insanity all the time.
So, in my last few workshops, I have gone to the whiteboard and scribbled illegibly in my scrawl that earned “D’s” in handwriting at St. Veronica’s School and asked these questions:

What’s a tough workout?
Dozens of hands go up, dozens of answers.
I truly enjoy this part as we swim from totally random training programs to sports (“Run a Marathon!”) to a multitude of DVD programs and the like. There are programs that can kill and programs that have from 16-50% injury rates in six weeks. Remember, this is a roomful of fitness pros and we still all think we need to kill you to make progress.

What’s a reasonable workout?
A few hands go up, a few shy answers like “Even Easier Strength”
I discuss “hand waving” again and again in my writings. It is this side-to-side handshaking wiggle we do with both hands followed by our mouths saying “You know” and our shoulders shrugging. With reasonable, sadly, we seem to NOT know. I argue that reasonable workouts cover all the basic human movements in a repeatable repetition scheme and appropriate load while providing plenty of time and energy for corrective work in any and all areas. Reasonable seems repeatable.

What’s a tough diet or way of eating?
Most hands go up with everything from pure fasting, protein drink only diets to sheer lunacy.
I had a girlfriend who had a three-day diet. Day One she ate seven eggs. Only. That was it for the whole day. Day Two, she had seven oranges and Day Three was seven bananas. She would lose seven pounds doing this. That, my friends, is a tough diet. I would probably find a three-day fast easier as my blood sugar will go crazy on the fruit days and turn me ravenous. Oh, on Day Five? She put on nine pounds.

What’s a reasonable diet or way of eating?
Crickets.
Nothing.
Blank uncomfortable stares. As a classroom teacher of over 34 years, my one fear has always been passing gas out loud during a lecture. As the group stares back at me, I have one of two thoughts: either I farted or we have a problem.
I checked. It wasn’t me.
Seriously, some of the biggest names in the fitness industry won’t raise their hands and tell me what a reasonable way of eating is in this age of one million diets.
Years ago, at the Olympic Training Center, we were told to focus on these three things:
Protein
Veggies
Clear Water

Is there anything stunning there? Later, Robb Wolf summarized the most complex eating program (dozens of books by the same author promising all kinds of things and the problem is always that you don’t do it right) in the world with these three memorable lines:
More Protein
More Fiber
More Fish Oil
Please note: I have stolen both of these concepts and I now claim them as my own. Remember, the first time I say something: I am quoting someone. The second time I say something :I say “My good friend, fill in the name, always says….” The third time I say something, I say “As I always say…” This is what I remember from my ethics class on the topic of Intellectual Property.
As I argued in Mass Made Simple, I think we know how to eat:
Honestly, seriously, you don’t know what to do about food? Here is an idea: Eat like an
adult. Stop eating fast food, stop eating kid’s cereal, knock it off with all the sweets and
comfort foods whenever your favorite show is not on when you want it on, ease up on
the snacking and— don’t act like you don’t know this— eat vegetables and fruits more.
Really, how difficult is this? Stop with the whining. Stop with the excuses. Act like an
adult and stop eating like a television commercial. Grow up. Now, let’s get back to the point: Eat like an adult!
People always ask me about the book, Mass Made Simple, and whether or not they should read it. It is my ultimate “Do This!” training program. The whole tone of the book is like this selection and usually I am much nicer. To get you to put on body mass in six weeks, I can yell and scream at you and you love me for it.
My point here is important: to begin the process of training and eating reasonably (most of the time), I have to raise my voice, shake my fist and wake up the world. Reasonableness has been so lost in the field of fitness, strength and conditioning that striving to get someone to train more reasonably has become unusual, odd, strange and contrarian.
In Junior College, I studied Paralegal Research at Skyline College. My days were filled with the great canon of Western Civilization and long classes on business and criminal law. The two fields intertwined nearly every day. As we were discussing the ideals of Classic Greeks, I will grab my bag, walk down the hall and hear about the basic legal standard. To understand the law, you must, first and foremost, understand “reasonable” and “reasonableness.”
I have always thought this definition of the reasonable person by Percy Henry Winfield to be, well, reasonable:
He has not the courage of Achilles, the wisdom of Ulysses or the strength of Hercules, nor has he the prophetic vision of a clairvoyant. He will not anticipate folly in all its forms but he never puts out of consideration the teachings of experience shows such negligence and so will guard against negligence of others when experience shows such negligence to be common. He is a reasonable man but not a perfect citizen, nor a "paragon of circumspection.”
This sounds like a lot of people I know.
Reasonableness is not only a pillar of the study of law, but it used to be considered one of the rocks of a person of integrity. Integrity, according to my mom, was being one person all the time no matter what the circumstances. I have been with Cardinals of the Catholic Church at dinner, stars from Broadway, professional athletes, Olympians and fitness models, yet I strive to follow this simple advice from my mother. Ideally, at my funeral, you will all be talking about the same guy in my urn or casket.
Integrity comes from the same root as integer. Basically, like a whole number, integrity asks you to be a whole person. I have found, and this is nothing unusual as billions have done it before, that being reasonable in your thoughts, actions, beliefs and approach to life allows you handle the contradictions, disparities and unpleasantness of living in community.
My old college coach, Ralph Maughan, had a sign on his desk: “Be Reasonable. Do it my way.”
Coach Maughan, who was drafted by the Detroit Lions, made an Olympic team as a hammer thrower, won the nationals in the javelin and earned three medals at the Battle of the Bulge, maybe had more reasons to be reasonable, frankly. Coach Maughan, part of the Greatest Generation, had seen and done things that were glorious and tragic and understood life well. “His way” was usually a pretty good idea.
Earl Nightingale tells us in “Lead the Field,” the audiotape series that changed my life:
And, to me, reasonableness is another word for integrity integrity to truth, to the evidence, no matter where it leads…Are you ready to discover “through experiment and reflection what course of life will fulfill those powers most completely?” That’s being true to yourself; that’s integrity; that’s reasonableness.
“To the evidence, no matter where it leads” is the drumbeat of my search for better ways to seek and attain our goals in fitness, health and sports.
To the evidence, no matter where it leads
How do we find the truth? How do we know what we know? These are questions that usually don’t pop up in books written by strength coaches, but if we are going to cast off the ropes of mistruths and misunderstandings about health and fitness, we have to answer some tough questions. Listen, you bought the book, I’m not selling you anything else; I don’t have a supplement or an “act now” or any one standing behind the curtain. How do we know…what we know?

“Epistemology” is a great word to use at a party. One simply needs to stand there with drink in hand, monocle around the eye, and say: “You make a fine point, my young friend, what is the epistemology of your evidence?” This will drive away beautiful women and make all the men roll their eyes. This, in fact, is how I kept myself single for so long. However, there is a great value to the term and it does apply to every field. It the study of, simply, “how you know what you know.”

I get challenged often to why I know that this or that works in the world of strength and conditioning. Frankly, most of us in the industry recently have fallen into simply saying something akin to “I don’t know.” I am often reminded when people use phrases like the “Black Box,” to explain the process of how one grows after lifting or loses fat after training to what the author of “The Hobbit,” J.R.R. Tolkien, said about the use of the term “Celtic:”

““Celtic” of any sort is…a magic bag, into which anything may be put, and out of which almost anything may come…Anything is possible in the Celtic Twilight.”

How do I know how my training systems work? I love falling back on this idea of the Magic Bag of Tolkien. We put anything in and almost anything comes out. I have you sprint and lift and soon you look better. Cheers to you and me. This is also the notion of the “Black Box.” It’s funny to think about this all so many years later, but my Economics professor once stood at the podium and waved his hands to explain Adam Smith’s notion of the “Invisible Hand” that drives capitalism. So, every field seems to have this moment of hand waving.

Recently, Chip Conrad of BodyTribe told me about how the South Park television show used this same hand waving to explain why the Underpants Gnomes (yes, I just wrote “Underpants Gnomes”) stole underpants to make a profit:
1. Steal Underpants
2. ?
3. Make Profit

So, how we “know” that programs work or don’t work is going to look a lot like the second point in the grand scheme of the Underpants Gnomes. At times, and honestly that should read “Most of the time,” we simply have no idea HOW it happens, simply that it happens. Frankly, I think it is good enough to know that lifting makes people stronger and we can move on, but it is fascinating to discuss.

Robb Wolf, at a recent workshop, offered up a term that I thought really handles the miracle of how doing this with diet and that with exercise works so well: Cascades. Like a snowball gaining size as it rolls down a hill, certain food choices (or mistakes) can have a cascading effect on the entire system. As I learned years ago, there are chemicals that, in small doses, can do wonders for you. In larger doses, they kill you. Choose wisely.

I know from personal experience that a maximum deadlift can take weeks for me to recover from the hit of the few seconds I pulled it off the ground. High repetition back squats seem to swell my whole body up and the weight stays on for years. Overtraining breaks me. I know all of this, yet I can’t always explain how I know it.

From my years of teaching Moral Theology, I used a simple system for discussing how we choose values. Values, in my classroom, were simply things we value. I realize that this seems redundant, but, if you think about it and how the opportunity to discuss this with someone else, it makes more sense. I had a conversation recently with two young men who were convinced that you needed to date a woman with six pack abs. It was at that moment I realized that we “valued” different things in life. I’m not judging, just observing.

Daniel John Just handing down what I was handed down... Make a Difference. Live. Love. Laugh. Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude) Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk. Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth. Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights. Reread great books. Say thank you

For the "feedback" discussion...here is where I am heading.
03-21-13 09:50 AM - Post#765514    

and breathe!

Great post, a lot to digest therein.

Chris

Blog Somatic Education

Edited by chrisl on 03-21-13 09:50 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

03-21-13 10:07 AM - Post#765520    

Excellent, Dan -- thank you as always.

The more I think I know, the more I think that for almost everyone, almost all of the time, the reasonable diet & training approach, applied faithfully, will lead to far better results than endless attempts to "crush it" in some way, which always seem to lead to the famous "light, heavy, heavier, injured, light" continuum.

Really like the direction this is heading, and am definitely looking forward to the book!

03-21-13 10:23 AM - Post#765523    

That is a great piece with a lot of insight and many topics I ponder often in my long drive between rural Schoharie County and Albany where I have to sit and pretend to be civilized for eight hours a day.

Why do our muscles grow? We have stimulus response answers but no real insight, and certainly no two trainees respond to the same stimuli in the same way at the same rate. Why do we lose fat? Fundamentally it's because there's an energy deficit. Beyond that? Really, who knows. The trainee just has to find something that works then do it.

Do it.

That's the part where so many of us, especially me, fall short. I know what works, so of course I stop doing it...and why does that happen? Because humans are just silly.

On the topic of integrity, my older son had a teacher a few years ago whose favorite saying was, "Character is what you do when no one is watching."

How's my character in the gym? It's pretty good...not as good as it needs to be, though.

At least at this point in my life as I indicated in my "Easy Lifestyle" thread I've stopped being manic in my training. I've finally realized that at 43 years old I'm well past ever being a 20-year-old elite anything, so I don't need to train like it's my bread and butter. For good or for bad my bread and butter is testing software for a living, and what I love in order are G-d, family...that's about it. Everything else is a "nice to have", so to be there for both of the things I love, I train to be strong. Not the strongest, just strong.

And healthy.

I'm glad I quit smoking even though now and again I feel like lighting one up. It's another notch I can put in my longevity belt.

Yes, training needs to be reasonable for the 95% of us who aren't getting paid to participate in our sport(s) of choice. How reasonable can it possibly be to train so hard (read: bad) that you hurt yourself or throw up and have to take time off? You're not going to get many tries on the pitch or throws at the trig if you're nursing a pulled spinatus or torn hamstring.

It's kind of funny since pondering so much about training the last year I've come to the belief that the primary key for improvement is proper movement. Whether we're talking about getting stronger, throwing farther, running faster, it all comes down to mechanics over force. I believe that performing a press at a lighter weight with perfect form will make you stronger than heavier weight with bad form. It just keeps coming back to, "Did you actually get stronger or just move more weight?"

When we throw, we get better distance with all other things being equal if our form is great than if it's sloppy. Running faster comes down to proper foot strike, stance, and hand movement.

Now, some people come to one, two, or all mechanical functions naturally, and some of us, like me, really have to practice, practice, practice. I think even at the elite level, we see insance amounts of practice with insane amounts of intensity.

That's insane for a normal person, not for an elite athlete. The elite have to train like that to stay at the top.

We don't. Certainly, I don't. I'm happy being a little fish in a big pond. I'm going to be in this pond a long time, and I want to be able to enjoy it. I won't be able to enjoy it if I'm constantly limping or can't sit on the floor because my back hurts too much.

Sorry for the hijack...my brain just kind of went ape for a few minutes.

Thanks, Tom Barrett

03-21-13 11:05 AM - Post#765526    

Thank you Dan! A nice round up of a great many insights.

03-21-13 12:28 PM - Post#765545    

• BrianBinVA Said:

...assuming Dan doesn't post it all first. :~)

03-21-13 01:37 PM - Post#765554    

Thanks Dan John, some good insights.

I too wonder about what is so hard about being reasonable and acting/eating like an adult.

Interesting thing about reasonable training is:

AS we get stronger/better conditioned, what is reasonable for us will not be reasonable for another. It may be too much or too little for another person depending on where they are.

So, in a sense, reasonableness is a fluid quality.

At it's basic meaning it is being neither extreme nor excessive nor lacking in some way.

Too much caloric intake is unreasonable.

Too low a caloric intake, in this case taken to an extreme deficit, is unreasonable.

Reasoning is thinking. Walk the middle road. Do just enough.

It's also called the MED or Minimum Effective Dose.

This would be reasonable training for most people.

AS you said: too much kills us too little does no good.

It's about balance.

In eating . In training. In life.

At times, we may, depending on our goals, push the reasonableness to a little bit of the extreme side. But this would be more like a 1RM test of a dead-lift, or at a competition trying to set a new record. But that is not every day, and not reasonable for those not competing in sporting events.

Though, at times, occasionally, it is good to test ourselves.

So, in a sense, training in a reasonable way or eating in a reasonable way is sort of a grab bag that floats along, sometimes moving upward, sometimes maybe moving downward for a bit.

And what is in that bag may and will change as time moves on.

When we get sick or injured, what was reasonable a month before would not be reasonable now.

What we did when we were a stud at 20 years of age would not be reasonable now if we are 60.

So, being reasonable means "think". IS it reasonable for ME where I am currently at in my age, health, conditioning, strength, training timeline, current responsibilities, etc.

But that is the hard part. Convincing ourselves or someone else that "Hey, you aren't (I'm not)ready for that, it's not reasonable for you (me)yet."

And that level may never be reasonable for them/us for a variety of reasons.

I think for the majority of people, if the training is fun, they can slowly and progressively be taken through periods of reasonable training and occasionally to the unreasonable side of training and progress very well.

We don't need to kill people with training or eating habits. Coax them along. Lead them. Make it fun. They will then do it.

That is where little competitions, timed events and other things can be used to bring the fun back into training.

Here's a thought for the gym owners out there who cater to everyday people:

Think of a gym where people could come in and train, and were encouraged to test themselves here and there (do this with some light-hearted competitions) trained their strength but also had games set up where they mixed things up a little and tried new things.

We know how to train strength. Strength training should be programmed, tracked and structured to a degree.

But the heart/lung training can be anything and everything. Get them moving in various ways. Get them carrying, lifting, walking, running, tumbling, climbing, using various implements, etc. Make it fun. They will get results. This doesn't have to be complicated.

Imagine if some days (maybe one day per week)they were taken to a grocery store and taught what to buy to eat. Then on another day part of gym time (maybe in the evening) was spent on showing how to prepare some easy simple dishes of healthy food. Or how to pack a nutritious lunch. Or how to sneak in some fun play time exercising with the family or with friends. Lot of things we could plug in here.

This could be part of a "lifestyle change" package deal you make available to your clients.

Show them HOW to make reasonable lifestyle changes they can implement and stick with. It's surprising just how many people don't really know how to eat or train reasonably.

We've got several generations of people who think playing video games is great because it develops eye-hand-co-ordination (I'll pick the kid who actually throws and catches a real football for my team, thank you very much!)

They think playing Wii or whatever it's called, is exercise.

They think eating healthy is grabbing a bag of chips with no MSG added. "Hey, they're potatoes!"

I think people would eat this up and your gym would dominate in your town. Make it a part of their life. Teach them how to fish. This may take awhile, but you'll help people more and enjoy it more and so will they.

Anyway, just some thoughts for small gym owners.


Marius.Ursus,

Some good thoughts there too, thanks for sharing!
I think you should let your brain go ape a little more now and then!

I definitely agree with the practice part. I have always had to fight and work hard with determination to make gains. But it is worth it.

Nothing wrong with being a little fish in a big pond. Some of us little fish are pretty tough. We might not be the strongest nor the fastest, but we are tenacious.

That is what fascinates me about spec-op guys such as the SEALS. They are not the biggest. They are not the fastest. They are not the strongest. Certainly they are trained physically and mentally to a high level, but they don't win gold medals at the Olympics. But the point is:

They NEVER quit.

Improvise, adapt, overcome.

Enjoy the journey.

What many do not realize, is the guys who become Green Berets, Rangers, SEALS, etc, are guys taken from the top of their class. They aren't guys fresh out of basic training.

In one of the books I read concerning such spec-op training, it mentioned that the guys who do best at these positions are guys in the mid to upper 20's. In other words, they've got some accumulated training experience under their belts. They have more than just a year or two of hard, progressive training experience. The younger guys wash out many times.

I've read that a man dose not fully have all his bones fully matured until he hits about 30. Something to think about.

So, those that want to jump in and train unreasonably (CF) are not going to last. We can't jump into training like some elite spec-ops guy or some professional NFL player.

But that seems like that's what people expect. Train me like THAT GUY and I will be like him. Whoever THAT GUY may be for them. And when it doesn't happen and they get sore and injured they become disillusioned.

A person can get pretty strong and tough and train at what some may view as unreasonable levels. But this takes more than just a few years of hardening oneself up to.

I believe that people (more than we think) can get to a level that many would look at and say "Holy Crap, that guys tough!".

But it takes 5-10 years or so to coax your body and mind along this route. It takes reasonable training and then bumping up against unreasonable training, experimenting as you go along, to see what gets you there. But this ain't for everyone.

If you are going to train for a sport, then it's different.

I think sometimes people want to improve in their sport (tennis, marathon running, basketball, whatever) and also look and perform like some professional player or some body-builder playing and action role on TV or like some Navy SEAL.

If we want to play a sport better, find what is a reasonable way to improve and train for that sport.

IF we want to strive to attain to a SEAL type of level of mental and physical conditioning, then the focus/training is different.

If we are just after losing some weight and getting "in shape", well, once again, this defines what would be called reasonable training for that person.

Look at the person and where they are at right now. Examine the past history of their life, figure out their most important goal (they may have several goals, that's OK) and determine what would be reasonable training/eating for them to get there or closer to there.

Adjust on the fly.

Sorry, I got side-tracked there a little.

Anyway,

as Dan John said,

Never Let Go

03-21-13 02:34 PM - Post#765558    

intriguing preface material

“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble. ~ Emerson” ― Dan John, Mass Made Simple

03-21-13 07:48 PM - Post#765588    

Interesting stuff. Working in a gym, I'm always having to get people to do something reasonable. People have either active or sedentary personalities. I put them on a treadmill so it can read their heart rate. Someone in their 30s, I might tell them, "right now we've got your heart rate up to 130, keep it there for twenty minutes at least twice a week, and you'll get an improvement in your cardiovascular fitness."

Some people will say, "But... I can go harder."
"Yes, you can. But though it's twice as hard, you won't get twice the benefit, maybe only 10-20% more. It's up to you, whatever you feel you can keep up with."

Others will get on, get up to 130 and say, "Oh my god this hurts!" They've never exerted themselves before, and mistake the feeling of exertion for actual physical harm.

Neither of them are being reasonable.

One thing I see in a lot of gym junkies is always maxing out all the time. This is great but... their max today is the same as it was last year. When I started as a trainer, if someone could physically handle 50kg, I'd have them start with 50kg. Problem was, two months later they'd still be using 50kg. Whereas if I had them start at 25kg, two months later they'd be using 60 or 70kg.

I had to tell this to a woman I trained the other day. I gave her a one-armed dumbbell bench press, she started with 5kg. "A good goal," I said, "is 10kg in a month or so." She wanted to try 10kg now. One her right arm she could do it, but it was shaky, her left arm was a wash, wasn't happening.

"Start with 5kg."
"But that's easy, I can do 10kg."
"Yes. But if you start with 5kg, and next workout 6kg, then 7, 8, 9, well in six workouts when you're doing 10kg, that's going to be a lot better on the right arm, and actually doable on the left arm. Whereas if you start on 10kg, then a month from now you'll still be doing 10kg. It's better to start too easy and sustain the progress than start too hard and get stuck."

I had to make the same argument and have the same discussion with
every
single
other
exercise
I gave to her.

I didn't know how to put it politely, so didn't say, "Your approach has left you after years of training unable to squat the empty bar or do a pushup, how about we try it my way."

She'd also been on a 1,000kcal a day diet in the past, though is much saner now. Lovely woman, just been sold a lot of "go hard or go home!" nonsense.

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers

03-21-13 10:52 PM - Post#765599    

Walter referred to "minimum effective dose".

In the gym, after I've done my presses and pull ups or whatever I had planned for that day, my mind will often turn to "what's next"? Maybe some dumbbell rows, some cable stuff, some curls...

But a quick MED inventory will help me make the decision to hit the showers. I'm sweaty, I'm breathing hard, my heart rate is up, my muscles are tired/pumped, but not wiped out, my joints are feeling good and I'm standing tall. I've reached the MED, continuing beyond that is unnecessary, inefficient, and/or counter-productive.

Reasonableness can be applied to every aspect of life- money, work, study, relationships, parenting, travel...

For the "feedback" discussion...here is where I am heading.
03-22-13 01:12 AM - Post#765605    

• Quoting:

Outstanding!
Do you have video?

Reasonableness - nice term -
I'm just guessing here but the power to reason is likely a prerequisite. That might severely limit some people's participation in such a lifestyle. But hey, Dan, if explaining what comprises reasonableness is the cornerstone of your next book the audience should be HUGE.

Anyhow, my biggest step toward such a lifestyle was potty training. Once I stepped out of those diapers for what my heart knew was the final time things started going my way. It's about that rare combination of confidence and horse sense.

All I can seriously add is an observation. It seems that when it comes to finding out what works over the long haul, a lot of 'modern' people need to be told twice and shown thrice.

And again, this is good for your success, Dan. I mean that as a compliment. You have a way of reminding people that there's quite an obvious distinction between successful training behavior and just plain insanity and short-sighted ignorance. Good on ya!

I also agree that reasonableness can be applied to every aspect of this life. So it's important that we apply reasonableness to reasonableness and don't get carry away with reasonableness and go all the way to bland 'puritanical' training and diet setups as the be all and end all of this thing.

A good short-term dive into a whacko program or diet can do wonders at times. And make the straight and narrow seem fresh and full of marrow.

Life's too short to worry about longevity.

Edited by Neander on 03-22-13 01:28 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

03-22-13 02:02 AM - Post#765606    

The problem is not short-term runs through the field of madness, Neander, the problem is having no timeframe for those.

"I will do 20 rep squats for 6 weeks" is madness, but it's restricted by time, so there's only so much harm it can do, if any.

"I will do 20 rep squats," is not limited by time, and the person will probably give up after their third workout, and because quitting makes them feel a failure, it encourages the person to quit the gym entirely.

By all means try madness, but there should be a method to your madness, so that your madness can be... reasonable.

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers

For the "feedback" discussion...here is where I am heading.
03-22-13 04:34 AM - Post#765610    

• Quoting:

Nope, I won't buy it.
The point of temporary madness in any endeavor is to reaffirm the positives of sanity and redefine your supposed capabilities. To break down the predetermined limits we mentally and physically select. A literary device that can extend to actual life lifting and training? In more things than just training, actually in all things. Go crazy to see just where your own lines are drawn. Reason has its limits in all things in many ways. Take training. How will you ever know what you're really capable of without ever going beyond what your mind classifies as reasonable, said the devil's minor advocate.

Certainly, a lifestyle composed of nothing but mad attempts will result in failure over time, BUT, the man who never steps outside the parameters of reason is surely limited to mediocrity. Maybe there are many good points and reasons behind writing a book on reasonableness; however, having almost overwhelming passion for an endeavor or hobby outside the 'valued' desires might increase the worth of those desires, be they family, real work or any of the others on that limitless list of worthy things.

And that's all fine and good for some. The thing is, there's a rheostat on this life and it's internally operated, in most people. Knowing when to step outside of reasonable behavior might just have some, actually many, merits.

I have a real fear of the tepid when it becomes the goal.

And come to think of it, it's not necessary for me to pander to the populace who 'quit the gym' after a few slightly grueling workouts are given them. Those types, well, I don't really care at all about their past, present or future.

The passionate trainer, just like the passionate in any undertaking, don't really care much about this thing called reasonableness. Come on, I'm just playing the other side to see how strong this idea for a whole book might be.

What really troubles me is
the possibility that poor old passed away Céline is flippin' in his grave over the the spacing of those ellipses . . .

If that excerpt is anything indicative of what the book will be like, Dan, I look forward to more. This bit:

• Quoting:

That sounds so d@mned weak and typical of someone in their 40's, the section of life where a lot of folks attempt to place 'value' on almost all other views. Nonsense for my money. My biggest bit@h with your writing is the overuse of criticism expressed in an exaggerated manner that only the already converted will notice and understand. But then, I imagine there's people who know so little about this thing that it takes a hammer to break the blunt surface, and hey, do your thing the way you do it, I mean, who the @#$% am I to say!

Life's too short to worry about longevity.

Edited by Neander on 03-22-13 05:08 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

03-22-13 06:17 AM - Post#765614    

Okay already, I'll cut the crap and get to the chase.
Dan, I'd like to see you write a book on
Core Training in the Garden of Eden.

Life's too short to worry about longevity.

03-22-13 08:22 AM - Post#765623    

Too often we set goals that seem okay on paper. However, some of the goal parameters may be a bit specious in nature (usually arbitrary) and really don't support the goal at all.

More often than not, a time, a date or some other sort of number is involved. We lose track of what is important and push forward instead.

X has to be done by Y before Z can be started.

Life is funny and it happens regardless what your training plan may say.

Mark it Zero.

03-22-13 04:49 PM - Post#765654    

• DanMartin Said:

And sometimes the goal isn't really the goal at all.

Jon

03-22-13 08:01 PM - Post#765665    

I'm recommending 10 sets of shut-ups for myself.

Life's too short to worry about longevity.

03-22-13 09:09 PM - Post#765671    

Great stuff - reasonable training and reasonable diet. Too bad the masses can't seem to handle that.

MME was great for a step-by-step approach. I recommend it to teens all the time. Few take my advice and I suspect that many (and I'm not just talking about teens now) are not truly seeking answers, they simply fleeing problems.

http://squatrx.blogspot.com/

03-22-13 10:49 PM - Post#765673    

Coach,
Your quote about "being one person all the time no matter what the circumstances" always reminds me of Ralph Waldo emerson's quuote "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." My friends think its about the worst idea ever, but it resonates with me.
For me your best writing is when you talk about being the same person regardless of the situation
and the "work, rest, play, and pray." For me these 2 ideas let me know that I'm not going on the wrong path.

For the "feedback" discussion...here is where I am heading.
03-23-13 01:28 PM - Post#765706    

Emerson, eh?
I'm more a Luke 8:30 type-a guy.

But that bit about being true to your selves is excellent!

Life's too short to worry about longevity.