The Capable Human Series
A “Capable Human?” What are they on about now? Well, during our one-on-one coffee talks with each other, we have been talking more and more about further defining our generalist perspective on fitness, health, and wellness—and even expanding it to include philosophy and some quasi-spiritual ideas. These are qualities that we want to have as individuals—perhaps you will be inspired by some—take what you like, and leave the rest. If you can’t do some of these yet, that’s ok. There are always things that need more work on the road to becoming a more capable human.
The Capable Human: Movement
Chances are, at some point in life, you’re going to have to push something, pull something, or lift something off the ground. Of course, we can all do these things—but striving to do them with better and better technique over time is the journey of The Capable Human.
Squatting
Many of us have seen the meme of a toddler squatting down at play—hips open, knees out, torso upright, back perfectly straight, dorsiflexion of ankles at maximum range—a thing of beauty. We should all still be able to do that. Most people from Asian countries can still squat like that as adults, and it is a routine part of their day—not the least of reasons being that you have to squat to use the toilets in many Asian countries. There’s some motivation for you! Unfortunately, at age five or six in most Western countries, we are coerced into sitting in chairs for longer and longer periods of time. This is certainly not what the genius designer behind the human body had in mind. The human body is meant to move! Now it is our job as capable humans to reclaim our lost squatting skills.
CrossFit has most certainly improved things. Drawing movements from Olympic Weightlifting, CrossFit contains a lot of movements where you have to receive, or catch, weight in a deep squat position. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a lot of CrossFitters out there avoiding working on their deep squat position like they’re avoiding The Plague. Many tend to keep loading on more and more weight while squatting less and less deep.
Pushing
The push-up may be the most abused exercise in the history of human movement. Ask 10 people to do a push-up, and you will get 10 very different looking exercises. Ask them to do as many as they can, and things get worse and worse. We feel it’s part of the journey to being a more capable human to be able to do an excellent push-up. Even if you can’t do one on the floor right now, there are great ways to scale a push-up and progress it over time. No matter how you scale it, there are basic techniques to ensure you are doing a push-up that is safe for your shoulders, wrists, and lower back.
Pulling
Not to get too dramatic, but at some point, being able to pull your whole body weight up may be the difference between life and death. At any rate, it’s another worthwhile goal on the journey to becoming a more capable human. Even if you can do a pull-up, it’s worth refining your technique to make it a really awesome pull-up. (There are also a lot of ugly pull-ups out there.) If you can’t do a pull-up, it is a worthwhile quest—and just having it as a goal that you’re working towards will make you stronger and stronger.
Picking Stuff Up (The Deadlift)
Legend has it that proper deadlift technique was taught to Roman soldiers so that they wouldn’t injure their backs when clearing dead bodies from the battlefield. While we sincerely hope you never have to do anything like that, it is worth everyone’s time to learn how to lift something safely. Even if something doesn’t weigh very much, we want to use good technique when picking something up. This is something we do so much in life, that it needs to be sustainable. Repeatedly lifting things with poor technique is a big reason why 80% of all people will have lower back problems at some point in their lives.
In the coming weeks, we will expand on The Capable Human Series and also touch upon how overdoing it can have a negative impact on longevity, but until then…
Have fun on the road to becoming more capable,
Scott and Lennart