“Does anybody really know where we are going?” Surely someone has taken a wrong turn. “Can we please ask somebody?” The mood in the car is getting grim…

It seems like more and more people are buying massage guns these days. Notice how we said “buying,” not using? Like many items we humans buy, they seem to get used for a couple of weeks, and then set aside--probably after a certain ache or pain has subsided a bit.

This is not an “old guys start rocking again” post.

But, it’s kind of like that. It happens a lot—you find something that works for you—and you just let it slip away. Bands have been like that for us.

None of us will escape all the ravages of time. There are some very specific things that happen to our bodies as we age. But we can fight many of them, by reverse engineering our training to help us do the things we still want to do for ourselves when we’re older.

Our bodies are trying to tell us something. The body is trying to tell us to put on the brakes, take a time out, relax, and restore our energy reserves.

Often people have the same goal for years and even decades—"I want to lose weight, get fit, get a promotion, etc.”—you get the point. We need goals and we need habits, but we think goals and habits have more in common than we give them credit for. They’re not different things, but more like opposite sides of a spectrum—where one influences and improves the other. 

It would be great if we could fire on all cylinders all the time. Many of us may even subconsciously expect it of ourselves—pressuring ourselves to get through a designed training program, as well as other commitments throughout each day. We think this is a recipe for physical and mental breakdown.

We stand on the shoulders of generations of people who were smarter than most of us, and if we respect and listen to the aggregated wisdom, then our lives become better, more productive, and more enjoyable in general.

Goal setting and direction is great for smaller tasks, but in the big picture, which is life, it often falls short. Life is too complex to comprehend and trying to create a plan that can cover all your future opportunities and mitigate all of its pitfalls is a futile endeavor. Let’s cut to the point—we humans are not smart enough to make a detailed plan, and people who try often get stressed and end up trying to warp the reality around them to fit their conception or master plan.

A new article in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has had a polarizing effect on many health and diet influencers and they’re taking to their virtual rooftops—either crying “Foul!” or “I told you so!”

Yes, we love resistance training—but that’s not the resistance training we’re talking about today. We’re big fans of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. In it, Pressfield details his own epic and entertaining battles with the resistance to his own creative process.

Well… here is the thing: Health, strength, and beauty shouldn’t been seen as separate, but as different colors created by the same prism—which is the general notion of a healthy and functional body.

We look at a movie like Wall-E and see the depiction of our distant relatives and laugh because it’s a funny portrayal of the future human species who have been on a cruise holiday for generations and are now fat and are unable to do the simplest of tasks—like walking. These people are mindlessly floating around in their chairs, watching the screen in front of them—reactively deciding if this month’s hot color is blue or red. 

If we take a step back and look at the physical attributes and capabilities of our forefathers and then compare us to them—then a bleak thought starts to manifest itself. The general population in the west is probably closer to the dystopic future of Wall-E than to the physicality of our forefathers.  

Feeling good. Firing on all cylinders. Gettin’ it done. Boom-boom-boom!

<<splat!>> 

“What? No! Not now! Can’t you see how I’ve been slaying it? I’ve got stuff to do!” 

The Slump cares not.

Think about the creative dreams you have had in life. The true “dreams” we have had can usually be boiled down to the ability to pursue our passions—to get to do what we love to do. If we keep that alive and keep that passion as the focus—we can’t lose.

Life can be hard to figure out. What’s the point? What’s the meaning? Social media hasn’t helped with its divisive nature and focus on narcissistic goals like fame, beauty, success, and money.

Last week Scott wrote about the dangers of letting our ego run our life, and this week we’ll try to give an antidote or a different perspective on this matter.

Rob is the embodiment of stoic patience and focus. When we asked him about how he managed to qualify for the CrossFit Games, he told us that he hired a coach, and together they analyzed Rob’s strengths and weaknesses. After this assessment, they agreed upon a two-year plan—which worked.

It’s slowly becoming clear to me that my life trajectory has been fueled by an ego-driven madness—my ego tirelessly searching for things to prop itself up, and strengthen it’s hold on my identity. 

It could be argued that I survived my heart attack because I was in really good shape, and I’m sure there is some truth to that. But I am convinced that my inability to deal with chronic stress is what took me down—and I believe stress is the driving force for most chronic diseases. 

Go to your local supermarket at the hour when schools let out, and you will see lines of kids buying what can only be described as “Type 2 Diabetes Starter Packs” for afterschool snacks—endless varieties of the fat+sugar+salt combo. Isn’t it time we all stood up and said, “F*ck The Man?”