Hey hey!
Hope your Sunday’s off to a great start.
I had a much better week last week, once I kinda figured out what I needed to do, or rather, what I was slipping up on. Raj and I also took a couple of days to ideate on The Quad and where we are in our larger mission of bringing fitness and health to people’s lives. A few years ago, when we were much smaller, we used to allocate Thursdays to do just that - we’d chat on random things for a few hours and play video games. Now, we don’t have the time to do that, which is unfortunate as well as a detriment to progress. The more time we create to reflect, to come up with random nonsense, and brainstorm, the better we tend to do.
So, this was a lesson we needed to re-learn. Do more of this.
On to the 3 things for today (no audio version this week. I hope to have it back up by next week).
4 ways to supercharge your walk. Walking is accessible to all and has immense health benefits. But you overlook it because it is easy, because it doesn’t burn enough calories or whatever. Well, not anymore.
3 quotes for this week, including one that I needed to hear to improve my productivity.
If you are still asking me how to eat more vegetables, you just are not serious about this. Time to face the hard truth.
Supercharge your walk
It is a low-impact exercise that all of us can do, at our own pace. It promotes better muscle recovery, improves blood flow, works our aerobic system, helps with our breathing patterns and if you buy into the Original Strength philosophy as I do, it is a reset.
It is also a wonderful activity that will help with muscle retention and promotes fat loss, as the energy system it uses is not the typical one required when we do high-intensity exercise.
Before we get going, let's make sure our posture and technique when we walk is good. Stand tall. Walk tall.
#1: a race every week
Measure the distance you walk in that hour. Most running apps or any app with a GPS can do this for you.
Every time you go walking, stick to the same duration. Your goal is to try and walk 50 metres more.
Yep, just 50 more metres. But in 7 weeks, you will be walking almost 1 km more than when you started.
Keep doing this until it is not possible to increase the distance every session i.e. you've kinda sorta maxed out the speed on the walk.
By now, you would've also discovered that walking fast is a lot harder than running slow. Good.
Don't start running, even a mini-jog. Instead, combine this method with the #2 just below and really work on your walking pace.
#2: swing your arms and add the tiniest lean forward
The more you swing your arms, the more automatic your leg drive and striding becomes. With the perfect posture i.e. standing tall, when you swing your arms, they will go almost straight - forward and back. Do not let your arms swing wildly.
When done right, as the elbow crosses your body on the way back, you'll see your knee drive up just a bit more than it normally would. Just let momentum take over and you'll see that your pace really increases.
With the tiniest bit of lean, you will see that you are naturally rolling forward.
With methods #1 and #2, you will set a pretty good number in an hour.
#3: planks and squats
To get our heart rate up is the goal but not silly amounts.
So, while you are walking at this new pace of yours, stop every 100 metres and do 3 squats. Alternate this with a 5-10 second plank.
Just the act of doing these two activities will slowly spike your heart rate up.
The stop-start nature of this will definitely reduce the distance you might do but hey, you are a fast walker. Try and make it up!
#4: ankle weights
This is the grand-daddy of supercharging your walks.
Buy one of those ankle weights that are available across any sports store. You won't need much - 1kg per leg might be ample.
Now, set that pace! You will find that it is actually a bit easier to walk a bit faster, as those weights add to the momentum you are generating.
Paw the floor i.e. when your foot plants on the floor, think about driving it down and back. You'll feel your hamstrings and your glutes as you get the hang of it.
To better explain this point, think of a treadmill that is switched off. Or operated manually. You will need to drive it back with your legs to get the conveyor going - it won't go automatically. That's what I mean by pawing the floor.
Your hamstrings and glutes are going to be sore!
Err on the lighter side as this can throw your gait off if you go too heavy.
Putting it together
I've found walking to be a great way to wind down, to recover, to have an hour to my thoughts and muse on a problem.
Don't underestimate it. Give it a month or two. Once you max out on the distance you can cover in an hour with methods #1 and #2, then things get really interesting.
I suggest going to #3 only after that. And you can start with #4 a week or two after you get #3 going.
Post that, you can keep a simple schedule for 3 days of the week. One day, you just walk and set your new pace and match the distance, more or less. One day, you do #3. And the third day, you do method #4. Or if you are training/lifting regularly, I'd suggest doing one of #3 or #4 and replacing it with a relaxed walk.
3 quotes to ponder about
The struggle against an obstacle inevitably propels the fighter to a new level of functioning. The extent of the struggle determines the extent of growth. The obstacle is an advantage, not adversity. The enemy is any perception that prevents us from seeing this.
– Ryan Holiday
You see this in sport. Sometimes, the competitors elevate themselves to another level. It can work for us as well when we get out of our comfort zone and fight through.
Easier said than done.
Eliminate unproductive context switching, and you'll get more done with less effort.
– Josh Kaufman
Going back to some simple rules I had set for myself during the lockdown has gotten my workweek to a much better state than last week. And with more free time than last week.
When I am working on something and I don't have a productive few minutes, or most often, I am not sure how to start - I get frustrated and open up the browser and go to Reddit or some such place. When I don't do this and sit impatiently and continue to chip away eventually, things seem to get done magically.
It’s bad to have an opinion you’re proud of if you can’t state the arguments for the other side better than your opponents. This is a great mental discipline.
– Charlie Munger
This seems sensible and profound. Doing this has been interesting.
You sure you don’t know how to eat more vegetables?
If you cannot figure out that you need to eat more vegetables or how to eat more vegetables, you aren't ready. If you aren't internalising the process, if you aren't converting it into YOUR process, things eventually fall down.
We all know reasonably well what we need to do. Everyone I coach seems to know that vegetables are good for them and they should probably eat a little bit more of it. Everyone seems to know exercise and activity are good. Everyone seems to know too much abdominal fat is a health issue. Everyone seems to know junk foods cannot be eaten all the time and expect to be healthy.
How much is too much? What is moderation? These are questions we can always keep asking and complicating things. But the crucial part is not many people (at least, the 5 of you reading this blog) are thinking that zero activity + unlimited junk is going to not adversely affect your health.
But we are living in the era of too much of this health and fitness stuff going around. It is impossible to not have been surrounded by the noise around it.
So, what I see is a lot of you making the noises that you think you should be making but not meaning it or being ready for it.
but this is so complicated
How is it possible to eat more vegetables?
Can you give me a meal plan?
Can you tell me precisely where and what vegetables I should buy and which recipe I should use to cook them?
Can I order this from a restaurant that will make it healthy and tasty and cost not too much? And can you tell me 17 restaurants that do this so I don't get bored?
Questions that seem legitimate. But I don’t think they are.
you aren't ready
You don't really mean it. You think you do but you have just repeated the noises and patterns you think you have to.
If you cannot figure out that you need to eat more vegetables or how to eat more vegetables, you aren't ready.
Some of you might turn to a coach and that works for a good chunk of time. The coach tells you what to do and you just have to execute. The better the coach, the better the process.
But if you aren't internalising the process, if you aren't converting it into YOUR process, things eventually fall down.
But most of us cannot hire a coach, for whatever reason. And that’s understandable. But that's not an excuse to stop you.
You are a grown, functioning adult. Figure out how to double the number of vegetables you are eating. That's it.
the blunt truth
C'mon, is it really that complex to figure out how to eat more vegetables? Munch on a carrot before lunch and cucumber at 4 pm. That's "more vegetables" than you are currently eating.
That's a solid start.
If you cannot figure out what to do if you aren't going to take the few minutes or hours to make this happen - you aren't ready.
Don't like it? Ah well, you need to hear it.
Good Will Hunting
As a coach, my long-term goal and success are measured when a student does not need me to tell them what to do.
You guys seen Good Will Hunting? You know, the scene where Ben Affleck when wishes that one day when he knocks on the door, Matt Damon isn’t there.
If year on year, you are asking me the same questions about how to sleep more, or how to eat more vegetables - I am useless at my job and frankly, this is not working for you as well.
You keep coming back for the community, for skill coaching, for building on things we have done - that's great.
But if you are still asking me how to eat like an adult, you just aren't serious enough to figure it out.
So, figure it out.
That’s it from me.
As always, thanks for reading. I’d hugely appreciate it if you can share ONE of the 3 posts with ONE of your friends. But if not, that’s okay too.
Have a good Sunday.