Hey hey!
Hope your weekend is going well.
I’ve had an up-and-down month, re-adjusting to my new schedule. We’ve restarted in-person classes at The Quad which means I go in to coach Wednesday to Saturday. The past few months, I’ve gotten used to doing some deep work between the hours of 4.30 am to 8 am, as I was coaching only twice a week.
As a result, the amount of work I do has dropped as coaching takes up a lot of my mental and actual bandwidth. So, I am trying to find a new balance to things.
Anyhoo, on to the 3 things for today.
I wrote about 3 popular misconceptions - when we use intermittent fasting for fat loss and why it actually works, on what happens to our strength when we stop strength training, and on catching up on sleep over the weekends.
3 quotes, featuring Bruce Lee, Thich Nhat Hanh and Pavel. On a vague theme of mindfulness.
A student story! I loved writing this one as it helped me really sit down and think deeply about my coaching, as well as what I learned from this student’s journey.
Hope you enjoy reading/listening to this.
As always, I’d love it if you share one of these posts with one of your friends. Just one, that’s all I ask. Thank you.
on 3 popular misconceptions
Intermittent Fasting
IF is another sensible mechanism that folks turn to for fat loss. And well, it works. While the point of IF might be something larger, it is also irrelevant because if this is how a large majority wants to use it, well, that is how it is.
Fasting is when you don’t eat for an extended period of time. Breakfast is called that because we break our fast - which was basically from dinner to the next meal, where we essentially slept through most of our fast.
There are many protocols for IF, which do different things. Many of our religious customs have fasting built-in as well.
It works for fat loss because forget all the fancy science, we can only stuff so much into our bellies in a much more limited time window. If you normally eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack - during IF your eating window dictatest that you drop one of those meals. And even though you might eat more in those meals than you did before, the total ends up being lesser than your previous total.
In fact, this is true of almost all diets and eating strategies. They work because somehow it tricks/jolts us into eating lesser than we normally do.
strength work and stopping. and starting.
People who've been strength training for a prolonged period of time, say more than a year and then due to whatever reasons fall off the wagon. Of course their strength levels are going to deteriorate. They aren't gonna be able to come back and lift whatever they were lifting, after a long lay-off.
But it is also not going to be a "back to square one" scenario at all. Sure, the first day back is going to be rough. But if we keep our ego in check for the first month or two, then it all comes back.
Strength is a skill. It is a skill that we've worked on. The mind and muscles have built up some form of connection and when that's not been greased in a long time, it is a bit rusty. But once you are back, it comes back MUCH faster than you'd expect.
It is never back to square one.
So, if you are someone who's been taking a long break from strength training and are annoyed with yourself about coming back because it is gonna suck - well, it is gonna suck. But you are gonna be back to your old self in a much shorter time than you think.
Be patient!
catching up on sleep
You sleep only 4-5 hours during the weekdays and then over the weekend, you make up the 10-hour deficit (5 days x 2 hours/day) by sleeping 10 hours in the night and a 2-hour nap.
Well, on average, the numbers add up.
But nope, that's not how the body works.
You cannot make up a sleep deficit and catch up over the weekend this way.
You have to get more days right than wrong.
3 quotes for this week
Peace can be practiced while chopping vegetables, cooking, washing dishes, watering the vegetable garden, and also while driving or working. Practice releasing tension in body and mind and being completely with your task. The time when you work in the kitchen is also the time for meditation.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
One of my students remarked to me that I should do what the quote says i.e. be meditative while I do the dishes. I would try to zone out and listen to a podcast as I found it a chore. I never did manage it but what I realised is that baby steps work. Start with something. Anything.
When possible, I've now taken a step to not have a distraction - a podcast, a book, or my phone - while doing menial tasks. On a walk, I am still listening to a podcast to cut out the outside noise but in the house, it is something I am able to try.
First, the mind races randomly, as always. But maybe things will happen. Only one way to find out.
One should seek good balance in motion and not in stillness.
– Bruce Lee
While he's discussing this in a Jeet Kune Do context, it seemed to make a bigger impact on me in light of the previous quote. Meditation is not about sitting cross-legged and doing whatever for 10 minutes (in stillness) but in motion (the rest of the day).
And of course, from a movement perspective, his words add great value.
Just because your back started hurting immediately following a given activity, you should not automatically blame the activity. Things are not always as they appear to be; most likely it was your slouch.
– Pavel in EKB
Most training injuries are caused not during the actual set but when folks are putting the weight down or when they slouch in exhaustion immediately after.
What I like about this learning is the discipline it instils into training - it is not about following the rules/technique while doing the lift but while parking the weight as well. The discipline we bring to the entire training hour compounds - not only does it reduce the chances of injury but it compounds the amount of work and output you are capable of. Your mind is more switched on.
I used to be one of those people who would give it all I had and then lie down in exhaustion. I've learned to always have 1 rep in my tank, just in case, and to have the mental and physical discipline to avoid what Pavel talks about.
student story: the courage to know when the goal is not right for you
This story is about SS, who joined us at NGS many years back. They trained with me for a few years and during that time went through an amazing journey of self-discovery that blew my mind. They started with the simple goal of wanting to learn strength training and get back to the thin/lean shape they were in a few years ago. Accomplished that over a year as they truly immersed themselves in the process of coming in to train and in following the nutrition framework that we recommended. But that was not the amazing part. They realised that looking thin, while still strong, was not the same as feeling happy with their body. To understand what that means, let's read on.
I want to look good
That's how it starts for a lot of us. Personally, I was never strong and fit. I was either skinny and weak or out of shape and weak. So, fat loss was the first goal and only when I started to get close to it did I even start to evolve into thinking about getting stronger.
We are all programmed into wanting and desiring certain things because of the constant noise around us - either it is the media's definition of what is ideal, or the peer pressure, or whatever fads are around us. It surrounds us and is constantly buzzing that we most times don't know to discern our own thoughts from the noise, and so get caught up with the noise.
SS came in and loved strength training. But they also had a clear goal of fat loss, as in an earlier part of their life, they had looked a certain way and had gotten a lot of "oh, you look great". So, in our head, what seems to happen is we identify that as good and anything not that as bad.
They showed up, they got strong and lifted weights with great technique. Never an issue with doing anything silly with respect to strength work. And followed the nutrition framework perfectly. At The Quad, we try to promote a way of eating that's sustainable i.e. eat the way you've always eaten but change up the portions a bit and all that. But unfortunately, a sustainable approach and moderation are expert moves - and when we are in a place where we are not clear about what that means, even a sustainable framework tends to be imbalanced.
Over the course of a year, SS got into their old shape and well, job done!
But it was not all fine and dandy
Unknown to me though, SS was getting a bit obsessed with how they were eating. Even the mildest treat or indulgence was obsessively avoided in their quest to stay in that shape. And slowly, this devolved into an unhealthy way of eating.
What was meant to be a healthy change of lifestyle turned into an unhealthy mental shift.
SS had realised that what had started as a great journey had deteriorated. The obsessive eating, the non-stop thinking about being in shape, the constant guilt of eating favourite foods - this was not a good place to be. And they had the clarity to go against the grain and put a stop to it. They went on a transformative journey of discovery, of what makes them happy and tick. And realised that the thin, lean body was simply the programming of the world being driven into them and not really something that brought true joy, and was able to reject that image.
They had taken a break to figure this out for themselves and while strength training was still something they loved, they chose to stop that as well to allow time to think.
And they figured out what it was for themselves! Not conforming to a certain image but to what truly made one feel warm and gooey inside.
what I learned
Knowing what you want, what you truly want and what truly makes you happy is harder than it sounds. Every time I think I know, it only opens up more layers.
We repeat certain stories to ourselves. And we might have repeated them to ourselves thousands of times from our youth, that we think that's what we want. Instead, it is simply the programming that we've been subjected to and unfortunately, the more repetition there is, the harder it is to erase.
Given that we are all a bit too busy, it becomes even harder to separate the noise out and to find that inner clarity. Having the courage to stop, to take stock, to assess honestly if this is what we want and we are happy with the path we are going down - these are mandatory. The more frequently we do this, the better. I am trying to make a habit of doing this daily and weekly.
Being thin or being strong or whatever has nothing to do with filling the gap inside of us. It is what that leads to - the growth or the maturity. And the understanding of self.
SS taught me a few deep lessons, stuff that I still unpack. For example, here I thought I had presented a sustainable nutrition framework. But a sustainable framework has to go along with a sustainable mindset and mental approach and clarity and peace. Without that, anything can become obsessive or unsustainable. We can misinterpret even the best advice in the world and screw it up.
SS showed up. They ate the way we recommended. They got into the shape they wanted. A great before-after story and testimonial and all that. But what truly happened was the evolution of after that - hitting bottom when they realised this was actually NOT what they wanted and going on a journey of discovery. I am truly glad that they took me along the entire way. That's why I believe taking ownership is important because it means you have to know what you want.
More than a goal, it is the journey. Many times, we don't understand ourselves fully to set the correct goal. Now, it is easy to set goals in the weight room. But is that what you truly want - now that's hard. Even though SS' goal was not what they wanted, it did the job. It took them to a better place and was an integral part of their journey and evolution.
The point of teaching is not to give an answer. The point of teaching, I think, is to get the student to ask a better question of themselves. And from my side, to keep my ears and eyes open to constantly learn.
Thanks for making it here! I’ll see you next week.
