Mind Muscle with Simon de Veer
Mind Muscle with Simon de Veer
Mans Search For Meaning
Throughout my journey, including stumbles and triumphs, it's become clear that the pursuit of physical fitness transcends the mere chase for a chiseled physique—it is deeply rooted in our quest for meaning. On the latest episode of Mind Muscle, I invite you to engage with me, Simon Devere, as we unravel the intricate tapestry that weaves together our fitness endeavors with the philosophical insights of Viktor Frankl and Friedrich Nietzsche. Through anecdotes and reflective musings, we'll explore the diverse motivations behind why we work out, and how uncovering a meaningful 'why' can profoundly influence our 'how.'
The conversation doesn't halt at philosophical parallels; it extends into the nitty-gritty of everyday life and the sometimes overlooked importance of exercise for holistic well-being. Think of the familiar struggle to juggle personal care with the demands of parenting—like my friend Bartleby's tale, which underscores the significance of maintaining one's health amidst life's relentless pace. It's here that I share my own dance with depression and how fitness became my partner in navigating toward brighter days. Moreover, we'll traverse the social landscape of fitness, pondering how our sweat-soaked endeavors can foster connections, build communities, and translate discipline into success beyond the gym walls.
Finally, we're called to recognize the impact of our health choices not only on ourselves but on the world around us, particularly the young eyes that look to us for guidance. In this episode, I reflect on the deep satisfaction that accompanies the positive influence we can exert on others' health journeys. Coupled with the encouragement to actively engage in our local communities for tangible change, we conclude with an acknowledgment of the symbiotic growth of both intellect and physique. Join me in a candid discussion that promises to challenge and inspire, as we collectively seek a richer, more meaningful approach to fitness.
Producer: Thor Benander
Editor: Luke Morey
Intro Theme: Ajax Benander
Intro: Timothy Durant
For more, visit Simon at The Antagonist
Welcome to the Mind Muscle Podcast. Here's your host, simon Devere, and welcome back to Mind Muscle, the place we study the history, science and philosophy behind everything in health and fitness. Today I am Simon Devere and there is nothing new except all that has been forgotten. So today I want to take a deep dive into one of my favorite books of all time. I was going to make a joke that wasn't written by Nietzsche, because you probably suspect I was going there. But yeah, unfortunately it was. Also the writer was heavily inspired by Nietzsche, but anyway, man's Search for Meaning, victor Frankl. That's where I want to go today, and I know that's again probably an adjunct position fitness and Frankl, but I don't think it is.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, the other day I was at the morning mile. This is something my daughter's school does before school. The kids go and run before they head in. This is when the parents kind of sit and, you know, kovetch rant, just you know, get it off our chest. But anyway, talking with a friend of mine, he does construction, so he was coming over and talking to me about his back pain, his hip pain, and he is, you know, a former athlete, has been very athletic throughout his life, has a job where he moves a lot. So he, you know, even though he knows he's talking to a trainer he's not trying to make me feel bad, but he's just explaining how fitness, never really connected for him, kind of feels like a waste of time. He, admittedly, is not very concerned with physique or those type of goals, so a lot of the messaging that the fitness space targets doesn't really land with my friend at all. And you know, admittedly, growing up in Montana working on construction, I've known this guy many, many, many times over. But yeah, so anyway, just as we were talking, he was explaining, you know, the pains and stuff that he has. So again, I listened and I know this guy, I know a lot of these guys, and instead of giving him like a fat loss diet or a hypertrophy program that I know he won't care about at all because it's not relevant to his life or his values or goals, we did actually just talk about a mobility circuit that I like doing while coffee is brewing. That makes it easier for me to get through my workday, which the only similarity he and I have in our workdays is that they're both physical. We're doing really different stuff but I, you know, carry a lot of equipment set up, tear down all day. So I do know what it's like to be on your feet and using your body for labor. So I just showed him a mobility circuit that I like to make it easier to go to work, quite frankly. But all of that that actually jogs loose this connection to me between fitness and Frankel.
Speaker 1:And really it comes back to why. The most indelible quote from Mansearch for Meaning, I believe, is those who have a why can bear almost any how. And again I just want to point out because when people see Victor Frankel on your Kindle versus Nietzsche, they react very differently. That really famous Frankel quote is a Nietzsche quote. Appeared in Twilight of the Idols, how to Philosophize with a Hammer. But yeah, when Nietzsche said it he said if we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how. Man does not strive for pleasure. Only the Englishman does. Just included that last bit because that's actually like Nietzsche's kind of attempts at humor and wit which I think a lot of his readers don't pick up on, reading him a little bit too literally, particularly. If you've ever heard the critique of people saying he's a megalomaniac, they probably read Eke Homo and the jokes went over their head.
Speaker 1:But anyway, what I was going to say, I'm going to stop pretending to be an English professor, except I'm not. I'm going to do it a little bit more, but cheap. Appeal to authority. My mom is an English professor so, even though I didn't run any of this by her, none of this is approved by an actual academic. There is an appeal to authority. I know an English professor, so I don't know. Trust my breakdown, but no, anyway, talking with my buddy, I again was just thinking about the.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of different whys as to why one might work out, and it's not lost on me that the fitness space really amplifies a very narrow set of reasons to train and I do believe that these broadly leave a lot of people out, not just my buddy who is a construction worker. I think there's a lot of different types, if you will, who are not really going to find their whys answered in the vast majority of what comes out from the fitness industry. So I do want to actually take a little time. We'll talk a little bit about Frankel, we'll talk about a couple other books I like, but the main goal and objective today I want to talk about different ways of, I guess, finding meaning in fitness. That's a little too big. Let's walk that back. We should maybe say let's just stick with the whys. I want to explore some different whys that I believe are going to be salient for many more people than people who are just out there trying to improve their physique or get a revenge body or go to a divorce or spring break, and again, I don't mind that. But I know from years of doing this that doesn't really encompass all of the reasons why people come into a gym. So I just want to take some time today to amplify and identify some of these other whys that I've run into with clients, friends, family over the years.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, if we will, in man's social meaning, frankel posits that the core drive for humans is not actually the pursuit of pleasure, as Freud has suggested. He also didn't believe that it was the pursuit of power, as Adler had argued People who think this is important detail but he'd actually lived in a concentration camp and living through that experience made him believe that the search for meaning was actually the fundamental drive. And so again back to he who has a why can suffer almost any how. If you have meaning that you can attach to your suffering. You can pretty much put yourself through anything, and this isn't just some dude with a podcast saying that. I'm actually hearkening back to Frankel, who actually lived through trying times, not your podcasting friend in Los Angeles who doesn't actually think he's lived through trying times.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we're going to reference Frankel on how to find meaning in suffering and, admittedly, although we're going to call working out suffering, let's be honest up front. Our level of suffering is in no way shape or form resembling what Frankel is talking about. Just think we can learn from it. So anyway, I almost want to attempt to make a philosophical foundation for fitness of sorts, but before we do that, I do have to pretend to be an English professor just a little bit more. So in speaking with my friend, there was one other work that just kind of immediately jogged into my mind, because he was telling me and like a lot of people do, it's not in bad faith or anything, but they'll tell me all of the reasons why they don't like working out, and anyway it just reminds me of a short story by Herman Melville.
Speaker 1:Anybody know Bartleby the Scrivener. So anyway, I can run down this one quick and we're not going to do any critical analysis, just plot summary. So there is this unassuming Scrivener named Bartleby. He works for a lawyer on Wall Street. Initially Bartleby is a diligent worker, but gradually he begins to decline work tasks again and again with his famous line I would prefer not to. It is a really funny and short read, but there's actually no malice when Bartleby says he would prefer not to. He just kind of says it and doesn't do whatever he was asked to do. And then, yeah, eventually he's kind of just like staring at a wall or looking out the window and not doing anything that his boss asks him to do. So I am going to compare people who don't want to work out to Bartleby. But I want to just say up front I actually love Bartleby. So don't take that like a slammer and knock if you identify with any of the Bartlebys that we're going to talk about today. No, I love Bartleby.
Speaker 1:He is a philosophical hero of mine, and the reason I want to go that direction, frame it this way, is that what Bartleby really teaches is actually a we get to be philosophy nerds up front. So we're actually kind of dealing with a Hegelian concept that is going to be called determinant negation. So, in plain English, negation is actually part of what determines what an object is. You have to consider what it is not and that gives it sort of shape. So all that's.
Speaker 1:I actually think it's very important that we consider what Bartleby has to say about working out, if you will. I don't agree, obviously. I've chosen to be a trainer and work out, so we don't agree in action. But I do believe that there are tons of valuable insights that we can glean from determinant negation or, in this instance, just considering what this various cast of Bartleby's that I've met over the years would say to my workout habit. And yeah, like I said, I do want to consider their opinion, knowing up front I'm not going to agree with it. But again, I think every single one of these little characters that I just made up, quite frankly, I think they all have a valid point and I do want to address them when we get down to establishing different and better wise for a lot of people. But, that being said, we got Bartleby the Scrivener from Melville.
Speaker 1:In my years of training, I've also met a little cast of Bartleby's, if you will, and so the first one, not too dissimilar from the Scrivener, but I know Bartleby the busybody, and so the busybody is somebody who is really really attached to work, has lots and lots of work related commitments. They believe that available free time should be spent working or getting ahead, and exercise is perceived as a low priority because it doesn't have anything to do with their career advancement or meeting any of their goals. So again, I do think that for you, bartleby the busybody is out there. If you're listening today, I think a lot of the issues you raise are incredibly valid. So, again, I actually think that I'm not going to try to convince you that this is going to add time to your day, which it won't. It's actually going to take time. We're going to make other arguments for our busybodies that perhaps there's other benefits to working out besides the way they look, and that perhaps putting even in just a little bit of time into exercise might actually help with our productivity.
Speaker 1:Bartleby the laborer that's my construction guys. I grew up around this one, so I know this one really well. These Bartleby's generally feel that one they're tired at the end of a work day because they actually use their body. They don't believe that they need to do any exercise because they get plenty of exercise and then actually caught myself with some lazy language right there. Can I run that sentence back? They believe they don't need training because they get plenty of exercise, and I think they're correct in that they get plenty of exercise. But I actually delineate between training and exercise, and this is a cohort that I actually think can really really benefit from training, but maybe not the type that they're seeing on Instagram or out in the magazines wherever they get information about fitness. This group is going to be a lot more concerned about over exhaustion, over training. They actually need their bodies in work, so going all out in the gym is a pretty stupid idea. Again, what I'm going to more argue to this crowd is that, yeah, we probably don't need to exercise, but I bet there is some training we could do to improve the way your body feels when you're at work.
Speaker 1:Next one I got down here for you guys Bartleby the scholar. Yeah, so, in addition to spending a lot of time on construction sites, my parents were divorced, so I spent the other half of the year on college campuses. I met Bartleby the scholar almost as often as I met Bartleby the laborer. The scholar generally associates exercise and gym culture broadly with vanity, superficiality and probably stupidity. They prefer activities that are going to be more intellectually stimulating or creative. And though these are very intelligent people, I generally disagree with how they have framed all of the benefits of exercise, that there are only superficial benefits. So to this person we're probably going to highlight that one. There are a lot of different exercise forms. Maybe they're thinking about bodybuilding, maybe they're thinking about a very narrow or limited set. Maybe we're going to talk about some different exercise forms that go beyond the physique and that actually align with their values and interests. So again, for me there's actually a wide array of things, but there's a lot of exercise that are going to encourage flow, states, creativity and, frankly, just even give you a chance to have some great ideas, which might just be as simple as walking. But again, I think it's a little bit short-sighted for my Bartleby the scholars to prefer not to exercise dogmatically. I actually think they might be leaving some mental gains on the table if that's their choice, one that I'm getting to know better and better.
Speaker 1:Bartleby the parent, of course struggles to find time between managing childcare, work, household duties. Everything's going on. I have so much empathy for this group right here. No judgment. I'm trying to figure my shit out myself but you feel guilty when you spend time on yourself rather than with your kids or family needs. It feels like every second of your day needs to be going towards the larger goal. You might confess, but yeah, you probably stop watching all the shows you like. You don't even go to the restaurants you used to like. Your entire life has shifted and it almost feels like indulgent or like you're fucking up if you do anything for yourself.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, don't worry, if you have a daily workout, you're not a narcissist. You're not neglecting your responsibilities as a caregiver. If you're on a plane, they usually tell you when you're taken off like hey, put your mask on before helping other people. So for you parents, that's how we're coming at this, is we. I understand there's a lot of things that are way more important than getting your workout in, but I want to remind you to put your mask on first. You can't help anybody if you run out of oxygen, my friend, so don't forget to look out for yourself. That's Bartleby that I know well, is, of course, bartleby the injured.
Speaker 1:And again for this cohort, obviously physical limitations or symptoms are going to make exercise seem daunting, unfeasible, unrealistic, whatever Again, really truthful underpinning to why they feel that way. They're injured or they have chronic pain, whatever it may be. I understand how you can get there. On the flip side, though, is I actually think that fear of exacerbating one's condition can often lead to people ironically exacerbating their condition through becoming sedentary. In this group, of course, we're not going to be advocating dangerous or stupid workouts, but I just really have a deep, fundamental belief that there is movement that will be appropriate for absolutely everybody, and in my work, I've obviously worked with young athletes on up to people in their 80s doing chair workouts. So, again, that is where my thoughts come from, with the idea that there is some movement that will be appropriate for everybody. My last word I'll just have on my injured folks is that, again, I understand why you want to protect your body and not get hurt anymore. The thing that I am just going to try to argue is that if we don't use our body, then we already know that it's going to be a slow decline. From where we are presently at, there actually is a possibility of maintaining what we have or possibly even improving something, no matter how bad the situation seems.
Speaker 1:Actually, you know quick story my grandmother recently fell and broke her hip. So she went into the hospital not in a great situation. She had to do roughly like three hours of PT every day. I was able to keep up with her through this process. We've talked over the years about exactly what I was just describing chair workouts, various things that she could do because there were a lot of movement restrictions. So she emphasized to me that when she did the physical therapy to come back home it was roughly three hours a day and she was like, oh, it was all the stuff you were telling me to do for years. So again, I just want to tell people that you can literally be in your 80s with a broken hip and there are still things you can do. And it was incredibly important I could tell to my grandmother to get back home, back to why she knew good and well why she was doing that PT and it wasn't because she loved moving, it wasn't because she wanted to look a specific way, she wanted to get back home and get the hell out of the hospital. So it's really just more evidence that if you have a why, you really can suffer almost anyhow.
Speaker 1:But again, the the why's which I want to get into now. You know I was going to tie these directly to. You know different, different types my Bartleby's, the busy body of the laborer but honestly I think any one of these is going to be fair game for any one of these types, so I don't think it was actually useful to group them. So we just got you know, I got my cast of people that I know with exercise would prefer not my Bartleby's, and so I may even know a few more. But next I actually want to dive into some reasons why that that, I think, might be a little bit more salient to people who have ever said I prefer not to to their exercise or workout. So I've touched on this a lot in the past. But one of the number one, most important why's and this might be my biggest why, to be totally honest but mental health and stress reduction.
Speaker 1:I'll go ahead and tell the story one more time. But when I really started to get very regimented and dogmatic, dare I say, about my own workout, it was when I was in college. At the time I was also being treated for depression with SSRIs, trasadone and some other pharmaceutical options. So the truth is I don't want to tell this story like this is a model for other people to follow. What I did was really haphazard and lucky. So learn from the story, don't copy it.
Speaker 1:Eventually I did take myself off of anti-depressants, or I just I just stopped taking them. I actually noticed that after I took them my mood was a little bit off, I was a little more irritable and you know we're friends here. Yeah, like within that, like 10, 15 minute period after I would take my anti-depressants, that's when I was just a little prickly Shall we say. Anybody who's played sports with me you know what I'm talking about. But it actually amplified that. I don't need a lot of help with that, and it was just one of those things that I really accidentally discovered. I'm living in Montana, it's winter. I believe that I'm also suffering from seasonal affect disorder. That could just be because I was a psychology student at the time and when they give you your diagnostic manual, you just start diagnosing yourself with everything. But anyway, at the time I'm getting treated for depression. I'm convinced I have some seasonal affect going on.
Speaker 1:In addition to everything else I'm reading and just one coping mechanism that I just stumbled into, frankly, because it was cold and dark out all the time was to go to the gym. It was warm, there was lights and I basically was in there with every you know non-school or work hour I did just kind of accidentally discovered that exercising every day did more to manage my mood than the medicine that I was taking. There is a lot of scientific evidence now backing up what I experienced. So again, we do need to caution. Though what I did right there not responsible, I didn't talk to my doctors, I didn't talk with anybody about it. So it would be really irresponsible for some random podcasting dude to tell you to go off your meds.
Speaker 1:I am not saying that. What I am saying is maybe consider adding exercise. If you already are on meds or if you haven't gone on them yet You're thinking about that conversation with a professional why not try and exercise regimen first and just see what happens? Don't never go and talk to anybody, but just see if adding a workout of some kind does improve your mental health symptoms. In my experience it worked great. And then again I was actually just scanning literature. I didn't want to just read back the studies to you guys, but obviously there are studies now showing promise with depression, anxiety, honestly, just a number of different mental health issues are showing positive outcomes with exercise. Again, don't go off your meds and say that Simon told you to. I did not exercise and go talk to doctor about your meds. That's what Simon actually said.
Speaker 1:So why number two? I think this is maybe one of the biggest ones that comes up with my actual real life clients Longevity, aging gracefully, disease prevention, which will put an air, quotes, because I think that's a little bit charlatany to promise, but obviously exercising and a set us up a lot better for warding off a lot of the issues that come with father time. We did a whole episode on on what I believe the best practices for aging, for longevity, are, but this one actually has a lot more salience to me now. Even though I don't look like the anti aging cohort quite yet as a father, it just really is important to me now that I am around at the big days in my daughter's life. So I already am thinking 20, 30 years down the road and I'm thinking what I want to do on those days. So, like if my daughter gets married, I really feel like I should be able to dance at that ceremony. I don't want to be a guy sitting in a chair off on the corner. So I'm going to do the things that I have to do to set myself up for that. If my daughter ever has kids, I'd really like to teach them my love of hiking.
Speaker 1:So I am already kind of working back from like, well, okay, when I'm 80, I'm going to need to be able to climb up K2. But that's what I do as I work back from the things that I want to do at specific ages, and I'm not entirely serious on the K2 thing. But I definitely wouldn't turn it down. That'd be pretty cool at 80. But no, so a lot of times I really am thinking of that more and more and more is literally reverse engineering. Where do I need to be at 38 so that I could be where I want to be at 60, 70, 80, etc. And I'm not going to lie, I really do think that far out I'm not going to be engaging in behaviors that aren't going to be setting me up for what I say my goals are. There's nothing that's that important to me. Quite frankly. This one was always big for me and I think this can be a much better draw for people than physical goals, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:A great why, for fitness really can be building and maintaining social connections. I think one of the biggest problems affecting pretty much everybody right now in the information age is alienation and loneliness. Everybody is hell, whatever, all right, and if you've been out to dinner with me, maybe I'm talking to you. You go out with friends and literally watch what happens over. Like you know, we watch football and then I'm the only guy not looking at their phone and I actually don't get, on some level, why people go out to go sit on their phones together. So anyway, I just know that that lacking real world connection is negatively impacting everybody, even people who don't realize it. You need to go outside and touch grass and talk to real people every now and again. Yeah, I'm going to leave it there because I could go off on that point, but one of the great things about my job I used to teach group fitness classes. So, to be totally honest, I established so many lasting relationships with the people who came to my classes that is still. There's a number of people who still call me who I run into, and just that that shared experience that we had really builds lasting relationships. It's not just that the classes I taught, but I've played in recreational sports leagues. A lot of the guys that were on those teams with me are still like my best friends to this day.
Speaker 1:There's there's an old adage, you know for your romantic relationships that you know those who train together stay together. It's fun saying. I'm not going to lie, though. Guys, me and my wife don't actually do that. We do not do our daily workouts together. I'm a trainer, she's not. It just puts in a bad dynamic of me just telling her what to do. That being said, we totally go on dog walks, dog walks, hikes, go to the beach, so there is a lot of exercise that we do together, but I don't want to put out that image like like me and my wife are in the gym together. Actually, that would not be an ideal scenario for either one of us to train.
Speaker 1:And again, I just think there's ample opportunities to use your workout or your fitness endeavors to actually, you know, your goal isn't to get a better body or whatever. It's just to hang out with people that you actually care about, make new connections, meet people. You know just A few things I've done around LA. I do pick up basketball. I go to a boxing gym. I'm at the Santa Monica Stairs. I hit trails. There was a morning swim meet that I used to go to when I was training for a triathlon. There's running groups. Actually, I just heard about one in Venice. Right now, I think like a thousand people are running in the streets. So, anyway, if you're in LA and you want a running group, go do that. La Lakers meet over at a different site. There's cycling clubs. There are just countless opportunities to get out and meet people.
Speaker 1:So if you're, you know, I got friends that are going through divorces wondering how to meet people. I didn't do any online dating. I don't know how to tweak your guys' profiles, I'm sorry. Go out in the real world, touch grass, talk to people. Yeah, I don't know. I think there's so many better options to meet people in real life. I am a digital native so I get it that being online allows us to interact with people. We wouldn't otherwise. But also, I'm a digital native and I've watched what happened to all of us. Go outside, touch grass, meet people. It's better.
Speaker 1:I promise the social connections that I built through fitness one. They make you want to actually work out. So if you're the type of person that you know, bartleby, I prefer not to. Well, it'll actually make you want to because you get to see some cool people that you like there. It makes you accountable.
Speaker 1:And then I think this is one of the things I appreciate the most about the people that I have met through my fitness endeavors is that the people you meet in general you're making meaningful non-transactional connections. The irony is, those type of connections will serve you very well in life. That shouldn't be your motivation for seeking them out, but it also and I think this adds to the loneliness and alienation that people feel once you become an adult and you enter out into the workforce in a week, the amount of people that you actually talk to that don't want something from you, that are non-transactional, decreases precipitously, and particularly more if you get successful at work, you will encounter people less and less who don't want something from you. So one of the things I have found is that the people I have met in this context of my life, if they want anything from me, it's probably just some fitness advice, but no, I don't know what it is. I'm just telling you the truth that this has been just one of those domains in life where I actually consistently make some of the most meaningful and best friends. So, yeah, and in a weird way, even if you're like a self-interest and self-serving person, these are the people that are actually going to show up when you need them. So if you want to make some real friends that'll actually show up for you, highly recommend. And then, yeah, I guess I already kind of ran through this, but I wanted to offer some advice, so I gave you a bunch of my top lists here in Los Angeles. But I would just say experiment, try new things that you're interested in.
Speaker 1:Earlier at the top, I mentioned that there's a difference between training and exercise. Exercise is, of course, movement for movement's sake. Training is movement to elicit a specific response. I came back to that because even if you're training, like me right now, I have a strength program that I'm doing and I'm very serious about it, but there's still room in my week for some exercise. So it doesn't matter how busy you think you are. It's great to just put these on the calendar. Experiment, try some different classes. You're not making lifetime commitments. You can go once and never go back, but chances are you're going to find things you like. You're going to find people you like. Just get out there, try stuff. This is where I do think it's fine to go and experiment. Go to a boot camp class with a friend if they like it. Who cares? I'm not a fan of those workouts for your training program, but if you just want to go get some exercise with a friend, that is a great idea as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 1:Why Number four, if you will? This one, I think, really does tie back to my busy bodies, but, honestly, training and learning how to achieve my fitness goals was something that I was able to carry directly over to real life goals personal, professional, family, whatever it may be. The exact same process that I use to improve my fitness was actually something that, when I started to trade and invest, that I took over directly. So what I mean, there is actually the journaling and the logging. First time I ever did that was actually with exercise programs and nutrition programs. I kind of honed my skills on journaling, if you will. And then that exact same skill set I took over to investing when I started to get into options trading.
Speaker 1:Every time I placed a trade, I write down what the reason was. And the reason you do that in real time is that, even though I'll say this out loud and you'll think I don't do that. Literally everybody does this. So if you don't write down why you placed that trade the day you placed it, in a week you're going to have a different reason for why you took that trade and it's going to be this nebulous moving target. You're going to move goalposts constantly and not see yourself doing it. So and again, I learned this with my food logs You'll think you're eating super clean and if you're not writing it down, you're just missing a lot of stuff that's going in there. And then same thing, same with your workouts.
Speaker 1:If you're not actually looking at the progression, seeing the sets, and you're just going by, feel you're wrong, you'll be wrong and you're going to be consistently wrong, basically rationalizing whatever you did and saying, yep, that's on target. When you have logs, when you have journals, you don't have that ability to change the goalpost later. You're not going to be able to rationalize. You're going to look back and see, oh shit, on that day I said this and that didn't happen. Being confronted with that information isn't bad. That's actually a great, because now we can actually do something good, bad, indifferent, whatever, when you see, and we'll stick with the investing thing, because I want to talk to my busy bodies right now. If I write down the thesis for an investment and then in six months that thesis is obviously broken based on what's happened, it's going to be a lot more difficult for me to tell myself no, no, no, I'm still right, I should stick with this. It's going to be obvious that you were wrong and then you'll move on and get into things that are a better use of your time Again.
Speaker 1:I personally and maybe I'm just projecting, I'm the only person in the world with this problem but I really do think that if you don't write those things down, those reasons are going to change over time and you're going to allow yourself to write a little story where you've always been right and the world just hasn't conformed yet. Anyway, all that to say, I get you business people. This can probably feel like a waste of time. I honestly think that the same skills that make you great in business and work, that you can actually use those in your fitness goals, and these are just going to reinforce the habits that you probably already learned in a different domain. I'm an idiot, so I had to learn it with sports. No, I actually just think that this isn't a skill set that you don't already have. Don't look at athletes and think, oh, that's not me, I'm just not that type. Nope, the same stuff you did to climb the ladder and get to where you're at is exactly how you achieve goals in fitness.
Speaker 1:I think you might find that you just enjoy the process if you see that it's fundamentally the same thing that you get to do in work whenever you have a project or a result that you want to make happen. My busy bodies. I know that you don't want to take a lot of time away from what you're doing, but workouts don't have to take a long time. That's bullshit. Yeah, I actually just think you'll be really, really good at this if you apply that same kind of thinking you've done in your professional life to your own health and fitness, and then, ultimately, you do get to reap the reward of that later. So it'd be a good idea to get in there.
Speaker 1:Last one, perhaps the most important to me right now, but also even if you would just prefer not to there's a lot of shit that I don't want to do every single day, to be totally honest, but there is this little girl whose eyes are always on me. So modeling healthy behaviors for others to me is also going to be one of the most important reasons why even if you don't like this why you might want to consider doing it anyway. When I became a parent, I just felt my daughter's eyes and I felt a greater responsibility for all of my actions, my reactions, my impulses, you name it. It was really obvious stuff like how I talk about food and carbs and fat and this, and that it was like, oh wow, I can't do that in front of a little girl or I'm going to head her straight for some eating disorders, and I know that because I had them myself at one point. So I'm really not trying to advance my daughter's curve on orthorexia or, in my case, or any other disordered eating pattern, but again, that one was kind of obvious because I'm a trainer and people talk to me about fat loss and things like that all the time. So it was very obvious that I was going to need to kind of alter my language and relationship with food around my daughter.
Speaker 1:What was less obvious to me were things like my attitude, my consistency and the unspoken values, and so, first off, I'm saying that I not that I figured it out. I'm just saying that I'm aware of that, and every day I try to become more aware of what am I doing? What am I modeling to my daughter? And first off, I'll be honest, I actually just love whenever I see my daughter copy any of my behaviors, even the bad ones yeah, like she's used some of the same cuss words I do, and admittedly, my first reaction is to laugh and I think it's hilarious. But then, almost immediately, this other thing kind of sets in, because the sword really does cut both ways.
Speaker 1:And as flattering as it is to see the person I care about the most in the world copying me Also, there is simultaneously just that massive responsibility that I feel because, to be honest and I've seen this, namely with some of my stubbornness and some of my other attitudes, but I have seen my daughter adopt them and it it shows it to me. It's a reflection you don't really get to see. It's very obvious to me where it comes from, and so I can't complain about that. That's actually something I find ironic is, when you listen to other people complaining about their kids, how often those traits might map up, but they're not making that connection just yet, and so, anyway, I am very, very aware of that and I have to admit, my daughter, first off, is awesome, but basically any bad habit she has, blame me. It probably was me.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, slight diatribe, but you know, I'm a millennial, so I just grew up with those op-ed pieces about how my generation was destroying everything. And the one thing I'm going to promise to Jen Alpha, my daughter's generation if there's anything that I don't like about you guys, I'm going to blame me and my friends for raising you. I'm not going to blame you kids, we're the ones. And so, anyway, I'm done preaching out you guys, but I do think it is incredibly important that we model healthy behaviors, especially to our kids. But one other thing that I've been really lucky with, or at least I value a lot, because I'm a trainer and because I was a former athlete I have clients, friends, family, who you know honestly, I've been having this conversation with them for years and they have a whole bunch of different beliefs and goals about fitness. So it's not like everybody jumps on.
Speaker 1:Whatever I say the day I say it, but consistently over years, I get phone calls, I get emails, I get people telling me hey, I tried that thing I'm feeling better and I'm going to be honest, I'm not altruistic at all. I really, really like it when people tell me that my stuff is making their life better. Yeah, like, if you have a massive accomplishment and I helped you in training, I'm probably taking credit for it a little bit, just kidding sort of. But no, I just want to admit that modeling healthy behaviors for me isn't just about like being, you know, some altruistic do-gooder. I actually get a lot of benefit myself when people come back and tell me that what we did is helping them in their life.
Speaker 1:So if the reason I mentioned that is, if you don't like working out, if you prefer not to, for whatever reason, trust me, it just feels good when you model and improve other people's lives. That's a big reason why I am a trainer. It's, you know, as you guys know, it ain't the money. I'm not even hawking supplements. That's how you actually monetize this gig. So no, as cheesy as it sounds, the reason I can show up to work every single day and I still do it after as many years as I've done it.
Speaker 1:I genuinely like being a part of the process of helping people realize their goals. It's really fucking fun and it's even better when, in their own moment, they think to call me up and tell me about what's going on and keep me a part of that process. So anyway, I just want to mention that I honestly think that is one of the greatest whys, in addition to my mental health. I think those two the first and last that we covered here today modeling healthy behavior and managing my own mental those are the most important whys for me. We recently laid down obviously I have different training goals that fluctuate throughout the year, but in a sense for me those are actually secondary to the larger goals. I'm not going to pretend like I don't have them. You scholars, you can make fun of me because sometimes I am trying to just tighten up my abs and that's silly, superficial, cosmically stupid and guilty as charged. But it does actually fit into a larger plan where I'm actually answering a lot of different questions than how my abs look in summertime, quite frankly.
Speaker 1:But now, before we wrap this up, I actually want to get a quick counter thesis here, because I basically have been kind of postulating or pushing this idea that we should seek to find meaning through fitness, and I do think we laid down some really good reasons here, but we also got to pump the brakes on this just a little bit. One of the core projects of this entire show has been cautioning against the extremes of diet and fitness cults, so there is a different set of people who are trying to push you to find meaning in fitness in a very different way than I just meant it. There's a very tribal aspect to a lot of diets and workouts. I'm biting my tongue right now. I'm not pausing to try to sound profound. I want to call out a lot of things. I'm actually not going to, though, because I don't want to marginalize anybody who's using those disciplines or modalities. I don't think that would be beneficial, because for me, there's value in every one of these things. Where they lose me is when they start telling it that no one else has any value.
Speaker 1:We are in sole possession of all this knowledge, and a lot of times I actually think there are plenty of people who have tried to seek meaning in fitness. That winds up leading them into the charlatans, the con men, the people that we've actually spent most of our energy here talking down. So I just want to make sure that, when I'm talking about finding meaning in fitness, that again, we're thinking more about this in the sense of Frankle, not like let me become your guru and tell you what to do. That, I think, is unfortunately the most dominant way that people are finding meaning through fitness. And yeah, it's not even really worth naming names, because basically, if they're popular and famous and yep, I mean them, sorry, but they're charitable all of branch that we'll throw to them there's probably a half truth behind their fitness cult or their diet cult. Just don't follow them all the way to the end. Take what's useful and just throw the rest away. And if they tell you they're there, singular guru, or you don't need to talk to anyone else or do anything else, just ignore that. That's not what we mean when we're talking about finding meaning in fitness. We're not trying to move people into cults and into the arms of con men. So anyway, guys, I just want to get that counterpoint out, but let's cover the ground one more time.
Speaker 1:So in this episode we did go a little deep on the philosophical underpinnings of fitness, at least as I see it, and I am not an authority on anything but our goal today was truly to just move beyond the surface level motivations that the fitness industry typically amplifies and explores some potentially more profound wise that can drive us towards physical activity. Today we really drew inspiration from the work of Victor Frankel, namely in man's search for meaning. And again, Frankel views this search for meaning as the fundamental drive, not pleasure seeking, not power. We also learned from the negations of Bartleby. I do love Bartleby.
Speaker 1:This isn't like a direct comparison at all, but Bartleby kind of reminds me of Diogenes who, yeah, diogenes was the one that Alexander the Great stood in the sunshine above him. And then Diogenes just kind of looks up to him and he's like move, get the hell out of my light. And no one ever talked to Alexander that way. So he's just like, wow, who is this guy Like that? That's a dude. I've never met anybody like that. And then I guess Aristotle, or not Aristotle. Alexander says God, if I were to come back as anyone else, I would be Diogenes. To which Diogenes replied if I were to come back as anyone else, I would come back as Diogenes. But so, yeah, bartleby is not exactly the same character, but Bartleby really teaches us the power of determinant negation that we actually can learn from what things are not. So, even though I again do not agree with all of the reasons that people like to tell me they have for not working out. I've learned a lot over the years of listening to those reasons and I do think that what we laid down today are going to be some better whys to answer those negations of the Bartleby's.
Speaker 1:So, again, what I see is far more important than just your physique goals. Very important why to me is obviously the importance of addressing mental health and stress reduction. My clients, most of the people that I think I train with, are probably coming for the longevity, aging well, disease prevention, air quotes, building and maintaining social connections I honestly think is one of the greatest uses of fitness, particularly in an age where I think people are very alienated. If you're more concerned with your business and professional life, honestly engaging in a fitness practice is just going to help reinforce the way that you set and achieve personal or professional goals. You're going to find this is a skill set that you already possess. And lastly, most important, you know modeling healthy behaviors to others. If you don't care about anything else, they're at least know that there's people watching you and modeling their behaviors on you, and so you don't really have to like a lot of things once you recognize that you're going to see them again whether you like them or not.
Speaker 1:So anyway, with all that guys this is certainly not an exhaustive list. If you guys have any different whys, like what is it that brings you to train? If I didn't cover it in today's episode, you know, please drop that in the comments. Two reasons One, I actually want to see them. That's going to help my process. Two, that's going to make the algorithm like the show, and then we can push this thing out to even more people. You know.
Speaker 1:Last, I just want to close on, you know, one idea from Victor Frankel but everything can be taken away from a man except for one thing the last of the human freedoms to choose one's attitude and any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. And we are no longer able to change a situation. We are challenged to change ourselves. So obviously I'm not dense and I'm not naive and I know what's going on in the world and I purposely try to not talk about it as much as I can Because, again, while there really are a lot of really important things going on out there in the larger world, the reality for me is I have a lot of people that count on me day to day, that are in my community and directly around me. So it's no slight on all the rest of you, but I'm not as focused on that. I'm really not. I have 24 hours in a day. I'm just one human being, and so I do focus a lot more on the things that I can actually change, which means a lot of things I don't actually have time to engage, and these, frankly, wind up being a lot of the conversations I have with people, and so that's where I just kind of want to come back and I get it. I know what's going on. That being said, I don't think I actually agree with your solution, to be quite frank, and so, anyway, I just want to challenge everybody If you think you can identify a problem or something that you want to see worked on, don't tweet about it, don't go sign a petition. Actually, do it. Little preachy, but I don't care. I'm going to close on this.
Speaker 1:My wife is directing a musical at our school right now and, yeah, some parents are listening, so I might get in trouble, but whatever, we're going to air it out right now. A lot of people complain about various things, and what I have noticed. This isn't scientific, so just an anecdote. The people who are complaining about how the play is being run are also this subset of people who are not involved. These are the people that I don't see at pickup. These are the people who I literally don't know their names. So, again, we still consider their inputs, not like you just throw it out, but I got to be honest. My wife is a lot nicer about listening to that shit than I am. I am the one telling her interview. Who the fuck is that? I don't know that person. I'm there every day.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, I just want to challenge our community to stay active. Stay involved. Be the change that you want to see. Don't talk about it. Be about it. I am sick of it. And if you have a tweet, storm not going to read it, if you put out a little blog post on it, I'm not going to see it. Sorry, no, but again, I just want to focus us back on.
Speaker 1:If you want to change the situation, do it. Get involved in your community. You're going to find tons of people who are going to support you in those changes you want to make and if you're going online and you're engaging it that way, it probably feels hopeless, desperate and futile, and engaging online it is. Take that energy out in the real world, it will not be wasted, I promise. Anyway, that's it, guys. That's all I got today.
Speaker 1:Again, I want to thank you for spending your time with me. Please make sure that you share the show that there's a lot of people that are not having their needs met by the fitness industry. That's who I want to hear today's show. If you know anybody who would prefer not to with workout, send this their way. Let's continue to grow our community and, yes, please share this with somebody that you think does not enjoy working out. Let's see if we can give them a different why and maybe a couple better reasons With that guys. Remember mind and muscle are inseparably intertwined. There are no gains without brains. Keep lifting and learning. I'll do the same.
