Reflections

On: Finishing

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Start with the end in mind. Easily said, not always easily carried out. And sometimes you will never finish.

Putting up a shelf, yes. It may be technically challenging, if you don’t have the requisite skills, but it is specific and attainable.

When it comes to health and longevity, there is no endgame before death.

Instead, flip the problem.

Check in with each decision to see if it will contribute to the desired outcome (not dying early / staying healthy for longer). Smoking / Vaping? No. A third beer? No. A walk during your lunch break? Yes. Salad over chips? Yes. Making art over scrolling mindlessly? Yes.

We cannot change our genes, we can’t avoid the end, but we can influence the small things that add up.

Choose life every day, simplify and allow space for the universe to give you things.

We can get better

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Because we’re not dead yet (Turner et al 2015)

You cannot remain in stasis. Even that requires the expenditure of energy, so with no input you will slip into slow decay.

Therefore, choose wisely. Put your shoes on. Expend energy in a positive direction. Get better at something. Move more, eat fewer junk snacks, spend less time scrolling mindlessly, spend more time reading and learning.

Make that choice every day. It’ll be worth it.

You are what you do.

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They presented with a long history of shoulder and back pain, with occasional headaches, particularly in the evening. No other significant complaints, simply a tight and painful upper back, and shoulders, with a stiff neck.

After taking a thorough history and checking pertinent red flags, I carried out a suitable examination, looking at how they used their body, how it wanted to respond passively and actively.

And the thing was, other than the presenting complaint, there wasn’t much to be found. An anteriorised head posture and slightly kyphotic thoracic spine, but nothing much more than you might expect for a modern lifestyle. They exercised frequently, were not obese and tried to optimise their working posture when at a desk.

I treated what I found, and we addressed a few issues, but I was unhappy with their progress, as the complaint didn’t feel like it was resolving along the curve I expected.

Then it clicked. Whenever I went through to reception to collect them, they were playing with their phone. Head slumped forwards on the chest, looking down at the tiny screen and typing or scrolling away.

The problem is, modern expectations are that we are constantly connected, with rewards and punishments meted out by both the device and other people if we do not respond to its electronic siren call. I am as guilty as the next person, at instinctively checking and wasting hours.

It was this small, but frequent behaviour that was causing, in this case, the shoulder pain. Looking down was loading the back of their neck, the shoulders were coming in to support the arms holding close and everything matched when I mimicked them.

However, other than taking the phone away from them, there wasn’t a direct intervention I could do, so instead we discussed possible mitigation strategies, to reduce the automatic reaction, shorten the time spent interacting and change the posture, things that have been shown to work.

Following the rules of three, I suggested:

  • Switching on greyscale. This, interestingly, makes the device far less stimulating, but still allows you to work effectively. It also helps increase battery life on some devices.
  • Clean up the home screen and put apps that distract in a folder so you don’t see them first
  • Turn off notifications for social media applications

The point was simply to create a brain pause that allowed for a moment more reflection before the action, rather than create a wholesale change that would more likely fail.

Having created this awareness and put in some simple measures, we were both very happy to see that the treatment was then far more effective and the presenting issues resolved.

After they had left, I reflected in how the simple actions we do can have profound impacts and that, as practitioners of every discipline, we need to continue to look at the whole person, not just the complaint.

A reflection on training planning

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When thinking about training planning, whether for personal development or competition, there are a number of variables we all need to consider, whether as the trainer or trainee.

Underlying it all and before we can even start planning, we need to work out where the following are:

  • Intention
  • Attention
  • Focus

Both for the immediate goal and the longer term structure. Once these have been identified, and there can be only one or two main intention points, then the next step can be assessed.

Here, we need to look at which phase of training we are in. If we are a beginner, or have been training for only a short period of time, then we are still in base development, where we are learning the mechanics and improving work capacity. As we improve, we can start working on the individual elements of our chosen discipline. These can include:

  • Skill
  • Stamina
  • Strength
  • Speed

These lead to a development of work capacity. Or, the ability to do something faster, more accurately and for longer and more efficiently.

When looking at each days training plan, it goes through 4 phases, the length of which dependent on the above goals and the physiological status.

  • Move
  • Groove
  • Load
  • Cruise

We first start to move, to explore the body’s capacity for work that day, consider recovery from the last training session or injury. We then start to groove in the movements that we will be training that day. Once warm and ready, we can finally get the load moving, whether that is under a barbell, a HIT phase or a bike ride. Once we have completed the scheduled work, we finally cruise down, checking in again to note how we went, and to feedback for the next session.

The final, often overlooked and probably as important element of training is the recovery and nutrition. However, we tend to look at the work rather than the recovery, believing that more is better, which for most people, it tends to be, given the rest of their lifestyles, but with that, the nutrition element still has to be considered, and for most people, should be one of their two main attention points. Nutrition is a huge, complex and troublesome area, can be generally be summed up succinctly as:

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat”

Greg Glassman

Now, forget everything, go and play.

5 daily habits, 3 basic skills

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There are 5 habits we do every day, and that most of us take for granted. They are the basic skills needed to function well in everyday life, well before the more complex elements of household management and navigation in a modern society come in to play.

Yet when we are unable or unwilling to perform them, it’s time to ask for help from those around us, as they are the foundation stones on which all other skills rest. These are the things that our primary carers would have taught us to do by the time we were ready to leave home and almost all of us will have done today.

  1. Get up and make your bed
  2. Perform a personal hygiene routine and dress appropriately
  3. Prepare and eat a nutritious hot meal
  4. Movement and physical maintenance
  5. Interact socially and do something creative and productive

These can be viewed as a stack, and performing one allows the next to take place more efficiently. The inclusion of creation and productivity in the list, is in my mind, crucial, as it allows us to express an important element of our personality, and its presence or absence is an indicator in our mental, as well as physical health.

The habit most people will tend to misunderstand and misinterpret is that of movement and physical maintenance. Here, there are 3 basic skills that we should be able to perform unless we have a diagnosed impairment. And, as above, the inability to do these indicates that we need to check in with an appropriate professional for support and to allow us to regain them, or plan to mitigate the risk of losing that element of independence. 

  1. Get off the floor from lying on your front
  2. Get off the floor from lying on your back
  3. Walk a mile with a moderately heavy load

These use all the primal movements (push / pull / flex / twist / squat / lunge / walk), as well as the fundamental human expression of gait.

Physical maintenance is the skill of daily self care, being able to mobilise and strengthen the body, with stretching, joint position awareness, breathing exercises and strength training. If starting this practice, after a period of relative immobility, then it is recommended that you start gently, focusing on the ankles, hips and shoulder girdle, with breathing as a guide.

The basics of positive mental health

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Firstly, if you reached this via a random search on the internet and are feeling stuck, buried under unmanageable pressure, in a corner or suicidal, breathe.

If that is you now, if you have a plan, if you’re looking for ways to end your life, if it’s so dark that the relief of knowing how is a comfort, stop. Please. Call a mate, phone Samaritans, if you think you’re going to OD or have, get yourself to A&E.

If you need to self harm to relieve the pain, to give you something to focus on, try ice cubes. Squeeze them in your hand and feel the burning cold. Put down the sharp blade and open a window.

When we, as professionals, talk to people who’ve cut or attempted suicide after we’ve stabilised them, they almost all regret it. Most attempts are a cry for help, to get attention, to put down the enormous burden, to ask someone to take over, just for a while, to deal with the crap life has handed you.

If this is you, I’m sorry. I have no idea what demons you’re fighting but I do know that so many have been there before you and there is a solution, somehow. But the never ending darkness is not it. There are charities who are there to support you, pathways in place to show you that, however dark it is now, there is a way forward.

Please note that this is not about mental illness. This is not about PD, psychosis, mania or depression. These are the kind that leaves you debilitated and requiring professional assistance. For those who have such things, it is important that the rest of us do not stigmatise them, help support them in any way and be conscious that we are all a few steps and some genes away from their situation.

For the rest of us, who live every day with our own mental health, it is thankfully starting to become more commonly talked about in recent years. The typical English attitude of stiff upper lip and crack on is slowly becoming more less expected, but the underlying causes of poor mental health is less commonly discussed.

Positive mental health is much more of a holistic approach, a way of recognising that body and mind are inextricably linked, that we can influence those around us and by intercepting negative trends, and that we may be able to prevent or minimise darker times.

The sketch above shows the basic pyramid of mental health.

Positive health choices are obvious in retrospect. Avoiding drugs that effect mental state (alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, illicit chemicals), taking regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, getting sufficient rest.

Regular life patterns play a more subtle role. We all have a circadian clock, a biological rhythm that governs eating, sleeping, and even more complex processes. But we also have a human need for regularity. For work, for seeing friends, for doing things we enjoy. If we neglect this, or it is removed from us, we soon notice its absence.

Positive relationships make more sense. We have all had relationships that drag us down, that make us feel less than we like to be. These can be personal, romantic or work, but their effect is pernicious and corrosive.

We can tolerate shifts in any one of the points for a period of time, for example poor health choices by eating too much, drinking too much or not resting enough, but if we also have a few unsupportive or negative relationships and no regular life pattern then we are in a slippery slope to poor mental health.

Mental health is a gift to be nurtured, shared and to be grateful for.

Being human

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Sometimes we forget what it means to be human. We have forgotten that we are merely vertical mammals in a semi hostile environment and only when this is challenged do we wake up from our technological torpor and realise just how close to the edge of existence we are. 

So in this season of reflection, lets ponder on how we can be more human. 

Move more. We evolved to move for survival yet these days we rarely need to. Not moving frequently is a short step to oncoming death.

Eat less and more varied. Once we have finished growing, we don’t need to eat more than we burn or require for physical repair or performance. Occasional fasting is no bad thing if you are fundamentally healthy.  And, as wanderers we ate a much more varied diet compared to now. The more varied our pallette, the broader the nutritional intake available. 

Drink less, smoke nothing. What is the point of poisoning yourself? Occasional alcohol, at seasonal festivals is not a problem. But that will almost certainly be far less than you currently consume.

Be useful. Without a supportive society we would be dead. From birth to death you are reliant on those around you. So be useful. Check on your neighbours, learn first aid, spend time at a local charity you support, give to a food bank. You never know when you will need it returned. 

Remember the basic rules of life: Be compassionate. You are what you do and say. Discipline and consistency are the only way to achieve anything. 

So go forth, be awesome and have a healthy break. You’ve earned it. 

Ask the right question

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To get a useful answer, it is important to ask the right questions. 

    Rather than adding extra effort, look at what you can take away. 

    If you can only see 2 paths, look for a third. 

    If you’re trying something new, has anyone done something similar before? Even a different discipline offers guidelines.

    Does it actually need to be done?

    What one thing, done today, will have the most impact? 

    Can this be a yes or no, rather than a maybe? 

Try one next time you’re stuck and see if it helps break the restriction.