Note: I rarely write about physical health…but the truth is that it’s a part of everything that I’ve ever grown into, even as a writer.
Taking care of the body has a direct effect on how well the mind works, how positively we experience life, and even how efficiently we live our lives.
I write this not because I think everyone should be athletes or dedicate huge portions of their lives to athletic superiority or showmanship. Everything I’ve done with a competitive edge could have been done purely for the sake of mental, physical, and even spiritual health benefits.
Physical health is NOT a luxury, it is a freedom and a necessary key to making all other parts of your life enjoyable and ideal.
You just have to decide how you want to do it.
…
I’ve spent my whole life being active.
Not just active, but intensely dedicated to pushing my body to the limits. Luckily, I’ve found myself still capable of moving around efficiently and my heart is still beating.
Which still means I have my soul and mind to live on…
I’ve broken bones, sustained concussions, been pile-driven into the ground, fainted to the floor, had tears and dislocations, and to this day still have my body not working correctly because of all of it.
But…
I’ve also been suspended in the air on a motorcycle across 120 feet. I’ve made it to 6 percent body fat and looked like a sculpture. I’ve made it to powerlifting nationals(where I saw how mid-level I truly was). I’ve jumped from a plane from 15,000 feet. I’ve won races, beaten records, and just done things most people won’t ever do.
All of it as a normal person being just a regular athlete. Nothing prodigal. Nothing elite.
And that’s half my point.
The physical world, the one your body was adapted to and meant to be challenged by, has given me life experience and a headspace that so many people just won’t get.
Things that I’ve done a horrible job of appreciating, honestly.
It’s not about what I achieved in status. The podium and the numbers didn’t matter as much as the achievement of taking on difficult things.
The pain sucks.
The monotony sucks.
The test of patience sucks.
Maintaining a vision built on daily repetition that becomes stale…sucks.
However, I’m not here to prod anybody about not being courageous enough to race dirt bikes or compete in weight-lifting. I loved these sports. I just did these things because they were instinctive and crucial to my progress by way of competition.
There’s something more here, though.
Physical exertion, passion and obsession, dedication and discipline.
All of it will lead you to Valhalla.
Or…just insane mental clarity, life longevity, and a hell of an edge in being a creator in this world.
…
The climax of my athletic journey ended in May of 2022.
USPA Powerlifting Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia.
The first time I’d ever been in danger of not making weight for a competition, I was 145.8 pounds on the morning of. And in powerlifting, even if you’re 145.1, you’ll be disqualified from competing in that class. You still get to lift, but not competitively.
Ultimately I made weight: 145.0 pounds on the official’s scale.
Just like any seasoned athlete, I went into competition with confidence. Not confident that I would hit the numbers I wanted, but confident that I would give everything I had to get them.
Even in failure, we can win.
And in the end, I did.
In the sport of powerlifting, there are three lifts that we attempt:
Squat, Bench, and Deadlift.
We perform them in that order and we get three attempts in each, hopefully adding weight to each attempt, to maximize a finishing total where weight lifted compared to body weight determines our placement.
And of those three lifts, I didn’t get all the numbers I wanted. I fell short of my goal in the squat, I failed at my goal in the bench, and I successfully took a state record for the deadlift.
Here are the videos if you want to watch them on my Substack:
(I’m sorry I don’t have better access for them. I’ll work on it for the future.)
Since Nationals, I’ve stepped back to give myself a view of what I’m really after. I still train, but for the health of my body.
…
Whether or not what type and how far we go in athleticism is competitive or not, the underlying truth is this:
Your level of pleasure in life is majorly determined by how you treat your body.
It’s not just about how hard you train. It’s also about how well you rest and how well you eat. Optimization requires clean and consistent habits.
And what people don’t understand is how it translates to a life outside of athletics and training; how capable you are in your regular life is compounded by how well you treat the vessel that moves for you.
The round-a-bout point is that this fucking world you live in, industrialized for consumption and monetization of all things, has thrown a blindfold over your face.
No, really…it’s waterboarding you.
It tells you that being overweight is genetic or even healthy.
It tells you that healthy food is too expensive.
It tells you that processed food carries comparable macro and micronutrients.
It tells you that dieting consists of starvation.
It tells you that working until your bones are dust is efficient, even noble.
It tells you that your feelings matter more than your actions.
It tells you that the world should accept you as you are and there’s no need to suffer.
…
Ultimately, I think the world has fallen into an unbalanced and chaotic space of subjectivity.
A chosen ignorance of reality. Of objective truths. Some social story about the internal affirmations of feelings being far more important than the external facts of progress.
We’ve become timid and indecisive. We’re overly analytical and cynical. We’re drowned in entertainment and voicing our opinions. We’ve become far more talk than walk.
And in place of our souls, we’ve manifested a god-like ego.
We’re far too sure and rarely humble.
We vocalize more than we act.
We demonize and dehumanize each other more than we find love and relativity.
…
And in all of this…
There is a lost wisdom of the body.
Yes, there is wisdom in the body. And the only way to draw it out is by use.
It’s the balance we’re missing that offsets the wisdom of the mind and amplifies the heart’s connections.
Connection to the self and others.
An unhealthy body filled with nutrient-barren food is starved and at the same time fattened.
A sedentary body is restricted by tension and atrophy and at the same time more prone to injury and disease.
A body not moved and not fed makes a mind incapable and a soul untouched.
Why?
Because the body is the vessel.
It is the whole that holds both the physical brain and human consciousness. And without the power of the vessel itself, both aforementioned will suffer.
You will suffer.
Note: In part two, I’ll take a couple of personal stories of some friends of mine to expand on this point. To bring you closer to seeing not just how important of a link it is to life, but how crucial it is to fulfillment and happiness.
In part three I will talk about the things we ignore, the industries that make them harder, and the way to overcome them.
If you have a suggestion or comment about this article, please feel free to speak it. Since my ultimate goal is to lead others to individualism and understanding of the Self, talks between us are important.
And if you have your own story on physical health, I’d love to hear it.
Truth and Love, Reader.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash