“Every time you say yes to something, you say no to something else”
I first heard this line in a mastermind group ("The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.") a few years ago and it really rang a bell with me.
Of course this statement was made in the context of business and entrepreneurship, but it also makes a lot of sense in the realm of physical fitness and martial arts training.
Does this statement imply a close-minded outlook, where we are saying no to everything we can or at least to everything new?
No, not at all.
The statement provides clarity. Clarity on the need for focus and purpose in everything we do, be it personal or professional.
Time is infinite, but our time is limited. We are all born and we all die, the time in-between is all we have. In a more tangible sense, the week is only 7-days long and the day is only 24 hours—although many times we wish we had more hours in the day!
How we will best utilize those years, days and hours?
When we say yes to those things that are sort-of-good we are quite actually taking time away from things that are really good.
So, health is this most important thing in our life, but if we allocate too much time to it, to exercise then we are in fact taking time away from our families, our profession or things that we enjoy and we need to be healthy for in the first place.
That’s a good question. What are things you need to be healthy for?
We can define health or fitness (because they are not the same thing) in a variety of ways. For example, one person’s definition of fitness may be how many miles they can run and how fast; yet another’s may be how much weight they can bench press. Clearly, the physical requirements of these two tasks are totally different and the pursuit of those tasks will yield different outcomes for the individual.
Even though there are differences in how we define fitness, it can be defined as long as we define what the relevant tasks are. Defining health is another story. What is healthy “enough”? To some it may be a perfect, in-range blood panel. To others, it just might mean “not dead yet”.
So, what is healthy enough and what is fit enough?
Again, I think the question comes back to the individual. What do you want to be healthy for? What do you want to be fit for?
What is it about the rest of your life that will be enhanced by increasing your fitness and improving your health?
When you answer this question, it will be much easier to find the motivation to do what is necessary, and only what is effective to reach your goals. You see when it comes to fitness people often only do what they like to do, or what is popular. That makes sense, but it might not be the right thing to do, or you might be doing too many things.
Sometimes, we pursue fitness tasks because there is some sort of “attainment” associated with those tasks. You can run a mile in less then 6 minutes. You can bench press 250 pounds. Woo Hoo!
Who cares?
If you do, and it motivates you to workout and work harder that is great. However, does it bring you closer to the “other things”? The things or things in your life that you want to be healthy for? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.
When you say yes to running for hours several times a week, what are you saying no to?
When you say yes to pumping iron for hours a day, what are you saying no to?
What am I getting at? Is there a way, is there something that you can do that will take minimal time, less time away from the “other things” yet still be largely effective in keeping you fit and possibly healthy?
There is, but you have to be willing to let go of what is “cool” and possibly what you “like to do”. You have to let go of the “attainments” as a motivation. If you do that, the fitness part is pretty simple. (not easy as one of my mentors, Dan John would say).
The health part is also easy. You need to eat right. Every time you say “yes” to a bad food you are saying “no” to a good food. You also need to avoid unhealthy behavior: smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, driving without your seat belt, etc.
Ok, back to the fitness part. What’s my answer? Well as you can guess, my first choice is martial arts training and for those that aren’t into martial arts kettlebell training.
However, there are a couple of caveats. If you are training in martial arts solely to compete, fight, or earn your next belt it will take a lot of time and dedication. The focus has once again shifted to the attainment. These are noble pursuits, but not what I am talking about here.
Similarly, if you are training with kettlebells to “pass the snatch test”, press a heavier kettlebell or complete a heavier getup, you are once again focusing on the attainment.
These pursuits are all attainable, but realize that if you truly dedicated to them, you will have to dedicate more time than you need to.
Conversely, martial arts or kettlebell training – done right – can be a great way to attain and then maintain a competent level of fitness.
But, you have to be able to enjoy the mundaneness of the plateau. Do the same few things day in and day out. Be willing to accept a lack of progress. Have anti-goals.
For example with kettlebells:
Un-weighted Turkish Get Ups
200-300 swings a day (work up to it)
Goblet Squat or Front squat – 3 sets of 3
Clean and Press or double clean and press – 3 sets of 3
That’s it. You’ll be surprised with how little time this takes. Do it 4-5 times per week. This is a very general workout, so you won’t make “progress”, but that makes sense for us. This will give you a base level of fitness and movement to improve the rest of your life.
For example with martial arts:
Some slow smooth tumbling/rolling
Practice 4-8 forms (kata/poomsae) or 3-5 rounds of shadow boxing
Heavy Bag work
Again, this about 20-30 minutes of work. Are you going to be the next UFC champion or get a black belt? Of course not. But it will provide you with aforemention base level of fitness with minimal time requirement. Train like this 4-5 times per week, or take a 1-hour martial arts class 2-3 times per week.
