The Importance of Expressing the Human Body

Most people are aware of how important physical health is to mental wellbeing. This fact was known by people as far back as Ancient Rome; mens sana in corpore sano - a healthy mind in a healthy body - encapsulates this notion with a beautiful succinctness. These days many flock to gyms in the mornings or evenings in order to repeatedly move chunks of metal back and forth while they grunt and grimace, or to spend half an hour running aimlessly on a treadmill like a brain-dead hamster, all in the name of staying in shape, but is it healthy? Sure, it's a step up from sitting on the sofa, and, when done with intention, can be enough to cover all the right bases, but it's not perfect. Weight training carries with it a risk of muscle imbalances and joint strain, and continuous running on an unchanging, perfectly even surface is far less engaging than running outside, where there are constant obstacles, bends in the road, and other people to contend with.

Before we consider other options, we should first understand why working out does what it does to the body. The SAID principle is a concept that everyone should be aware of. It stands for Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. Simply put, the body gets better at things it is made to do. The more often it is made to do them, the better it gets. On paper, this sounds great. If you want to get better at something, you just have to do it a whole bunch. It isn't quite that simple, however. The body doesn't know the difference between an intentional Imposed Demand and an unintentional one. This means that the Specific Adaptation it exhibits is a reaction to whatever the greatest stimulus is. This means that the things that one does throughout the day, outside the gym, likely count more towards overall physical wellbeing. If the practices outside the gym are imposing unwanted adaptations, training an hour a day isn't worth much if it isn't used to counteract the damage done during the other twenty-three hours of the day. One common problem that many people suffer from is tight hip flexors from sitting down all day. Many who work office jobs sit for hours on end, not only at their desk, but also in their cars while commuting, at the table while eating, on the sofa while relaxing. The Imposed Demand here is constant sitting. The Specific Adaptation is tightness of the hip flexor. If nothing is done to counteract this, it just compounds over time. Stretching and yoga are a great place to start, and I would strongly encourage anyone to start practicing them, but better yet would be to reduce the amount of time spent seated. Standing on public transport or walking to work would be an improvement, time permitting, a standing desk at work would make a huge difference, or - and this one is quite unrealistic - doing away with the dinner table and instead eating in a resting squat (which is the natural human resting position and far too few of us ever get into). The problem is too many of us see exercising as a completely separate, self-contained entity, and don't take into consideration what we do the rest of the time, so we devote a few hours a week to the gym and just assume that we're all sorted.

What, then, would be better? One problem with training exclusively in the gym is the rigidity of it all. It's easy to fall into a comfortable routine of familiar exercises, focussing on the same movements, the same muscles, all the while neglecting other areas. Take instead the example of a football player. They must constantly be on the move, changing direction, stopping and starting, and all the while they are exercising their muscles, but they are not simply repeating the same move over and over. The result is that their muscles develop in a more rounded manner, the smaller muscles, oft neglected by the "show muscle" focused movements practiced in the gym, getting just as much attention. The results may not be as quick, or as drastic, but in terms of promoting health and longevity, (which is what everyone should be training for), this is a much better option. But the benefits don't stop there. The primary focus of playing football is rarely solely fitness. For most people, it's having fun. Enjoyment and expression. While it may be true that there are those who truly enjoy lifting weights, I'd wager, based on no empirical evidence whatsoever, that for a majority of people, it is the functional benefits that draw them to that particular activity, and not the enjoyment. The reason this is worth thinking about is that the enjoyment of a given activity is a good indication of how likely it is that the person doing it will be able to continue doing it in the long-term. There is something to be said for the benefits of doing something you don't want to do to train mental toughness - you need only look to David Goggins to see what I mean - but that is outside the scope of this article. Of course, playing football is by no means a direct substitute for weight training, and any contact sport comes with its own risks of injury, but it serves to illustrate a point.

So, what other options are there for activities that can act as full body workouts and allow the practitioner to express themselves? Martial arts are a great option. The clue is the name. All of them, from Boxing to Judo, Taekwondo to BJJ, Krav Maga to Muay Thai, offer the opportunity to get in a good workout, all the while being avenues for expression. Better still, why not combine them? One need only browse Youtube for a few seconds to find highlights of MMA fights, which showcase some of the most unique and exciting fighters in history. I would be remiss at this point to neglect to mention Bruce Lee. (After all, his book inspired the title of this article). Lee had many memorable quotes, but one in particular stands out to me: "Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.". He believed that no one martial art was perfect, but there was value to be found in all of them, so the best approach was to learn from a variety of sources and develop a unique style. To him, self-expression was key. I agree with the idea of taking from a wide range of sources, but if I were pressed to elect only one martial art, there is one that reigns supreme: capoeira, the Brazilian martial art disguised as a dance. Comprised of kicks, flips, and spins, and set to rhythmic music, capoeira is not only a dazzling display of athleticism, but also a deeply spiritual custom. It is also the primary influence on The Ido Portal Method. This practice draws from not only capoeira, but also gymnastics, yoga, and dance, and is based on the notion that mastering one's own body should be the priority, rather than achieving excellence in only one narrow field. I think many people would benefit from this mindset; a holistic approach that encourages complete body development over isolated focus.

So, instead of mindlessly curling iron for the rest of our lives, why not explore other, more expressive avenues. After all, our bodies are designed for movement, our brains evolved to allow it, so why do we spend so much time sitting still?