60 Seconds of Mornings

This was an experiment. Every morning as I entered the office I would dump bag bags and do some ‘movements’ that felt normal. I eschewed any sense of ‘routine’ movements - and just did what felt ‘right’ that day. This was done over the freezing cold Korean winter - so often it was just part of my ‘staying warm’ while the office heating came on.

The main purpose of filming this was in response to the perpetual routine/protocol-seeking mindset that so many people have. It is the same mindset that leads to someone looking at an exercise programme and saying ‘no, that programme doesn’t have enough bench press in it for me’.

YOU CAN RUN A DIFFERENT PROGRAMME AFTERWARDS. Not every exercise you like has to be in every programme.

So many people want to find ‘the perfect programme’ and run it forever. The perfect ‘routine’. To have something they can do ad infinitum and it will always be relevant to them.

The issue is that at any given time our own personal context may change. Through our values or desires changing, through pain or injury - or just through the natural changes we experience during life.

This does expend a sort of active attentional energy though. You have to be engaged with your training and your context and your current state. It is more demanding.

And when it comes to choosing (or not choosing) exercises. It is important to challenge oneself and go beyond our comfort zones. Spending six weeks ignoring bench press and trying to learn a planche pushup or doing weighted dips is hardly drop in the ocean in terms of training time - but it can provide such a rich stimulus. It’s okay to let go of the things we like doing - we can always return back to them.