Foundations of Physical Freedom Part II – Exercise

Last week we discussed that the absolute barebones of physical freedom is movement. Any movement. Swinging your arms, your legs, getting up and down the stairs. For a time, for me, it was being able to bring my left thumb back to my palm.

But now we are a step beyond movement. We have decided to take joy and step into motion as a creature designed to be kinetic. If we weren’t, why would sitting or standing still for so long hurt so much? And thus we decided to exercise.

Exercise

While last week was all about just beginning to move in whatever way, with disregard for a purpose, this week is the opposite. We found our desire to move, and now, as advanced creatures, we can use movement in a specific way for a specific purpose to get something specific done. In simple terms – exercise.

So, the way I see it is that there are three (3) different kinds of exercise:

1. Lifting
2. Cardio
3. Sports

Lifting

Weight lifting is perhaps the most important type of exercise you could possibly do. It is necessary to really stimulate muscle growth. It is also not just for men. Weight lifting is important for women, too. Lifting is the thing that has boosted my self-image and health more so than all the running or swimming or hiking I’ve ever done in my life.

There is a feeling of strength and calm purpose you get when you can do sets and sets of pull-ups or push-ups in a row without an issue. I found this magnified with heavy compound lifts. And, if you’re a beginner like I was once, then still you don’t have to kill yourself at the gym with a bench press or deadlift.

You can use the machines, which offer the same movement of the best exercises with more control. As you gain experience and confidence and most importantly – muscle and mind-to-muscle connection, then you may move up or down to more advanced or less advanced forms of lifting. In fact, I didn’t even squat for about a year or two since I started getting back into working out in 2018. Even though squatting is one of the best exercises.

And for most people, they are looking to work out to lose weight. To be more specific, to lose fat as opposed to muscle. This distinction will be delved into further at a later time. But everyone wants to lose weight. Ask your friends, cousins, family, or coworkers. We live in a world where we can eat a whole day’s worth of calories in moments for very little money.

But the secret to losing weight that mega-billionaires don’t want you to know is that lifting weights is actually more effective than simple cardio for losing weight. The general bodybuilding industry knows this, but it’s hard to get that voiced over their loud advertising dollars. And while cardio is effective at helping you lose weight, it is not very effective unless paired with weight lifting. And for some, it is definitely possible to lose weight just by weight lifting, without cardio. And lastly, an exception of an extremely overweight individual will lose weight with just about any exercise whether it is weight lifting or cardo.

Cardio

While weight lifting is important, you’d be silly to believe cardio isn’t important. Lifting without any cardio is like driving a semi-truck with the check engine and check oil lights on, brake pads that have been melting away for the past thousand miles, and no coolant. What I mean by that is, yes you (Optimus Prime, in this case) can run perfectly well and fine by neglecting cardio and doing only weight lifting. But not only will a day of reckoning likely come for you (specifically your heart) you will not run as smoothly without cardio as you will with cardio in your life.

It might shock those who live in cities or Europeans as a whole, but getting cardio in is a challenge as an American. Especially one who lives in a suburban or rural area. There’s usually nowhere nearby to run, for example, without a car ride. And it’s usually infeasible, unsafe, or downright impossible to reach by foot or by bike. If I had just worked and gone home, the most cardio I would’ve done all day would consist of getting up and walking to my car, then from my car to the office, then back out to my car, then to my house. And most people just live like this and wonder why they get fat.

You’re not old Bill, you just don’t move!!!

Cardio is essentially any form of movement that can be done over and over again while breathing. Swimming, rowing, running, hiking, etc. are all forms of cardio. If you carry something really heavy and walk, you are doing cardio. It does contain a strength component, which is necessary to grow muscles, but you are breathing consistently.

The best part of cardio, besides feeling that you can move anywhere, is that it’s great for your heart. It’s also way safer than a heart attack or bear encounter to test your heart’s limits. And we all know the heart is essentially your engine. The smoother it can run, the better performance you will get out of life.

Sports

This one is simply a catch-all for all kinds of sports. Some sports involve lots of running, like soccer or lacrosse. Some sports involve lots of strength like powerlifting and swimming. Some of them are completely unique in their movements like snowboarding or skateboarding or volleyball. Some may have more cardio and some may involve more strength. But they all involve some kind of specific repetitive movement.

I would not want to discount this one because when we usually consider exercising as adults, going to the gym is basically what we mean. It’s the place designated to exercise. Hiking is probably the most common form of cardio exercise people actively seek out, besides the gym. And you will quickly notice that sports, though they may have had a big impact on your life up through and beyond high school, have completely dissipated.

But sports didn’t go anywhere. And they’re also not exclusive to the best of the best or adult travel teams. Nothing is stopping you from finding some friends to play soccer with at an elementary school after-hours. Nothing is stopping you from just showing up at a tennis court and practicing by yourself. Nothing is stopping you from throwing a ball with a friend or just taking turns swinging at baseballs. And quite frankly, if you found a way to spend all your time doing sports and you feel happy and comfortable with your physique, then you don’t need to go lift or do more cardio. And if you don’t want to go to the gym or go run alone, then sports might be the best option for you to keep momentum in movement.

Entonces

So those are all the forms of exercising as I’d define them. I personally enjoy lifting and cardio more, but there’s an upper limit to the number of squats you should do in a day. Meanwhile, you may want to spend hours playing soccer with friends, from sun up to sun down. Just find what will work best for you to be happy and comfortable, as they all have their trade-offs. We will do some more deep diving into each topic at a later time, but next time we will discuss this phrase I keep titling all these posts – Physical Freedom.

Godspeed,

Dennis