My new book Powered By Nature is not really a fitness book, though it does touch on the subject.
As I cover most of the foundational areas of health in it, movement is in there.
But movement and fitness are not the same things.
I think the best way to look at it is to think of fitness as being a supplement to a sedentary life.
Nassim Talib, author of Antifragile, talks about the cognitive dissonance involved in a man at a hotel who had the porter carry his luggage…only to see that same man in the gym later swinging a kettlebell around.
Don’t get me wrong, fitness is not bad. Going to a gym and doing strength training, obviously, I love this stuff.
AND I recognize that spending a couple hours in the gym does NOT make up for an otherwise sedentary life.
You can’t swing a kettlebell for half and hour and think that that really makes up for sitting at the office, in your car, in front of the TV for 12 hours per day.
You are likely better off to move a heavy suitcase around than to engage in a single pattern of movement you’ve done thousands of times, because of the randomness our bodies crave.
Working out is better than nothing, but it’s not enough.
Fitness is a supplement to your movement in everyday life just like a multivitamin is a supplement to your diet. If you think a pill will make up for a crappy diet made up of ho-ho’s and McDonald’s you’re kidding yourself.
Once again, it is better than nothing as a few gaps will get filled in, but not good enough.
Because it is next to impossible to get everything you really need from food today, the best bet is to eat the highest quality natural food possible and still take the supplement.
It’s the same with movement. It’s important to bring movement into your life as I outline in Chapter 8 of Powered By Nature. This may make its way into your fitness routine, but it also should make its way into your life where it can.
Good base of movement and fitness training on top of that.
I live a mostly sedentary lifestyle. It’s true. Although I stand (actually wobble board) in front of my desk, writing this message to you, I’m still standing in one place for long hours.
But I go on walks. I crawl around with my baby. I play hard with my nieces. I squat. I carry things around.
In short, I aim to move in many varied ways throughout my day. And I do this in addition to the varied movements in my more formal workouts.
Do you?
What does your movement diet look like?
If you want help with what this foundation should look like than pick up your copy of Powered By Nature here.