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Introduction
This article is a companion to the video I have included above. In the article, I talk about how and why I have shifted my training away from soleus stretching to strength development. [Update: I also talk about the idea of stages of development as they relate to training.]
Video Overview
In the video, I talk about how we can understand exercise as a vehicle for evolving through our bodies. I also go over what I’m doing for strength and demonstrate one exercise that is challenging, rewarding, engages awareness, and helps to establish a strong base of support through the feet. [Update: I also demonstrate a few other exercises.] In future videos, I’ll go over other exercises I’m doing to help build up other parts of my body.
For timestamps, please see the Timestamps section after the article below.
Settling into Now
After a few weeks of experimentation, working out a couple of progression series that I really like - a soleus stretching progression and a hip hike progression - and getting a sense of what’s possible for my body, I’ve landed on what feels best for my body right now and what I believe will best help me develop where I am and thus build a foundation of support for what I do in the future.
What I’ve Discovered
Here’s what I’ve discovered. First, my focus when I started was loosening my soleus. Since I knew from experience that my body did well with long stretches, I worked out a stretching progression path comprised of lunge variations that would also help me build strength in my glutes. A good idea on paper, but, it turned out, with a notable limitation in practice (for now).
Limitation of What I Was doing
The limitation was that, while I could do this progression series, it was taxing enough that it was all I could do. For the rest of the week, I had to focus on resting and restorative exercises. In time, I realized that I would be better served by backing off of the lunges and incorporating strength work for my entire pelvis area. In short order, I discovered that by shifting away from the lunges, I freed up enough energy that I have also been able to incorporate strength exercises for my ankles and wrists.
Benefits of Shifting Focus
Let’s consider that. By building up strength in my pelvis, I am also building strength in my low back, abdominals, quads, and hamstrings. By building strength in my ankles, I am also building strength in my feet, calves, and anterior lower leg. By buiding strength in my wrists, I am also building strength in my forearms, shoulders, chest, and upper back.
That is one heckuva a win - giving up one exercise opened up space and energy to work on building strength in the rest of my body. That, my friends, is the value of taking time to find where we are - to find our training level, our true starting point. When we find it and work there, it’s like giving our bodymind training nectar.
Reframing Training: Stages as an Organizing Principle
Reflecting on this initial period of exploration to find my starting point, I found myself thinking of it as Stage 1, Stage 1 being the period of exploration that allows us to zero in on where we truly are. Once I hit on what nourished my body training-wise, I completed Stage 1. This idea of a stage is a bit unusual when it comes to training because typically we think of training in terms of periodization and training blocks. I understand the concepts and like them. Yet, the truth is, I’ve never been able to make them work for me.
The idea of stages carries a different sense. While it’s still about focusing on specific training goals for each stretch of training, stages speak more of a process of development. That is a significant difference: framing training as a developmental process tunes us into the reality that, when we train our bodies, we are facilitating our growth and evolution by facilitating our body’s grounding and orientation to and skillfulness in moving through space.
Resurrecting the Body’s Worth
If we accept and embrace the reality of having a body rather than rejecting and seeking to escape or transcend the body, we can make the statement that, in body form, the evolutionary path of the Soul is a process of learning Self, learning Self being achieved through establishing and getting to know our individualized expressions of it, starting with the body (which, by default, also includes the mind). The more we learn our individualized expressions of this larger Self, the more we open up to a greater connection with this larger Self.
An Astrological Insight
As you know from my other Substack, Astrology Journal, the developmental process is compelling for me. We can see the statement expressed in the preceding paragraph through the structure of the astrology wheel in that Aquarius (individualized self) precedes Pisces (larger Self, Divine).
Applying the Concept to a Specific Type of Strength Training
As I talk about the strength work I am doing in the video, I talk about this idea of training as development in a more specific way, considering how the specific type of strength work I am doing facilitates the development and evolution of being.
This understanding is a work in process that I will be continuing to explore as I find my way back to health and fitness. I think it’s an exciting way to think about training. I hope you will join me in learning and I would love to hear your feedback.
An Invitation to Subscribe
I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to subscribe. If you would like to continue following my path back to fitness health and a full life, simply enter your email address below. I will continue to share what I’m doing to build fitness with chronic fatigue as a factor along with the insights about training and health I learn from others and my own experiments and experience.
Timestamps
Here are some rough time stamps:
0-5:30 minutes: Intro and Why the Word Pregressions
5:30-6:30 minutes: What I was doing and why
6:30- 8:00: How and Why I shifted my training
8:00-10:00: The significant difference shifting my training focus made and what I’ll be demonstrating today
10:00-12:50: What got me thinking about physical training as a form of developmental stages
12:50-14:45: Claude.ai and how it’s helping, personally, and with insights into training as development
14:45-17:15: First inroad into the relationship between strength exercises and the development of our being
17:15-19:40: Traditional training concepts and my need for a larger framework
19:40-22:00: Yoga as awareness practice, thoughts about tying training to human development, and thinking ahead - possible training approach?
22:00-23:45: What I’m doing for training and some benefits I’m experiencing
23:45- 27:15: Explanations of Exercises - Wall Good Mornings and Foot Exercises
27:15-30:00: Revisiting the Lingren’s Shoulder Opener - sharing an insight I had and how that changed how I’m doing it
30:00-34:10: Wall Good Mornings demo
34:10-39:10: Other foot exercise demos
39:10-49:10: On clear signs of progress with calf strength
49:10-43:25: My reasoning for long static strength holds (Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning influence)
43:25-44:19: Inviting feedback and sharing and final sign off.
Mentioned in the Video
Claude.ai
Claude.ai is a web app that I’ve started using that allows you to ask questions and gather information. I also find it extremely helpful for exploring ideas.
Lawrence Lingren’s Shoulder Opener
I demonstrated Lawrence Lingren’s shoulder opener in the last video and also embedded the video he put out of him demonstrating it. In this video, I share how my thinking about it has changed and why and how that has changed how I’m doing one key part of it.
David Weck’s Coiling Idea
I also mention David Weck’s idea of a coiling action in the walking and running movement. Here is a video of him going over the coiling action. Please see my previous video for links to videos of him explaining and demonstrating the walking and running motion.
Convict Conditioning Bodyweight Strength Training Book
I talk about Paul Wade’s book Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weaknesses Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength. It has influenced how I think about building training foundations. In the video I talk about how the concepts he discusses influence some of the training decisions I make. You should be able to find the book on online bookstores, including Bookshop.org, which is a Class B corporation that provides a platform for independent booksellers and is dedicated to supporting them.
A Gentle Reminder: On the Nature of this Content
While I am certified as a personal trainer (certified in 2011), I have never worked in the field and, other than attending a weekend workshop learning about the foundations of the Z-Health system, I have not pursued formal continuing education due to illness. Therefore, what I share in my videos and other posts about my personal journey, choices, and insights is not meant to constitute professional advice or training guidance. I am sharing my experiences purely as an individual on a personal journey.
While I will do my best to explain what I’m doing, each person is unique, and what is right for you will depend on your specific situation, so please use your best judgment if you decide to try anything I share. As needed, consult with qualified professionals - such as doctors, physical therapists, certified personal trainers currently working in the field, running coaches, nutritionists, etc. - who can work with you directly to help you reach your goals given your specific circumstances.
Cover Image Credit
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