MUSINGSIn some ways, it feels like I’ve been scratching the surface of this essay for the last several months as I’ve grown more impatient and somewhat disenfranchised with technology in the fitness industry. Please understand I’m aware of the paradox I hold as someone who directly benefits from things like mobile apps, social media, and a website to be successful as a fitness coach and trainer. With that, a new layer of frustration, distraction, and fragility has been introduced that I can’t seem to recall during the time that I fell in love with strength and conditioning nearly 10 years ago when technology in fitness was less prevalent. To be transparent, I’ve used the following apps and technologies to aid in my training, recovery, and nutrition within the last year: Garmin Watch Garmin Connect Whoop Band MyFitnessPal Strava RunKeeper Wodify SugarWOD TrainHeroic TrueCoach Playbook
I continue to use only 2 products and services from this list - the Garmin watch to tell time and distance on runs, and TrueCoach to deliver fitness programs to my clients remotely. A leather-bound Moleskin notebook has replaced the rest… How? Why? Short Answer - Apps and wearables are cool, but you still have to do the work. Long Answer - Every new app, wearable, daily habit, and sleep study is sold to you in a way that says, “what you’re currently doing is sub-optimal.” We hate that feeling. In a world where you can click one button and have virtually anything delivered to your doorstep 24-hours later, we hate the idea that something about our day or our lives isn’t yet optimized. Not the least of which being our health and wellness. Naturally, our phones and computers start peppering us with ads, articles, and studies that show us the one thing that’s been missing from our routine. Instagram influencers share the list of products they use and consume (or don’t) in their picture perfect lives that are probably even more chaotic and sub-optimal than yours (at least by real standards anyway). Before you know it, you’re wearing blue blockers to write your daily gratitude after 10 sun-salutations drinking mushroom coffee while you livestream your HRV data to Instagram in an effort to get warmed up for your next kettlebell flow before you punch in your macros for the 2 meals you have to squeeze in to your 8-hour intermittent fasting window…. Missing any one of these elements becomes the biggest stressor during your day, and the heaviest thing you’ve lifted all week was your Xbox controller. I’ve said this before, but I think it’s as important now as it ever was - adapt and overcome. Not everything needs to be optimized, and the pursuit of truly optimized training, nutrition, and recovery is highly specific and individualized. It’s often this nuance that sends people into a tailspin which can lead to a fragile state and dependence on things and technology. We need things to motivate us and hold us accountable. We need things to tell us when to eat and what to eat. We need things to tell us when it’s optimal for us to go to sleep, wake-up, workout, and “recover.” We need things to track all of our exercise so that we know whether or not we’re making progress. We need things to tell us how to exercise. We need things to get us fired up. We need things to get us calmed down. I can’t help but feel like we used to be a bit more adaptable. After all, isn’t that the goal of physical training? Adaptation through hard work to create something that’s physiologically and psychologically stronger? I thought so, but it seems that our mental toughness and resiliency has reached an all-time low such that being hungry and tired is an acceptable excuse for missing a workout. Consider this - success leaves clues. The fittest people in the world don’t have better apps than you, or more technology, or more hours in a day, or more supplements, or access to better food or fancier fitness equipment. Instead, they show up every day and do the work. They eat whole foods like meat and vegetables for breakfast lunch and dinner. They drink water throughout the day. They go to bed early and wake up early. They do their jobs. They adapt. It’s literally that simple. You don’t need another fitness tracker or smartphone app to tell you how to do these things. You just need to do them. Adapt and overcome. Get what you came for.
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