Essential Skill: Swim Ashore

Swimming is a confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. And when I'm swimming, sometimes I'm not sure which one it is.
- Demetri Martin

How would you handle this situation?

Swimming is an interesting physical skill to me.  Most people don't naturally swim, tread water or float--we need to learn this skill intentionally.  While babies love the water and automatically hold their breath under water, humans quickly develop an understandable and visceral fear of the water if they don't learn to swim early in life.  As a Marine, I saw some of the toughest people you'll ever meet collapse with fear at the prospect of jumping into water no deeper than their waist.  Running is also a skill that you need to develop, but people don't risk immediate death by starting a running program without adult supervision.  I'd even argue that open water swimming may be the most important physical skill that we teach children for saving their lives.  Oh and swimming is also a great exercise to develop cardiovascular & muscular endurance with minimal injury risk regardless of how skilled you may be at it.

For the swim ashore training standard, I propose that everybody should be able to comfortably swim at least 1 mile in open water without any flotation assistance.  We take boat rides all the time without a second thought and seldom know where the life jackets are stowed.  Wearing a life jacket for an afternoon of kayaking or canoeing in a lake may interfere with getting a good tan so you leave it at the rental shack.  You may fall overboard from a cruise ship while mindlessly strolling the deck at night.  For those of us who are comfortable in the water, scenarios like this are hardly life threatening.  We'd just compose ourselves after hitting the water and casually make our way ashore.  If you aren't comfortable in the water however, you'll die rather quickly without immediate assistance.

Swimming in the open water is very different than pool swimming

If you have kids, swim lessons are more than just a fun summer activity so get them comfortable in the water as early as you can.  If you're an adult who can't swim, tread water and float, check out basic swim lessons at the YMCA or Red Cross.  The next step for everyone is to get better at swimming with a focus on stroke mechanics.  The Masters Swimming organization is a great resource to improve this.  Start in a pool and strive to swim a mile* without stopping or hanging on the wall.  Finally, go find some open water and work up to completing a mile there.  You'll find that having to lift your head to navigate, negotiating the chop & current of the water and the psychological impact of swimming in unprotected water all make open water swimming significantly more challenging than pool swimming.

Being a physically fit human means that you can handle yourself in a wide variety of situations.  Strength and cardiovascular conditioning are huge components of this as are agility, balance, coordination and flexibility.  We need to train all of these consistently but swimming in open water should be top priority--for fun, health and life.

You either do it or you don't; there's no A for effort in survival.

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*1 mile = 1,600 m = 70 lengths of a 25 yd pool (typically found in the US)

Being fat is (not) your fault

Check out the series of maps starting from 1985

I love having a fit body and feeling good about how I look.  I really want other people to experience this for themselves because I know they will be happier for it.  Happiness begets happiness and I want to help inspire such a positive feedback loop in others.  Unfortunately the trend, in this case, is not our friend.  We are getting fatter not fitter.  It is my challenge to help remedy this situation.

I was a fleshy kid in my youth but I was never really all that fat.  At the time, I felt fat though because I was thicker than my friends and my family told me that I was fat. I remember being encouraged to jog with my mom before class during middle school. This was in addition to gym class during school and outside play after school.  I don't feel like I ever made a personal decision to be active and lean; that decision was made for me by my social group and societal pressures during my formative years.

Circus "Fat Man" circa 1900.  You don't have to pay money to see people this size anymore.

I write this because I am conflicted about why it is that we have so many overweight people today.  Food and activity level definitely matter, but I am fortunate to have had a good body mass set point established for/by me as a youth.  I learned good habits early and to some degree my body continues to benefit from that.  Today I'm not fat, but I am aware of my weight and body shape.  I workout, eat, and sleep with maintenance of both of these in mind.  While I may have started at a good place, I now make a conscious effort to stay on path.

While personal observations may not translate well to other people or society as a whole, the fact is that individuals in the US are fatter today than ever before.  Obesity is undesirable on a personal level because it makes you feel bad about yourself and has negative impacts on your health and mobility.  Obesity is undesirable for society because it leads to higher health care costs and requires expensive modifications to public places and transportation among other impacts. Passive acceptance of obesity is a bad idea, and we should be encouraging ourselves to get and stay in shape.

It's hard to lose weight as an adult just as it is difficult to learn a second language as an adult (I continue to struggle with Spanish).  We learn patterns that become habits which are difficult to break.  While external forces might be working against us, internal forces are what really do us in.  You have to acknowledge that personal effort is essential to achieving the body that you desire or you will never get anywhere.  Here's how I suggest that you get started:

1. Admit that you are fat and not at your ideal body shape.
2. Commit to a lifelong lifestyle change; you aren't going to go back to the old way ever again.
3. Set a specific goal (clothing size, ideal weight, visible arm muscles, etc).
4. Tell other people your goal.
5. Take a picture of everything you eat to document it as a food journal.
6. Drink more water.
7. Pick a low intensity physical activity and do it everyday.
8. Try a new activity every few weeks and strive to accomplish something physically that you've never done before.
9. Check in periodically by weighing yourself, looking at yourself naked in the mirror, and feeling how your clothing fits.
10. Enjoy your progress or repeat #1

We may not have chosen to get fat, but we chose to stay fat everyday that we don't make an effort to change.

Dying for Fashion

I love watching gymnasts do their thing.  I'm surprised we don't see more of these wunderkinds between the Olympics every four years. With all the TV coverage though, adults seem to forget that these are actually young kids for the most part.  We have major societal issues with this sort of thing across all sports but that's another topic for discussion. Gabby Douglas' amazing performance has brought up another societal issue that is equally ridiculous and even more deadly than pushing little kids too hard for adult enjoyment.  The issue is not working out at all or under-exercising just because it might make us look funny.

I'm probably one of the worst people to point this out.  I relish slinging sweat in the gym and grunting louding while throwing kettlebells & climbing ropes in public parks.  I wipe my exertion induced snot on my inappropriately tight shorts.  During runs, I belch constantly just to keep the pipes loose, and I'm sure I have such horrible grimaces on my face during my workouts that I'd give this dog a run for it's money:

Mugly loved the attention I'm sure

So I've established myself as not fashionable with respect to exercise but that's all beside the point. Many people (men and women) are way too self-conscious or concerned about their appearance to go outside and push themselves physically. The flap over Gabby Douglas' hair highlights this. Twitter was loaded with negative comments about how bad her hair looked while failing to mention how badass of a physical and mental performance she was laying down on the rest of the world. I pulled this quote from an article covering this non-issue:

"The last time I checked, when you play a sport, you sweat. I know I do. And when a Black woman who has chosen to wear her hair straight begins to sweat, her hair will (not might) begin to revert back to its natural coily, curly or kinky state," she wrote. "Some of us are sitting up right now with our hair done but suffering from high blood pressure, borderline diabetes, obesity and/or a lack of energy. Oh, but the hair is on point."

Gabby had enough judges in London

Of all the lame excuses for being out of shape, not wanting to mess up your hair has got to be one of the top 3 (fear of sidewalk cracks is up there too).  We want to look our best but do a quick google image search for diabetes ulcer and see how lovely you'll look with gangrenous extremities.  That's not even mentioning that fat is wack too.

This is hardly just a black woman issue.  I know many a former elite athlete who left their sport after university never to train consistently again.  The lassitude, bulges, and negative self-talk set in and eventually they have the body that they never wanted to have.  The common casual factor that I've seen in these cases is vanity--they can't be elite so they don't want to even show up anymore.  This all-or-none, sport-is-just-for-kids mentality kills me and is actually killing us as a society.  Don't quit on your sport because you can't win; quit with the ego and enjoy the activity for what it is--a healthy & enjoyable time that pays dividends throughout life.

You may call this a cheap shot since he is older but so was Jack Lalanne and Stallone

Health and wellness is a lifelong struggle.  Temptations to cheat, skimp, or skip are always present.  Family and friends can be huge obstacles (find some new exercise friends in this case).  Pain, fatigue, and stress mount with food and drink being a ready salve.  There are enough excuses to be fat and out-of-shape already. We don't need to add  fear of looking funny while exercising to the list.

Don't take yourself too seriously, but take your workout very seriously.

Exercise is better when you chose to do it

I love to make sweat angels after a good workout

An interesting write up caught my attention today.  At least with respect to longevity (one of the key components of fitness), choosing to exercise during leisure time is better than physical labor during work.  Maybe the fact that you intend to do exercise for your health makes the actual movements better for your health.  Even crazier, maybe just intending to be healthy and really believing it, will make you healthier regardless if you exercise or not.  In any case, moving your body makes you feel better today and will probably help you live longer and healthier than if you don't move.  I want people to enjoy exercise for what it should be--playtime!  Exercise by doing what you love but find a way to love exercising.  You'll do it more often and it may even enhance the benefits of it.

Play Like a Child for Fitness

Playground for people of all ages

I visited a friend of mine a week ago at his new home in Dallas, TX, and he took me on a tour of his new neighborhood.  The picture above may look like a children's playground but look closer. It's actually an outdoor fitness center designed for adults and children to use for exercise.  My buddy and I ran over to fitness station and did a great routine involving monkey bars, pullups, muscle up progressions, skin-the-cat, bar rolls, parallel bar handwalks, and dips.  This facility is phenomenal because of the wide variety of exercises it allows and because the apparatus is appropriate for people of all heights.  The movements involved the total body and even tested our courage a bit as well as our muscles.  Almost everything we did could be done at most standard playgrounds for children found around the world with a little modification.  You also probably have an outdoor fitness facility near you like this or the ones designed by companies like Fitness Trails NA.

Fitness Trails station fitness circuit in Australia

On the run back, we talked about why is it that "play time" ends with childhood.  Most people never play an organized sport after high school.  Almost all of us think of daily exercise as a chore.  Breathless, sweaty kids running around a field, jumping on a trampoline, climbing on bars, or playing tag wouldn't want to be doing anything else while they're at play.  They are in the moment and they love it! Find some vigorous activity that you like to do and enjoy the sensation of a raised heart rate with sweat pouring down your face while you try to accomplish something physical.

Go out and play!

Core Principles for Exercise

Exercise science can be rather technical.  Kinesiology, while intuitive in many cases, can get rather scientific especially when someone is training with specific goals in mind.  If you just want to maintain general health and wellness, keep extra pounds off, and live longer & better, then the exercise formula you need is rather simple:

1. Move every day
2. Get outside often and in all weather
3. Do a wide variety of activities focusing on the basic human movements
4. Vary intensity and duration
5. Spend time with others while you move

More is not better in exercise but consistency is key.  Just as you can't catch up once per week on sleeping, eating, or brushing your teeth, you have to move your body everyday.  I'll spend time on the other core principles in coming posts.

Move through life

Go for a Walk

Walking is one of the most essential human movements.  It's one that we really take for granted until we lose our mobility for some reason. Bipedalism is a defining characteristic of our species and probably contributed to our extraordinary success as a species.  When a baby takes her first steps, it's a defining milestone for her parents and a glorious accomplishment for her.  Walking is a great way to socialize with people along the way and in your neighborhood.  There's no need for special equipment or clothing to start a consistent walking program--you just have to go for a walk!  On top of all this, walking happens to be one of the best forms of cardiovascular exercise that we can do with the least amount of downside health risks.

Here are few suggestions for making walking a consistent activity in your daily life:

Walk everywhere you can.  I live in a major city so I have the advantage of being able to walk almost anywhere.  If I get stranded, I can catch a train, bus or cab to make it back home.  If you live in the suburbs, find sidewalks and paths to walk on.  Walk through shopping centers, parks, around lakes or home from work.  When you play golf, walk instead of riding in a cart.

Walk outside. Don't worry about the rain, cold, or heat--just prepare accordingly.  We are so much more durable to the elements than we give ourselves credit for.  You'll benefit from fresh air and sunlight in addition to keeping abreast of what's going on in your town and seeing your neighbors.  Listen to music, audio books, or language lessons if you walk alone.

Walk your dog.  There's really no excuse for a fat dog because their activity and food is completely under the control of the human owner.  He'll thank you and you'll thank yourself.

Do errands on foot and carry you bags home.  Carry a backpack and pack reusable bags for your hands if your backpack isn't large enough for your purchases.  If you live far from a shopping center, walk 1 way and have someone pick you up or drop you off.  Check online for walking paths near you.  You might be surprised how many walking paths are connected to shopping areas.

Use a pedometer and make it into a game.  We all love games and getting your steps in each day or beating your family and friends is a great way to keep you on pace.

Count walks as exercise.  Give yourself credit for exercising any day you walk for more than 30 mins or so without stopping.  Exercise doesn't always have to hurt but it does need to be consistent.  A 130 pound woman burns 304 calories by walking 1 hour at a 4 mph pace; a 180 pound man would burn 421 calories.  What a great way to catch up with your spouse after work! 

Walk with a backpack to add intensity.  Carry around a 20 pound weight for a few miles and imagine how much better you will feel if you dropped any extra weight you might have on your body.

Make the effort to turn walking into a habit.  Daily walks consistently for a few weeks will make walking a lifelong habit that you'll benefit from in so many ways.

If you can walk, you can exercise.  What other excuse do you have for not working out today?