In my last blog post ( “What do you value!”), I lay out the three step plan to unlocking your full potential and finding your purposeful pursuit! Let’s recap:
Self-driven physical standards fall under cultivating discipline, and I believe this physical discipline will prepare you for the rest of your journey finding your purposeful pursuit!
Many people including myself will choose to ignore physical discipline until they can no longer! Let me tell you that this strategy will sabotage the rest of your purposeful pursuits!
Eventually, not caring for the vessel that you have been given to navigate the world with will cause you great pain and suffering that will distract you from the reason you are here!
Before diving in let me give you some steps on how to figure out your own physical standards and start crafting your practice of physical discipline:
If you want to better your life - keep reading!
It can be extremely difficult to think about these things especially if you know that you are off track! I know it was difficult for me!
What is a physical discipline about?
I believe you can strip it down to one concept — Activity Level!
Activity Level - this is the amount of physical activity you experience on a typical day averaged over your typical week.
I am going to assume you are starting from no physical activity level and ask you to do the following thought experiment — I am “stealing” this idea from Peter Attia’s Outlive:
“In your last decade of life what do you want to be able to do physically?”
This is a tough question to answer honestly. Do you want to be able to walk to see a waterfall? Do you want to see a sunrise from a small hill or mountain? Do you want to be able to have sex? Do you want to be able to play with your grandchildren? Do you want to be able to dance? Do you want to be pain-free when walking through the grocery store? Do you want to be able to take care of your everyday needs without assistance?
However you answer the last decade of life question, one thing that most people will start thinking about automatically is how can I live a longer and healthier life. I do want to do more!
Luckily for you, I have read Outlive for you – and can summarize the whole book!
Peter Attia’s lifetime of work spent synthesizing complex information for everyday people to understand can be summed up with a simple thought - you will live longer if you build strength and you train for good cardiovascular health.
For the nerds like me — two metrics of overall health that outweigh any other factor or combination of factors are grip strength and VO2 Max. What’s amazing is these two outweigh lifestyle as well!
We now know that we control our lives! It’s not genetics! It’s not life happening to us and age taking it’s usual route! It’s not a lifestyle that we have had for too long and can’t change! We have control!
And here’s the truth — you can not fake grip strength — you can not fake cardiovascular health — it is built by years of persistent accumulated effort.
There is no pill that will magically improve these metrics for you, and that is a hard pill to swallow!
But don’t lose hope!
Because you can start this journey at zero at any age!
So many people tell me they don’t know where to start — so I created what I am calling the Total Mobility Freedom Program — I have met so many hopeful people from around the globe ready to create change, but now can not because they are no longer as mobile as they need to be! This program is about changing the world starting with you! Along the way I hope it gives you a good guide for cultivating your own physical discipline!
I am going to assume you classify yourself as a “couch potato” as I once did — and lay out a the first phase of a 3 phase plan for achieving your total mobility freedom!
The first phase is about getting off the coach and seeing the world around you!
The main goal of the first phase will be to lay the foundation for unlocking your body by walking.
At the end of the first phase will be that you have the ability to walk five sixty-minute walks a week pain-free!
The best part about the first phase is the program is self-paced, self-guided, and self-regulated —- I have a suggested progression that will get you to having the ability of walking five sixty-minute walks a week in 13 weeks if you do not have any major physical limiting factors, but the program is also adjustable to where you are! Remember the key words for this program are pain-free — I know I can get you there!
The main theme of the first phase will be learning to listen to your body — if you are actually coming from a sedentary lifestyle you will need to take time to build up not only your muscles but the connective tissue!
You will need to focus on everyday posture, walking form, foot health, and breathing!
I recommend you do all the walks while nasal breathing! If you aren’t able to manage that at first go ahead and do as much of the walk as you can while nasal breathing!
Try to do as little breathing through your mouth as possible on these walks!
If you want to change your life for the better and begin your journey to total mobility freedom please follow the link below to get free access:
https://michaeljordanpilgreen.com/products/phase-1-mobility-freedom-program
If you want to see how you stack-up in your age group check the following links — Grip Strength and VO2 Max — these numbers give you a good range on where to aim for!