What It Means To "Actually Train"

Today we're going to have a look at what it means to actually train from the perspective of virtuous self-control.

Hey there. It's me, Kore, and this is Exercising Self-Control: From Fitness to Flourishing.

When most people think about exercise, they think it's a purely physical endeavour, and that seems obvious(?). But coming in with that perspective, most people never actually train when they exercise; all they do is go through the motions. I'm saying that a little facetiously, but if the exercise is mindless, the results are never going to be optimized.

What I mean is that by the time they find themselves struggling with making the time to exercise, scheduling their workouts, generating the motivation to even show up, improving their technique, dealing with muscle soreness and joint pain, even understanding the difference between good pain and bad pain, getting the nutrition part of the equation better, and there’s even more. By then, it's too late. They quit, having never actually trained for even one workout.

Or they plod along for weeks, months, or even years with hardly any change in their results. They end up berating themselves, having never been made aware of what a better approach to exercise might have been.

When I use those words "actually train," I mean to get yourself to the point where it is a lifelong habit, and that you are training your mind as you condition the body.

The exercises, the weights, the movements, whatever modality you’re using, these are important, but they are incidental to what is happening in the mind and what you are doing with your mind as you exercise. It's the thinking and the directing of attention, the intention behind what you're doing, and then how you interpret what's happening. These are the things that make any of the other factors of your exercise effective.

By training the mind as you condition the body, you will progress faster, your results will be more consistent, and the principles, the skills, and the systems that you develop along the way will transfer to any other aspect of your life—at least they can if you apply them. And why wouldn’t you? Because when you see how much difference it makes in your health and fitness, you will want to apply them to the rest of your life.

So you won't just be creating health and fitness; you’ll be creating a practice that enables you to make better choices in any context.

Training the mind applies in any circumstance. It's the quality of your thinking that determines the quality of your life. So forget about forcing your body to change or just mindlessly trying to get it to change. Your body will take care of itself; it’s done so your entire life. It will do what it does, and it can’t be forced.

Your job is to introduce the circumstances and the conditions that will require the body to adapt. And it'll adapt. That's what it does. But it'll adapt as it will, not as you will it to adapt. You can't force the adaptation to be the way that you want it. It'll happen the way it does.

But focus instead on the only thing in your power: directing your attention, setting your intention, and then getting yourself to actually take action so you bridge that gap between your intention and your action. That's how you make progress because you're paying attention to what you need to do, and the body will do what it does.

This isn't a matter of controlling the body; it's a matter of influence. And the influence that you choose is to introduce the circumstances, the conditions, and the environment to change the body.

For example, choose to go out in the summer sun; your skin may tan. Choose to work with a shovel all day; your hands may develop calluses. Choose to eat more calories than you can burn for years on end; your body may produce more body fat and perhaps—it’s a possibility—type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues. I'm not saying that will happen, but it does happen.

And finally, choose to lift weights at an adequately challenging level; your muscles may get stronger. Your tendons and ligaments may toughen up.

But these results are not a guarantee. The body may not have the ability to tan; it may just burn. If the hands can withstand the pressure of the shovel, they may toughen up and develop calluses, but they also may get blisters. The body may deal with the extra calories in other ways. Some people are able to eat in excess without developing type 2 diabetes, for example.

And, conversely, the body may not have the capacity to produce the musculature that you prefer or at the rate at which you want it to happen.

Regardless, what you bring to the circumstance is your choice. The body will do what it will. Have I said that enough yet?

That’s it for today. Catch you next time.

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