245. training or education
Training and education are entirely different things. Yet, are conflated into the same meaning and used interchangeably.
Rich Diviney states in his book called Attributes that, “training is about learning and practicing specific skills; education is about broadening knowledge, developing beliefs and values, gaining experience.” This isn’t a subtle difference, which can be illustrated by the strangeness of hearing someone say “I’m going to educate my dog today.” WTF!? The statement doesn’t work because we don’t educate dogs, we train them. We teach our “good boy” to sit, stay, or shake. We don’t expect him to understand the how or why of the environment or situation in which we might ask him to do those things. A “good boy” does what we ask, without fail.
Often times when we’re looking to achieve a specific goal, we aren’t interested in being educated so much as trained to reach a particular outcome. While it’s great that we can take orders and achieve our goal with the help of another, it leaves our future results in jeopardy. Yes, finding someone to assist you on your journey is key, but you’ll never find your own results if you are reliant on the commands of another. Take the time you have with your mentor, coach, trainer, parents or whoever you look up to to ask the questions that allow you to take the lead in achieving your outcomes. If you don’t you’ll never be the hero of your story, you’ll just be a part of someone else’s.
85. questions over answers
The problem we face is that the majority of people simply rearrange what they already know in an effort to understand what they don’t, instead of coming to terms with what is unknown and being open to exploring the subject. Anyone can find a study that confirms their belief, but if you only look at it from the same side, does that really allow you to understand something fully? You can look head on at a cube and get the impression that it’s just a square, but when you change your perspective, you realize that there are multiple dimensions. You can look up a word in a dictionary and learn the definition, but without working it into a sentence, you can’t fully grasp what it means or how it should be used.
The true problem solvers are the ones who dive head first down rabbit holes in an effort to challenge the status quo, not find answers. Their inquisitiveness is indefatigable. Their aspiration to grow their knowledge know no bounds, and provides them with a continued input of ideas which stimulate their imagination to continually search not for answers, but come up with better questions. Belief that any of us have anything figured out stifles our personal growth by creating boundaries. It gives us the false impression that we have answers, when we really need to be continuously searching for the next best question.
84. physical power of thought
What you think about is important, not only in life, but training as well, because it literally has the power to manifest physical change. As I’ve said before, bodybuilders are the original “biohackers” as they are always looking for ways to push the boundaries of what is possible and consistently improve their performance. It is from their tireless effort that we get the mind/muscle connection, or thinking about the muscle helps it grow exponentially more than just placing it under tension alone.
Why?
It comes down to the fact that the mind is the sum total of the central nervous system functioning, whereby its endocrine secretion is called a thought. That secretion can directly affect cellular activity and protein formation, which, very simply, means a thought has a tangible action. It may sound woo but there is research to back it up.
A study reported in the New Scientist entitled Mental Gymnastics Increase Bicep Strength took ten volunteers and asked them to imagine flexing one of their biceps as hard as they could for five times a week. The researchers recorded electrical brain activity during the participants sessions and assessed their muscular strength every two weeks. Those who only imagined flexing, increased their biceps strength by 13.5% in just a few weeks, compared to the control group.1
The power of thought can go a long way. Take a look at another study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology that had subjects divided into three groups. The first was asked to exercise by contracting and relaxing one finger on their hand for five sixty-minute training sessions a week for four weeks. A second group, following the same training schedule, was instructed to only mentally rehearse the same exercises, without physically activating any muscle in their finger. The control group neither thought about, nor exercised their finger outside of their daily routines. At the end of the study, researchers found that the group who actually did the the physical exercises exhibited a 30% gain in strength over the control group. No shit, right?! Well, the crazy part is that the second group, who only mentally rehearsed the exercises, demonstrated a 22% increase in muscle strength over the control group!2 The mind produced a quantifiable affect on the body.
None of this is meant to say that simply thinking about an outcome is going to be a substitute for doing the work, but that if you combine both intent and physical effort you can create the best outcome.
choose a leader, not a friend
Today, I had the good fortune of finding a new gym to workout in. For that I am grateful. However, while I was there a Karen came up to me from across the room to ask me if I could cover my nose with my mask. As frustrating as that is, I complied as to not rock the boat too much in this new environment. She looked like one of my clients — middle aged, health challenged, low muscle tone, with a belly. Just generally looked like someone who has been content with counting years instead of reps or calories. She was polite, but seemingly lost as to what really impacts her health. Apparently, my nasal breathing crossed a line.
After our exchange she turned around to address a group that was gathering in another corner of the gym. Turns out Karen was a TRAINER! Disbelief sat in, and I had to shake my head in bewilderment. There are certain things I don’t get, like how grown men can wear jeans with flip-flops or people that use oat milk — how the fuck do you milk an oat? Even more, I’ll never understand how this person could be held to a standard of a teacher. This isn’t coming from a place of disrespect, but how can anyone expect to learn from someone that is just like them. She was training a group of people just like her — middle aged, over-fat and under-muscled.
Again, I’m not here to criticizing so much as to question how people expect to get better at any health metric or improve body composition if they’re taking advice from basically the man in the mirror? IF you wish to improve, why take advice from someone just like you? I understand there may be a certain level of comfort mixed in with this situation — e.g., someone who looks just like you is easier to get along with because they “know” your problems — but do you really think progress is going to happen? What is the point of working out if there is no progress?
We are the sum of the people we keep around us. Just look at your 5 closest friends. Their income, status, weight, eating and exercising habits, lifestyle, etc. are probably close to yours, which is fine if you are happily enjoying your circle. HOWEVER, if you endeavor to improve your life, you are going to have to step outside your circle. When it comes to business or health, we all need to seek out people who are where we want to be or have accomplished something we wish for ourselves.
We all need a mentor or a leader to show us what is possible to achieve and a path that can take us there. That person NEEDS to be someone outside your circle. If your coach looks like the “before” picture, how far do you really think you’ll be able to grow under their tutelage? Worse yet, how could they even begin to provide you with the idea of a different or greater tomorrow? Inevitably, you will have more of the same.