Fern Sit Ups + Making Hard Shit Joyful
Movement of the week: The Fern Sit Up
Btw, should I put this section last...? Do you end up reading the whole e-mail? Or do you like it first...? Lemme know.
About the fern sit-up: The problem with most abdominal exercises is they’re super flexion based. You’re usually rounded, folding or at the very least, holding still in neutral.
So guess what you end up losing… because you never use it? Extension! Opening! Time to train the abs in an extended position, my friends.
That beautifully strong, long front body is a hallmark of strength. We can debate about “ideal” posture all day long, but one thing’s for sure… someone who stands tall carries a certain… presence. This is something you’ll often see on ballet dancers, olympic weightlifters and track athletes… It comes from two things, which go hand in hand:
1. The ability to segmental control the spine — having the awareness and nuanced control to extend the thoracic spine + hips without dumping into the lower back
2. Being strong as fuck in this position, so the lines of tissue between your pubic bone and front ribs can actually stay short.
So the muscles that stabilise the lumbar spine (not that big, not that stiff) need to be able to withstand the relatively high leverages pulling on them from the pelvis (big, very stiff) and the ribcages (big, fairly stiff).
There’s an art to progressing according to your ability and being really honest with yourself here. Bending backwards is one thing… but doing it in a way that’s actually good for your spine and feels good? That’s gangster.
Insight of the week: Claim Your Joy
It’s easy to fall into extremes. Well, maybe it’s just me… but I think you’ll relate.
It’s like we’re either…
Rushing to get important things done, and exhausting ourselves in the process, to the point where getting those things done starts to feel repulsive. Dragging ourselves through the proverbial mud of “productivity” so we can hopefully feel good.
Or
Taking a break. Planning our escape from life. Not answering the phone. Putting it off until next week. Trying to nap, go camping or enjoy the simple things, but simultaneously worrying about the things that remain un-done.
So today’s insight is Claim Your Joy. Go get that shit done, and claim every available morsel of joy that you might find along the way.
Bring in some fun. Add a little extra spice or take the chance of doing something differently, even if it’s small. Reward yourself with that warm hot choc or an iced chai — I don’t know — something small that you love… while you’re focusing on whatever it is that you want to get done.
Because this life isn’t a dress rehearsal, and if these moments aren’t yours, they’re nobody’s. Claim ‘em. Grab life by the balls.
What I’ve been up to: Trusting the Basics and Refusing to be “Bleh”
So as you know — if you’ve been reading these (if you have, ILY) — last week I told you I’d been over-doing it.
Yeah, out of love and excitement… but nevertheless, by nervous system felt a little fried. When I’m fried, it feels like everything turns in to a stressful soup of mediocre-ness (blehhhh).
As I wrote that last e-mail I was celebrating my best mate’s engagement (joined by his family in the south coast of NSW). It was so so good to be around people I loved… to share meals, go surfing and get immersed in the “earthly” stuff, because a lot of my focus is online from day to day. I realised how little I needed for a large part of me to be very happy.
And where I used to crave alone time… at the moment, I crave social interaction. Because when I’m with the right people, it’s actually super restful for the part of me that lives in the virtual world and is often wearing the “coach” or “creator” hat.
So after a massive drive home, I’m heavily investing myself in what I know works:
— intentional mornings where I know what I want to focus on, what tasks that entails, and most importantly, how I’ll know when it’s time to stop for the day. If you don’t know when you’re done… you’ll never allow yourself to be proud of “getting it done” and therefore struggle to really rest.
— short training sessions where I work hard enough to get the juices flowing, progress in my weak links and generate some endorphins BUT not so much that I’m too tired to show up again tomorrow, to do it again healthily.
— addressing my biggest life/health/business constraints. This means ruthlessly prioritising. Zero-ing down on the real problems. Usually, the small things are hiding bigger things. What’s the elephant in the room? For me, too little time and too little energy. Which is a symptom of not having frameworks in place that I can “rest into”.
Example of addressing a constraint:
My mentorship is super individualised… but I’ve been using this as an excuse not to have a formalised training model (AKA progression structure for mentees to work through that is laid out in advance, and not just in my head).
The result of this disorder?
I get tired because everyone’s doing something different and my tendency to over-optimise for each person is creating a net negative effect on how well I can show up for everyone including me.
So… I’m systemising and ordering the things I teach (exciting, and challenging… but that’s a whoooole other e-mail) so that I can cherry-pick individualised elements from this main structure, but also lean on the structure.
Without it, there is a chaotic universe of a thousand movements or concepts that I have to navigate with each new mentee.
The benefit of this?
That systemised structure can be given to people. I get time back, in exchange for creating something that is essentially the best of me, accessible on any day, by anyone, anywhere. Win-win.
Stay tuned because there are going to be some EPIC opportunities for you in the next few weeks for some legit BodyMind Evolution. That's a hint ;)
Much love for reading this far — let me know if you’re liking this format?
Cheers,
Jack