BEING THAT WHICH DOES

 

In a very rare move for me, this is actually my second attempt to get this concept down in writing, which goes on to demonstrate how “fresh” this is in my head.  I’m still trying to really be able to express it, because, inherently, I understand it and I’m living it, but much like “The Tao”: speaking it destroys it.  So bear with me as we go on this journey together.

Probably gonna be like this

 

As my training and nutrition continue to evolve, I realize that, fundamentally, I want to “be that which does”.   What does this mean?  It’s a simple guiding philosophy for determining the course of action that best suits my goals, which is awesome, because SO many trainees get stuck with analysis paralysis that this works to effectively find the end first and work backwards to get to the method.  Like cheating on a paper maze by starting at the end point and working backwards which, if that metaphor is lost at you, go to any local restaurant and pick up a kid’s menu with a pack of crayons and they will set you straight.  And order the Mac n Cheese.

 

Delicious kids’ menu cuisine aside, “being that which does” is effectively the training and nutritional equivalent of “fake it until you make it”.  You could go classic Aristotle as well and consider it the notion that virtue is what we practice vs what we think or feel, and considering the Greeks made Pankration and Heracles and lifting weights and stuff, they’re pretty good to listen to on this.  When we set out to “be that which does”, we look at what it is that we would want to be DOING, and, in turn, we endeavor to be that which does those exact things.

Being "ancient Greek jacked" may require cleaning some stables

 

Still confused?  Let me talk nutrition.  I eat a diet that is very rich in meat.  I eat a lot of animals: both in terms of capacity and variety.  I apologize for any of my morally vegan/vegetarian readers out there if that offends your sensibilities, but this is the path I’ve chosen.  And why is that?  Because I want to BE that which DOES eat a lot of animals.  Because what eats a lot of animals?  A predator!  And that which does eat a LOT of animals, in terms of variety and capacity, is an apex predator.  They are on top of the food chain.  Yes, a scavenger CAN eat meat, but they are limited to the left behind pieces, rotting in the sun, abandoned by the predator after they have gorged themselves (which, cool science trivia, means scavengers have unique digestive enzymes which allow them to eat putrid meat and not get sick, as a means of evolution…try not to develop those).  A predator’s digestive system is constructed to survive and THRIVE off the meat of others, and in order to satiate this appetite, a predator MUST be accomplished at stalking, fighting, killing and defending the kill so that they can gorge.  By being the being which does eat a lot of animals, I become closer to being the being which does well at stalking, fighting, killing and defending.  And, if I decide to be the being which does eat a lot of gains and starches, I become closer to being the being which does become the prey of the predator.

 

To continue on the nutrition, and bring it a little closer to home, let’s talk “nutritional deviance”, aka cheating.  Say we all buy in on the above: we’re going to become predators.  Cool.  Then cheesecake shows up.  We’ve come to a decision point: do we stick with the plan, or do we have the cheesecake?  Well: do we wish to be the being that does stick with the plan, or the being that cheats?  I’ll tell you: I’ve seen the being which does cheat on their diet: they aren’t the kind of being I wish to be.  I’ve seen the beings that don’t.  I wish to be the being which sticks with the plan.  And once again, this ties in so well with my “no free will” argument (which I’m not unique in presenting): there is no need to “resist” the cheesecake: we are doing EXACTLY what we want to do.  We are pursuing being the being that we wish to be.  To deviate would be to go AGAINST our desires.

And for some, the cheesecake IS the goal

 

I’ll say, flat out, this concept has revolutionized my training.  Those that have read my “More Trouble Than You’re Worth” manifesto of recently know that I laid out some ground rules for my current goals and phase of training, and it included things like starting every day with physical activity, doing conditioning every day, taking all overhead work off the floor, etc.  This was because, yet again, my goal was to become the being which does these things.  It wasn’t so much about the specific biological effects of these protocols, but about the whole person transformative effect that occurs when one is this person.  I get up at 0330 to train because I want to be the person that gets up at 0330 to train.  I do conditioning every day because I want to be the being that does just that.  And what’s cool about this process is that it’s unscripted: there’s no recipe, protocol, program or magic 8-ball to consult to know what the future holds: I’m discovering as I go just exactly what this “being” is like.  And, quite frankly, this being is an awesome being, and I want to be more like the being which does these things, so I continue to do these things.

 

And this guiding principle allows me to make audibles and interesting decisions along the way. I tend to get a wild hair in my training and fixate on some sorta silly challenge for a few weeks and see what I can do.  I was doing a weekly Keg Grace workout for a while, and then went on some tear with 20 rep squat/20 rep deadlift supersets with a bunch of Crossfit WODs tacked on.  Recently, after some Dan John inspiration, I’ve taken to doing a daily set of Tabata kettlebell front squats.  Dan, in his initial Tabata article, sarcastically responded to the question of “if Tabata front squats are so effective, why don’t you do it everyday?” with “give it a try and find out”, to which I said “OK THANKS” and went after it.  Know what I’ve learned about the being which does Tabata KB front squats every day?  That being is in phenomenal shape!  He can run his heart rate far into the red and get it back to baseline in a matter of minutes.  He stays impossibly lean despite putting away enough food for an army.  He recovers from Deep Water workouts (yes, I’m doing those as my baseline and doing these squats on top, and STILL doing daily conditioning) incredibly quick.  He has HUGE quads that get caught on rehband warm-up pants.  The being which does these things is an amazing being.

The look of a man who regrets his own creation

 

There’s no permission needed for this, there is no plan, protocol, no rules, laws, and hardly any principles.  We are simply being that which does.  If being awesome is the goal, let us be that which does awesome things and, in turn, we will transform ourselves into a being that is capable of doing these awesome things because doing awesome things is a matter of practice for this being.  It’s circular, which is perfect, because it’s self-sustaining and self-perpetuating.  We are being what we are doing, and what we are doing is being awesome.