Why You Haven't Made Regular Movement a Habit Yet (and how to fix it)

The start-stop cycle of getting on the horse and off the horse is exhausting. So, why not just make movement a fixture of your life, so you can get on with it and free up that mental energy for other things?If you've struggled at all to make fitness an embedded part of your life, I get it. But you don't have to live that way anymore.There are a few patterns I've noticed in myself and working with clients over the years when it comes to consistency. I'm going to share them with you in this short video, and hopefully, it helps you finally make regular movement a way of life.

Here are the top three reasons you probably haven't made fitness a habit yet, and how to fix them:

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Why Preparation Is Overrated

Preparation is hugely overrated.Many of us spend our lives preparing, training and "getting ready" only to wake up one day wondering when the hell we're ever going to arrive.

Preparing to be generous

Maybe you're working on your finances and really want to get to a place of stability and independence before you focus on giving and generosity. Logically this makes perfect sense, you want to take care of yourself before you give to others.But what if the path to more stability and abundance was actually found through giving more before you're "ready"?Besides, when is ready anyway? When will you have enough to where you can give?Knowing what your enough point is can help, but there are still many ways you can give now, without it negatively impacting your personal goals and wellbeing. You can volunteer your time, or donate some of the things you have that you no longer need or use.Doing this might actually make you feel more abundant, which is precious fuel to help you stay motivated to reach your goals.

Preparing to be free

You might be working on not needing approval from others, and working on your self-confidence.Because you're still cautious, you don't put yourself out there and really express yourself freely. You're not ready to unleash the wildness inside of you, because you want to work on becoming more confident first.After all, you could risk being wild and free by walking around your neighborhood barefoot or howling at the moon and you might get some strange looks of fear or disapproval. That would obviously ruin everything, because it would prove you are weird and an outcast from the tribe. Feeling like that could majorly set you back.But what if you could simply start being more wild and free right now, and in turn, inspire others to be more open and expressive? What if it was actually the best self-confidence training possible because it proved you didn't really need others approval in the first place?Nothing bad is likely to happen if you're a little unconventional anyway.You might even ignite a spark in others that turns you into a leader (but wait, don't you have to prepare for that too?).

Preparing to play

Another way we trap ourselves with preparation is with work. Once we've put in enough time and sacrifice, then we'll play. Maybe on the weekend, or maybe when we're retired.We've got to earn it after all, right?Are you beginning to see the pattern?What all of this really comes down to is not demonizing preparation or hard work. (I'm a big fan of working your ass off on things you really believe in.)It's much deeper than that.Preparation and sacrifice is definitely a key part of being a human, but we shouldn't work endlessly until we've sufficiently met the prerequisites for joy and freedom.You can...

• ...help people even if you haven't got it all figured out.
• ...give even if you aren't in the most abundant situation right now.
• ...play even if you haven't mastered your physical fitness.
• ...be wild and free even if you haven't become a God of Self Confidence.
• ...idly let the world pass you by in ecstatic fucking-aroundness even if you haven't put in your 50+ years of work.

Preparation is useful if you want to reach a goal. The quest to level up is an endless part of human existence. We can't stop it even if we wanted to.But what we can do is enjoy the shit out of the ride along the way and stop fooling ourselves that someday we'll earn our way into being ready to really live.Life is right fucking now.If you've gotten really good at preparing then maybe it's time you cash in and start using what you've been waiting for.

How the Old Fitness World Died: and the New Era of Moving Heroically (1 of 5)

The old world of fitness is dying like a slowly falling giant.And as each person abandons the old fitness regime, the giant loses power and slowly begins to crumble.The irony is that this "old" way is actually very new. For the vast majority of our time as humans we've been moving with meaning, strength and very little pain.If you've been following me for any length of time, you probably know that I believe our current model of fitness is backwards and fragmented. It's designed to put working out into a box that leads to a lack of meaning, and a very unrewarding journey ending mostly in injury, boredom and frustration.I believe it's time that this broken model of fluorescently-lit, box-based, machine-centric, rep-counting, suffering came to an end.

Let's take a stand. Absolutely no more...

• Half-rep, half-assed gym workouts that lead to nowhere.
• Sitting for 10+ hours a day and wondering why the hell your body hurts so much even though you "worked out."
• Living castrated from the neck down and just "dealing with" your body because you have to.

It's time for this nonsense to stop once and for all. What's worse is that this backwards model of fitness is responsible for the #1 reason you don't stick to your training.

In this video I explain what that reason is and how to fix it:

 The commoditization and quantification of movement has caused a lot of obvious problems:

• Generally, you're not gaining new skills and abilities, the foundation of what "fitness" is supposed to be about. You know, fit for your environment.
• We're no longer required to move much to survive, so the immediate payoff or reward of movement (food) is not there. We've severed the work/reward link of movement and survival which has been devastating on our bodies.
• As my friend and coach Justin Goodhart would say, gyms are a kind of fitness utopia. Everything is predictable. All the weights are of similar size and shape. The bars and handles are all smooths and perfectly rounded. This environment hardly compares to the complex, unpredictable movement environment of the real world are bodies are evolved to interact with.
• We've thoroughly stripped away all the joy and pleasure out of movement.

We want to become fit, but for what? When do we ever get to actually do it, and use the capacity we've been training for?

How do we turn this mess around?

• Tie movement back to pleasure by incorporating more play.
• Train in a way focused on personal goals and abilities.
• Remember why you're training and make a practice of reminding yourself.
• Become involved in a community of other heroic movers.
• Work on expanding your usefulness as a human, so you stay grounded in your practice.

Most importantly: do it for the love. Or as my friend Danielle LaPorte would say: "Have the courage to fucking enjoy it."[clickToTweet tweet="Movement without purpose is hollow. Purpose without movement is impotent." quote="Movement without purpose is hollow. Purpose without movement is impotent."]Movement divorced from purpose leads to robotic, mindless routines and boring, unimaginative humans. Training in a gym, your body might be able to move well in straight lines and fair well with predictable patterns.But the real world is not made up of straight lines and perfectly manicured environments.It's highly chaotic, highly unpredictable.A better approach is to continually vary your training.

• Move in all directions, through all planes of motion.
• Pick up awkward, uneven objects.
• Move outside on uneven terrain.
• Climb trees and rocks instead of sticking to isolating your pulling training to perfectly manufactured bars.

The old way fools you by creating a nice looking body. You might have the appearance of a heroic mover, but none of the ability when the world tests you with new situations and challenges.It's time to stop this way of backwards way of training.

It's time to Move Heroically.

In the next post, I'll share with you how to say goodbye to dull world of fitness, and embrace a new path of moving like a hero. Specifically, you'll learn the five steps you need to take to get there (#3 is ridiculously fun).Together, we can speed up the death of the old world of fitness, and usher in a new era of moving with purpose, joy and meaning.Stay with me, this is going to be a fun ride.

The full series:

This post is part of a five part series on Moving Like a Hero. Here's the table of contents:

1. How the Fitness World Died: and the New Era of Moving Heroically < you are currently here
2. The Ultimate Guide to Superhuman Movement
3. How to Move Like a Hero: The Daily Practice
4. Should You Take Rest Day? The Power of Periodizing and No Structure
5. How to Train Like the Top 1% in the World

Is It Burning a Hole Inside You?

"The aim is not to quench your thirst. The aim is to develop the perfect thirst, so that you never stop drinking." —Sufi Teaching

You probably don't believe me when I say this, but I'll tell you anyway:Somewhere inside you is a vision for your life that has the fuel of a thousand suns.Once fueled, the fire is so much that it burns a hole in your belly if you don't surrender to its will.Right now it might be nothing more than a dim ember, a barely visible spark. If you've neglected tending the fire there's a great chance you might not even recognize its presence.Mistakingly, you assume that it doesn't exist. You just don't have that kind of passion, like "some people" do.Jumping out of bed to get to work is only for the insane, or incredibly delusional, you must think.Well, that's exactly what I used to believe.But slowly, out of curiosity I begin to open myself to the possibility of burning desire. That kind of fire that is unquenchable. The kind of delicious thirst that makes you never want to stop drinking.I wondered... what if I suspended my cynicism for a moment and allowed curiosity into my consciousness?That was the beginning. The ignition that changed everything forever.But the flames could not be fanned until I had the courage to embrace what that fully matured fire would look like. I knew that if I really went all the way with a vision that would make me "jump out of bed" I would have to go beyond the tame, innocent flame of a candle in the night.No, it would be much, much more than that.I'd have to embrace the fire and risk being consumed. I would have to allow myself to be baptized by it.But what does it really take to embrace the flame that not only warms your heart, but engulfs every cell in your body?The answer is simple. But not easy.It requires tremendous courage. Courage you might think you don't possess — trust me it is there. It's been waiting your whole life for you to unleash it from its cage.Once uncaged you're able to say yes to that last 1%. The final Yes. No more half-efforts or dipping your toes in the water. Not withholding a single ounce of your being. That is the kind of Yes that creates legends and masterpieces.The Yes that consumes is what finally allows you and finally gives you permission to go all the way. To leave everything you have on the field, to give and surrender fully to your purpose, to serve the world with complete abandon, grace and grit.That is the kind of Yes that lights suns, leaves you dying empty and lets you sleep with zero regret.[clickToTweet tweet="Courage comes when you start saying hell yes to your most daring dreams." quote="Courage comes when you start saying hell yes to your most daring dreams."]If it's not burning a hole within you, perhaps you haven't given yourself permission to dream as big as your heart would dare you to.Be curious and feed the spark. Before long, it will be a fire that blazes new trails and etches your mark in this world.What do you want to say Hell Yes to? What's burning a hole in your gut?Leave a comment and share with me. If you dare to open the door.

Show Up Anyway, Whether You Feel Like it or Not

We are all busy people. We all have a lot going on.The demands are not decreasing. Life is not getting any easier or any less challenging.Yet, every day we wake up and make a choice. We get to decide whether today we will live deliberately, consciously, on our terms. We get to choose to show up and give fully, or hide and collapse.I believe that successful people do what they have to do, even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard.The question is not "Do I feel like doing this?"That is not something you can reliably count on. The way you feel is like the weather, subject to change at any moment.The real question is "Will I be proud of this when I'm done?"Now, let me be clear.I am not advocating a mindless, grinding, just suck it up and take the pain approach.What I am advocating for is listening to your deepest impulses, following your heart and what you know you are truly capable of.The small part of you wants to take the easy path of short term gains and quick, sugary dopamine hits of Facebook notifications and endless distractions.In the moment, these things feel... easier.But easy is not what you or I came here for.Dying knowing that we fully explored what we are really capable of is what we came here to do.That is what I came here to do.That is why I show up, whether I feel like it or not.I hope you'll join me. It gets lonely at the top.