When did movement become a chore?

Discomfort, stagnation and the satisfying flux of a physical life.

How have we perverted something as simple and human as moving our bodies?

We’ve relegated one of the rawest expressions of life within a body to a task we must complete in order to avoid disease.

Not to mention the fact, nobody can seem to agree on the “right” way to exercise.

This leads to two predictable outcomes:

1. People are so overwhelmed they do …nothing.

2. They force themselves to exercise in ways they don’t enjoy because some fitfluencer said they should. Thus breeding resentment for the very thing that’s supposed to improve their lives.

We’re actually going to forget the science today for the most part.

Knowing that 120 minutes of Zone 2 lowers your cardiovascular risk by however many percentage points is… fine, I suppose. But it’s just too abstract. There’s no felt experience to sink your teeth into.

It’s not exactly going to get you out of bed for a run when the alarm rings at 06:00 in the depths of January, is it?

Facts and data don’t drive change here.

In my view, it’s more effective to root your movement practice in subjective experience. As is often the case, this simply requires a shift in perspective.

Let’s begin with the inconvenient matter of pain.

The Flux

Those of you with particularly keen awareness will have noticed that exercise hurts.

Gym rats fetishise this discomfort, but this is miscommunicated by most. It becomes another grotesque performance to one-up everyone or “be one of the top 1%”. Fucking spare me.

That’s not the benefit of discomfort. Rather, it gives shape and context to its counterpart, (that’s comfort, by the way) through contrast. It’s a matter of an individual’s moment-to-moment experience, not a case of morality or virtue.

The reason I rack up 19,000 steps a day and train 6 days a week isn’t so I can brag about it in a Substack post… wait, this isn’t what it looks like.

It’s because I’ve lived the satisfaction of long days of manual labour out in the elements before retreating to the comfort of a home to wash off the grime, thaw my bones and collapse into blissful, weightless rest.

I seek to replicate those same fluctuations between hot and cold, sweaty and clean, exhaustion and deep rest as best I can now I work a desk job. There is little more behind my desire to move my body in this way than it simply feels fantastic.

Physical exertion gives more shape and texture to your days and weeks. Movement needn’t be relegated to a chore. It can instead be viewed as part of the satisfying flux of day to day life.

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Stillness and Stagnation

People claim they don’t have enough energy to move more, but they’ve conflated cause and effect.

As many of you will have experienced, few things drain your energy like spending most of the day sat down. I’ve felt more energised at the end of a 10-hour shift shoveling ballast and cement into a mixer than I ever have after a day spent stationary in my office.

Stillness inevitably leads to stagnation. We become anxious and irritable like caged animals. Yet the very cure (more movement) becomes even less attractive because we feel too fatigued to pursue it.

The morning gym session might suck in the moment, but greasing the gears early on makes the rest of the day feel lighter as a result. The walk we tell ourselves we don’t have time for when we’re drowning in work is precisely what defogs your mind enough to actually get the work done.

Yes, the resistance is still there at times. But once you start to associate overcoming that resistance with, paradoxically, a more easeful state of being, it becomes its own reward.

It’s no longer some vague concept that you’re “supposed to” push through for your health. It becomes clear as day that on the other side is a more enjoyable, and in many ways easier life.

That’s… not a particularly difficult decision to make.

(Disclaimer: yes, I know this grossly oversimplifies the situation for those of you with kids.)

The Story You Tell

Beyond these reframes, beneath the level of conscious awareness, a fundamental change is taking place.

When you ask people new to training why they’re doing it, they’ll often rattle off some points about bone density or offsetting age-related decline in testosterone levels.

Ask someone who’s been training for a decade why they do it, and you’ll generally get a brief, slightly puzzled pause before they say something to the effect of “I… just do.”

Some will label this the result of repetition at a mechanical level. In a literal sense, this is true. But for me, this concept transcends mere physical wiring of the brain (I did warn you we were abandoning science for this one). Over time, the way you move becomes an integral part of who you are.

I won’t parade false pride for you here, I feel immensely smug being the guy people ask to help move something heavy because I’m visibly strong. Like a Labrador being praised after finding a particularly pretty stick.

One day I’ll have kids, and I take great satisfaction in the knowledge I possess, and continue to train, all the physical capabilities I need to keep up with them.

The buddhists might have something to say about this, but all of this feeds into the story I tell about who Shane is.

Consciously or not, you’re already telling a story about who you are.

What role does your physical capability play in it?

Beyond the Data

You’re not going to drag yourself out of bed for a run on a cold winter’s morning for a 9% reduction in cardiovascular risk.

But you might do it for the sheer sense of aliveness that 1-degree air provides as it’s shuttled into the warm casing of your lungs.

Or as an intentional act of training redefining your relationship with discomfort, such that life’s other challenges feel smaller and more tolerable.

Or simply to cultivate the energy and presence you, and those you love, deserve.

The science has its place. But we’re talking about your life, not a clinical trial.

Before all else, move in ways that make it richer.

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P.S. I’m taking on 2 more men for 1:1 coaching before the New Year hits.

Experience has demonstrated that people who get stuck in before January are significantly more committed. This is a win-win for both client and coach.

With that in mind, I’m offering free coaching for December to serve as a runway into the new year.

You’ll establish some solid nutrition and training habits, see how coaching actually works for you, then decide if you want to continue in January.

Once the spots are filled, I’m closing my doors until the new year.

If you’re interested, fill in the form below.