SHOW SIMPLICITY, HOLD FAST TO HONESTY – LAO TZU
Thirty spokes surround the hub:
In their nothingness consists the carriage’s effectiveness.
One hollows the clay and shapes it into pots:
In its nothingness consists the pot’s effectiveness.
One cuts out doors and windows to make the chamber:
In their nothingness consists the chamber’s effectiveness.
Therefore, what exists serves for possession
What does not exist serves for effectiveness.
What is half shall become whole
What is crooked shall become straight
What is empty shall become full.
What is old shall become new.
Whosoever has little shall receive
Whosoever has much, from him shall be taken away.
Whosoever knows others is clever
Whosoever knows himself is wise.
Whosoever conquers others has force.
Whosoever conquers himself is strong.
Whosoever asserts himself has will power.
Whosoever is self-sufficient is rich.
Whosoever does not lose his place has duration.
Whosoever does not perish in death lives.
A stanza of this poem accompanies each chapter in this book, aligning thoughts and requesting an honest assessment of where your present condition is, in order for you to get to where you desire.
SIMPLE STRUCTURED TRAINING
Introduction
What you hold in your hands is a guidebook to better athletic performance and intelligent attention toward life. Simple Structured Training contains the training necessary for all sports at all levels. This book benefits athletes with techniques for strength, stability, flexibility and transformation. It teaches you to dwell on the weaknesses until they become strengths.
In a non-competitive vein, the everyday tasks of carrying groceries, picking up children or working in an environment with repetitive movements can be enhanced by paying attention to what your life does to your body on a daily basis, and how Simple Structured Training can turn obstructions into pathways. As long as your life contains gravity, you can benefit from Simple Structured Training. Strength comes from the self-assurance of making the “eventful” the “every day.” Repeatedly proving your own capabilities ingrains success, until even failing is welcomed because it shows where work needs attention. Training means making practice harder than a game can ever be, so the game becomes an event played at its highest level, always, and the body flies as it should, on autopilot.
Just as the concert pianist practices so as to not make a mistake the day of the concert, the athlete practices, and on game day, plays flawlessly. Practice and training come in many forms, from visualization to single maximum effort. But just like the artist, the athlete must let creativity and intuition win from time to time so “happy accidents” will manifest into higher insights of what the body and its performance can achieve. By occasionally deviating from the normal methods of sets and repetitions, the athlete learns about his body through open-mindedness, as the “feel” of certain movements register in the brain as well as the body.
EVERYBODY HAS A SPORT
Every person has a sport, be it working with weights or walking, tennis or triathlon. By taking a subjective look at yourself, applying the stepping stones of training from the core of what you have to start with, to higher and higher goals of what you can feasibly obtain, every person can improve their performance, lifestyle and health by paying attention to what they are doing to their bodies at work and at play.
Small adjustments in focus can brighten the big picture of what proper training can do for you. With the growing number of athletes involved in organized or recreational sports, and the variety of activities and equipment available to them, the need for balance, definitive plans and guidelines for achievement are absolutely necessary for safe, healthy progress.
Many aspects contribute to superior performance, from breathing to body mechanics, from how much and what goes into your body, to what comes out from it in terms of energy expenditure. Intelligently reviewing these aspects on a periodic basis, adjusting nutrition, exercise and rest in proportion to available time, and carrying through with plans, goals and scheduled routines to the end, will garner higher results, greater rewards, safer techniques, a wider knowledge base and stronger approaches toward every sport, every season.
YOU ARE A COMPETITOR
Competing with yourself is the ultimate struggle. We do it daily on many levels. Attending your workouts makes attending meetings, appointments, presentations and anything else easier, because confident, positive action started you off fresh, first thing in the morning.
You have to prove to yourself that you are the one in control of your day, your diet, your direction, your health. Take the time to take care of yourself, first thing in the morning. Start your day with silence, darkness, calm introspection, a good breakfast, a powerful thought, an attitude of being in control rather than frantically setting out in opposition to all the things vying for your time and attention. By taking charge from the outset, by writing dreams, praying, meditating, stretching, lightly exercising, going inward before going outward, turning everything off instead of on, you will accomplish all the to-do’s on your list with little effort. Life will yank on you from every handle you give it. But if you choose to pull your own weight, you’ll choose which direction you’ll go, what you’ll do first, and what you’ll discard.
As long as we eat, move and breathe, we must exercise. And we must do it before injuries occur, on the front end, to ensure maximum health, happiness and productive contribution. If you’re here to stay, than so too should your workouts or some type of physical activity, every day. The sooner you rest this in your mind, that exercise is just as essential to life as sleeping and eating, the faster you can find an activity which both meets your activity level and style.
Walking is exercise. Biking is exercise. Even gardening is exercise with its reaching and pulling, lifting and moving. If it fits your lifestyle and you enjoy it, stop begrudging it as “work” and respect the benefits available in everyday things. But learn how to do them safely, and to get the most from them, so they benefit your body as well as your mind.
