Framework for fitness

Ok, this is the big one, the unified theory of everything, 42, a thousand monkeys doing Shakespeare...no, wait. What this is is an attempt to identify what my overarching framework for fitness decisions is.

Why does this matter? Well, scientifically speaking, fitness, exercise, nutrition are all new and immature. There's no consensus on what the governing context is to make sense of all the disparate bits of research going on. And I'd wager that's the case with most practitioners too. Part of the reason why it's so easy to bounce from one diet or gym routine to another is because people don't have a strong guiding principle to follow. Likely they have a dozen partial ideas they have picked up with aren't internally consistent and they hedge their bets by trying to do a bit of everything.

The closest I've seen recently (and it's spreading with remarkable speed) is the fairly vague "do what works for you". If this isn't an admission of failure from the industry I don't know what is. All approaches are equally valid,  no-one's opinion is wrong, you are the best judge of your own health and progress. As a blanket statement, it could be worse, but it's certainly not reflecting some underlying truth. It's so closely related to the democratic model that that is probably sufficient reason for some people to support it so staunchly. It's the worst of all systems except those we've tried. As far as science goes though, we ought to be able to look at this through a less idealogical lens.

And even so, even if we embrace our individualism and make this a question of morality, we all subscribe (at some level or another) to existing value systems. And while the details can vary from person to person, there are some values that most people consider should be universal. So I don't think it's unreasonable to search for what I think may be a universal framework for health and fitness - even if the details vary in the implementation.

Genetically we are all incredibly similar, interact with our environment in similar ways and are subject to the same basic biological processes. But this is often not how we see ourselves. Even if we have realistic ideas of our own limits, we tend to trust those around us more than is justified. And with good reason - our survival is inextricably linked to that sense of optimism. But it leaves us open to manipulation, whether intentional or not. We are unreliable narrators of our own lives.


Having expended so much time building up to it, I think I'll leave discussion of the consequences to another post, but any good guiding principle should be able to be expressed concisely, so here it is. I think the key is to embrace our place as part of the ecosphere. This is a seemingly trite statement, but for me it extends to acknowledging our evolutionary past, the forces that have shaped our environment, the (uncomfortable for some) reality that we are only human, more than that we are only animals. We're not above acting on instinct. We may be masters of our destiny but most of our actions are in fact run on autopilot. Our minds are not encumbered by physical frailties but rather are fundamentally entwined with them. This is the context within which I try to fit my decisions and beliefs. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I'd hope you might take a minute to think what you would replace it with, and how that philosophy explains the choices you make day to day.