Fitness is NOT an absolute value

What is fitness and why is it important? The dictionary defines it as “the condition of being physically strong and healthy” as against it’s opposite, to be unfit: “not healthy because you do too little exercise”. Sounds very black-and-white, doesn’t it? The reality is that fitness is a spectrum ranging from catatonic to Superman and your fitness level is a constantly moving point along it.

From a personal standpoint I prefer to think of where I stand on the fitness spectrum, what level I would like to be at and how do I get from point A to point B? It’s that simple.

If I answered, ‘I want to be super-fit, I want to be right up there with the elites’, I can do it. As long as I have no pre-existing health problems, I’ve hit the genetic lottery by being born with a healthy metabolism, I can afford the cost and time for specialised training and I have the drive and determination to put in years of incredibly hard training. Sorry but, to the best of my knowledge, short-cuts don’t work, no matter what the advertising says.

If I said that I want to be slim and/or muscular like the stars we see on stage and screen, I can do that too! It’s a complex subject but, again it starts by assuming that I am healthy and have good genes and it ends with pointing out that it is hard, that I need massive determination to start and finish the appropriate programme and need to stick to the right diet for an extended length of time. Be aware that when your ‘metric’ is your appearance, or worse still your weight, your exercise programme has to be paired to your diet, the fitness improvements are incidental to the appearance gains and neither last long if you stop the regime.

I have taken a different approach, I want a level of fitness that will allow me to do the things I want and need to do.

It’s not new, it’s the principle behind ‘functional fitness’ as explained by The Bioneer in one of his fascinating videos. I need to start by attaining a base rate of fitness necessary to go through my everyday life without pain or undue stress. To walk without pain, sprint when I have to, carry a case of beer on my shoulder, do gardening chores like swinging a pick or digging a garden bed and mowing the lawn. All these might sound very easy to you but as you get into your later years they become real challenges. For many people, through health issues or accident, these things are challenges right now!

Once you have that base level of fitness I believe I need to plan for the things that are out of the ordinary, like recovering from a slip, trip or fall, squatting down and getting up and especially lifting weights from the floor to bench height. It is an old maxim in safety management circles that noone plans to have an accident but you can plan not to have one. That’s what that second level is: boosting your fitness just enough so that you have a reserve that will protect you when the unexpected happens.

If I look beyond this - and I will! - well the sky’s the limit! The world is full of exciting things that can be done if you have a fit and flexible body. My chosen sport is fencing but wilderness adventures fascinate me! Exploring the hard to get to places, the mountains, canyons and rivers can only be done if you have a strength and stamina. Frankly, the better prepared your body is, the more you can do. If you constantly push the boundaries of your fitness then you are widening the possibilities that are open to you.

The Modern Adventurer

"These days there seems to be nowhere left to explore, at least on the land area of the Earth. Victims of their very success, the explorers now pretty much stay home." 

This quote by Carl Sagan is famous - in some quarters, infamous! - although he was of course suggesting that space exploration is the next great frontier for humanity. He had a valid point. The outlines and details of the global map have been filled in by centuries of expeditions and, more recently by satellites but human curiosity is not just confined to the the surface of the Earth. Exploration continues to expand our knowledge of the rivers, the seas and the bowels of the Earth!

Because that is what exploration is: the physical and intellectual search for experiences and knowledge, ranging from who or what is on the other side of that hill, right up to expanding the boundaries of science. How can there ever be an end to exploration when with every boundary crossed, every mystery solved, we identify new realms for exploration, new questions to answer? Mapping the Great Barrier Reef is not the same as understanding everything about it - the more you know, the more you realise you don't know. 

Why do I focus on exploration when we are talking about adventure? Because exploration is adventurous travel! If you plug "adventure" into Google, the travel industry seems to have a virtual monoply on it, their answer to the desire for adventure is simple: get your adrenalin rush by going somewhere new, doing something different! The tracks of the explorers are now tramped by amateurs. Adventure has become a defining adjective that has spawned a range of 'adventure' industries, the idea being that the quest for adventure will prove a driving force for socially and personally beneficial outcomes - and incidentally boosting tourism and other service industries!

• Adventure tourism - Tour companies who organise an adventure experience for you in some exotic locale, many with a certain amount of perceived risk. 
• Adventure sports - If people find something to do together, they will find a way to compete to see who does it better, faster or longer!
• Adventure racing - Competition between expedition teams using varous modes of transport over an unmarked, hazardous course.

It's not all commercial enterprise though. Using adventure as a driving force has been found to be beneficial in physical and psychological therapy.

• Adventure therapy - The idea that exposure to adventure has positive psychological effects. Long-standing organisations and studies show the effectiveness of this. 
• Adventure education - The idea behind this is more holistic in that the goals are focussed more on the journey that the participants take to face their problem.

In theory I like all of these. Travel, especially to countries and cultures other than your own which takes you out of your comfort zone, can be rewarding and adventurous. I've always liked the idea that vacations and travel should have a purpose, that you need to actually have something that you want to do when you travel somewhere. With regards to the idea of adventure making changes to self image: absolutely! I would go so far as to say that this is the purpose of many 'rite of passage' traditions that cultures all over the world have in common.

My problem with them is the impression that adventure is something you can only buy, sell, rent or give to people. Like any item of value, there are those who can easily craft it from their talent, skill and experience built up over years, but with perseverence and study you can create your own! Whilst placing yourself into a new and interesting environment can be a factor in adventure, don't fall into the trap of thinking that excitement is unattainable without the cost of travel and equipment. You can have very real adventures by expanding the boundaries of knowledge and experience in your own backyard, quite literally!

How do you craft your own adventure? The same way you create anything, from a house or a car to a hat or a boot! You need to understand what it is, what you want, what the safety limitations are, listen to the experience of others who are experts.

Adventure is not outside man: it is within

The conundrum of what adventure is and why it is such a driving force behind the glorication of dodgy hijinks, is best found by looking into our own nature.  The series of articles in Wikipedia on adventure are, as is usually the case, accessible portals to a deeper study but I particularly like their generalisation that "adventurous experiences create psychological arousal [see Zuckerman], which can be interpreted as negative (e.g. fear) or positive (e.g. flow)."

Psychological arousal from fear? No, not that kind of arousal. Conquering fear is certainly an accomplishment however that's not what we're talking about but rather managed levels of fear such as enjoying a roller coaster ride, sky diving or bungy jumping. This is the very reason we watch horror movies.

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There are more than enough sources on Wikipedia to do a deep dive into the science behind this but, on a superficial level, I found the diagram that illustrated Csikszentmihalyi's flow model (right) to be intuitively enlightening. 

• If you are faced with a high level challenge but your skill level is low (top left of the diagram), you will feel anxiety or fear.
• If you have a high skill level to face the challenge you feel the experience of flow (top right).
• If you have a medium level of skill, you will feel arousal and that, I think, is the sweet spot! 

This correlates with the fact that a challenging project for which you are ill prepared can be a risky adventure that can have you nervous - not preferable but as long as that risk, the danger, is controlled, you will find it fulfilling as a challenge met and survived. Would it be fair to say that a challenge that you meet with a high degree of skill, eg. riding a bicycle in city traffic every day, could be overcome too easily and thus less fulfilling? Could this be why the median between the two leads to 'arousal'.

This is a good segue into the work of Jon Levy whose book The 2 AM Principle: Discover the Science of Adventure was the subject of a popular article on The Science of the Perfect Night Out in GQ (and elsewhere) where he lists four elements of adventurous behaviour...

• Constraints. “What we know from the brain is we get the most enjoyment from activities just outside of our skill zone. Like a video game that is fun because it is almost too hard.” This correlates with Csikszentmihalyi's flow model, above.
• Team. “A great group can make the most awful location fun.” Not sure about this. How do you explain those who adventure alone? I think this has more to do with his party manefesto although no successful adventurer is a rock unto themselves. They all have mentors and supporters.
• Movement. “Your brain operates differently when you change location.” Hmmm, well this could line up with exploration as adventure and the idea of 'the quest'.
• Mission. “This drives group behavior, causes outsiders to want to join, and helps you get out of your comfort zone.” Every endeavour of any worth has to have a purpose, however what about the pursuit of adventure for it's own sake?

At this point I have to point out that most reviews of his book pan it as shallow hedonism and the focus on the construction of  'a great night out' does deflect from considering his points in a larger context. I think he is on stronger ground when he is reported as saying that 'people seemed to have the most fun when three elements were present:

• The experience was remarkable—worth talking about.
• There was adversity or perceived risk.
• It brought about growth—you were a different person at the end.

Glory, risk and growth, these have always been seminal aspects of adventure!

The Principles of Gentlemanly Behaviour

My idea of what constitutes a gentleman and yours are probably quite different. The mental image of a gentleman is mired in the mud of the past, stereotyped by six seasons of Downton Abbey and the stratified social drama that it fed on. That's the first mistake that people make, associating gentlemen with wealth and privilege.

Sure, there have been dozens of books written over the ages listing rules of gentlemanly conduct and ettiquette over the ages. Since books (and the ability to read them) were the domain of the well to do, it's no wonder that the rules were all aimed at the conduct of the wealthy. Modern sources have tried, with varying degrees of success, to translate these arcane rules into principles that might resonate with modern folk.

I'll go out on a limb and condence all of these rules into two simple principles.

What is needed? 

In your dealings with other people you should ask yourself, what is needed here? What can I say or do that will leave this person a little better off for meeting me? Sometimes it's just a smile and a sincere thank you when someone serves you, taking the time to talk to a friend, to listen to their successes and issues, to help them when you can or to impress on them that you care about their situation if you can't. Sometimes what someone needs is for you to not help them, but the opposite, to let them handle it their way. What they need is your respect for their effort, for them to know that they are a valued part of your world.

This is where the books of etiquette failed. Every person is different, every situation is unique. Certainly, generalised rules of acceptable conduct are helpful to create safe boundaries but the sign of a true gentleman is that they can tell when to follow the rules and when to ignore them. "Rules are for the guidance of the wise and the blind obedience of fools". How do you know what is the right thing to do? Empathy. It is an essential attribute to learn so that you can read between the lines, be aware of the subtle signs of stress in others, to be able to judge when to intercede or, sometimes more importantly, when to simply support.

Be true to yourself

The other major principle is to be true to yourself. Find out what you need and find a way of giving it to yourself. Just as you should be empathic and care about others, you should be your own advocate as well as your own critic. Ego is not a dirty word. You cannot use your strength to help others if you don't have faith in your own strength of spirit, you can't bring peace to others if you cannot find peace yourself. Everybody fails at some time or other, we make mistakes, we act out of anger, spite, envy, overreaching pride. Be honest about your failings but be prepared to forgive yourself, to give yourself a way of working forward, resolving the issues.

However you must balance self care with discipline, especially in terms of personal relationships - there have to be limits. You would not be a friend to yourself if you allowed yourself to wander into danger or become a danger to society. Forgiving yourself does not mean condoning anti-social or self destuctive behaviour. Discipline means working out limits and goals for your relationship with yourself and with others - you aim for the goals and don't go past the limits without reason.

A Gentleman is a Gentlethem

I am not blind to the fact that the perception of a gentleman can be seen as sexist. Frankly the tone of this blog is cis male because that is how I identify but that doesn't mean to say that the values, the ideas and ideals that I speak of are confined by principles of sexuality. 

The general principles I espouse as 'gentlemanly behaviour' apply to men, women and all the marvellous diversity of identity that lies between and beyond. Details of self image should make no difference in how you relate to yourself and others. We all need to learn to care for others and develop empathy. We all need to question our motives and ideals and have faith that we can and will become better people. 

Your value as a human being, who you are and who you could become, has nothing to do with sexual identity and far, far more to do with your ethics and morals.