Let’s talk about maps. When we’re looking at maps on the neighborhood level, we realize that there are lots of ways to get where we are going. Zoomed out, though, if we want to get from, say, California to New York, we want those ways to tend in an easterly direction. Both of these views are useful as metaphors for how we approach fitness.
The local angle means that we have a lot of options for what we do today. We can get to the store on the freeway or on the back streets. Some ways will be more fun than others, some will be quicker, but we will still end up at the store. Which is to say: we want some cardio fitness? We can work out at a low intensity for a long time, or a high intensity for a short time. We can dance, ski, bike, swim, run, kayak, or whatever makes our hearts go pitter-pat (literally!). All the things will work.
The wider angle means that we want our workouts to tend to improve what we’d like more of in our lives. Dancers dance. Marathon runners run. The strength and flexibility work those two kinds of athletes do are all in service of their larger goals. They still have lots of options, but they all veer toward the distant goal.
(If you have a destination in mind, you can ask me and we can make a map together!)
Go play!
No comments:
Post a Comment