Friday Book Report: The Technological Society

When I was a junior in high school, I concluded that the purpose of the English curriculum was to make us all despondent and suicidal, the reading list including such cheerful works as Camus’s The Stranger and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary.  For bonus points, in French that year I read Sartre’s Huis Clos (that’s No Exit for you non-French-taking folks) and a few other choice pieces of literature about doom, gloom, and sometimes murder.  I was reminded of this general French tendency to despair in reading Jacques Ellul’s book, The Technological Society and have come to the conclusion that many French writers’ books should come with a pack of Gauloises and as much red wine as necessary to dull the pain.

Not that the book was not worth reading.  Despite the fact that it was written in 1964, it has a lot of relevance to our current situation as creatures in a society driven by technology.  I can only imagine what Ellul would make of our Internet age.

His central argument is that technology (or technique, in his preferred usage) is the primary force in our societies.  It is no longer a tool that humans use to improve conditions.  Instead, it shapes people and society according to its own particular needs for maximum efficiency.  He contends that we are, essentially, helpless to combat this overwhelming force because there is no longer any place where one can truly go off the grid.

That first part is fairly convincing.  He musters a lot of good thinking and research to back up his contention that technology wins.  I’m not so sure about the second part where we can’t retake our souls from the machine.  I would like to think that we are not without hope.

We Have Some Ironing to Do

This just in:  we are all getting older (unless we are magic or dead).  To keep from feeling like it, we should consider lifting weights.

As we age, our bodies lose muscle mass if we don’t encourage them to build more.  Less muscle mass translates into a lower metabolism, reduced strength, and, often, balance challenges.

Furthermore, weight-bearing exercise preserves our bone density.  We do not want to be fragile older people.  The statistics on mortality after hip fracture do not bring joy.

The stronger we are, the longer we will be able to be active and independent.  Pump now to go farther!

Take your hamster on the (habi-)trail?

I have a tendency toward hamster-head, a condition in which the small animal that is my brain runs constantly in a circle, never quite getting anywhere, but unable to stop.  I am pretty sure I am not the only one.

So far, the best strategy for getting my hamster under control is hamster-body, otherwise known as exercise.  Getting good and breathless improves mood and focus.  It promotes healthy sleep.  Also, when all I can think about is how much my thighs burn on the five millionth squat, I have no choice but to stay in the present moment.

A tired hamster is a good hamster.

Stretch Goals...

We, culturally, spend a lot of time sitting.  Some of it is the nature of our work, or, worse, where our work is located.  And then, after work, we get lured in by a great new television series, a blockbuster film, or even a nice chat over drinks with friends.  What do we get from all of this?  A heck of a lot of stiffness.

I suggest a two-pronged approach.  No, not sticking two prongs under our behinds, although that might work…

1.     When possible, stand up and move.  Take a stroll with those friends.  Go to a concert and dance like no one is watching.  It might be extreme to use a spin bike as a decorative element, but in my living room, I have one placed where I can binge watch cop shows with slightly less guilt.

2.     Stretch.  Stretching should be our transitional object.  Getting in the car?  Stretch.  Getting out of the car?  Stretch.  Done with dinner?  Stretch.  Stuck in line?  Stretch.  Tools help.  I have a point-pressing duck and a lacrosse ball in my car.  I travel with yoga tune-up balls and sometimes even rollers.

If we do these two things, when we get to our workouts, we will find that our bodies move better.

Monday Workout: Remember these?

Incline presses are sneaky.  They are just that little bit harder than bench presses, so they give us a new challenge.  We’re continuing to work on oblique core stuff with the single arm clean and press and the quadruped.  Four rounds!

1 min cardio
1 arm clean and press	20
deadlifts	20
incline press	20
squats	20
bench dips	10
quadruped	10

In Out Repeat

Cardio exercise, among other things, teaches us to appreciate breathing.  Nothing like a good, solid, heart-pounding interval to make a person notice the lungs working like champs.

Those of us who feel stressed or anxious can use cardio to help us.  When we raise our heart rate and breathe heavily during exercise on purpose, it teaches us to tolerate that feeling for those times when we are experiencing the same things due to bad circumstances like panic attacks.  Our bodies learn to recover and, by tuning in, our brains can, too.

Focusing on our breathing no matter what we are doing improves our consciousness.  Sometimes we breathe shallowly, sometimes deeply.  We breathe quickly or slowly.  We can choose the breaths that serve us best.

And, of course, we want to keep on breathing.

Real Life?

It is the time of year when I often think about how convenient it is that weights are shaped the way they are.  I think this because it is the time of year when I have to help move things that are not shaped like weights.  Mattresses may not be all that heavy, but they sure are awkward.  Ikea boxes seem to be made of special frictionless cardboard designed to slide right out of my hands.

This whole concept is the thrust behind functional fitness.  Workouts that incorporate objects that are more like things we meet in real life or that mimic motions we need to use for ordinary purposes have practical use.

I don’t have any plans to incorporate fifteen reps of mattress schlepping into a workout any time soon, but the work we do gripping things in different ways, perfecting balance, and using unstable surfaces will help us meet life’s actual challenges better.