Purpose

What is the purpose of all this? I mean why train hard? Why condition yourself to become as efficient, skilled and physical and mentally competent as possible? What is the ultimate purpose of physical fitness and personal development? What could possibly be the point of so much effort and pain?

We all walk our own path in life. We all have dreams, goals and specific things that provide leverage to do the things we do. No one’s path is the same, everyone is different.

You can lie to yourself and create excuses that best support comfort. This fosters an attitude of softness, one all so common in the latest model of the world. These excuses are consciously and unconsciously designed to take the path of least resistance. To explain a false, second-choice purpose for yourself.

This is what recipes are for. Now more than ever there is a recipe for everything. Exact systems for fitness, relationships, life even. These things are dynamic and cannot be explained by a one-size-fits-all system. These things have absolutely no substance, just fleeting, popular ideas created for an entirely different purpose than the one they are claiming.

Lets look at things in a new light. Lets view another purpose. One that is far more compelling than the lie you have been conditioned to.

Threshold

A threshold is a person’s limit. Thresholds can be physical or psychological. Whatever you do becomes easier when your threshold is higher. To explain this concept best we will use the example of a marathon runner.

The real measure of a champion marathon runner is not simply their aerobic fitness. This is important, however what is most important is their anaerobic threshold. Anaerobic threshold is the intensity at which you go from aerobic energy utilisation to anaerobic.

As most people know, anaerobic energy utilisation can only be maintained for a finite period of time. Before long the substrates of energy used run out and cannot be adequately replenished to sustain activity at that level and the person needs to slow down.

If a marathon runner is performing above their anaerobic threshold, it is inevitable that they have to slow down at some point. Someone who has a higher anaerobic threshold can continue on indefinitely because they are never going beyond the point at which their body is in debt and quickly running out of fuel.

Threshold determines everything you do and how well you do it. If you are stronger, everything you do that is below your maximum strength threshold is easier, and the stronger you are the further below your threshold activities become.

The same is true for your psychological threshold. The more you can handle, the more you can accomplish and the better you can perform at whatever it is you do.

Adaptability and Personal Adaptation

Adaptation is when someone or something is put under a certain amount of stress and changes to accommodate the new level. In theory a person can adapt indefinitely if the stressors are increased at a rate that is manageable. The more a person adapts to the more that person can do. So continuous and never-ending adaptation is necessary to continue improving in anything you do.

An athlete trains not at a constant rate but at an ascending rate. This is called progressive overload.

The primary goal we focus on is adaptation. I believe that a person can adapt to just about anything if the right stimulus is present. This should be a foremost focus for every person on the planet. Adaptation can only occur when you engage in physical and psychological training that is directed toward the task at hand. This applies to athletes and non-athletes alike. It applies both to skill and pure physiological capacity.

So the purpose???

What you know means very little. Knowledge is not power, it is only potential power. What you do matters. Only action gives you power. Or, to be more accurate, only objectives achieved mean anything. This is what we live by.

Physical training produces memories in your nervous system. These memories become instincts. This is different than intellect, which requires analytical, conscious thought processes in order to be utilised. By engaging yourself kinaesthetically (physically), you are creating useful memories. Automation is faster and costs you less in terms of energy consumption and attention.

Whenever you do something that requires accurate reactions under stressful situations, your attention becomes divided. It is a protective mechanism to act on instinct and conditioned, unconscious responses. That said, conscious intellect becomes useless. Only imprinted skills and attributes are relevant.

So physical training becomes worth many more times the effort invested.

Physical deficiencies create deficiencies in every other area that matters. The purpose of physical conditioning becomes one of most importance. What we do is teach the raw foundational development of people for their own given purpose. This primal skill allows confidence and competence and the freedom of flexibility to be prepared for anything.

So the ultimate purpose is get fit and remain that way. This allows you to accomplish a wider variety of things in life and in specific tasks. The goal of physical fitness is to become as durable and indestructible as possible. To create immunity to the ailments of the conditioned, weaker willed general public.

The harder a person is to break, the longer he or she will remain effective in their chosen calling.