Fantasy and fitness

I'll be up front with you. This post is a giant excuse to talk about the new Avatar show. Did you know the first two episodes are available on iTunes? For free! You should really watch - especially if you are a fan of the first show.

I'm a sucker for well made animated shows. Batman the Animated Series was a pretty formative part of my childhood. My silly adult life kept me from Avatar until Netflix came along, then I devoured the whole thing in about 4 days. In fact, I routinely use Avatar references as coaching cues ("Relax - Water bend it" or "Get aggressive! Fire bend!")

Fantasy in general has had a major influence on me and my approach to fitness and health. I think this has been an incredibly beneficial thing.

As a young boy I never much cared for team sports. They were fine, but they had nothing on the holly bush. The holly bush was this giant gnarled thing on the outskirts of our property. With a little imagination it looked just like a giant green scaled dragon. I spend hour after hour dueling with that dragon, using sticks for swords and spears. I had a blast and, unintentionally, got pretty strong.

The narrative was the thing that kept me coming back - the story of knights and dragons. All myths and legends - and the subsequent fantasies that evolved from them - revolve around elemental and archetypal narratives.  Good, evil, order, chaos, life, death, triumph, defeat, love, fear, day, night... you know, the basics. This is powerful stuff - deeper than humanity, deeper than mysticism, deeper than animism, approaching that unknowable primal/cosmic core of what it means to be alive.

If you can tie elements of that narrative into your life, the health and fitness stuff will follow naturally - inexorably. Story is a powerful thing and the stories we tell to ourselves about ourselves are particularly potent forces - for better or worse. If the story you tell yourself is that you absolutely need to hit a certain number on the scale or fit into a particular pair of pants in order to be a good person then I'd say it's time to tell a bigger and better story about yourself. 

Use a favorite fantasy as inspiration. If you decide you want to be Batman, then you've got some pretty clear goals in front of you. You'll need to learn a lot of movement skills. You'll need to learn how to fight. If you got really into it, you'll need to learn about sneaking, hiding, and tactical movement. The billions of dollars wouldn't hurt either, but, hey, we can't have everything. Along the way, you'll probably find you've gotten pretty darn strong and agile.

Hell, it doesn't even have to be that elaborate or physical. Learn how to quick-draw like Mal. You might not get jacked doing it, but the focus of regular practice will absolutely have positive effects on your health. Or, just resolve to be the type of person who has adventures. That'll do it.

(Incidentally, "Batman training" is my two word answer for "What's Fifth Ape all about?")

In the fitness industry, the biggest challenge facing trainers is getting people to invest themselves in the process - to not just show up and expect magic to happen but to actually take responsibility for their own progress. I think that a powerful archetypal narrative is vital to making this happen.  We seem to be on a Batman kick so let's run with it - paraphrasing here: You need to be more than just a man or woman. You need to be an idea - you need to devote yourself to an ideal. Then, you'll become something bigger and better; A legend, Mr. Wayne.