600

We recently hit 600 facebook friends, which is completely awesome. As you long-time supporters know, whenever we hit another 100 friends, we release a celebratory video. This time around, we wanted to do something a little different. The majority of our focus, both on the blog and in our videos, is on the movement and Parkour elements of training - indeed, that's the core of our curriculum. But, I fundamentally believe there is more to being a skillful athlete than just movement/gymnastic abilities. So, for this video, we wanted to showcase some combative stuff in a way that made it look challenging but fun - and not super "ultimate fighter-y" Enjoy:

Thanks so much for all of your support - it's amazing and you are amazing. You can help speed us on our way towards our next video by telling all of your friends about Fifth Ape, get them to join us on facebook, and, if you're in the Triangle area of North Carolina, bring them out for a class.

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Last time, I referenced some Big Things that were in the works. Well, we look like we're on track to deliver the first wave of Big Things next week. You should probably be excited. Or afraid. Or maybe both? Personally, I have a hard time distinguishing between fear and hunger, but that's just me. Anyways, the Big Things are coming...

What Day[9] and Starcraft can teach us about fitness

First thing’s first: I know things have been pretty quiet around here recently. I’ve intentionally gone radio-silent over the past month because I’m working on a few other things. Big things that I think you will all like a lot. Stay tuned...

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If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you are somehow involved with the Paleo/Ancestral Health/Functional Fitness community. There’s a decent chance you are in Boston right now for the Ancestral Health Symposium. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here when I guess that a lot of you folks don’t pay much attention to the eSports scene... or even know what that is.

In short, eSports is the professional competitive play of video games. I’m guessing that will strike some of you as a little silly or dumb; “playing video games isn’t a sport! Those competitors aren’t athletes!” Suspend your disbelief for a moment and consider these facts:

One of the most popular games in eSports is Starcraft. Starcraft is a real-time-strategy game (RTS) - you construct buildings that produce units and then you order those units to do things, like gather resources or fight enemy units. Every click of the mouse or tap on the keyboard is an “action” and RTS players often talk about APM, or “actions-per-minute.” Take someone who is not an RTS player but is comfortable with computers/video games and sit them down in front of Starcraft and their APM is somewhere between 10 - 20.

Pro Starcraft players have APMs in the 300s - 400s. That’s over 5 actions per second. And they can sustain it for 20 minute games. That’s monstrous. AND, not only are these players fast, they’re accurate too. They have to press the right keys, click on the right areas of the screen, etc. I could maybe get up to 300 APM for a moment, but only by mashing wildly at the keyboard. Watching a skilled Starcraft player in action is almost frightening - the amount of focus they bring to bear on the game boggles the mind.

How do you get that good? Practice. Then practice more. And then practice even more. The best pro gamers have rigorous training schedules - 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Practice is the only thing that will work - it’s true for Starcraft just as it’s true for everything else in life.

You need to love what you do to practice like that. You need to be 100% invested in the process. You need to get excited about it and then maintain your fire through the inevitable setbacks, discouragements, and difficult times. It doesn’t matter what we’re talking about; Starcraft, Parkour, the piano, your own health & wellness, etc, you need to find that love in order to succeed.

Once in a rare while, someone comes along who not only has that deep love, but can articulate it in a way that makes it accessible to other people. In the Starcraft world, this person is Sean Plott, a top level Starcraft player better know by the handle Day[9]. For the past few years, Day[9] has run a daily webcast where he analyses a Starcraft game, breaks down the strategies and delivers high level commentary in a way that is accessible to everyone. I strongly encourage all of you to watch a few episodes of his show. The games and strategies are interesting, but it’s the way Day[9} presents larger themes that I find so compelling. Woven into every show are simple but powerful ideas. Consistent practice. Relentlessly chasing down and eliminating weaknesses. Focus on fundamentals. And, most importantly, take pride in what you do. 

For his 100th show, Day[9] did an episode he called “My life of Starcraft.” It’s long - nearly 2 hours - but you should watch it. It’s ultimately less about Starcraft and more about working hard for success in doing something you love.

Day[9] loves what he does, loves that he loves it, and manages to get everyone who watches his shows interested and involved as well. He does this by showing vs telling. He helps you understand what’s happening and guides you through it in a way that makes you want to learn more. He doesn’t preach or push any agenda - he simply says, “This is interesting and here’s why...”

We in the fitness industry can learn a lot from this approach. We need to spend less time shouting about what to do, how to eat, etc. and spend more time helping people discover their own love of movement. We need to get people excited to discover what they are capable of. We need to spend less time pushing products and more time cultivating a community that is passionate about health, fitness, and physical skill. 

I try to convey to people how absolutely amazing the human body is and all the incredible things it can do. How cool is it that we can learn how to do spectacular things? How utterly wondrous is it that we can progress to do things we once thought literally impossible? How sublime is the feeling of pushing your body and your mind to the limit, to feel the blood course through your veins, your muscles tense and relax, your focus sharpen, your breath deepen? If I had a little bit more of Day[9]’s skill in connecting with people and conveying passion then maybe I could get everyone to a place where they couldn’t not exercise - where a life without movement would be be a bizarre notion indeed. We can do that, you know. We really can. We just need to practice our skills, walk our talk, push less, and guide more. We need to build communities. And, we need to keep working. I love this quotation:

“You want to know my secret? I just show up. Every damn day.”

Want to guess who said that? Day[9] did. We can all learn from him.

The sea

I have returned from a long weekend of beach camping on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Julia had mentioned she wanted to go a few months ago so we sat down and looked at the calendar. Cape Lookout seemed promising. One long weekend in July seemed to work for both of us so we decided on it.

...but that weekend brought thunderstorms and strong currents to Cape Lookout. No ferries were running and neither one of us was particularly keen to get stuck out on a big sandbar in the middle of the Atlantic during a lightning storm. We cancelled the trip and lamented over the fact that we wouldn't get to go before Julia moved away and started graduate school.

Then, as often happens in life, schedules unexpectedly changed and another opportunity opened up for this weekend. I scrambled to make arrangements (big thanks to Sean, who was asked on Thursday "Sean, can you do everything for the next few days?" and immediately replied "Sure.") and on Friday we were stepping off a tiny ferry onto a remote strip of beach that would be our home for the next few days.

Cape Lookout National Seashore is a national park now, but it used to be an important part of the nation's lighthouse system. You can read more about it here. Other than the lighthouse and a small Ranger station the whole island is undeveloped. There are two sides - the sheltered cove side is a patchwork of calm salt marshes, filled with herons, small fish, mud, and a hell of a lot of biting insects. On the ocean side, rolling dunes give way to a broad beach and the endless roar of the Atlantic Ocean.

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When given a choice between mountains and ocean I usually choose mountains, but there's something about the sea that speaks deeply to me. When I was a young kid I answered the ubiquitous "what do you want to be when you grow up" question with "A scuba diver!" (which later evolved into "A marine biologist!") I loved going to big aquariums and loved maritime culture and history. (hanging in my house right now is an old brass ship's clock) I've spent a fair amount of time on boats and ships and even have a few tales to tell about storms, near shipwrecks, actual shipwrecks, sharks, big fish, and an unexpected swim with a manatee. There's nothing like breathing sea air and watching the endless patterns of the waves. It always feels like coming home.

That home feeling hits especially hard when I'm swimming in the ocean. There is some primordial magic power in the sea. It's where we all come from after all. Floating on the water, diving under waves, body surfing, even just standing in the shallows and letting the waves crash around me is a uniquely calming experience.

Not surprisingly, it's also a playful one. With the obligations of the outside world left on the mainland, we embraced purposelessness and did as we pleased. I wrestled the ocean and lost. Julia built sandcastles. We took long walks and marveled when a retreating wave revealed hundreds of coquinas glinting in the sun like little jewels - until they all flipped onto their ends and reburied themselves under the sand - gone in an instant.

We were excellent opportunists and scroungers. We found a rusted half empty lighter near our campsite and got it working, then gathered enough driftwood to build a fire on each night. We had to build the fires below the high tide line and the wind was very strong - which made lighting the fire extremely difficult. Julia managed to do it though (extremely impressive) and so we finished our nights sitting by a warm fire, watching the moon rise and the stars come out. On the second night, we were joined by a surprisingly curious ghost crab who sat with us for a good 10 minutes before scuttling off into the night.

It wasn't all joy. There was very little shelter and the sun was merciless. We took precautions and all things considered we made it out relatively unscathed, but there was one scary moment when we both realized we were feeling a bit thick headed and confused. We tottered into the shade of a few scraggly pine trees, sat down and sipped water for an hour. When the sun sank a little lower in the sky we cooled off in the ocean, but were left with some pounding headaches. Everything we brought, including ourselves were soon covered in layers of sand and salt which made for some abrasive sleeping. The second night brought some rain, and while our rainfly kept us dry it also cut off nearly all the ventilation in our little backpacking tent. Given the remoteness of the island, we had to carry in all of our food and water - and lugging 6 gallons of water over the shifting sand dunes was not easy. Add in biting insects, marauding raccoons, and the fact that we forgot the toilet paper and it's clear that this was not the world's most comfortable trip.

I wouldn't have changed a thing - an experience without challenges is not worth having. The hardships provide contrast for the good moments, making them that much sweeter. At the end of the weekend each successive rediscovery of modern comfort seemed like magic. The car seats were cushioned and OH GOD THE AIR CONDITIONING. The first big meal we had in days (Chipotle burritos) was a royal feast. The house was a cool bastion against the elements. The first shower was like divine rebirth and slipping into a soft bed with clean sheets and a real pillow (and no sand) was the height of luxury. The whole experience made me realize how lucky I am to lead such a comfortable life and how easily we all take our modern wealth for granted.

But, it mostly reminded me of how important it is to get away from all the craziness of our modern lives - to slow down and simplify. I was grateful for each drink of water, each bite of food, for the warm fire, loving companionship and especially for the sound of the sea - that whisper of ancient memory.