Do
you want to change your mood?
Do you to upgrade your mindset?
Well then you need to change your outlook.
The number best way I’ve found is to get outside. It’s that simple.
Your outlook is directly correlated to the amount of time you spend outdoors.
Start by getting out in the sunshine.
Start by taking advantage of beautiful days.
Train in nature.
Feel the grass beneath your feet.
See blue the sky above.
I promise you, you will feel better mentally and physically.
This doesn’t take any skill. It doesn’t take any expertise. It doesn’t take any money.
It simply takes you getting up, getting dressed, and starting to move around. Create your flow. Move, stretch, breathe, walk, run, roll around…
Take a walk around the block, use the field at your local rec center, put a few movements together and if you begin to consistently start or end your day this way, it’ll have positive impact on other aspects of your life.
This does not have to be intense either. There’s a time for those types of workouts and I love them, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.
I’m talking about simple, basic, natural, primal movement that repairs, restores, replenishes and re-energizes you. Alone, with a friend, with your spouse, your kids…Your call.
I use this time for me. I need the alone time. I do way more than enough each week surrounded by people for work, fitness, family, kids school stuff, etc. and not that that’s bad…It’s just enough.
Put your headphones and listen to a great podcast (I just happen to have a recommendation for you right here!). Use voice memos to set your intention or to do list for the day, week, month. Dictate that email or memo response that you want to get off your chest but will never send (I do this all the time). Or just observe and take in your surroundings.
I wasn’t always doing this. In fact I was rarely doing this for years…Many, many years. I had the same goals though; train to feel better, have a better outlook, reduce tension and stress, exert energy, clear my head…However, my application was wrong. I thought you had to go harder to achieve all those things. What I’ve found is that once I started to back off, take more active recovery days, get outside of the “gym”, the studios, the noise, the intensity that my mind and body started to feel and perform better.
You don’t need a fancy gym, fancy equipment, a boutique studio, lighting, playlist, the latest, greatest, trendiest, most IG friendly selfie spot or whatever is the latest, greatest “thing to do”…You just need some outdoor space, a little heart, effort, consistency and discipline and you can get in the best overall condition of your life.
Nothing is wrong with any/all of the other stuff either. It’s fun, you can make friends, be inspired and these businesses create jobs, brands and help people achieve their goals too…I do ALL of it and go to various places and try pretty much everything. You just don’t “need” it all the time. Find balance. Whatever combination works for you.
There’s a military workout program called SOFLETE that I follow and essentially what the data was telling them was that Special Forces Soldiers were overtraining to the point where they could not perform their duties effectively in the field and/or were getting injured frequently.
What’s the point of training if you actually can’t perform when called upon? What’s the point of looking the part if you can’t act the part? “Any day could be the Super Bowl. So imagine Tom Brady doing a burner workout and endless miles of rucking with an 80lb pack everyday leading up to the super bowl. How would he play? Not great, right? But that’s essentially what many other military fitness companies were and still are asking from their users?”
Now, we’re not special forces guys. We’re not playing in the Super Bowl but you get the point. This principle can and should be applied to our everyday lives as Midlife Males. What’s the point of being so over conditioned that I can’t take a bike ride with my son? Or the opposite. If you’re so underconditioned that you can’t do it, we need to have a different conversation altogether…
Not sure where to find inspiration or what to do?
Anything and everything you need to know is available to you also on online. Just Google dynamic warmups, yoga flow, active recovery, outdoor workouts and you’ll get an entire laundry list to choose from. Want to save time?
Here are a few of my favorite guy’s that I follow and get inspiration from:
Joe Distefano
Jay Ferrugia
Laird Hamilton
Taj Khan
Brian Gallagher
It’s 8:27am on a gorgeous Sunday morning in Houston, Texas.
How are you going to use it?
