Current Thoughts
| I recently got the chance to try a racing simulator and drive an F1 race car. It was amazingly cool, not just the experience, but the car itself accelerated, handled, and braked unlike anything I’d ever experienced. This was a machine at it’s peak. The opposite of that would be a car that struggles to both accelerate and brake. That type of car is dangerous to be in. Comparing this to our bodies, a well adapted nervous system has both the ability to accelerate and to break. It can fluctuate between a 1 (stopped) and a 10 (redline). Our bodies were designed to have this ability so we can both relax, rest, and recover and, on the other side, fight or run away from danger. A well tuned nervous can do both. What that looks like in modern times is the ability to both physical, mentally, and emotionally “turn up”. We practice this in training in the form of sprints, interval training, heavy lifts, and other training that requires maximal effort (sorry but barre training and zumba don’t count). We also practice this in maximal recovery: meditation, easy walks, sitting around a camp fire and relaxing with friends. Using the example of a spectrum of 1 to 10, most people’s nervous systems stay at a constant 6 or 7. They never truly take it up through maximal effort and they never truly bring it down. We tend to exist in permanent states of semi-stress. So, what to do? Seek to experience both extremes regularly (at least once a week). Otherwise you’re highly likely to wreck. |
Things I like
| Another quote from John Goodman |
Things to Check out
Have a great week!
David
