Now that you’re armed with some expectations and the backyard-goonie mindset, let’s reverse back to the upper-left hand brick. Actually, I should say your upper-left hand brick. You can be here for many reasons. Some of you only want to do one or two things, like lose fat and build muscle. Others want to do that on [...]
Now that you’re armed with some expectations and the backyard-goonie mindset, let’s reverse back to the upper-left hand brick. Actually, I should say your upper-left hand brick.
You can be here for many reasons. Some of you only want to do one or two things, like lose fat and build muscle. Others want to do that on top of gymnastics or tricking. But there’s probably one thing that eats at you the most.
This is your primary point of stuckness. This is your upper-left hand brick. Until you're unstuck, nothing else matters.
Points of possible stuckness
I take pride in being more than a one trick pony. Part of me has always wanted to look good, but I don't take it as seriously as many. Some get all bent out of shape if their non-dominant arm is 0.5 inches smaller than their dominant arm. Truthfully, I'm not that guy. But I won't lie: I do have my own set of physique quirks, so I'm not one to judge.
On top of this, I have this whole tricking-athletic thing going on. I started tricking even before I got into the body composition side of things, so it's been a big part of my life. It's shaped my lower body training to be power and fast twitch oriented.
And I suppose, even on top of that, I have a gymnastics side — playing on gymnastics rings and failing miserably with the basic holds. Even though I'm not great, it's a huge love of mine now. I put this in a separate “bucket” because it's not the training most would associate with “physique” training.
So if you wanted to summarize, you could say that it'd be a mixture of barbell training, bodyweight-gymnastics training, fast twitch acrobatic mischief, the general concerns that come with being more of an athlete (injuries, recovery), and the general philosophical crises that come with thinking about all of this more than any human being should.
Although I've basically been rambling about myself, this is of huge importance to you because . . .
How do you go about finding out where to start if you have more than one interest?
It might be trite, but it's all about the upper-left hand brick. What do you want to accomplish most? What “wrecks” your life more than anything else? Whatever that is, put most of your energy into that.
For me, my biggest point of stuckness was skinny-fat syndrome. No matter how much I tried to tell myself that being a vane douchebag that cared about something as trivial as physical appearance didn't make sense, I never convinced myself. (I think I now know why, but I'll save that for a separate essay soon-to-come. It could be my most favorite article ever written.)
So right now, I train a lot of gymnastics skills and care less about pure muscle building stuff because I've since become “unstuck” in the latter arena. This sort of relationship is of huge importance, and we will return to it soon. First, we have to talk about the Saga Theory.
The Saga Theory and it's importance
The Saga Theory puts a long term perspective on everything you want to accomplish, which contrasts the instant gimmicky solutions that fill the fitness industry. The Saga Theory basically looks like this: you’re entire lifespan in this space is an arc—a journey. Throughout this arc, there are distinct “stories” with a concise thing to conquer.
Sagas are defined by stuckness. Whatever has you stuck, that's your current Saga. Most of your energy should go towards getting unstuck. Anything else you want doesn't have to be totally neglected, but it shouldn't be prioritized.
Here's a look at my Sagas.
- Skinny-Fat Saga: body image, fat loss (stubborn fat loss), basic barbell and bodyweight training, beginner muscle philosophy
- unCrossFit Saga: advanced barbell and bodyweight training geared towards acrobatic fast twitch mischief and further building the “X” physique
- unCrossFit G Saga: the above, but with the inclusion of gymnastics skills
- Backyard Tricking Saga: self taught fast twitch acrobatic mischief
- Intermittent Fasting Saga: building muscle without getting fat
- Sophist Saga: philosophical ramblings that manifest inside of someone that's thought way too much about this stuff
The important thing to realize about each of these is that they don't overlap. When one being lived, others are either already accomplished and can be easily sustained, or done just enough to dabble.
This is where we will pick up where we left off earlier — how to manage the Sagas.
Do what you want, not what someone else wants
And so you see that this place is about a specific kind of training for a specific kind of person. You don't see me talk much about running, be it distance running or sprinting, unless it falls within the Skinny-Fat Saga.
Why?
Because it doesn't fit into any other Saga, really. This is where I diverge from many and say that I don't believe there's an all encompassing human “standard.” I think the idea of saying that “humans are meant for ‘whatever'” is pointless because, quite frankly, it doesn't matter what humans were meant for. We no longer live those paleo lives. (I must stop here, as this kind of rant is something that I expect to come in the unCrossFit Saga.)
Most of you living in this world owe it to yourself not to live up to some kind of fabled standard, but to rather train and do what you enjoy. Love running marathons? Great. Go run a lot of them. And give everyone that says they're stupid the middle finger as you run. Having said that, if you're looking for tips on running said marathon, I'm not the guy for you.
Case in point: I don't really enjoy sprinting, but I do enjoy the fat loss benefits of sprinting. So when trying to lose fat, I'll sprint. But when I'm not trying to lose fat? I won't sprint.
That's what the Saga Theory helps you do: delegate importance.
The importance of the Sagas
The Sagas help you identify your journey. Find out everything you want to do, and put each primary goal into one Saga, knowing that conquering more than one villain at the same time is tough.
Back to an example I gave in the second essay: have you proven something to yourself?
The Sagas are your proof.
After the Skinny-Fat Saga, I knew I could lose fat. I defeated that enemy, and it was time to move onto another one.
The Sagas are also important because they define things to come. This entire collection of essays started on the simple premise that I felt I was adding more confusion to the mix, and part of that was because many different people visit this blog. Some blog posts written for those in the Sophist Saga would confuse the jeebus out of someone in the Skinny-Fat Saga.
Now it's easier. Any fat loss concerns: Skinny-Fat Saga. Nutrition concerns as they relate to building muscle: Intermittent Fasting Saga. Gymnastics training: unCrossFit G Saga. And they're all pieced together in some sort of sequence, which will be revealed over time.
Coping with the Sagas
This world is tough. I said so in the first essay. What's equally tough is coping with something like the Saga Theory, which is basically a long term look at how to accomplish your goals.
Being a goonie is one thing. Coming to terms with your stuckness, and then even breaking it down into bits to attack individually is something else entirely. In the next two essays, I'll give you some perspective on what the Saga Theory really means — the second essay being that one that I said is one of my favorite pieces to date.
And then after those, we'll really begin to dive into each Saga.
+++++
Photo Credit: stairs, multitasker