I’m attempting to vomit out the most important things I’ve learned over the past 15+ years (yikes) of my physical transformation. Starting meow. This series of letters will be about not only the physiology (bodily stuff), but also the psychology (brainy stuff). Because drowning myself in certain branch of psychology was responsible for more of [...]
I’m attempting to vomit out the most important things I’ve learned over the past 15+ years (yikes) of my physical transformation.
Starting meow.
This series of letters will be about not only the physiology (bodily stuff), but also the psychology (brainy stuff). Because drowning myself in certain branch of psychology was responsible for more of my progress than ANY training method.
My life is like a big bowl of gains a la brains.
Did you know that watching the news can make you more likely to eat junk food?
If you’re foaming at the mouth with interest, know I’ll inevitably stumble back to psychology in later letters.
Back to the topic at hand…
I say “physical transformation” instead of “building muscle” or “losing fat” or “jumping higher” or “doing a backflip” or….
…because my hands are in about a million different buckets.
- There’s the skinny-fat side of me that wants to look good naked and have an “X” shaped physique.
- There’s the athlete side of me that wants to be strong, powerful, and explosive.
- There’s the trickster side of me that wants to actually APPLY the strength and the power, IE: master acrobatic skills, AKA: do flips and twists, otherwise said: survive kinesthetic chaos.
- There’s the bulletproof and movement side of me that wants to be free and doesn’t want to die (or break my foot in five places again) when trying to survive said kinesthetic chaos.
- There’s the meathead side of me that wants to be exostrong, meaning I want to lift heavy things.
- There’s the antimeathead side of me that wants to be endostrong, meaning I want to control my body through space and master bodyweight gymnastics skills.
It’s sort of like this…
Know when you first lay eyes on a car and you just KNOW what that car is all about? It screams I’m built to go fast. Or I’m built to run things over.
That’s what I’ve always wanted.
I wanted to be aerodynamic, and I wanted look aerodynamic. One without the other just didn’t make sense to me, so I’ve never really trained like a bodybuilder. Can’t say I ever wanted to.
I don’t have anything against bodybuilding. A good friend of mine, Jujimufu, is a huge fan of bodybuilding. But it’s just not something I’d plate at a buffet.
Speaking of Jujimufu, he’s the reason I’m here. I found his old website when I was in my early teens, which put me on the path to becoming a backyarder.
When I get to tellin’ my skinny-fat story, you’ll hear all about my body composition woes, including the time a girl told me I had girl boobs. And then my ego was like, lol.
But long before I made a push to lose fat and build muscle, I got into tricking.
There was a sect of tricksters known as backyard tricksters. Backyarders had no formal martial arts, gymnastics, or acrobatic training. They had no facilities or mats.
They just went into their backyard and started chucking tricks.
Yeah. That was me. I’m a backyarder. I wanted to trick. So I went on the computer, saw the stuff I wanted to do, and then tried to do it myself.
I never played any sports in high school, save for recreational basketball for a few months. I’m self-taught in just about every facet of life. I’m not ashamed of this.
I’ve taken this backyard mentality with me into everything I’ve done, including strength (barbell, bodyweight) training.
I’ve learned how to become my own coach.
I’m betting a lot of you reading this are backyarders. You’re your own coach. You’re going alone.
Most programs and resources out there are created by “experts” that work with athletes in person on a full time basis. Their online digs are a side gig. They upchuck something onto the Internet and say, “I work with professionals. In person! Trust me!”
What 99% of said experts don’t understand is that backyarders face an entirely different set of problems that few “experts” / “gurus” / “pros” cater to because they aren’t (and never have been) backyarders.
They haven’t experienced nerd brain. (Nerd brain is the reason I’m writing these letters. You’ll hear more about it later.) Or constant existential meltdown syndrome.
WHAT’S THE VISUAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 10% BODY FAT AND 11% BODY FAT WHEN 99% OF THE TIME YOU’RE WEARING A SHIRT? WHAT ABOUT 12% BODY FAT? CAN ANYONE BUT ME TELL THE DIFFERENCE? WHY DON’T I JUST EAT THIS ENTIRE JAR OF PEANUT BUTTER RIGHT NOW? I’M HUMAN. I MAY DIE TOMMORROW. WHAT IF ZOMBIES STRIKE AND I DIE BECAUSE I’VE GOT NO BODY FAT AND CAN’T LIVE LONG WITHOUT FOOD?
Once again, why matters of psychology are just as important (if not more important) than matters of physiology.
For me, at least.
Which is why my training philosophy is more or less the physical version of the position of fuck you.
Alas, I’m writing too much. What else is new? Cut me some slack. This is a big change for me. I’m allowed a few moments of personal self indulgence if the majority of what’s to come is useful to you, right?
Nowwww, whether or not the majority these letters will be useful to you is something we’ll find out in the future. And in order reach the future, I have to stop rambling and move the conversation along.
Queue the incredibly non-subtle transition…
So here we are.
At the beginning.
Talking about physical transformation. Talking about losing fat, building muscle, jumping higher, and learning acrobatics. Talking about being aerodynamic.
Talking about upgrading yourself.
Talking about change.
Ohhh. Change. This is a good place to start.
I have a secret to tell you about change. I’ve been holding in for a while.
I tell you all about it in the next letter.