Are You a Liability to Yourself?

“Oh, man.. I couldn’t do that stuff. I’d lose my lunch..” Statements like this are common when people explain why they don’t train with us. To which I’d say, whether one trains with us or not is beside the point. While we’re on the topic of gut wrenching efforts, however, maybe we can learn from what would put us on our back.

I personally think high performance body fat percentages, being able to walk on your hands, a double bodyweight back squat, and a quality 5K time are viable physical pursuits. But, what about problematic limitations? Forget about elite fitness, everyone needs basic capacity to survive.

Thinking differently, if running to the end of the block and doing a couple dozen squats makes you sick to your stomach then that means, most literally, you’re a short jog and a few squats away from danger. Most often we talk about our upper end capacity in fitness. “He can bench press 300lbs!” or “She runs marathons!” are viable, exciting descriptions of one’s fitness, but how about having enough fitness to not be a liability to yourself?

Could you run flat out for half a mile? Wrestle for three five minute rounds? Swing a hundred unbroken kettlebell swings? These are modest capacity goals that should be simple boxes to check. If you can’t I’d be alarmed, not because you probably don’t have a six pack or mind blowing fitness skills, but because you’re a human trying to navigate the world.

That mentality of not needing to be the fastest to survive the tiger attack, but just not the slowest might have some real relevance here. Go ahead and tackle some peak performance in your life, but, if it helps, let’s consider the reality of how much of a liability it is to be unable to complete modest physical tasks without being incapacitated.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach