Training Principles (ENGLISH)

Ok, så jag skrev större delen av det här inlägget innan jag kom fram till att bloggen skulle vara på svenska, varpå inlägget nedanför är på engelska. Detta är även anledningen till att syskoninlägget Inspired by - How To Think About Exercise (Damon Young) (ENGLISH) är på engelska. Måhända var det rätt beslut att ha bloggen på svenska av den enkla anledningen att jag blir så all over the place på engelska, so very punny, och därmed även so very alienating för andra, so very writing stuff for myself. För när jag skriver för mig själv så skriver jag på engelska, och när jag skriver på svenska så gör jag det primärt för en publik larger than one, varpå my writing Swedish har blivit mycket mer ordnad än my writing English. Men idag får ni helt enkelt stå ut.

§1 Chase numbers, not pain
1.1 When you're at it, chase skirts. And don't forget to wear them, as well. PS: Chasing pain while in the process of chasing skirts is OK. Pain sharpens the senses, makes you go all tingly, reminds you of what liberty looks like, reminds you of the poisons we pick and, in picking, consecrate. As in - Is this what I want, and how willing am I to suffer for it? Pain in this sense is a test of value, sharpening our perception of what is worthwhile and what we are willing to sacrifice to get it*. Exercising ones skirt-chasing abilities, precicely because of its discomfort, is a touchstone for an emancipated existence.
1.2 When I come to think of it, chasing numbers isn't the way to go. At least not exclusively. I mean you can only do your best, and trying to set the weight you want to lift at the end of the year at the beginning of the year is probably not as productive as focusing on the how of your achieving said result at the end of the year.

§2 The person who squats the most weight when they die, wins
2.1 I'm in it for the long (U-)haul (syndrome).
2.2 Dying while squatting doesn't count as a win.

§3 Always improve
3.1 That doesn't really make sense, does it? One can have a principle of going through with one's commitments, but one can't really control the outcome of those commitments (see §1.2). And let's not forget that stepping back is part of improvement. Knowing that, we can at least always improve our wisdom.
3.2 One cannot not improve (do not see §3.1). In recognizing this ultimate truth, we shall know ourselves.

§4 Satisfice instead of optimize
4.1 The perfect is the enemy of the good. Through decision-making and goal setting one goes through the motions, one step at a time (see §1.2).
4.2 In satisficing, you make room for the process, and hopefully stay more or less injury free (see §2). Ultimately, is is not for you to decide what you should be able to lift -  that is up to Brodin and the Iron Spirit.

§5 Believe in yourself
5.1 Go beyond dogma, put things to the test, and be confident in your ability to decide what's best for you. Give yourself permission to shine.
5.2 Pride is a sign of existential responsibility. We do not attend less to the divine or The Great Work when we derive pleasure from ourselves and our swollen muscles and shiny, wet skin, than when we attend to forces beyond and above us. In making ourselves a source of beauty and joy, it is not sin but virtue we have accomplished. We may be Sisyphus, toiling under forces greater than ourselves, but we are also the rock which Sisyphus rolls, the very force greater than ourselves**. And though the rock never reaches the summit, we take pride in our rolling it and our All-Spotting it - one must imagine Sisyphus happy. And what is the prize for this eternal toiling? A greater yet capacity to strive, and a greater yet capacity to feel pride and be humble about ones striving and accomplishments. Because if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.



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* How To Think About Exercise, Damon Young

**Did I ever tell you the story about the footsteps in the sand and there are two sets of footsteps together, because some of them are God's except there aren't always two of them. And the woman says to God, where were you when I was in trouble? And he says, that was me carrying you...
– Zelda, The Sandman: Kindly Ones