Dispatch #32
Meditation tips for beginners, 3 rules for training strength AND conditioning, making friends as an adult, and a couple of cultural recommendations to make your day a little brighter.
Happy Friday, kids.
The baseball season is officially underway, which to me is the true start of spring. Despite a shaky showing from the starting pitcher, the Blue Jays managed to pull out a win in their opener against St. Louis. I have a feeling this is going to be a theme throughout the season—those big bats are going to keep on bailing out a weak and inconsistent pitching staff. Still…THIS IS OUR YEAR!
Along with ushering in America’s Favourite Pastime, the spring is when many of us start to take our training outside. I’ve already heard from a few of my online clients; they’ve sent me questions asking for ways to incorporate outdoor activity into their weekly workouts. The easiest way is to ditch your car as often as possible. Walk, run, bike, rollerblade, roller skate, skateboard—there are all sorts of options for sneaking in some cardio throughout your day, especially as the weather warms. Don’t overthink it. Just do it (Hmmm…”just do it”….that’s a catchy slogan, isn’t it 🤔).
Maybe you’re looking for a more scientific way to combine cardio into your workouts? If so, I’ve got you covered. Check out the article below from Joel Jamieson, one of the world’s foremost experts on conditioning. I’ve got that, plus a whole lot more on today’s agenda. Without further ado, let’s get to it.
Brain & Body
Meditation for Beginners: 20 Practical Tips
I’m not the most disciplined meditator on the block, but I do believe in the practice. The benefits are almost immediate—my inner world become more calm, my mind’s eye more focused. And these benefits, they translate to the physical realm too; a relaxed mind = a relaxed body.
If you’re new to meditation or curious but don’t know where to begin, this article from Zen Habits offers 20 practical tips. Numbers 1 & 3 strike me as the most important. As with any new endeavour, it’s best to start small. Sit in a quiet room for a few minutes and pay attention to what happens. Don’t worry about “getting it right”, just turn your attention to your breath and try not to control anything. Let thoughts arise. Let them fade away.
(Here’s a special offer for readers of this newsletter: one free month of Waking Up, the meditation app I’ve been using for the past few years. Enjoy!)
Strength AND Conditioning: 3 Rules for Combining Both Into a Single Program
Despite what CrossFitters may tell you, the idea of combining multiple training methods into a single workout isn’t new. Athletes have been incorporating complimentary protocols into their training sessions forever, but the first time I remember hearing about this approach was when Nike launched their Air Trainers with the legendary “Bo Knows” ad campaign back in 1990.
Gym people tend to align themselves with specific tribes: runners run, lifters lift, yogis yoga. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can lead to imbalances. This is why cross-training is so important—it ensures both your cardiovascular and muscular systems are operating on an even keel. Unless you want to be jacked with no motor or a string bean who can run all day long, I encourage all gym-goers to heed the advice offered in this piece.
Throbbing Neck Pain After Push-Ups? Try This Simple Modification
This article isn’t particularly well-written and isn’t at all entertaining, but finding it did help to solve a long-lingering problem, a problem that could very well be afflicting some of you readers.
It doesn’t always happen, but from time to time the left portion of my upper trapezius muscle becomes tight and painful when I perform push-ups. As the article explains:
“…during a push-up, the upper trapezius muscles elevate the shoulder blades and rotate them upward as you move into the plank position. Once you are in the push-up position, your trapezius muscles continue to contract to help hold your body straight as you perform the exercise.
However, the upper trap muscles can fire too much sometimes, leading to potential injury. Weakness or injury in other shoulder muscles, such as your rotator cuff, may cause your upper traps to work harder to compensate. If your upper traps are overactive during push-ups, it can tip the shoulder blades forward, straining your neck and pinching tendons in your shoulder joints.”
If this awful feeling is something you’re familiar with, well, the solution couldn’t be any more simple: just place your hands further apart. A wide hand placement—just a bit wider than the shoulders—takes some of the heat off the upper traps. Now, keep in mind studies have shown that a wider hand placement slightly reduces activation of the pectoralis major (your main chest muscles), so if push-ups hurt your neck but maximizing your chest development is a priority, you may want to consider another exercise all together.
Heart & Soul
How to Make Friends as an Adult
During the pandemic Jo & I moved to a new city, a city that’s at least a 90-minute drive from our former life. This experience has given me a newfound appreciation for the friends I have, as making new friends as an adult ain’t exactly easy. This article offers some insight into why that is and offers some actionable advice, should you be seeking to introduce some fresh blood into your social circle.
I stopped eating animal products sometime around age 30. Up until that point, I’d been a casual sort of vegetarian, the kind that eats eggs and fish and cheese (okay fine, and the occasional steak). Morals and ethics didn’t play much of a role in my dietary choices; I simply ate what I ate because I liked it and that was that.
Then, one fateful day, I found myself watching a documentary called Earthlings. This film illustrates, in graphic detail, just how horribly humans treat the animals we share our world with. I don’t think I lasted more than 30 minutes before I turned the TV off in tears. I’ve been a fairly committed vegan ever since, and will continue to be one until the day I die, though this article has definitely served up some food for thought.
Sam Lipsyte is one of my favourite modern writers. He’s funny, intelligent, introspective and wise—on top of which he also knows a whole lot about music, a fact that’s on full display in his latest novel.
A sort of punk rock murder mystery, this story takes place in the lower east side of early 90’s Manhattan, where our hero, Jack Shit, is on a quest to find his missing heroin junkie friend, The Banished Earl, who may or may not have been killed by one of Donald Trump’s bodyguards. Highly recommended to anyone who knows Iggy Pop’s real name and what the “MC” stands for in the MC5.
Social Spotlight
It’s the most simple ideas that often impress the most. Take Radiooooo, for example. Want to know what tunes people were listening to in France during the Great Depression? How about Laos in 1980s? Or Canada in the 40s? Radiooooo let’s you do that and more.
What I love most about Radiooooo is that all of the content is user-generated. Think of it as a social network where, instead of everyone posting selfies and pictures of their dogs, members share esoteric songs from across the globe. Users can experience Radioooo for free, however the real fun begins when you unlock all the cool features with a paid membership.
That’s all for this week. Thank you for spending some of your time with me, I truly appreciate each and every eyeball that scans these pages. If found any of these stories interesting or helpful, please share my newsletter with your family, friends and social networks. And if you really want to support my work, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
- P