Almost anything you get your hands on these days comes with side effects. In many cases these are displayed in writing on labels, experienced in person or verbally delivered from one person to the next. Having never taken tramadol, I can’t say for sure whether it does make me feel ‘spaced out’… also, having never taken morphine I can’t say for sure that it will make me feel no pain and otherwise, invincible. However it is understood that both ‘medicines’ do offer these side effects.

What about life, or the act of living combined with the way we do it?
Scientifically, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. What goes up, must come down and all that good stuff. All forces remain balanced until something unsettles the balance. This then allows one force to outweigh or outperform the other. This means one force will inevitably continue then, to get stronger or perform better than the opposing force, which over time leads to bigger imbalance as the forces become less able to oppose each other.
I wrote a piece a good while back about homeostasis, and how our body craves it. This piece is essentially skimming over some points touched upon within that article, as well as a few others. The notion of this article actually sprouted from a conversation I was having only yesterday.
The sedentary lifestyle, and the common side effects all point towards Obesity. Obesity is that great taboo spoke about place that nobody wants to visit in their life, yet, indirectly the majority of people we work with are using a vast network of lifestyle coping mechanisms through their own choice that will inevitably deliver them to obesity at some point, whether it’s an express route or the more scenic, slow and steady way you can rely on ‘the modern lifestyle’ to get ya there.
Now, (feeling my age) when I was a lad, I used to walk two miles each way for school, was outdoors most of my out of school time and the ‘Cooks’ had one family car which my dad used for work. 5 days out of the 7 my dad used to be out at the crack of wotsit until early evening so between the rest of us, getting from point A to point B in the week was a solo experience on the shoelace express. We used to walk (or ride my BMX). Something which many people did back then, but now seems to be a lost art. These days you see people from a young age being less active and eating so much refined stuff, it’s almost unbelievable.
As trainers we always get ‘it is easy for you because’ or ‘I wish I could do that’ or ‘can’t you just do it for me?’. The brutal truth is, it’s no more difficult for anyone as it is for someone else. It all comes down to choice. Choice admittedly is influenced by a range of factors, but where there is a choice, there is an option. We are awarded a healthy body with a good immune system because we are more active than some, and eat better than some. Both of which you as the passenger to that place Obesity can achieve. We have more musculature and less fat stores than some because we use our surplus energy to do stuff we take enjoyment from. We aim to use slightly more calories or at least the same as what we consume and with the onslaught of wearable tech there’s no easier or more effective way to calculate that. I don’t mean pumping iron and tensing your guns in the mirror until you pop is the way forward, but if that’s what you spend your surplus energy on, don’t mind us.
The point I stress about is that the balance our body craves can’t be met easily, it involves sacrifice to some degree. Taking the best elements of everything without any hardship isn’t going to happen.
The NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) we have told you about in the past is now at an all time low with WFH, it’s less steps to the loo, it’s less steps to the kitchen, snacks are more plentiful and to glaze the cherries you don’t even have to walk from your parked car anymore. All of this inactivity, extended periods of sitting (again because you choose to) is going to lead to some muscles dominating, and some submitting. You’re going to pull yourself into an awkward position that feels good when you’re sat down, but no good for anything else. Back to the above bit of science… once you get better at sitting, you’ll become stronger and even better at sitting. This makes the distance from where you’re at, to what you want to achieve even more difficult. The less you stand, the weaker you’ll be in the beginning to make your stand when the ‘next stop, Obesity’ light comes on. And it will because it always does.
The people we generally work with or have in the past and still continue to do so are mostly passengers of the obesity express. Thankfully, we’ve helped them change their bad habits, the ones with the most powerful convenience side effects. This has helped them readdress the way they think, and the way they choose.
Over time we’ve dispelled myths about countless things but the bottom line is… it’s ultimately your own choice, there’s always something you can do. They’re your side effects.
CHEER UP though, things move fast. If you act now you might not make it to obesity, and we’re always happy to help out and advise where possible.
Jake.