Module 2b: Hope

Maintaining connection. | Mobility and Hope | Somatic Essay

Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

Moving is Breathing and Breathing is Life:

I’ve written before about longevity and performance often coming at the expense of each other. In my opinion this remains undoubtedly true, but the scope appears variable. In preparation for a competition (like a fight) or even a team sport “season”, those levels of performance are intentionally unsustainable. Your longevity in a sport will suffer if you try to maintain a peak constantly – that’s called a plateau.

Pundits will criticize people like Olivia Reeves (US Olympic Team), saying “her spine and hips will be in shambles in 10 years” – citing examples like Ronnie Coleman. That remains to be seen. What is already proven is that at age 21 Ms. Reeves has already collected 2 world championship gold medals and an Olympic Gold Medal.

I maintain my criticism of people that claim to be “longevity experts” for the same reason. Some exclaim that “7 minutes of exercise is the optimal daily dose according to science.” My BJJ black belt took about 1,800 hours of mat time to ear, so at 7 minutes / day you’re going to need to live to 200 to accomplish anything worth talking about.