The Journal #20
Stocism. Train. Average. Shredded.
01. PHILOSOPHY - Joe Gaunt
An Introduction to Stoicism
Ok big subject here so below are just some introductory paragraphs for anyone interested in frameworks to help with day to day living. I intend to break down lots of stoic wisdom linked to helping in todays world in future writing.
Personally I got really into stoicism 4/5 years ago. Stoicism aligned with my interests in both psychology and psychotherapy and its influence in modern day therapies to help people with psychological challenges.
Stoicism is a philosophy founded in ancient Greece, emerging around 300 BC and founded by Zeno of Citium, offering a practical guide to living a fulfilling and resilient life. Its teachings have endured through the ages, providing wisdom on how to navigate life's challenges with grace and a level of control.
At its core, Stoicism emphasises the development of personal virtue (values) and wisdom as the path to true happiness. The Stoics believe that we cannot control external events, only our reactions to them. This principle encourages individuals to focus on what lies within their influence, creating a mindset of inner strength and mental toughness.
Central to Stoic philosophy are the four cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. Wisdom involves understanding the world and making sound judgments. Courage is the ability to face difficulties with resolve. Justice relates to treating others fairly and with respect, while temperance is about practising self-control and moderation. One of the things I love about stoicism is that these values have lasted the test of time and still feel so relevant for todays world.
Stoics teach that emotions like anger, fear, and envy are irrational and stem from misguided judgments. That the 'only true evil is moral evil'. By recognising the transient nature of external circumstances and being centred internally in reason, we can achieve a state of equanimity. This does not mean suppressing emotions but rather transforming them through rational thought and self-reflection as much as possible.
Prominent Stoic philosophers such as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius have contributed extensively to the body of Stoic literature. Their works, filled with practical advice and profound insights, into morality, nature, gratitude, friendship, thinking effectively, mindfulness, self improvement, wellbeing and the mind body connection (and much more) remain highly relevant, offering guidance on how to lead a fulfilling life amidst challenges.
However, my favourite modern writer on the subject is Donald Robertson and a number of his books have educated and impacted me significantly on the subject.
To listen or watch more about Stoicism check out this presentation by Adisa Banjoko delivered at The Hundred by NXT45 2023.
02. TRAINING - Jonny Grayshon
Welcome to my 4 week mini series: How to build the perfect training routine
Week 3 of 4 : Getting Specific
This week we will look at tweaking or adjusting a programme to aim at a more specific goal.
Before getting in to the finer details, let’s just get clear on some things that always need to be included, regardless of your goal.
Strength work :
This is key to not only support longevity and mental health but also has a direct transfer to ANY other physical goal, be that looking better, endurance sports, track, field or team sports.
The specific strength work we do to suit the end goal is what we will cover shortly.
Cardio :
Improved cardiovascular health also contributes to a longer healthier life, as well as assisting with a fat loss goal or improving sports performance.
The choice of cardio needs to be considered.
Recovery / injury prevention :
More intense goals will require a stricter recovery protocol to help regenerate the body in the quickest time possible in order to maintain a demanding training programme.
Goals such as maximal strength lifts and contact sports should also factor in preventive work to prep the body for the task ahead.
Foe ease, I have separated out the 3 main goals most of us share:
Power and speed based goals
Strength work :
Stay within a rep range of 1-6 reps with 2-3 minutes rest between sets.
Concentrate on Olympic lifts, compound lifts and plyometrics.
Cardio :
Sled sprints. Hill sprints. Stair sprints.
5-15 second efforts with up to 2 minutes rest between sets.
Recovery / injury prevention :
Use isometric loading to build stronger connective tissue around the joints.
Implement agility drills and varying tempos with explosive work to work on acceleration and deceleration for team sport specific work.
Endurance goals
Strength work :
Very similar to the power and speed work above.
Keeping reps lower will reduce the chance of hypertrophy which isn’t as important when training for endurance.
A strong, but light, body is more favourable than an overly developed, bulky frame which is counter productive for endurance work.
Cardio :
Like above, power and speed work complement long distance work so always include a mixture of both types of training.
Short, sharp efforts, and also longer easier pieces to help build a bigger engine across all energy systems for the goal of improving endurance.
Recovery / injury prevention :
Structuring de-load weeks in to your training programme is a good idea to give the body chance to recover after a tough block.
8-12 hard weeks of training followed by an easy week before going into another 8-12 weeks is a nice way to do it.
Physique goals
Strength work :
Building leantissue and improving body composition and shape is key so a higher rep range of 8-15 reps is favourable for hypertrophy based goals.
Cardio :
Lower intensity, longer steady state cardio would be preferable.
This would be mainly to assist with an extra calorie burn when calories are already low and also help with your recovery from weight lifting.
Note that all activities burn calories so there’s no major right or wrong answer when choosing the things you like. Be mindful that a physique goal would usually involve training within a calorie deficit as a means of reducing body fat and therefore sometimes it’s easier to have a daily walk rather than do an intense HIIT session multiple times a week.
For an average Joe looking to maintain a good level of general strength, fitness and body image, a mixture of all the above is a nice way to keep training interesting.
Personal preference should dictate your choice when it comes to the specifics of what you include within your training programme.
That can be anything from lifting low reps and heavyweights, with long weekend cycles or sets of 15 reps with 5 a side football twice a week.
There is no right or wrong answer.
Just do what you enjoy and what you can sustain for the long term.
The best training programme is the one you are on now!
03. WELLBEING - Mike Bates
Choose your Five A Day carefully.
Two weeks have now passed since the devastating news of the passing of Rob Burrow CBE. One of the most courageous men our generation has had the pleasure of knowing and a talisman for the MND community.
I was away speaking again this week for two separate clients and had plenty of time in the car to reflect on a few things.
I told both audiences a story about Kevin Sinfield CBE.
I’m fortunate to know Kev fairly well. He is an astonishing human being and leader. His legacy and inspirational contribution for his mate Rob Burrow, Rob’s family and the entire MND community is nothing short of heroic.
When Kev speaks, I listen.
Kev says that we are the average of the five people we spend the most amount of time with.
T0 me it is obvious therefore that we have the greatest influence and impact on those five people and in turn they have the greatest influence and impact on us.
It matters on so many levels who those people are.
It could be the biggest decision of our lives.
So who are your five?
Likely your partner or children, probably a colleague or two, maybe a mate.
When you think of their character and the influence they have on you are you happy?
Are you a positive influence on them? Are you invested in their health and happiness so that you feel pulled to contribute towards it?
Are you helping each other to get to where you want to be in life or is one or both of you holding the other back?
This kind of honest reflection is vital to our overall wellbeing and as tough as it can be, letting go of certain people and finding new and more positive influences is the only way to ensure it.
That can sometimes even be those closest to us.
Don’t waste a second with anyone who doesn’t either take or add value to or from your existence.
Put all of your efforts into being the best influence you can be for others.
Choose your five a day carefully.
04. QUOTE
"Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you, they are understating it."
Mike Myers
05. TIP
If you’re like me, and most people, we want to look and feel good.
This is especially true during the summer months when we tend to wear less clothes.
As described above in his mini series on training Jonny explains that in order to improve body composition significantly (look our best) we would need to be in a calorie deficit - consuming less calories than the amount we burn over a period of time.
In 2021 I underwent a brutal weight-cut under Jonny’s supervision and dropped 12kgs of fat to be the leanest I have ever been at 4.9% body fat.
I learned a lot about me and my body over those 12 weeks. It wasn’t easy.
If I’m being honest it wasn’t very healthy either and my performance in most areas suffered but that wasn’t the point. The point was to get shredded and I did.
One of the most helpful tips I learned from Jonny was that we should look at our calorie intake over a week and not just 24 hours.
For years I would yo-yo between eating ‘good’ some days and then having a bad day and feeling guilty about it. This drove an unhealthy relationship between me, food and my body (I’m ashamed to admit that throughout my 20’s a rarely took off my t-shirt on holiday).
Jonny taught me how to ‘bank calories’ during the week to still allow room for treats, social events and the odd slip up on a weekend.
This is vital in ensuring consistency and commitment to the process over time.
In simple terms this involves looking at your total calorie intake over 7 days. For example; if consuming 2000 calories a day would place you into a calorie deficit then the total number of calories you would be working with each week is 14,000.
Because the number is larger it offers us a greater amount of flexibility.
So, if I knew I had a dinner out planned on Saturday and that meant I was likely to consume more than 2000 calories that day it wasn’t a problem. I would consume 1900 calories every other day (and not notice the difference) that week and bank 600 calories extra for the meal. Simple.
For this to work it requires a heap of personal integrity and the best way I’ve found to do that is to track my calories on a daily basis. This is the one habit I have kept from the transformation and still log my calories and foods as a ritual every single day.
I find that it keeps me accountable, allows me to see positive and negative patterns in my eating and means that I can look across the whole week enabling me to still enjoy a takeaway or meal out with the family.
Play the long game. Be kinder to yourself. Look and feel your best.
Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing dad’s out there!
The Journal by NXT45
