You Can't Reap What You Don't Sow

Many cultures around the world measure mastery in decades. Ancient professions and arts require patience as a fact of life. In the west, we pay lip service to patience as a virtue, but it is far from a revered and required element of our daily lives.

We live in the land of the mail-order black belt and the instant ab machine. We expect the 10 Minute Trainer to change our lives. We believe in the power of the $15,000 Range of Motion Machine to deliver our dream body on only 4 minutes of exercise per day.

Don't get me wrong. It doesn't require hours per day of incessant repetitions on the bench press and interminable miles on the treadmill. That's not efficient or effective. But at the same time, getting fit and healthy takes time and it takes commitment.

We're coming from an evolutionary past where our forebears were constantly on the move. They walked up to 12 miles per day. And that's when they weren't running away from something, running after something, lifting something heavy or throwing something really hard. And what do we do all day...?

So we don't live in caves anymore, and that's great. I don't think we'd want it any other way. But we have to somehow supplement for that. Just like we judiciously supplement our nutrition to make up for any insufficiency in our food supply. We need to supplement our movement in the same way.

But that means putting in some work. You can't make up for a day's worth of activity in four minutes. You need to sow some seeds if you want to reap lasting benefits. It CAN be done in 30 to 45 minutes a day of focused and efficient training. But you should also pepper your day with as much movement as you can muster outside of your training.

Walk down the hall to talk to your colleague instead of sending an email. Walk or bike to work if you can. Take a stroll after supper. Take the stairs instead of the escalator. Instead of circling for the closest parking spot, take the the furthest one and walk.

Do a few rounds of FlowFit on your lunch hour and some Intu-Flow periodically throughout your day.

Not only does this stuff add up, it mimics the way our bodies evolved to move. Start methodically sowing some seeds. Spend a bit of time tending them each and every day. Before you know it you will be reaping a harvest that you could never have imagined.