Less is More
On the way to work, I witnessed two joes running along the highway. They were side stepping trash and suffering the stares of every bored commuter on the road. They were light years from anything in either direction.
I know I sound like a comedian whose run out of material here but…
What practical purpose does being able to run twenty-six straight miles have? When was the last time you asked directions to the bathroom and they replied, “Uh, yea, take a right down the hall, go about twenty-six miles, and it’s the first door on your right.”
I understand the health benefits of staying in shape. But where do the benifits begin to lessen? You could still live well into your ninties by running three miles four times a week. (Heck, I know folks who grew old on beef fat and cigeretts and still won’t die.)
When you push your body’s limits, you grow stronger but you also risk injury. And while recovering, you must endure a precipitous fall from the lofty performance heights you’ve worked so hard to achieve. I know this from experience.
Training and conditioning are valuable but there isn’t a good reason to press the limits of the human body when you can maintain your health with as little as a good nightly walk. Much of the same is true for light weight training, which keeps bones and tissues strong. If it is done consistently.
Since this is starting to sound like a normal blog, here’s a bonus story…
My calves are freakishly large. Think softballs covered with skin and hair.
They come up so often in conversations that I began making up stories about them. I would drop phrases like, “Radioacive accident” and “Bio-mechanical advancements.”
Then I began telling people they were silicone implants. I point to a permanent knot in my right calf that sticks out a bit.
“Yea, that’s the nozzle where the doctors injected the silicone. They cost me about four thousand dollars total but it was worth it. I just cannot get them tatooed or I risk springing a leak. You know what I mean.”
When delivered with a with a straight face, my story usually sticks at least for a few seconds.
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