Physical fitness is for lead learners too

As a Lead Learner, I try to find, analyze, evaluate, and use the best information out there. Here’s an example from a blog post I shared with an Open-Source Learning network at a California high school during the pandemic.

______________________

This page provides some basic information about physical fitness, one of the five fitnesses of Open-Source Learning. It also comes with a story. If you want to skip the story and get right to the practices, scroll down for a no-gear workout plan, and (coming soon) information on nutrition and sleep.

In Open-Source Learning, the lead learner paves the way by demonstrating strategies for seeking out information and people that can help us all grow and improve.

For instance: As 2019 was coming to an end, I felt like I needed to learn more to improve my physical fitness. I was an athlete in high school and college, but that was a long time ago, and – like many Americans – my work and family life was pretty sedentary. I went to the gym, but the old workouts were only getting me so far.

One day I talked with a friend about this and he mentioned a book:

Usually I resist this kind of stuff. I’m generally suspicious of people who sell superficial solutions. That cover? Come on. But I respect the friend who endorsed the book. He’s been a reliable source of information in my life for a long time. So, I decided to give it a shot. I bought the book.

The book grabbed me from the beginning. Instead of YELLING!! promises of six-pack abs, the text started by describing elements of our mindset. I recognized the descriptions of thought patterns that hold us back from achieving our goals.

I have often found that principles of sports psychology can useful in all sorts of learning contexts. The author of the book, Bobby Maximus (the name Robert MacDonald got when he bulked up in high school and college), was speaking my language. So, I read on. Then I did the workouts in the book and I got results.

After 12 weeks of following the workouts in the book to the letter, I had improved by every measure: I was faster, stronger, leaner, and more energetic throughout the day.

But then I hit another plateau. I did the complete workout cycle two more times, and nothing seemed to change. Pretty soon I started to doubt myself – my effort, my form – and I realized that I could only progress so far without a trainer to give me advice and feedback.

I went straight to the source and sent Bobby Maximus an email. We talked a couple times on the phone and he agreed to train me at his gym in Utah. So, the end of last year’s winter break, I got on a plane.

The next morning, before dawn, I headed to Bobby’s gym, which is in a little industrial park just south of Salt Lake City.

Bobby was focused throughout the workout. He wanted me to have some images of my form, so he took some pictures while I worked. You can tell Bobby cares about proper form. You can also tell he doesn’t give a crap about photography. 😂

I came home and hit the gym. The first few weeks went great.

Then the pandemic struck. My gym, along with everything else, has been off-limits ever since. But that’s no reason to stop exercising and challenging ourselves to be our best.

In fact, we have more incentive than ever to get in top shape, because a virus is trying to kill us. The best way to support our immune systems is by maintaining our strength and stamina through healthy exercise, nutrition, and rest.

So here is Bobby’s No-Gear workout. For tips on form, Bobby has posted brief videos for each exercise on his YouTube channel. I’m here to answer questions, and I’m also available to work out online with anyone who’d rather not go it alone.

I am committed to staying in good physical condition and I want you to have the energy you need to be at your best. One key step that helps us with new routines is writing things down, especially where others can see it. So we’re all going to create a “Physical Fitness” category of entries on our course blogs (remember that “blog” is short for web log, and “log” is a synonym for “journal” or “diary”). We’re going to curate a record of what we do every day.

Below is a sample from my own Open-Source Learning physical fitness blog. As you can see, it’s not about being perfect – it’s about being honest with ourselves and doing the best we can to be accountable. That’s the secret sauce to improving our fitness. As we get better at this, and keeping our blog up to date becomes a routine, we will use the same process with our sleep and our nutrition.

30 AUG 2021

One hour on the exercise bike + Day One of Bobby’s no-gear workout. It’s a new month this week, and I’m going to rock September! (Sigh: And then you want to take a selfie to put on your blog, but you drop your glasses, but you’re too tired to stop pedaling and pick them up, so take the pic anyway but you have no idea how the pic looks until after the workout, and it’s goofy, but by then you don’t want to put sweaty clothes back on, so you post it anyway…)

So this is my “What do you mean you haven’t worked out or posted it to your blog yet?” face 😂