Try a Wild New Year challenge
Please NO NO NO not another year gone by… well I’m afraid it has – but here’s a thought .. it is a new year, time for a resolution, a goal, something to make 2012 stand out against other years – so what’s it gonna be – lose weight, get fit, stop drinking , stop smoking (again), save money or get the finances into order. Hmmm they sound very much like the resolutions on 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 …
I’m writing this on the 9th January – research has shown that today is the day most people break – 9 days of jogging, 9 days of no alcohol, 9 days of diet – it’s enough, the human mind just hates doing the things it hates. One of the main reasons we end up at best indifferent or worst hating an activity, is boredom – we get bored. The gyms and conventional fitness industry loves this – it’s their bread and butter – everyone signing up to the gym on a year contract (3-6 month cancellation clause) and all they have to do is brace themselves for an oversubscribed 9 days… from then on the gym with it’s 3000 members, with a capacity for 300, breezes through the rest of the year without a worry and the direct debits keep rolling in.
So how do we get past today, the 9th day… how do we continue our resolution into February, March, April into 2013, 2014. Well the first task is not to make our resolution a punishment – many resolutions are born out of guilt and there is no better time to feel guilty than after the festive season – ate excessively, drank excessively, spent way too much money and maybe even stepped over the line with a colleague at the office Xmas party.
We use punishment as a remedy for guilt and have done for centuries not only in legal but also religious and social systems and particularly in our personal lives.
The human mind and body are really not partial to punishment but respond well to the converse learning strategy of reward and reinforcement. So not surprisingly, day 9 into our punishment regime, we really have to dig deep to override our aversion to the tasks we have set ourselves.
One of the best antidotes for boredom is to learn something new … a skill, a challenge, something we thought we could never do – but most importantly it has to be fun. If it’s a physical skill of any kind, there will be fitness and wellbeing carryover. Set a challenge rather than a resolution – if you want a resolution make it a reward based one. How about you stop drinking in January but at the same time you learn to juggle – now if you manage two cycles of juggling with three balls, that has to be worth a glass of wine at dinner.
If you want to get fit, strong, elastic, confident, courageous and exuberant , all natural qualities of the human animal, try a movement challenge, slacklining, balance work, precision jumping, vaulting , tree climbing– there are a whole host of new skills you can master and get super fit at the same time.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do – BEGIN IT
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it – Goethe
If you think you have missed the boat for New Years challenges because it’s now mid January, you are just kidding yourself – start now !
Here are some ideas just to kick off 2012 –
Slacklining – this is a sport/activity growing and whirlwind speed. Attach a webbing strap (like a truck tie-down) between 2 trees about 2 feet off the ground and then balance or walk along it. Amazing for balance, muscle tone, strength, neuromuscular conditioning, proprioceptive conditioning and of course the exhilaration or taking a challenge and nailing it !!
Parkour/Freerunning moves
Like with all new skills – slow, small incremental improvements, not only build the skill but also develop confidence – a vital ingredient of freerunning.
- Vaulting - Le
aping an object but using your hands for support or to spring off.- Jumping – Jumps can be on and off objects of different heights or precision jumping which is more of a horizontal ‘long jump’ but landing with precision and control. Try 20 minutes of jumping and let me know how your abs feel the next day – you might think your legs are going to suffer but trust me – you’ll be surprised but what muscles are telling you they’ve been working.
- Balancing – Balance on anything or nothing – try standing on one leg with your eyes closed – walk along a log or branch near the ground – get a slackline.
- Climbing – Climb on anything (without getting arrested) – walls, scaffolding, fences but the best natural climbing objects are obviously trees – they are great to grip, they have a range of branch diameters and grips plus they will always give you energy – man-made objects take energy.
- Wall jumps -Jumping onto or off walls or running up and along walls.
Juggling – (actually I learnt to juggle whilst I was writing this article) – get onto the internet, there are some great sites for learning this skill. Great for hand-eye coordination, relaxation and fun.
Frisbee – there are many ways to throw a Frisbee but most take practice and concentration – once you’ve mastered a few, find an ultimate Frisbee game in your local area – amazing exercise throughout the year, very social – muddy winter games are often the most fun.
Try a new conventional sport
Football – fast, elastic, skilful and social
Rugby/Touch Rugby – fast, elastic, skilful and social
Conventional sports normally have the advantage of having plenty of teams or opportunities to join in – the disadvantage is if you are just starting out it’s harder to find people of your own standard – don’t give up – many clubs have a novice or newbees teams.
Finally make sure you are having fun – play has been proven to have extraordinary benefits for both our physical and mental health – amazingly play produces BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) which promotes brain cell growth and connections – play makes you clever. One of the definitions of play is that it’s purposeless – it doesn’t help acquiring wealth, assets or food, its voluntary and provides a continuation desire – we want to keep playing.
What is amazing is that some of the last few years resolutions come to fruition without you even realizing – lose weight, get fitter and leaner, be more social, make more time for yourself and save money – Eureka !!
Try and do it outside – preferably in nature. As human animals we have an innate attraction and even homesickness for nature. Again science tells us nature and the outdoors has huge benefits for physical and mental health.
And finally, in our gloomy economic times, most of these activities are virtually free – if you want to splash out on a slackline (which I highly recommend) it will cost you less than a month’s membership of a gym and from then on it’s free.
If you need inspiration – click through to the Wildfitness website and come and join on a holiday – we’ll be doing most of the above…
Do it now – 2012 is dying to be the year you keep you resolutions.
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso
Colin Holding January 2012
