The Costs of Being Less Human

The Breaking Muscle Podcast

Most of our societal problems stem from not respecting our nature, chiefly our natural inclinations for movement, nutritious food, and time outdoors away from digital stimulation. There is a community role in fitness and promoting healthy lifestyle change. Eating healthier and working out are far harder to do against the tide of a culture that doesn’t value these things, and our education system fails to create any understanding of competency in physical literacy or nutrition.

Justin Lind and Shane Trotter explore these issues and more. They make a case for shifting your training mindset toward skill acquisition, and examine why kettlebells and calisthenics are ideal tools for this approach. They discuss the societal causes of poor mental health that may relate to the rise of mass shootings, exploring the role of an environment devoid of outlets for physical, mental, and emotional health. This is a thought-provoking discussion that touches on everything from the relative academic performance of boys and girls, to play, rites of passage, and physical education.

Mental health and physical health cannot be conceived of separately. We should seek to train the whole person with an understanding of the inseparable dependency of our physical, emotional, and mental states. People are starving for what the fitness community offers. It is up to us to bring them in the door.