This week we’ll start our ‘book club’ discussion of Grant Molyneux’s pdf eBook ‘Effortless Exercise‘ to strengthen our understanding and motivation for more consistent, satisfying, injury-free training (in any tri sport!).
I sent out a description and invitation to you a couple weeks ago. This is just a reminder in case you wanted to take advantage of the little discount on the eBook in the TI Store, and join us for the weekly discussions I have set up on BaseCamp . These two links here will take you to the information.
I would like to see you start with us at the beginning for best momentum, but if you hesitate don’t worry. I can add you into the discussion anytime, and you can go back to read what everyone has said up to that point.
Be well and swim prosperously!
- Coach Mat
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Hi Mat
I am currently reading the ‘Effortless exercise’ ebook.
During my pool sessions, I am used to listen to my body rather than follow a rigid workout plan :
But how can I expand my comfort zone while staying in effortless exercise?
It sounds me opposite notions.
Regards
JMarc from France
Hello JMarc,
This may deserve a blog post to answer this question because it brings up an important point that may or may not become clear to you when reading Effortless Exercise.
The ‘effortless’ feeling is one of perception, not of actual lack of exertion. If I can jump right to the point – when set up the right conditions, your body will crave working hard and love it because it feels good. That is the result of following effortless exercise principles. Follow them to be pulled into higher physical effort and performance by maintaining peak positive motivation, rather than having to push yourself into it and requiring negative pressure to endure workouts. It is based on the premise that the body wants to perform at highest ability, to exert itself and to be challenged more and more – but the body will get there by a certain internally directed path, not an externally imposed one. It is not mind-over-biology, but mind-integrated-with-biology. Coach Grant trains serious, high level athletes and you can bet they are working hard to achieve their results in races, but (as I interpret it) they have created an atmosphere of peace and enjoyment in the most biological sense in their training process and in their racing. That is the promise of this approach.
I started to address some of these ideas in this post http://wp.me/pR9zj-pQ
Another point to keep in mind is that the brain, and therefore the body, finds Flow State (that high state of peak harmony and performance that athletes, artists, musicians experience) by maintaining the right level of challenge on the brain and the body – not too much and not too little. It is a dynamic state. One cannot just relax by lowering exertion in swimming and then stay in that state of enjoyment – the brain and body will grow restless and beg you to pick up the challenge. Staying on that cutting edge is the key to Flow State, if I understand it and experience it correctly.