Taking the Next Step

We live in a world of comfort and abundance. We are told to warm up, stretch, and activate. We must time our meals so that we can get the most muscle benefits through nutrition. We have our pre-workout, intra-workout, and post-workout supplements. We have scientific data on the right sets and reps, rest periods, and order to train a muscle group in. Does your body really need all of this?

In short - No. This answer comes with a heavy caution label though. Most people are sedentary, do not drink enough water, do not stretch, do not have any idea how to control their body, and do not understand what their body is telling them,. It can take many years and many setbacks to finally figure out what is going on. We start off in tune with our body as children and then through sitting and comfort we loose the connection. IF you have the connection than you can start making a shift towards being ready at all times. You point your toes forward . You stretch continually throughout the day. You keep a steady stream of fuel coming into your body. You stay hydrated constantly. Your shoulders are pulled down and back. You can sense any imbalance in how your muscles are holding your skeleton through the body's receptors. You are past the point of needing to be warmed up. You are always "warm". Another common-sense way to look at this is with a physical labor job of old. This is a common-sense thought argument and in no ways is saying that injury rates or imbalances were lower in a said population but imagine if you were a farmer. Does a farmer get up in the morning and go through a warmup, stretching, and activation ritual? Does the farmer not start work because he hasn't had his pre-farming meal? Is the farmer worried about going catabolic? The farmer is always ready and does work at a moments notice. 

We do not live in the age of the farmer nor are many of us farmers. Should we then think that the lives of forgotten past are somehow better? No. We do live in a world with pre-, intra-, and post-workout nutrition. We do live in a world with scientific data on warm ups, stretching, cool downs, activation, muscle order etc. All these tools allow us to achieve higher levels than before. The trap is that we become neurotic about them thinking a workout is bad or lost if we don't follow the procedure. A farmer still pl;owed the field even if he didn't start the day off with hydrolyzed whey protein, creatine, CLA, and a good multivitamin. Focus on the work at hand and get it done. Silence the negative voice in your head. Do the best damn job that you know how with the information that you have. This is always better than the most scientific but inconsistent workout effort.