3)

3rd Priority – Exercise, Breath Work, Oxygen and Physical Health

50% of our energy/focus goest to first priority, 25% energy/focus goes to second priority, 12.5% to this third exercise priority, 6.25% to fourth priority, 3.125% to fifth priority and 1.5625% to sixth priority … if we have 112 hrs/week to spend on health, we spend 56 hrs on first priority, 28 hrs on second priority, 14 hrs on this third priority, 7 hrs on fourth priority, 3.5 hrs on the fifth priority [in addition to the 56 hrs we spend sleeping] and 1.75 hrs/week on sixth priority. 14 hrs/week on exercise is about right; maybe we’d like to spend more time, but where are we going to rob the time from?

We spend 840 minutes/week on this priority … that’s 2 hrs/day … it’s not just exercising, but it’s also about planning our exercise regimens and worksessions.

Exercise itself is the best MEASURE of physical health, ie you don’t need a FitBit, you need to exercise regularly so that you have a modicum of body awareness so that can not only tell if your physical health is fucked BUT also have some idea of how badly fucked it is … as you age, you should EXPECT that you might in pain, right away after waking up and being in bed overnight … that’s sort of just the way it might be … but you should have some body awareness of what kinds of exercises or stretches you need to do, in order to get the knots and kinks out.

Although, exercise IS about doing exercises correctly, in the proper form; to start with, exercise IS entirely about just getting going, just getting moving, just getting the process of exercising underway.

I work on adding to, revising, refactoring my Weekly Schedule in order to make the routine all NEW again. I NEED to just keep THINKING about improving movement and improving different ways to practice moving … I need to always be optimizing. I am not hardwired to leave things alone.

It’s ESSENTIAL for my level of interest and motivation to keep THINKING about the discipline of getting better, getting in more high quality, doing more impactful exercises … because, fundamentally, deep down … I HATE EXERCISE.

What this means is that I cannot really tolerate the mental comfort of just doing the same old JUNK repititions over and over again … ALTHOUGH, I get it … on some things, like doing pushups or burpees, it IS about just getting the same old HIGH QUALITY repititions in. But, fundamentally, deep down … I REALLY HATE EXERCISE … so if I’m not improving my exercise regimen, I will ABSOLUTELY NOT just do it. Fundamentally, deep down … I HATE EXERCISE!

Rate of Percieved Exertion (RPE)

Getting your Rate of Percieved Exertion (RPE) for 3-4 hours per week to optimal levels is about increasing your VO2 max with lower intensity zone 2 cardio … the amount of steps does not really matter, although keeping score of steps certainly can help motivate and reassure a person – practically, step count doesn’t matter … what DOES matter is getting your RPE to optimal levels for 3-4 hours per week.

The percieved exertion in your exercises for 3-4 hours per week is that point which you cannot quite carry on a conversation comfortably.

In other words, you’re pushing it ever so slightly, but you are not going flat out; you might not even be at a jog pace. At that optimal RPE level, you are aware of the exertion, but you are not on the verge of gasping for breath or even close to that where you just need to focus on breathing because you could not possibly carry on a conversation.

Obviously, the optimal level of RPE for you is increase as you exercise more. You are going to be moving faster or throwing more snow or doing the repititions faster … as you get more fit in your exercise routine.

Vigorous Lifestyle Intermittent Physical Activity (VILPA)

BEFORE anything else, make it point to always be incorporating more Vigorous Lifestyle Intermittent Physical Activity (VILPA) throughout the day.

This means doing chores rather than being bored or wanting to just sit … it’s about yardwork and moving soil, turning compost, placing landcaping materials and never using power equipment to mow or shovel snow … inside, it’s about housekeeping/5Sing – maybe picking out one room per day to focus on … in terms of stuff, it’s about packing, re-packing, 5Sing, getting rid of stuff and repacking for a better organized pack … it’s about reading and reading in different places; moving boxes of books up and down stairs … there’s no good reason to try to save steps. VILPA is not not just vigorous houseskeeping or chores or 5S … it’s also important to NEVER DRIVE ANYWHERE THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO DRIVE, but rather add in the sprinting/speed walking breaks … because sets of calisthenics reps or time on the exercycle are just not enough … ALWAYS BE VILPA-ING

Time Management

Generally, I kinda sorta try really hard to more or less just PUSH for more VILPA … before actually devoting time to exercising.

For me, as a knowledge worker, I also need to take breaks to go for walks to clear my head, get some fresh air, and JUST THIHK … without coding or writing or reading or revising code or looking at a screen … I don’t have a schedule for walks, other than one dictated by the outdoor weather … I mostly just walk when I need to. But when I do walk, I try to get that RPE up to optimal levels … and I try to walk over uneven terrain.

When I am actually exercising for just the sake of exercising, ie doing calesthenics or drills, I stick with the Tabata HIIT workout format … with flexibility and exercise breaks every half hour or so … it’s more important to just look for ways to incorporate extra VILPA into your day, taking little breaks, without being too dogmatic or rigid about this regimen … but it does helps to have a general Tabata time mgmt structure or routine to fall back upon, without thinking too much about it.

I try to do one tabata HIIT as a break from work every half hour … maybe work is break from the tabatas … a tabata is an INTENSELY focused push … a person can tolerate 4 minutes of anything … thus that’s the tabata workout format.

Each 16 hr workday allows for 32 four-minute tabata workouts … but there are interruptions like phone calls or other unplanned things throughout the day that mean just aiming for a number like 20 tabatas/day is going to be pretty aggressive.

A tabata itself involves 8 sets of reps … each set lasts for 20s of particulary intense work to get in as many good reps as possible … then, it’s a matter resting or, more accurately, going back mentally through the thinkering one has already done in the past about the most right way or bestest-of-all ways to DO next upcoming 20 seconds for 10s … repeat this 7X to get the 8 sets.