There is a section of a creek here in Loudoun County that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s a secret, so I won’t tell you where it is. My friend Dave Hudgens (pictured above) showed it to me, and his friend showed it to him a long time ago. Over the past few years, Dave and I have spent cold winter mornings paddling our kayaks down that creek in the dark. Once we reach our destination, we carefully place decoys in the water and on the bank. Then we wait for the sunrise and for ducks to fly. After the hunt, we fight the flow back upstream to where we parked the trucks. It’s never an easy trip out, but it’s especially spicy when the water is high.

On our most recent trip, I asked Dave why the friend who showed him the spot never hunts with us. It was still dark, our headlamps lighting our way downstream, our vision obscured by the mist rising off the water.

“Well, you know we used to be able to float downstream to get out, then a development was built and we couldn’t use that pickup point anymore. So, as soon as we had to start paddling back upstream to get out, he didn’t want to do it anymore.”

Look, I don’t know this guy or why exactly he made the choice to stop hunting that spot once it was necessary to paddle back upstream. It did sound like the physical strain of paddling back upstream was an issue. But I’ll be careful not to judge him. And I’ll also say that I’m thankful for him. Without him showing Dave that spot, Dave never would have shown me. My life would be poorer.

We can, however, deduce a mindset from the choice he made. It’s one of avoidance. You can’t hold that mindset and get the most out of life.

As soon as we shy away and start making decisions that lead us toward taking it easy on ourselves, we’re fucked. Shying away, avoiding, becomes the default setting. Each time we’re presented with something physical, it gets easier and easier to avoid it. Then, all of a sudden, we’re out of options, or our life is so drastically limited we’re confined to only mental space. The body, once a wonderful, experience-creating tool, is now a problem. It’s a slow roll to the bottom of the hill.

But you can fight that roll. You can keep saying yes. And it is our highest goal at Beyond Strength to keep you saying yes for as long as possible.

To do that, we’ll teach you how to Live Physically.

 

 

Live Physically: The Inception

We’ll take a short walk back in time to fall 2023. Instead of envisioning Dave and I paddling down a dark creek, picture Chris and me in the consultation office at Beyond Strength. We’re both naked. (Kidding!) There’s a large whiteboard that takes up almost a whole wall. It blocks the window so we can focus, and it’s covered in our chicken scratch. Chris’s sloppy, lefthanded writing and my righthanded attempts at English letters are in service of a singular goal, a mission:

To get our members, all of our members, to commit to taking on a physical challenge in 2024.

As we talk and write, trying to narrow in on what to do from the top down, Chris says something that emerges naturally and gracefully. 

“I just want people to live physically.” It hits me like a ton of bricks and I immediately write it down.

“That’s it,” I say. “That’s the Beyond Strength battle cry for 2024.” It’s so often when you’re trying to think of something using a top-down approach, something rises naturally from the bottom up. It’s been there all along, just waiting to be said.

Live Physically.

The meaning is implicit. You get it just by reading it. It’s about doing; it’s about acting; it’s about using your body. 

We decided, however, to make it as clear as possible. So, we defined what it means to Live Physically within the realm of Beyond Strength.

 

 

What Does it Mean to Live Physically?

Chris asked me to write the description of what it means to Live Physically. Truthfully, he demanded it. I wish you guys knew just how much he yells at me. So, I obliged. Not only because I feared the reprisal of his loud, squawking voice, but also because I knew he’d fuck it all up if he wrote it. 🙂

 

 

I thought, jotted notes, and looked for quotes that captured the spirit of what I wanted to say. I came across this gem from Theodore Roosevelt:

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

Get off the goddamn sidelines and live your life. Got it. Thanks, Teddy.

Here’s the deal. It’s tough to get off the sidelines without a body that takes you where you want to go. Or, said another way, it’s tough to say yes to all of life when you’re limited by your body. The limit is relative. Some folks want to climb Mt. Everest, others want to run races, and others still just want their body to function as well as possible for as long as possible. But a body with limits relative to what you want forces you to live a life with limits. That sucks… a whole lot.

Living Physically means that you do something about it.

You enjoy the physicality that life has to offer. You approach training as a way to celebrate and increase what your body is capable of. And you do the same outside of the gym, using the gym to grow stronger and more conditioned so that you can experience a greater breadth and depth of life. You live now by using your body, and you use your body now to prepare for the future.

That is the spirit of Living Physically. Here is the process.

Commitment. Consistency. Challenge.

Commitment to choosing to live out our values rather than seeking comfort, to choosing aims and goals that stretch us.

Consistency with training, with doing, with taking action.

Challenges big and small – seeking them out and taking them on with a sense of curiosity about one’s abilities and with a sense of determination to see the challenge through, no matter the outcome.

When we commit, we act consistently. This bolsters and emboldens us to face challenges. Thus, we Live Physically.

So, then, how do you use those three C words to Live Physically?

You approach what makes you nervous. When the twinge of uncertainty hits your guts, you lean in, you get curious, and you move toward the thing that scares you rather than running from it.

You live in the here and now, not in some long-gone past or in some rosy future. Yes, use the lessons of the past to make better decisions in the present. And project yourself forward into the future so that you have aims and goals to commit to. But focus on what you can do, and what you can enjoy, right now. Do what you can with what you have, and let go of the outcome.

 

You pay attention to your body, you learn about your body, you use your body. To live physically, a person must understand their physicality. To understand your physicality, you must live in your body. In doing so, you’ll understand when to push and when to hold back; you’ll learn the difference between pain and discomfort. You’ll understand what your body needs at a given time because you’ve paid attention to how it responds to training, to nutrition, to rest. Your body is a vessel for experiences – for triumphs, for defeats, for growth. You act accordingly and with that understanding.

You dare to live by choosing challenges that make you commit, act consistently, and grow.

Let’s talk a little more about the challenge and commitment part. You’ll learn why we stuck the sheet metal to the wall above the dumbbell rack.

 

Challenge and Commitment: How You’ll Live Physically in 2024

Something great happens when we write down a challenging thing we want to accomplish and share that thing with supportive people. First, we get support. That’s nice. We also make our intentions real and put them into the world. Others notice and ask, and it makes us want to make good on what we said we’d do. Stating the challenge encourages commitment. That drives us to behave consistently in alignment with the stated goal. 

Enter the sheet metal Live Physically boards above the dumbbell rack. It’s the place where Beyond Strength members will declare what physical challenge(s) they’ll commit to taking on this year. Here’s what to do.

Settle on a physical challenge, or a set of physical challenges, that is meaningful to you. When you have it, let a coach know. Then you’ll write it on a magnet and stick it on the Live Physically board.

Here’s something to keep in mind. Your challenge is YOUR challenge. How you want to Live Physically is how YOU want to Live Physically. Please, be inspired by what other people are putting on the board. But don’t judge what you want to do based on what other people are doing.

Pick something challenging. Commit to it. Work consistently to achieve it. That’s it and that’s all.

I will, however, stress that it’s best if the challenge is meaningful to you. Sometimes an arbitrary challenge gets us started, and if that’s what you think you need, write it down and slap it up there. You can always add or change it later. But it’s more likely that you’ll stick to the actions necessary to accomplish your challenge if you sincerely give a shit about achieving it.

 

What will you do to Live Physically in 2024? Write it down. Make it real.

 

 

Say Yes, Live Physically 

Not everyone has a creek to row upstream, but we all have things we love that we want to say yes to for the rest of our lives. Living physically is about saying yes for as long as we possibly can, about keeping our physical options open instead of limiting them. Challenges, commitments, and consistent actions give us the process we need to maintain our ability to say yes. The challenge sets the stakes; the commitment makes us live up to our values; the consistency makes the change. Saying yes to all of that now ensures that you’ll be able to say yes later. 

Pick a challenge, commit to it, and act consistently to achieve it. Live Physically in 2024.

 

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