Become Your Own Health Expert (Even If You Hated School)

Growing up I couldn't read to save my life. My mind would trail off mid-paragraph forgetting what I'd just read because everything felt boring or irrelevant. Math saved my SAT scores, but reading? That was torture.

Then something strange happened. I discovered Starship Troopers (the book, much better than the movie) as an assigned reading option in high school. I devoured it quickly (by my standards). I then got into reading more fiction (Lord of the Rings, a Halo Reach, and a few others). Those were nice and it at least forces you to sit and concentrate, but there wasn't any reason to do so outside of entertainment.

Years later, I found myself finishing fitness books in a single weekend - the same guy who couldn't finish a chapter of assigned reading.

What changed?

I stumbled upon the hidden rule of learning that schools don't teach:

Our brains are pattern recognition machines designed for survival.

We effortlessly absorb information when it directly connects to our immediate problems or deepest interests.

I'm biased, but I'm all for people doing the best they can to learn how their bodies work.

Why?

Because everyone has a body.

It's not like learning about cars. You can just send yours to the dealership or you might not even have one if you're in a city that you can walk through.

You have a body. You owe it to yourself to learn how it works.

So the best ways to learn and start reading are:

1. Learn "Just In Time" and

2. Learn about you (aka learn about the body)

Why We Learn Some Things Better Than Others

In school I struggled for years with reading and learning.

After school, there were periods when I'd get a book and I'd finish it in a weekend. It would only take me more than one day because I had to go to bed at some point. This happened a lot with nutrition or fitness books.

My body was (and sometimes still is) a beat up mess. It's like having a bad car and you end up learning about cars because you spend so much time trying to fix them.

Think back to subjects in life or school that you picked up easily on. There are just certain things in life you gravitate towards. There are certain problems you've had that you were forced to learn quickly, then you did. There's also a big chance that you never had to take a single note on it, you were just able to absorb it, apply it and you memorized it for the rest of your life.

So we all either have topics we really like and absorb, or we've had problems that we've had to overcome so we can "survive" that event.

I'm a weirdo in the sense that I've liked the fitness game for a long time. This all stemmed from being obsessed with football. Being a better football player also involved getting stronger in the gym. Thus I obsessed with information about the gym (plus muscle magazines helped). I liked feeling the progress. I liked the feeling of getting stronger. Therefore, I liked learning about it.

Let's apply this to you.

Physical Education in the Real World

Step 1:

• Realize that your health isn't a subject that you can ignore. It falls under the eternal markets (health, wealth and relationships) and if you get into a physical problem due to a chronic disease that could have been avoided, then you're going to understand how important it is. People want a lot of things, but those without their health only want one. People do outsource their brains and just follow a workout template or gym routine or nutrition plan, and that's great as a starting point, but at some point it would greatly help if you take it upon yourself.

• But where do you start? There's so many options as far as workout types: strength training, mobility, cardio. Then there's other categories like nutrition, sleep, recovery, and the list could go on forever. So what do you pick? The one where you have the biggest problem.

Step 2:

• The best way to start is to solve the problems you currently have. Don't like something about your body, write it down in painful detail.

• After you've got that down, then the opposite is what you're going to aim for. I'm always a fan of some sort of strength training, some easy cardio (like walking) and eating like an adult for starters.

Step 3:

• Gather some sources of credible information. The bigger the accounts the better. If it's a book, then even better. Filter what you get through the problems or goals you have so you don't get overwhelmed. You don't have to get a ton. Even if you get one and follow it, that's better than gathering 10 and getting confused.

• If someone is able to write a book with good reviews, then that holds more weight than someone making short TikTok videos.

Step 4:

• Follow a plan, get it figured out and make it a habit.

• If you get bored or grow out of it, then move on to something else. If you read conflicting information, you need to view it from the lens of your current problems and not what someone says you "should" do. This is your life and your body. Each training program serves you, not the other way around.

• Whatever you do, you need to stick with what you pick for about 12 weeks minimum to see results and give it a fair chance. Don't switch things up every 2 weeks because you're impatient.

Step 5:

• See what works. See what doesn't work. See what you like and don't like. You're the n=1. N meaning how many people are being used in an experiment. In this case, it's just you.

• Double down on what you like and what's working. When you start getting diminishing returns or get bored, switch thing up.

Go Forth and Learn

As a side note, this is how coaches come up with "new" information or methods. There's never anything new. The principles and exercises have been around forever. How someone puts things together is what makes it unique.

The only path to get there is continual learning.

So get to it.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions feel free to reach out.