The following is Part I of a two-part essay on vigor. This essay is focused on the physical aspects of vigor, and how to stoke our internal flame through the act of cultivating strength and fitness. In presenting these concepts, I outline what I call Simpletonic Fitness, a methodology for developing physical vigor.

 

“The feeling of health, the full moon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun” (Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, v. 2).

‘Vigor’ is the blaze of our internal stove. It is the vital force that drives us forward into each day, urging us each morning to greet the rising sun with a wink and a nod. When the fireman of a steam engine shovels fresh coal into the boiler, the flame builds, heating the water, increasing the pressure. Equally, when our internal blaze—our vigor—is stoked and roaring, we feel quite literally inflated by the mounting pressure. When the fire is strong, our eyes pop with clarity and we thrust our shoulders back, presenting ourselves open to the world. It is our vigor that compels us to pursue a life of focus, of excitement, of interest. Vigorously, we converse with a sparkle in the eye. We relish the opportunity to step into the sun and take a hardy swig of morning air. When we greet another person, our vigor directs our focus on them, and we demonstrate our respect by returning their grip with firmness. With vigor we rise from the seated position; we don’t just stand, we spring. When we cultivate vigor, our internal confidence grows, and so do our relationships. Ordinary challenges become mere hurdles to be hopped, and we hop them with ease and calmness. We smile at strife. Life sharpens and we notice what we previously failed to see. Vigor keeps us rooted firmly in the land of the rising sun.

When the flame dwindles, when we allow our bodies and our minds to become soft, we enter the dull land of the setting sun. When we neglect to shovel the fuel, the water cools and the pressure drops. Our skin sags and our grip weakens. We loathe challenge. We lose our lust for simple acts like cleaning, organizing, cooking. We pay others to do our dirty work for us, to clean our house and to cook our meals. These acts lose their natural elegance and become annoyances. We no longer stand tall, we slouch in our chairs, on our couches. We have our food delivered to our homes, and the thought of stepping out into the sun is loathsome. We live in the air conditioning. Music loses its luster, beer its effervescence, and the sun begins to set.

Fortunately for us, vigor is not an inherited characteristic. We are not born with vigor; we grow into it. It is cultivated. Just as a steam locomotive cannot move forward without a fireman, we cannot develop vigor without focused effort. Vigor certainly comes easier to some, but all have it buried within; it’s a matter of taking chisel to stone, unearthing the beauty that is initially hidden to the eye. Vigor is developed by honing both the mind and the body, allowing the two to work harmoniously. But before we discuss the mental aspects of vigor, we must approach the simpler physical side. This is where fitness comes into play. It is a wonderful thing to develop a strong, muscular, lean, capable body. Our body is the extension of our mind; it is the vehicle that shuttles us through life. If we are physically limited, we mentally limited. We should be comfortable with lifting relatively heavy objects; we should be able to run or walk for an extended period without losing our breath; we should be flexible to avoid unnecessary injury. All of this will allow us to live longer, happier, fuller lives.

We don’t develop our bodies so that others will envy us. We are not trying to stroke our egos. We develop our bodies to build our internal confidence and to inspire others to do the same. We develop our bodies so that we can approach life with the knowledge that we are capable and that we are presenting ourselves in our most beautiful, natural state. Interest from the opposite sex and comments of admiration are icing on the cake. Our intention is not to replicate the genetically gifted physiques on magazine covers. Our intention is to create a physique that fills us with joy and certainty when we appraise ourselves in the mirror. That physique is one that takes many forms and is different for each appraiser. Joy and certainty stem from the thought that we are in active pursuit of health, of capability, of vigor.

As someone who competed as a high school and college athlete, and who has retained a fair proportion of this fitness even after working 80-hour work weeks, I’d like to present to you a methodology for physical fitness that I call Simpletonic Fitness. Like The Simpletonic Diet, this methodology is not specific, but rather focuses on building a healthy foundation around which the user can pivot and develop themselves in a way that works for them. There are some fundamentals, but the goal is to help the user to become excited about exercise, and to treat it as a wonderful part of each day, not as a chore. When we look forward to exercising and improving ourselves, other life challenges become less burdensome and we can cultivate real, natural vigor. There are three fundamental keys to Simpletonic Fitness, and I discuss each of them in turn below.

The first key is activity. Activity, activity, activity. When I have the opportunity to stand, I stand. When I have the opportunity to walk, I walk. When I have the opportunity to “sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world,” I freakin’ do so, man (Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, v. 52). The average male burns about 100 calories for every mile that he walks. If that man walks five miles a day, that’s 500 calories. Sometimes, all we need is to take the opportunity to walk to work, or to find ways to get outside into the sun and take a few extra steps here and there throughout the day. To me, walking is one of life’s great and simple gifts. When we walk, our mind is stimulated by passing objects and people. Our perspective is constantly changing as we explore new areas. Walking is an excellent time to converse with a friend, or to enjoy an audiobook. Not only are we improving our fitness, but we are expanding our minds! To me, walking is a no-brainer. It’s an easy way to inject a bit of activity into an otherwise sedentary life. Also, when we walk more we feel better, and it becomes easier for us to exercise in other forms as well. In sum, we are built to move; we have wonderfully dextrous arms and legs, and we should use them whenever we can! When we take shortcuts, we are spurning this gift of mobility, and we grow soft.

The second key is variety. Variety, variety, variety. Exercise should never become boring or uninteresting. We change and grow every day, so why should our workouts not mirror that growth? We should add some proverbial spice to our lives. Of course, if we are athletes in training or have specific intentions like running a marathon, this piece isn’t relevant. But if our goal is to run a marathon simply because we think that it will “get us into good shape,” then this is a faulty approach. Every time we exercise, we should think to ourselves, “what do I want to do today?” Some days, I want to go for a nice long jog; other days, I want to do pull-ups and push-ups at my house. Just as with our nutrition, we should listen to our body and our mind. Exercise should be fun. We should aim to try new things. If we picture a cold, dark gym whenever we contemplate exercise, then we need to expose ourselves to something new. The beauty of the fitness world is that people want us to join them. Martial arts gyms and Crossfit boxes tend to offer free trials, so we should take them up on that! If we experiment and experience, we are bound to find something we love. Worse comes to worst, we build a basic foundation of fitness knowledge from this exposure, and we become capable of planning our own workouts in the future. Additionally, simpletons love the sun and the wind, so it is advisable to get out into a local park or beach and do a little kettlebell circuit here and there. Mix it up! Sometimes I like to try out a weightlifting regimen for a few months, and then switch over to a few months of cardio-focused work. When we do the same thing day in and day out, or we set lofty goals, we set ourselves up for failure; it becomes easy for us to lose interest. Trust me, we may love that spin class for a few months, but is going to get old. Period. When something gets old, we sign up for something new, and we expose ourselves to change.

The final key is not to suffer. We do not need to be sore after we work out. We should not be injuring ourselves. When we walk away from a workout with a backache and significant muscle soreness, we will find it much more difficult to return to the gym—or the park—later in the week for another workout. Personally, I train hard but I am seldom sore. This fuels my addiction to exercise. I exercise because it makes me feel good. If I go to the gym and absolutely crush myself, exhausting my nervous system, then the last thing I want is to return the next day. It becomes a burden. But when I step out into the sun and do a 30-minute circuit with dumbbells and a jump rope, when I push myself to sweat hard and lose my breath, but not to the point of collapsing, I am able to return the next day and do it again. I am able to work out seven days a week, and my fitness is constantly improving. I rarely exercise for more than an hour, yet I can walk into a Crossfit gym and compete easily with other men who obliterate themselves in long, arduous sessions multiple times per week. If exercise drains us and makes us unhappy, then we are doing something wrong. It should revitalize us and make us happy!

Ultimately, if we can remember these three tenets of a good fitness regimen, it will become easy and fun to stay healthy and strong. When we find small opportunities to add activity into our daily routines, when we experiment with different types of exercise, and when we remember not to push ourselves too hard, fitness begins to come naturally. It weaves itself into the fiber of our lives and becomes something that we simply cannot do without. A robust fitness regimen complements our diet and is essential to living a life of vigor. When we are fit and strong, we earn respect more easily. We come across as more confident and purposeful. We have greater control over our lives, and we are capable of doing more, seeing more. This is the physical side of vigor, and it is easy. The mental side is the real challenge.

And so it goes,
The Sauntering Simpleton