If you follow me on Instagram, friend, then you may have already seen my photo from yesterday’s “Bloody Sunday” ninja workout where I took a blow to the head.
While this may not have inspired me to invent the flux capacitor, make time travel possible, and go Back to the Future (although coincidentally the injury is in the exact same location as Doc Brown’s):
This injury did provide a bit of an epiphany for me:
You can’t master anything until you master the fundamentals.
So today’s Case of the Monday’s Newsletter is one where I’m going…
Back to the Basics
Despite yesterday’s minor setback of taking a flying ring to the face, I actually had a really great workout. In fact, it’s one of the best workouts I’ve had in a long time.
The reason I was so surprised by this is because I’ve barely done any legit ninja training for almost two months now. Between the holidays and a crazy January, I simply haven’t been able to prioritize the time for intense training sessions. But because I wanted to make the best use of the very limited time I did have, I took a very different approach to my training.
I’ve hired a ninja trainer that is essentially taking a “Wax on, wax off” approach to my training whereby I’m relearning all the basic fundamentals of human movement. Practice doesn’t make perfect, it simply makes permanent. And apparently my form had a lot to be desired, and I’ve done a lot of damage over the last four years often doing the right things the wrong way. So we’ve been working on very basic movements like pull-ups with proper form, getting into the proper squat, shoulder mobility, and lots of other really basic stuff. Like 5-10 minute workouts I do during the workday where I don’t even break a sweat.
The last month I’ve done so little that I was frankly terrified of embarrassing myself at yesterday’s ninja workout because I would be so out of shape. But instead I not only showed up, I absolutely shattered several of my past personal bests (PB’s as we call them) because my body was moving in a completely different way. Despite having very limited time to exercise, because I’ve been doing the right things, I got results.
And this reminded me of where this whole journey began years ago with ‘Fitness In Post.’
I started this entire online journey to simply inspire other editors like me to get outside, get some sun, and move their bodies more. I had discovered that my creativity and productivity skyrocketed by simply finding simple ways to be less sedentary at my workstation, and I wanted to share that discovery with friends and colleagues. It began with just 12 of us challenging each other to stay active and get the most Fitbit steps during the workday.
Eight years later I have hundreds of students in my coaching & mentorship program and tens-of-thousands of readers & listeners all around the world taking simple steps every day towards their full potential.
So today I thought I’d share my three favorite podcast interviews that really exemplify the importance of regular movement throughout an otherwise sedentary workday and how staying active can be the catalyst to completely changing your career and your life.
My Top 3 Podcasts On the Importance of Movement
How Regular Movement Makes You Smarter | with Dr. John Ratey
How Being Sedentary Is Damaging You (According to NASA) | with Dr. Joan Vernikos
Deskbound – Standing Up To a Sitting World | with Dr. Kelly Starrett
(If after listening to these you are inspired to go even deeper down the rabbit hole, and you’d like to transform your daily habits in front of your computer, I invite you to learn more about my Move Yourself online program.)
In the meantime…
What’s one basic movement you can introduce into your life starting TODAY that can help boost your energy & creativity, even if by just 1% friend?
Be well.
Zack Arnold
Creator, Optimize Yourself
Zack Arnold
Zack Arnold (ACE) is an award-winning Hollywood film editor & producer (Cobra Kai, Empire, Burn Notice, Unsolved, Glee), a documentary director, father of 2, an American Ninja Warrior, and the creator of Optimize Yourself. He believes we all deserve to love what we do for a living...but not at the expense of our health, our relationships, or our sanity. He provides the education, motivation, and inspiration to help ambitious creative professionals DO better and BE better. “Doing” better means learning how to more effectively manage your time and creative energy so you can produce higher quality work in less time. “Being” better means doing all of the above while still prioritizing the most important people and passions in your life…all without burning out in the process. Click to download Zack’s “Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Creativity (And Avoiding Burnout).”