How to move (and be) like a human

a guide

It’s a strange time (obviously, for so many reasons. But also, I often think, was it ever not? Existence is inherently strange. ANYWAY).

But I think what makes this time particularly strange is that we’re at this weird cross-section where, only a little over 100 years ago, most people didn’t have cars, indoor plumbing, or even electricity—things that now fade into the background of our lives. 40% of the United States population farmed, and the rest did some sort of skilled, technical, or manual labor.

It seems like forever ago—olden times—but there are people either still alive or who passed not that long ago that remember this world. If we zoom out and put the entire history of the human race on a 24-hour clock, 100 years was only 2 seconds ago—practically right now.

The strange cross-section is made possible by how fast technology has moved us along, like a snowball rolling downhill. So much is happening that the majority of us can’t even wrap our heads around.

And with this accelerated evolution, has come the amplification of human nature—in particular, our drive to conserve as much energy as possible. It started as technology improving and making manual labor safer, easier, and more efficient.

Now? We can eat, shop, “date”, “socialize”, learn, work, all from the comfort of our homes. A person could live an entire life from their couch. And many do—but just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

It’s no coincidence that we’re more unwell, both physically and mentally, now more than ever. In our quest for “efficiency,” we’ve engineered all of the movement out of our daily lives. The movement that makes us healthy, happy humans. The movement that makes us… simply human.

Now, it’s our job, in this strange time, to make a conscious, intentional choice to put back some of what we’ve consequently removed—one of the most essential ingredients for expressing and experiencing the full breadth and depth of the human experience.

When I wrote You Were Lied to About Exercise, one comment that kept coming up was: how exactly to put nutritious, human movement back into our lives.

I don’t claim to have all of the answers—I’m just a person. The context of everyone’s lives is different, and because of that, I struggle to give general advice. But what I do have is perspective and experience.

So here, I offer to you: a guide of sorts. On how to reframe how we see movement in this modern world. To use movement to feel our best, most embodied selves, and to stop feeling like strangers—even prisoners—in our own bodies.

I’ve broken this guide into two sections or actionable steps: the first, of things you can do in the gym (most of which don’t require an actual “gym”), and the second, of ways to organize your life to get more nutritious movement without having to think about it.

Enjoy xx

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