The Skills Evolution Forgot

Everybody has that friend who is always trying the new fitness trend. Let’s be real, crossfitters used to be the creepy people at party and now they’re mainstream. These days, If you aren’t walking barefoot through nature on a slack line from a sauna to a cold plunge and back, you’re not that guy. Honestly, a lot of times I think I’m that guy. I’m open to experiences. Ironically, it seems like all of the things being pushed as cutting-edge actions that will amplify your fitness gains are just the things we were forced to do every day before technology made every thing so easy.

We Can Choose to be Superhuman

I don’t believe people can read other people’s minds. I find it hard to believe you can kill e-coli by training yourself to breath a certain way. I don’t believe you can lose weight with the typical American diet by exposing yourself to extreme heat or cold. I don’t believe time in nature can make you live forever. Many of these things are the marketing ploys created by company’s looking to profit from an overwhelming lack of basic health in society.

I have hunted with people who have communicated without speaking or using hand signals. I’ve seen squads of Marines sense things in the distance that did not trigger one of our five senses. I think there are countless capabilities relied on daily for survival that we have forgotten about due to a lack of need these days. Many people are experiencing the benefits of breath work, cold plunging, and saunas. Apparently Wim Hoff did kill e-coli with all of these things, and a study of people who lived to be over 100, found that many of them spent a lot of time in nature.

The earth-shattering science behind fitness

If you look at the science behind any new fitness trend, it generally has to do with hormone production. It should be extremely obvious to us that time in nature, walking to get places, being exposed to a climate that isn’t controlled, and having moments of silence (meditating) are all things we evolved to do. The lack of these things in our daily habits is clearly throwing off our hormone production. Fortunately, capitalism means people can benefit from the “idiocracy” and sell us a way to attempt to fill in these gaps.

Man’s Natural State

Man’s natural state is no longer one of struggle. We do not need to confront the elements to find food to survive. Water is piped into our homes. If we chose to, we could leverage technology to create a pod for a house and never have to leave again. Goodbye vitamin D and fresh air. Hello diabetes and obesity. Therefore we have to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones to do what our needs for survival forced us to do. It’s our job to get outside and breath, walk for 30 mins a day, and eat a diet that doesn’t contribute to obesity. Survival in today’s day and age isn’t about struggling to find things, it’s about struggling to do what we already know is good for us when it is so much easier not to.

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About the Author

John McCarthy is a Father, Son, Husband and former Marine Infantry Officer. He serves his local community and just wants to push people to be better humans. Check out the Tough Talk Podcast and other writings on this website to learn more.

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