It’s a question that I’m hearing a lot of these days, . When will Toronto gyms open up for indoor—or even outdoor training? 

I know this: a lot of people are working hard on this issue. Including us. I also assume that most of them have to collaborate with others and are struggling to interpret the bias of 100 competing agendas. If someone says any part of this is simple, I know that they don’t get it.

I don’t think that Big Pharma is pure evil. I think that it has competing motivators. Some positively impact us and some do not.

I don’t think that the government resembles the Keystone Cops at every level. I think that there is pressure exerted on them from many different directions.

I don’t think that it’s all the fault of that damnable youth! But I do think that we have to be aware of scapegoating. We also need to be pragmatic about the needs people have for social support.

This stuff is tricky.

If I weren’t damn near 100% focused on the things that I can control, this would all be too much for me.

Martial arts saved my life, man

I’ve trained semi-seriously in four different martial arts in my life. And monkeyed around with another four or five. I’ve also got at least a dozen competitions in the books. Do you want to know the special move that has delivered more than any other for me?

Please assume the full splits in preparation for this answer

Break-falls
I fall like a champ. That’s my special move! My own personal 5-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. Landing safely after falling—even at high velocity—has gotten me out of more jams than any kind of punchy-kicky combo. It’s also kept me healthy enough to keep on training. 

So, what’s my point? Your progress is directly tied to how fast you recover after a destabilizing event. If the toughest guy in the world doesn’t know how to land, he’s going to have the toughest shattered clavicle in the world.

Tucking your chin and rolling is not advanced. Nor is any other high-percentage recovery system. They are simple things performed at an advanced level. Which is to say that they happen automatically—even in times of high stress and chaos.

New stuff
To date, I’ve spoken generally about approaching positive change from a broad—rather than specialized—direction. But we can apply that same generalized approach in a specific way.

“Well gosh, Geoff. What the hell does that mean?”

Last week, I shared this infographic:

Let’s target one branch

And zoom in

Enhance… Enhance!

Now we see that pattern repeat itself on the branch level.

The text it a little tough to read, so let me lay it down here for you:

SLEEP AND REGENERATION ↘️

Emotion Regulation for sleep

• Eliminating unnecessary stressors (like provocative work emails or social media posts
• Integrating calming habits into your evening routine
• Doing a “brain dump”
• The ability to calm yourself down and return to sleep
• Having rested well the previous evening

Meta-skills

• Observing the impact of new skills and habits
• The ability to integrate new skills and habits
• An understanding of the interrelatedness of all categories

Sleep quality and duration

• Consistent bedtime
• Sleep environment

Saying no

• Whatever is urgently beckoning to you at 11 pm can probably wait

Relational Health
People and relationships that help you regulate emotions

Exercise and Daily Movement

• Creating the right level of fatigue for quality sleep
• Reducing or eliminating pain
• Reducing the impact of health-related sleep interruptors—like sleep apnea and pelvic floor issues

Nutrition

• Adequate nutrient intake
• Hitting the sweet spot for satiety/fullness
• Supplementation—where useful

This is not even a complete list; just enough to get you going.

One more level 
Today, I came across the following image in an article on social media usage:

Rather than describe social media in blanket terms, the author broke things down into the quality of the experience. I can see that fitting onto one of our twigs.

This is starting to look like a taxonomy. Or a fractal. Well, it’s both.

So…

Multi-factorial health ↘️

      Sleep and regeneration ↘️

            Emotion regulation for sleep ↘️

                 Eliminating unnecessary stressors ↘️

                       Managing your social media newsfeed for successful emotion regulation ↘️

                              And so on… ↘️

So… What does this have to do with gyms reopening
It has zero direct relationship to gyms reopening. But it has a 100% relationship to what you can do until gyms reopen.