Are you free?

Yes.

If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

- Calvin Coolidge

Reflecting

Are you free?

I get that question a lot, often in cold calls from strangers or cool calls from broker-types wanting to use my time for their priorities. I always deadpan “yes” with enough misanthropy to get the message across.  I’m always free.  I’m not always available.  This July 4^th, I’m celebrating by re-reading Coolidge’s short but exquisite explanation of what we celebrate on this day.  I’m running a bit and lifting a bit with friends.  I’m trying to make the best use of my life and liberty and to stay in hot pursuit of happiness.  I hope you’re doing the same.  In rereading the Declaration’s text, I’m struck by how irrepressible our forefathers were.  They were pissed off over government intrusions of  infinitesimal cost compared to what we docilly bow to today.  Poor King George III tries to place a modest usage fee on American consumption to pay a fraction of the cost of defending the colonies (among the least repressive forms of revenue collection and spending respectively) and the colonists raised hell.  God bless them.  Let’s invest that inheritance well.

Happy Fourth of July.

Training

My friend Lee Willett snapped this (beautiful but underrates how it looked in person) sunrise.  Never miss one:

Photo by Lee Willett

Sunrise trail run:

Then road run (not sure why people do this over trail running but had fun running with friends):

Then Bradshaw hero WOD honoring one of our heroes on Independence Day.  Gym closed.  Found one open.

10 rounds for time of:

• 3 Handstand push-ups

• 6 reps 225 pound Deadlift

• 12 Pull-ups

• 24 Double-unders

U.S. Army First Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw, 24, of Steilacoom, Washington, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, died in Kheyl, Afghanistan, on June 25th, 2009, from wounds suffered when insurgents detonated a roadside bomb near his vehicle. He is survived by his parents, Paul and Mary, and brother Robert.

Fueling

Always protein.  Sometimes produce.

Supplementing

Everyone should take creatine.  There are some supplements in the grey area.  Not creatine.  I bribe my kids with fun flavors, most recently this.  Creatine powder doesn’t dissolve well and leaves my shakes with a texture reminiscent of sand getting in drinks at the beach.  Capsules are okay.  Gummies help get kids to take them.

Measuring

Getting in your steps?  I’m up to 20,065 by noon today (just counting 2 runs; didn’t wear my watch beyond that).  No need to be neurotic, but find ways to keep it >10k.  I grab coffee at a local shop ½ mile away for a few extra steps and try to walk instead of drive anywhere nearby.  My office is just about a mile from my home and I walk it as much as possible.  Find a way. 

Recovering

Sleep rebuilds.  Don’t kill yourself at the gym or spend a dollar (and risk literally any side effects) on hormone optimization until you first get some sleep.  It is free.  It has no side effects.  It jacks up men’s testosterone.  It rebuilds muscles bigger and stronger.  And it also enables all of the fun emotions.  Humor/levity/mirth are so correlated with that seventh and eighth hour of sleep.  It feels connected with our evolutionary biology that as your body gets incapacitated by sleep deprivation, it shuts down frivolous traits and refocuses on survival.  But evolution just wants you to live, not live well.  So get some sleep.

Closing

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

-Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1

Peace.  I love it.  I want as much of it as possible.  I’m a (net) pacifist.  I want it for myself and even more for my kids.  But the “net” part is the little caveat.  I don’t want them harmless.  Without darkening their imagination with any drama, I want them to shoot straight, to grapple effectively, and to build situational awareness.  I want them to be dangerous.  Shooting, wrestling, and observing are fun and lead to better lives regardless of whether they’re ever needed.  I want them to know everything necessary to save their own lives if I’m not available as someday I won’t be.  They should be hard targets — impossible to hurt or at least not worth the considerable risk and bother. 

I want to remove their vulnerabilities even if they’re never mugged by reality (my idyllic walk to work continues to disappoint me in the zero mugging attempts record, quite a downer after all the work in jiu jitsu, etc.).  Once they learn a bit of riflery, let them practice combat reloads and speed drills.  Olympic accuracy is great; being able to shoot and move is better.  Once they take a defensive driving class, sign them up for an offensive driving class – 10x as fun and worth knowing how to use a vehicle as a weapon if you ever need to.  And while I go overboard, everyone should take at least some jiu jitsu.  The first time someone tries to grab your daughter, it should be by a friendly girl her own age and size on a mat.  It still takes a few times to get used to it, but have it be in a (barf) safe space.  For their whole lives, I hope my sons and daughter can be prepared enough to be the scariest thing in their nights, to hear a sound on a dark street, think “friend or enemy?” with total indifference, 100% fine either way.  That is peace.