Disruption and Development

I read an article about how kids’ cognitive and emotional development can be delayed up to six months by a move. Not just a move to a new city, but house/apartment or even a move to a new school. What does this tell us about kids? 

One, that they’re subject to the same stresses adults are (moving is widely known as one of the most stressful undertakings a person can have - right up there with death, divorce, and job loss). The thing is, kids don’t know how to process stress in the same way adults do, so much of it is internalized…which has to come out some time in some way.

The second thing is that kids need routine. Their little brains need repetition and consistency to develop in to big, strong grown-up brains. Moving disrupts that routine, and it takes time to re-adjust. Hence the cognitive delay. Once the brain has adjusted to the new circumstance, development resumes its previous advancement. 

Now what does this have to do with adults and the supposed themes of this email of strength, movement, & fitness?

Your body responds the same way kids do to disruption and change. When you’ve got big, stressful things going on in your life, your body responds. In many ways, but right now we’re just going to look at the idea of development.

Any disruption of routine can slow or halt your physical development. It’s important to remember this when we’re imposing strict and sometimes unrealistic timelines on our bodies. Cut yourself some slack - maybe you’re in the middle of a really intense cycle of training and you get sick - it’s going to slow you down, and that’s OK. Maybe your job or home life is really stressful - the gym can be helpful, but you might not hit the percentages on those lifts that you can when everything is chill. Stress management goes a long way, but it’s important to remember that training is another form of stress. It’s usually eustress (positive stress), but if the overall stress level in your life is raised, training hard can actually be more detrimental than helpful. In those cases, it’s better to go easy in the gym and blow off steam than to go hard in the paint.

When I look back over the past nine years of my own training, sometimes I get bummed on how little progress I feel like I’ve made. You’d think that with my life and the opportunities I’ve had to train with and learn from some awesome people that I’d be a hell of a lot stronger. But then I look at all the things that have happened in that time and if I add those up, it makes sense. Since 2010 I’ve moved 8 times, lived in 7 different cities, had 6 different jobs, flown and driven 10s of thousands of miles, gotten married, became a parent, gone through the immigration process twice, and opened my own business. 

That adds up to a lot. Each of those individual events sets back training. If you add on to that the revolving door of programming foci I’ve had over that time (olympic weightlifting, strongman, powerlifting, BJJ, gymnastics, CrossFit…), it’s a wonder I made any progress at all.

Every time you switch your focus, change your program, get bored of what you’re doing and hop on a new exercise trend, you slow your progress. That’s not a big deal if you’re just moving to move, but if you’re trying to move more weight, run faster (or longer), or just do any one thing better, you’ve got to keep doing that thing. Over and over. Even when it’s boring. 

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever change anything, but consider every change carefully before implementing it - think about why you’re doing it: is it out of boredom? Because you saw somebody do it on IG and it seems smart? Just because? Changes to the core of your program need to come from a considered and well-thought-out place, not on a whim. Coaches are important in this respect, too. They can help keep you on the path when you might stray.

But again, if you’re just moving to move, to improve your general health, it’s not so important. If you’re rehabbing an injury….it’s SUPER IMPORTANT! Most people quit doing their physical therapy after the initial repair stage. You’ve got to stick with it through the rebuild and remodel stages. What does that sound like? Oh yeah, consistency and routine. See it through, make lasting changes.