We watched E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial this weekend.
My wife and I wanted to show it to our 12 year old son and we, ourselves, hadn’t seen the movie in perhaps the 40 years since it came out.
E.T. was more than just a movie in the early 1980’s, it was an absolute sensation. Back at a time when the monoculture dictated everything that was popular.
Kids brought ET stuffed toys to school. The sale of Reece’s Pieces candy (which, quite honestly, I thought were going to feature in the movie much more based on my memory) sky rocketed. The screen grab of ET and Elliott soaring on a flying bicycle in front of the moon even became the logo of a movie studio.
You are probably not old enough to remember it, but this thing was huge.
So I sat on the couch with high hopes.
I love movies of nostalgia and wonder from my childhood. Give me “The Sandlot” and “Goonies” and “Back To The Future” all day.
Add in that this was directed by THE Steven Spielberg at the peak of his powers coming off of Jaws and Raiders Of The Lost Ark and involved aliens (my favorite movie theme) and I was ready to be transported in time and brought back to the innocence of my 10 year old self.
So, like I said, we sat on the couch, box of tissues ready just in case the memories appeared as moisture falling from our eyes and watched.
And, I gotta tell you, it was kind of mid.
Sure, you can tell from my pre-amble here that my expectations were high but even trying to look past that there is no denying that the plot line had holes, the storytelling felt a bit incomplete, the depth of the connection between ET and Elliott isn’t every really established and even the ending seems a little pat.
And don’t get me started on the Peter Coyote character. He works for the feds, exposes the ET but he’s actually a good guy that maybe was visited by the ET when he was 10 and maybe has the hots for Elliott’s mom (who is definitely going through some shit since her husband ran off to Mexico).
Honestly, I could probably pick this apart all day but that’s not why you are here. If you were, you'd be signed up for Roger Ebert’s blog and given that he passed away about a decade ago I can’t imagine that thing is very up to date.
No, you are here for fitness.
So let me bring this soup to a boil. Because watching ET this weekend made me realize that I haven’t only changed my mind about certain movies, I have also changed my mind about certain fitness concepts. Things I absolutely utilized or believed in in the past and have now changed my stance.
You may think it’s crazy to admit this. That you might see me as some sort of fitness waffler who can’t commit to an idea.
I see your point. But, truthfully, exercise is a science after all. And the scientific method dictates that practices should change when presented with new or contradictory evidence.
And the fact that I’ve been around long enough that I saw ET in the theater also proves that I’ve also been in the gym long enough to have seen some shit. So here are three things that I used to believe that I’ve mostly or entirely moved away from.
(CAVEAT: Some people have not moved away from these things and use them in their own practice or approach. They might have good reason for this and it doesn’t make them wrong, necessarily.)
Skill-based movements for general fitness outcomes
I really love full weightlifting movements like the snatch and clean (I used to compete in the sport of weightlifting myself). Gymnastics may be the ideal sport to put your children into. Things like Turkish Get-Ups and Handstand Push-Ups are fun and really impressive.
There was a guy in the gym Kyle and I used to work at who would actually do Turkish Get-Ups with a person at the end of his outstretched arm rather than a dumbbell or kettlebell. It was wild and I thought to myself “hey, I’d like for me and my clients to do that!”.
But that is not the thing that most adults need. Nor, quite honestly, is it what people come to me for.
To get in the best shape possible you need a steady diet of basic resistance training that can systematically be progressed so you get stronger, cardiovascular training that improves your conditioning and work capacity and the ability to move through full ranges of motion with really good joint integrity and movement patterns.
Those other “fancy” movements are a reward you get for having developed the capabilities provided by doing the basics, not the other way around. In other words, you don’t do freestanding handstand push ups in order to get strong, you’ve gotten strong so now you can do freestanding handstand push ups.
Doing it the other way, quite frankly, is a waste of your time. So if your current program has you working on skills for more than 5% of the time and you aren't an athlete competing at that skill you are probably on the wrong program.
If you want good body composition you have to eat clean all the time
Our buddy Matt was preparing for a bodybuilding show. He was also a trainer at our old gym. Hell of a nice guy and while he was in great shape I want you to wipe the picture the pops into your mind when I say “bodybuilding”.
Because Matt was just a fairly normal sized, non-steroid using guy who wanted to get as chiseled as possible, lacquer on some fake tanner and show the results to dozens of people watching on a small stage inside a large convention center outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
And that is great. But the extreme dieting it took for Matt to reach his goals actually fucked up his relationship with food for a long time.
Now, this is an atypical example. Most people are not trying to get to single digit body fat. And, most importantly, the vast, vast, vast majority of people are suffering from the opposite problem, they give themselves way too much latitude with their diet when pursuing health and body composition goals.
But there is a sweet spot. And, while I was not trying to get in as extreme shape as Matt, I also used to believe there was no wiggle room for “bad foods” in my nutrition plan once I started taking getting in shape seriously.
And that can work for a time in order to develop better habits and improve your relationship with food. But there is absolutely no reason that you can’t include some indulgent foods into your plan and still reach or maintain your goals.
Some practical advice on this. If you are following a calorie and/or macronutrient counting plan, if 10% of your foods come from “unhealthy” sources but you are still hitting your targets every day, you are absolutely fine. If you are not following such a plan and just eat by “feel” then just try to limit the pizza and Ho-ho’s to a maximum of 2 to 3 meals per week.
This way you won’t sabotage your goals but you also won’t feel like a deprived lunatic who won’t even eat their own birthday cake.
Doctors are whack (but maybe I was right?!?)
A weird thing happens when you first become a trainer.
You get indoctrinated into this idea that conventional medical practitioners and big pharma are simply charlatans whose only priority is fix your problems by cutting you open or medicating you rather than getting to the root, lifestyle causes. That is, after all, where the money is.
Cries of “they don’t teach nutrition in medical school” and “most doctors scare their patients out of strength training” abound. And while things have gotten better, they haven't entirely changed either.
But it’s dangerous to only see doctors in this light. Of course there are many out there who do recommend lifestyle factors as remedies and this would align with what we do as trainers and nutritionists.
And, let’s not forget, that medical interventions can help with chronic disease and mental health in a way that just wouldn’t be survivable otherwise.
However, I do still think that the system is rigged. That we’ve created a society of a crappy food supply, sedentary lifestyles and a siloed healthcare system that doesn’t look as individuals as a whole but rather as acute symptoms to treat.
The recent preponderance of Ozempic usage has been putting me over the top on this lately. Semaglutide like Ozempic can be wonderful for people who really need them. But approving them for everyone and their Uncle at a cost of $1800 per month in perpetuity and in lieu of actual lifestyle changes that the medical community thinks we are incapable of as a country has got me thinking that much of the medical community and particularly it’s governing and regulatory bodies are still out to get us.
So, sure, go see your doctor. But, also, take care of yourself. You are your only savior.
I’m sure I’ve changed my mind and will continue to change my mind on multiple topics. Whether it’s exercise, nutrition, public policy or why “Castaway” was actually Tom Hanks’ best role.
And that’s a good thing. We all want to have a growth mindset. Spielberg made Jurassic Park not 15 years after ET and that thing does hold up.
It still has the magic and the wonder.
What pop culture or exercise or whatever have you changed your mind on? Hit reply and let me know. I'd love to hear about it.