Autonomy 🤸🍔✊ GMB Fitness
Autonomy 🤸🍔✊ GMB Fitness
If You Can't Do It In Jeans . . .
You want to be able and ready, not just good at working out.
Readiness means going beyond just capability so you can actually access and apply your skills and abilities when needed. Chances are, you don't wear sweats and trainers all day, so you really have to stop a moment and think about how your clothes limit you.
That why we say that if you can't perform a skill you've practiced while wearing the things you usually wear, you can't really perform that skill completely on-demand.
Andy wrote a loooong article (not really) about jeans.
This episode extends the premise with tips for making the most of your actual capabilities under everyday conditions. We'll tell you how to assess your wardrobe, how to learn to move as well as possible in what you already wear, and how to consider physical autonomy both seasonally and as you add to your wardrobe.
No, we can't believe it either - the first GMB Show about shopping...
The Scout Motto is be prepared. As lifelong martial artists, we look at situational awareness and defensive capability as basic skills.
Don't get tripped up (literally) when life throws you for a curve.
Andy: [00:00:00] All right. All right, all right, All right. Welcome to the Gravy, Meatloaf, and Bananas podcast.
Ryan: [00:00:06] Quite possibly the best name we've had yet. I really like this one. So hungry for gravy, meatloaf, and bananas now.
Andy: [00:00:16] Well, I'm a big fan of a good banana gravy.
Ryan: [00:00:22] How are you doing, Andy?
Andy: [00:00:23] I'm all right, Ryan.
Why We're Talking About Fashion
Ryan: [00:00:25] Thank you. Yes, thanks. I'm always good so you'd never need to ask, so I'm just good to go. What are we talking about today? I think we should talk about fashion-
Andy: [00:00:36] We should.
Ryan: [00:00:46] Because we're so fashionable.
Andy: [00:00:48] We are. We are very fashionable people. Apparently so because you get hundreds and hundreds, like literally hundreds and hundreds of-
Ryan: [00:01:01] Yeah, for real.
Andy: [00:00:48] Asking you what freaking shoes you're wearing, what pants you're wearing, what kind of damn floor you train on. People are so obsessed with your white floor, or the wood floor,
Ryan: [00:01:01] Yeah, the wood floor. There you go. Or the squat rack.
Andy: [00:01:06] Or the rug that was in that Airbnb you stayed in four years ago.
Ryan: [00:01:10] That's right, that we still get comments on. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. It's really interesting the questions we get.
Andy: [00:01:16] In an ideal world, I would maybe if the questions were more about actually how to train or how to practice or getting better at shit, that would be cool, but-
Ryan: [00:01:28] We'll take them, it's good. You know?
Andy: [00:01:30] Yeah. Take what we can get. So we've recently posted an article that I wrote. I wrote 3000 words about jeans because I have very little going on in my life.
Ryan: [00:01:44] It's all about the jeans. Yeah. We're actually shifting the company. We're going into clothing.
Andy: [00:01:50] Right, because Prana didn't want Ryan in their program. So we are going to take them on. We're going to take them on. They're going down. Sorry Prana. We're coming for you.
Ryan: [00:02:02] That was disappointing. I will say, but hey, whatever. You can't please everybody. So I was a little disappointed in Prana. Prana if you're listening, I don't know if I'll get jeans from you anymore. So, bye-bye. Yeah. Anyway, we are talking about jeans, but, really, but not really.
Andy: [00:02:19] So what's interesting is, of course, we brought this up because we do get so many comments questioning how Ryan can move in jeans. And there's two sides to this. One is don't buy stupid jeans, but also there's the other side to it which is what we're really talking about. And it's the ability to be able to move the way you need to move regardless of what you happen to be wearing, right? And we got some really good responses and some good comments. And of course, we also got some inane and asinine comments because it's the internet, but it's par for the course.
But we've got some really interesting comments from people who had really good questions about, well, how can you learn to move well in sometimes if you don't get to pick the clothes that you have to wear, or if you're a woman and society dictates that you have to wear jeans that basically ride up your esophagus?
I cannot help with that, but we do have some ideas about how you can maximize the freedom to move in whatever you happen to like wearing. And so we're going to talk about that in the second half of the show, but first, we're going to talk more about this idea of how your clothing impacts physical autonomy and freedom, and why this is actually important because I think I made a pretty good case for this in the article. But as always, some people miss the point, so here we are beating a dead horse or at least a slightly injured one. Yeah.
Ryan: [00:03:53] Here we are here. So it is all about jeans.
Andy: [00:03:54] It really is.
Clothing & Autonomy
Ryan: [00:03:59] Yes. Now, this is an interesting topic, obviously, just because so many people ask about it and that's why we're talking about it. The clothing, we all have our own individual style, and the cool thing about this is it goes the same for when we're talking about movement. So we all might be doing similar movements, but they're actually different because it's us, it's the way they move.
And it's the same with your jeans, it's the same with your clothes, what you wear, your own fashion sense. And so I think this is actually a pretty important topic because what we're doing is looking at the ability to have the freedom, to just be you in whatever you're doing. And so looking at movement in that case, you shouldn't be dictated to in a way that says that you have to do something a particular way.
You should have that freedom to be able to do the way that you want to do it. And that's what we're really talking about, is looking at being able to do the things that you really want to do anytime, and anywhere. And that's how the jeans represent that as for us. And so when you see me shooting videos, I'm wearing jeans. When you see Jarlo squatting in jeans, there are times where we wear jeans, but it's not all the time. It's dependent upon what we're doing, but we just want to show that that's us.
This is the way we do it. And it's important for us to be us when we do exercise, when we do the things that we're doing. And so moving forward, we've got everything from bear walks to push-ups to chin ups and things like that. But again, it's looking at how those things fit into your life in order to make you a stronger, better with your flexibility, as well as control for the things that really matter to you in your life.
Andy: [00:05:52] Right? And I think you bring up a good point is that we demonstrate things that we know work, and yes, they work for us. But we'll also like, we're teaching a curriculum of things that we know will work for people better than what we did a lot of times. But the point isn't to be like us, the point isn't that you should dress like us, or that you should get really into handstands because Ryan likes hand stands.
You don't need to mimic someone else's appearance or likes or preferences. You don't need to wear whatever fancy gym shorts all of your fitness influencers are wearing. I promise you that no specific amount of sweat wicking technology will give you an extra rep of pull-ups.
It's just not going to happen, because if you really just flip that around, there is no amount of ball sweat that will make you able to do less pull-ups. So reductio ad absurdum, and I'm sorry, here we are. We can-
Ryan: [00:07:04] That's a lovely image that you-
Andy: [00:07:06] You're welcome.
Ryan: [00:07:07] Thank you.
Andy: [00:07:08] Here's the thing though. I'm doing this to make a point though. And this is why I wrote that article too, is, okay, if it's hard for me to convince people that you don't need fancy shorts to do pull-ups, well, maybe if I just say that no matter how sweaty your balls get, it won't make you do less pull-ups. Maybe turning that around will make sense. I don't know. I hope. So the point is though, is that, it's not about trying to be like other people just because you see all of these fitness professionals wearing fitness professional clothes.
Well, you know what, if you don't actually spend several hours a day in the gym, you probably don't need special clothes for that. If you're just working out for 30 minutes or an hour, just any kind of shorts will be completely fine. Even jeans will be fine for a lot of things. You are not somebody that has to stand around in sweaty clothes for several hours on a gym floor all day. That's not your job.
So these things that the people in the videos do, you don't have to wear the things they wear. You don't have to be into doing the kinds of movements that Ryan or someone else is into. You don't have to want to do human flags because you think Al Kavaldo is a nice guy. I've never been interested in flags, and sorry, Al.
It's just pick your own things, and this is the point of what autonomy is. You choosing what you want to be able to be good at, and then finding the things that you need to make that a reality. So, that is the point. And so that's choosing the exercises or the programs, but also choosing the clothing, choosing the kind of shoes that you want to wear.
You don't choose the kind of shoes you want to wear because somebody said these shoes are super, super good, man. You choose the kind of shoes you want to wear because they're the right shoes for the things you want to be able to do with them on your feet.
Ryan: [00:09:04] And you like them for whatever they look like. Yeah. It's your own style. It's funny. As you're talking, it reminded me of the first time that I went snowboarding in Japan and it was up North and I was in university up North. And I remember going to the mountain.
I didn't have any ski wear snowboard wear at all. I'd show up in jeans because I didn't fricking bring anything with me to Japan. I remember getting to the mountain and renting a snowboard. I get up on the top of the mountain. And let me tell you what, there are all these Japanese and they're just decked out in the newest and the best equipment, the coats, everything, snowboard, the boots and everything. I was like, damn, everybody must be amazing.
I get up there and like hardly anybody could snowboard. Everybody was sitting down because they were... they'd fallen and they're in the way. And I was just like, what the hell? I couldn't believe it. But it reminded me of what you were saying, is sometimes, people just think that the clothes are what's going to help them to be able to do what they want. Yes, the clothing, you look good and make you feel good and maybe you'll feel better when you're doing it with it.
But I think what really matters at least to me and what we're after is how you're using that. And again, trying to find your own style, find something that works for you. And this isn't just clothing. I'm talking about movements as well.
And like you said, Andy, just because I do handstands, it doesn't mean that you have to do handstands nor should you do handstands. Figure out what's good for you, what's going to match in your lifestyle and then just roll with that. And it's all good.
Andy: [00:10:35] Yeah. And then the thing is then take it further. Of course there is specialized gear for specialized occasions. Like one guy commented on the Instagram that he has his metalworking clothes that he probably could not like sprint in. And I was like, yeah-
Ryan: [00:10:49] Yeah. Absolutely.
Andy: [00:10:50] Okay, but it also protects you from getting a finger cut off or something. So it balances out.
Preparedness & Awareness
Ryan: [00:10:57] Yeah. And you can say the same if we're talking about martial art. Because we're three of us, that's our background, martial art and if you're on the street and somebody attacks you, you're not going to say, "Oh, hold on, dude, I need to change and put on my gear because I'm not ready," or "I need a warm up real quick." That's not the way it is. It's go time. It's going to be go time.
But, when you're training, there are certain things that are going to feel better for when you are training. And so, just to understand that. I think this is another important topic and I think you're going to go into this in a little bit, but that's looking at life and what is it like. Life doesn't wait for us to be ready. I think that's what you wrote, but-
Andy: [00:11:35] Whoever wrote that is brilliant.
Ryan: [00:11:38] Brilliant, right. You want to talk about that?
Andy: [00:11:40] I guess, you basically already did. It's just the idea that I think in a lot of our training... so when I teach martial arts, I know that there's this idea that, okay, you can't... if you are having to defend yourself, you can't say, "Stop, I got a warm up." Okay. I get that. So some people then say, "Well, we should always train cold to be able to be prepared for those situations."
And that makes sense in theory. However, the problem is, then you're not training. You're constantly just testing your abilities. I think the training, as a teacher, as someone who's been teaching for 25 years. As a teacher, I feel like my job is to create an environment that is conducive to the best possible progress, and that is safe for my students, right?
So, that means that I make sure that the environment is clean and in good working order, I make sure that people have clothes that are sturdy. If they have uniforms or if they're new, that they at least have something they can move in. And I make sure that people warm up so they don't hurt themselves, that they have the right foundation for advanced movements, things like that. That's my job as a teacher.
And I think for all of us, when we're practicing and we follow a program, it should have all of these things included, hint; if you do a GMB program, it does, yay, all right. But, point being is that training is not about constantly testing your abilities. Training is about progress and staying safe and making sure that you are moving toward the direction that you want to be moving. So that's what training is about. And so in that situation, if there are clothes that allow you to more safely or more easily move the way you need to move, then wear those clothes.
But at the same time you do periodically and occasionally need to test your abilities. And this in martial art is why we have like tournaments. It's why we have open styles tournaments against people that train in other dojo's and other styles. It's why we have all kinds of different things. You have to test against somebody who isn't necessarily your friend. If you're going to be a good martial artists, that's just an important thing.
And in fitness, it's the same thing too, is that, we are training for life. Well, different people train for different things. But if you're listening to this, I'm pretty much sure. I don't have to sell you on this. You already agree. You're training for your life. You're training to get stronger for things that matter to you. So the test of your strength is, can you pick up the heavy TV when you're helping your friend move?
That's the real test. And can you do it in the clothes you're going to be wearing when you do that? So I do think that you need... since we don't have... well, I guess there are fitness competitions, but I also think they're a little silly, sorry. But if you're not engaged in fitness competitions, then that's not your test. You do need to set just a... sometimes, try moving in your regular clothes.
It doesn't have to be a very structured thing, but you do need to know how well you can move in the clothes that you have. How much you can pick up comfortably without warming up. And we all know that carrying odd shaped objects or large things is more awkward and more difficult than picking up a barbell or a kettlebell.
We talked about this in a couple of months ago in one of the shows, about carrying loaded carries and odd-shaped objects and stuff. And this stuff is really important. This is what it is. This is autonomy in strength and fitness, is to be able to use things. So it's important to test your ability to use the things you're developing.
Ryan: [00:15:31 Let me give you an example with some of the GMB stuff, if I can. So let's take the handstand for example. And let's say that you want to do a handstand. Great. Okay. Similar to what Andy was talking about in terms of martial art, what are we after as a teacher? What am I trying to do as a teacher in order to help you to be... to train this stuff? And we're looking at two things in the very beginning, we're looking at safety and we're also looking at the fear factor. And one way, the way that I like to teach people in the very beginning that's going to help them with both of those is to focus on the bail. So even before you go upside down, even before you even think about doing handstands or whatnot, I want you to work on your cartwheel.
And the reason why is, if you're very, very comfortable in doing a cartwheel, then what's going to happen is, you're going to be working on the bail. When you start to work in the handstand, all you have to do is cartwheel out of it. Okay, great. You know that you can cartwheel out. You know this, you're not going to come crashing down.
This is also helping mentally to work on the fear factor. If you're scared of falling out of it, if you're scared that you can't hold a handstand, that means that you're not going to be able to focus on the handstand. So what you're wanting to do is create that safe environment, focusing on doing something that's going to set you up so that you can get out of that particular situation safely, but also work even with a little bit of fear, but know you're going to be safe while doing it.
So, what this is is moving towards working towards that hand stand, let's say that you're in the gym and you wear a particular outfit. It doesn't matter. You're working out in a particular place and every single time you've got the mats and things like that. What's going to happen when you go and you start to test that out. In other words, when you got to take that handstand photo of you on top of that rock when you're in the park for Instagram, okay, because that's what it's about, right?
But what I'm getting at here is that, what we're doing by testing, by training is that we're building this physical autonomy to know that it doesn't matter where we go and where we do this, that we have the confidence. We have that strength, flexibility, and control. We know what's going on in our body because we've assessed what's going on.
We know that we have the protocol to be able to bail out of this handstand if need be. We're not scared because we've spent so much time testing and training on this particular move that when we go out and say, "You know what, I feel like doing a handstand here in the park. I feel like doing a handstand X," wherever it is, you know exactly where your body is because you spent the time working on being able to understand what your body can do through physical autonomy. So therefore it doesn't matter what you're wearing. You know that wherever you go, you're going to be able to do it.
Assessment
Andy: [00:18:12] Yeah, absolutely. And I think that this is key. And we've talked about this in different guises, a number of times is that self-awareness and self knowledge, understanding where you're at, this is key to developing autonomy because just seeing where you want to go on a map, if you don't know where you're starting, it's really hard to get there.
And that's why the GPS is so important. Self-assessment is the GPS of the GMB method, of physical autonomy in general. It's so important. What I want to do now is talk about, well, we'll start with assessing and then we'll move through the other stages, but how to assess your ability to move in the clothes that you have, to be able to perform the skills you need to perform wearing the things that you wear.
Andy: So just start with assessing. It doesn't have to be really hard. First, you just think about your clothes a little bit. This is something that comes supernaturally to martial artists by the way because we think about this a lot and we train as, especially Ryan and Jarlo who are grapplers, gi versus no gi is an obvious example. But then, think about if you are learning to throw somebody and in the real world we don't necessarily wear dogi, but you might have somebody with a jacket with the lapels`, or you might have somebody wearing a t-shirt, and the way you're going to approach, engaging with that person will be completely different based on that.
So, even if we're not talking about martial arts, this is something that you can consider, your clothes. Do they stick close to your body or do they hang off? If you drop your arm, does it catch on your shirt when it starts to go behind you, or is your shirt out of the way, right? When you walk, do your pants rub up against each other in the middle, at the ankle? That, if your pants are loose, they might. Is the fabric strong or is it weak? Does it have a lot of give in it? If you bend too far, will it stretch and eventually rip or is it going to be tough that it restricts your movement, or will it move with you? Is it somewhere in between?
Be aware of this and really go through all the outfits that you wear regularly. This doesn't have to take a long time, but just think about it, right? Think about the pockets. This is another one that women always bring up with, lady pants ain't got no pockets, man. And I don't know why. I think it's a crime against humanity because women have to carry things too. Everyone does. I'm super anal about my pockets. Ryan, are you anal about pockets in your pants?
Ryan: [00:20:55] Not so much, really? To be honest.
Andy: [00:20:59] Really?
Ryan: [00:20:59] Yeah, no. I know that you like to carry various things. In the United States, with Jarlo, he's always got knives. Plural, plural.
Andy: [00:21:07] Yeah. Multiple.
Ryan: [00:21:07] Yes. So he's got to have his pockets. For me, not so much. And I think what's interesting with me in that terms is, typically, I'm moving around upside down or something over the years. So for pockets for me, man, I would lose shit.
Andy: [00:21:20] Right. Yeah. So I'm super anal about my pockets, man. I want to be able to clip a pen into a pocket. I want to be able to put my wallet in there and it won't come out if I sit down or if I do move around somewhere.
I want my keys to not fall out when I sit down and things like that. I actually have a couple of pairs of jeans that I have sewn. I have sewn spandex pockets that grip my phone into the pocket. I'm a little bit of a fanatic about this. But anyway, this is the thing to think about.
What do you keep in your pockets? How do your pockets work? And okay, so that impacts you. If every time you lift your leg, your keys are now digging into your thigh because your pockets are so tight, that limits your movement.
If you're afraid to turn to the side because your phone might fall out of your pocket, well, then that's the thing to think of. If you can't run, if your phone might fall out of your pocket, you can't run.
So I think this is something that, not to belabor the point, but just looking at your clothes and thinking about these things, I think is important to be aware of. And then we've talked about shoes before, but that too, just your feet and your ankles, how well do they move. Or if you step laterally, are you afraid that you might roll your ankle and scuff your shoe that is really expensive and you don't want scuffed? That's a thing to know.
Ryan: [00:22:48] Absolutely. That's big for me, not for the fact that I'm worried about scuffing stuff. It's just actually how are these shoes are going to allow me to maneuver? That's my big thing, that would be, especially with my ankle break. But that's how I determine the particular articles of clothing that I buy. They're not maybe the most fashionable out there, but I really don't care because they're extremely functional for me and for what I want out of them. And that's why if I do wear shoes, they're going to be outdoor related in the sense that I can go on a hike. I can walk for a long ways if I need be. I'm not going to buy a pair of shoes that are slightly uncomfortable, but they look cool and I can deal with it when I'm walking around, going to the coffee. Now screw that man. I'm like, nah, I can't do that.
Andy: [00:23:34] So those are kind of thinking about material and things like that. But then the next step is then to put some of your clothes that you wear on and then explore your range of motion. And again, this seems like crazy. Why would anyone bother doing this?
Well, the thing is, you live in these clothes all freaking day. You should know what you're able to do, right? So think about it. As I go through this list, compare if you were wearing a suit versus a t-shirt, right? Think about shoulder rotation, swinging your arms around in circles. Super easy in a t-shirt and some of the jackets you might have, depending on the cut. It might restrict your movement. Okay. It's a thing to know.
Lifting your leg up. Can you stand and lift your knee up towards your chest? Do your pants bind you, do you have less range of motion with lifting your legs than you would have in looser fitting clothes? How about bending forward, bending back, do your pants or your shirt restrict your movement?
Stepping to the side, not just walking forward and backward, but if you have to step laterally to the side or something. You might have to do that to avoid someone on the sidewalk. Can you do that easily in the shoes you have? Can you turn easily in the shoes you have? Can you hop, can you jump without everything falling out of your pockets?
These are simple, simple, easy, easy movements that we should be able to do. You might think, well, I don't need to move my arm in a circle when I'm wearing a jacket. Well, I don't know. You might be late. You might jump onto the subway and I have to grab one of those little loopy things. You might have to help some old lady reach a fricking biscuit box on the top shelf at the grocery store.
I don't know what you do in your daily life, but you might need more shoulder ROM than you think. That's why it's important to know how much you actually have. So, that's assessing your clothes, assessing your wardrobe for range of motion. I never thought that we'd ever have a wardrobe assessment on the GMB show.
Ryan: [00:25:51] And I never thought you'd be the one to talk about it.
Address & Apply Ability to Move in Clothes
Andy: [00:25:56] But here we are. It's the 21st century. And man, just welcome to the new normal. Here we are. This is it. But then from there, we have assess, address, apply. So let's run with it. All right. So address, develop your ability to move better in the clothes you have.
So this is another interesting thing. When we were planning this article about jeans and I was asking some of the ladies on the team because I know lady jeans are not a picnic, and Rose chimed in and she was saying, well, I just learn how to move within my jeans. And that was great. It's perfect.
You can't make the off the rack jeans be perfect for you maybe. But you can learn how to move within what you have. And this is great. Thinking about which movements you are likely to need or want to perform, just think about... practice doing them in jeans and whatever you wear, and notice what feels like you have more or less control than usual.
Notice if there's any kind of movements you absolutely need to avoid. For example, if you're Ryan and you're at a wedding and you're wearing a fricking suit for some reason, you're probably don't want to hit the tequila so hard that you want to do handstand push-ups on the dance floor and everything fall out of your pockets.
Ryan: [00:27:19] Yeah. Or those splits on the dance floor, you might want to refrain from doing those. Well, I'll still do them, but-
Andy: [00:27:27] Just take off your pants first.
Ryan: [00:27:28] Yeah. I've already got them off anyway. So, that's cool. It's all that tequila.
Andy: [00:27:32] Right. So, that's important though, is you think about what you can develop that gives you the ability to move better in the clothes that you have. And this sounds like I'm saying that you should have some amazing boot camp of the suit training or something, but that's not really it.
It's really just a matter of, as you wear what you wear and you go through your day, just think a little bit about what movements that are little outside of normal you can do and get more comfortable with because comfort is what allows you to be able to do things more, right? And then as the seasons change or as you purchase new garments, test your shit. We're coming into winter now.
And I went and, oh my, I did not tell you Ryan. I went to Patagonia and I spent $500 on a freaking jacket.
Ryan: [00:28:24] Dude.
Andy: [00:28:25] I know.
Ryan: [00:28:25] It's all I'm going to say.
Andy: [00:28:30] So, anyway, I did though because I am a true freaking geek. I did put-
Ryan: [00:28:37] Yeah, you tested that shit out. You tested that out, didn't you?
Andy: [00:28:39] I put it on in the store and I came out of the dressing room and they were like, "Oh, it looks like a good fit." I'm like, eh, and I start swinging my arms around. I started twisting, I did a fricking cartwheel right in the Shibuya store of Patagonia. It's probably on the internet now from the security cam somewhere. I tested it out though.
But this is important. I want to know. I'm not thinking that I need to be doing cartwheels all winter or anything, but I want to know, can I reach overhead? Can I move around? Can I bend? I'm going to wear this coat when I... my... I'm going to take my daughter up North and we're going to go to a snow country in Aomori and we're going to be playing together. Am I going to be able to bend down and pick stuff up? Am I going to be able to pick up my daughter? Am I going to be able to do all the things I want to do while we're playing together?
Yeah. I tested this coat. It's 500 freaking dollars. Of course I'm going to make sure it's going to be right. So there's that. And then over time you just develop your ability to move well in regular clothes. It's not like Ryan did not train to do flows in jeans. And he did not buy jeans for flows either. That sounds so weird. It's just, he's good at doing the things he can do. He wears his same clothes all the time. So he knows what he can do.
Ryan: [00:29:53] Chuck Norris jeans baby, that's where it's at. Action slacks. But that's the thing too and over time you just know what's going to work for you. And that's basically why I stick with only two, three, if you count shoes, makers, because I know that if I buy that particular brand, it's going to work for me. That's me. And you do find certain brands are going to work for you depending on where you're after. And luckily, we don't wear suits. I have a suit, of course, I wear it like once a year, maybe. But, pretty much wearing the same stuff all the time. That's why, sorry, everybody, you pretty much see the same t-shirts in all the GMB videos. I apologize for that.
Andy: [00:30:41] Yeah. But that's the thing. You know what you like, what you can do in it, and that gives you the ability to move and live with autonomy regardless of what's going on. And I'll also say just one final note on this is that, all of this autonomy is it's not just a function of yourself.
It's also your environment, and that's why we're talking about clothes because clothes are a part of your environment. You don't get to just decide that you want to do anything. You're limited by social mores, you're limited by gravity. We're limited by all kinds of things that we have no control over. And that's what autonomy is. It's not pure freedom. It's the ability to choose the direction we want to go within the bounds of the possible. And so that is why paying attention to your ability to move well within what you wear is important.
That's why I devoted a 3000 word article and now this podcast to it. It's important stuff. So, just to summarize things like don't get focused on the literal things. When we say that, if you can't do it in jeans, you can't do it. We're not saying that everyone should work out in jeans or anyone should work out in jeans. I don't care if you wear jeans
And especially for women, I understand that society has dictated some really weird things about what you should wear and it's up to you, whether or not you accept that and how you choose to deal with that. But regardless, all of us have to spend time figuring out how to access our real abilities in our environments, being the clothes that we wear or where we are. Like Ryan spent many years doing judo and they practice on nice cushion tatami sprung floors.
But if you don't know how to take a fall on this pavement, you could end up really badly hurt sometime, right? And every person who practices judo knows this. This is the same thing for what we do in GMB. All of the things that you practice in your training, you should also be able to do some version of those in the real world. And that's what all of this is about.
You get to choose the dimensions of your cage. We're all locked up. I'm trying not to get too philosophical here, but we're all dictated where we are. But you get to choose, you get to determine a lot of control over what you're able to do within those limits. If you think about them and if you really accurately assess and address and apply yourself to improving your abilities within those limitations. And that is all I have to say.
Ryan: [00:33:37] Lovely. I like it. I'm going to go change into my yoga hot pants and go do some handstands.
Andy: [00:33:43] Cool. All right. Well, that is what I'm going to do too. I don't have anything clever to say. All right. Thanks for listening. Be you.
Ryan: [00:33:55] Be you. Bye bye.
