How much of what you do and how you behave happens on purpose? Compare this to the frequency of incidental, accidental, circumstance-led, or pure-reaction actions and behaviors. How does the ratio stack up?

Of course, this broad concept is specifically relevant to how you move. Observationally, purposeful movement tends to be smoother -- controlled, balanced, sometimes even appearing slower (but, interestingly, it is generally faster than haphazard movement that may appear faster). If you’ve ever watched an Olympic gymnast perform, you know what I’m talking about. With purposeful movement, there is often a sense of style, too. Non-purposeful movement often exhibits the opposite qualities: erratic, uncontrolled, inconsistent, etc. It just so happens that leaving your movement up to accident tends to mean lower performance and more injury, too.

It should be said that the human brain does not have infinite capacity for purposeful action. If you performed everything you do with the same purpose you apply to, say, carrying a newborn infant up a set of stairs, tasks like taking a shower or driving to work would stack up to be mentally exhausting. But I would wager that most of you have ample room in your life for more purposeful, deliberate action. And a great place to start would be your movement practice. Tune in to how you move, and act with purpose!

- PS

10/16/19

• Every 4 minutes for 20 minutes, for time:

• 5 SB over shoulder (AHAP)

• 10 T2B

• 100m sprint

• *record fastest