Breathing, Barefoot Shoes, and Heart Rate Zones

Savage / Zen Newsletter | No. 075

May 28, 2023

"I know that man is capable of great deeds, but if he isn't capable of great emotions, well, he leave me cold."
~ Albert Camus

Training & Updates:

Welcome to spring! Over the past month I’ve started a breath work practice, gone full ham on capacity training (and paid for it), and retired my trademark Bedrock sandals(!).

Shift Adapt has free quick start guide to breathwork, but I signed up for their all access subscription to binge their webinars and download programming content.

Breathwork isn’t an exception to other types of training or tissue development — requiring progressive overload. You absolutely can “blow out” or otherwise damage / overtrain your sinus tissues.

Xero Shoes Prio Men's Shoe | Spacious Toe Box, High-Performing, Vegan ...

My sandals are gone, but I haven’t abandoned the “barefoot life.” Xero Prios are significantly cheaper than my Altra Lone Peaks; both being zero-drop the (padding) stack is 5.5 mm compared to 25 mm.

In other words, these aren’t for the feint of heart as you’ll feel every rock and stick you step on! While pounding the literal pavement, I’m glad I have the Lone Peaks.

Xeros won’t suck your power away whilst lifting heavy, and have sticky rubber for jumping / agility, and won’t saw your big toes off like a sandal thong.

Xero advertises a “wide toe box”, but I still had to size up a whole size. For reference, my Altra Lone Peak 6’s are 9-Wide even with Altra’s widest “original” cut. By contrast, the Xero Prio’s are a size 10. Both are a bit long for my foot, but REI didn’t have the Altra half size, and Xero doesn’t make a “wide” size or leather option.

So far the Prio rubber is super sticky and the shoe is super comfortable day-to-day. Cheers to hard training and grinding them into oblivion to make use of that REI warranty!

What’s New:

Sport As My Teacher: Introducing Capacity

Austin

Apr 30

Sport As My Teacher: Introducing Capacity

Arguably, (work) capacity has the biggest carry over to combat sports compared to endurance and strength. Combat sports, specifically grappling, are often referred to as “repeat sprint sports” (ref.). That means that the pacing is not consistent (e.g. LISS and true endurance work). By the same token, a given round or bout is substantially longer in duration than single maximum contraction (e.g. one-rep-max).

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Breathing Gears vs. Heart Rate Zones

Austin

May 7

In addition to beginning a capacity training cycle, I’ve also started focusing on breath work — a very complimentary process as I’ll explain in my later review of that training cycle. In his “The Uneasy Athlete” webinar, Brian Mackenzie mentions that chess players can burn 6,000 calories per day and that free divers can burn 600 calories per hour with a heart rate well below 60 bpm.

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Supplement Update: Spring 2023 Protocol

Austin

May 14

True to the cause and use case, supplementation should have an application as a means to an end, not an end within themselves — i.e. they are not a replacement for more substantial interventions. Here I’ll review the doses and timing for supplements I use on a carnivore diet as of Spring 2023:

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What If The Answer Is Less?

Austin

May 21

Many of my colleagues go for walks around campus during their lunch break. I’m happy for them, and sometimes do the same. While I’m enjoying the sun, as one should, I might as well get some (more) exercise, right? Because more is better, right? For my colleagues, this is probably true given the global rates of obesity, inactivity, diabetes, and Vitamin D deficiency. However, as I’ve delved into breath work recently I’m more and more aware that “more” has never been my problem.

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Book Club:

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Penguin Books New Zealand

The looming dystopian futures foretold in A Brave New World, 1984, Gattaca, Minority Report, V for Vendetta, etc. all have their roots (fortunately) in fiction. The reality of the “century of total war” is much more cruel in its reality.

If Man’s Search for Meaning illustrates faith in the face of fascism, then “The Gulag” is the counterpart that represents what happens when the state becomes the idol of worship.

This should serve a staunch warning of horseshoe politics when pundits echo chimes of:

“it’s for your own good”,
“the government is here to help”,
“it’s for everyone’s safety”,
“we’re all in this together”,
“you today, me tomorrow.”