Review: Becoming A Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett

In a recent blog, I mentioned the discovery of a website called The Art of Manliness that was developed by a guy named Brett McKay. I discovered the website when looking online for exercises to undo the damage caused to our bodies by sitting. While on Brett's site, I read a post on seven exercises focused on undoing the effects of sitting. Within the post, Brett gave a strong review and recommendation for Becoming A Supple Leopard. I decided to investigate further.

After reading a few reviews and learning a little more about the author, Kelly Starrett, and his methodology, I decided to take the plunge and buy the book. The book isn't exactly a simple book on fitness, but it seems like it is highly popular in the CrossFit community. I have seen a few copies in gyms and my sister even has a copy. The book is written as a more academic treatment of mobility and injury prevention. I could see a text like this making its way into a variety of Physical Therapy and Exercise Physiology programs.

The book is huge (like a textbook or coffee table book) and it is filled with page after page of mobility exercises to help improve range of motion, resolve pain, and optimize performance. Dr. Starrett strongly encourages readers to make their way through the book before jumping into the exercises so one can understand the principles that the mobilities are built upon. I heeded his instruction and found myself reading from cover to cover.

The book is extremely helpful for thinking through functional movement and strength, and for equipping people with tools to do self-maintenance to reduce incidence of injury. Starrett explains that the human body is highly adaptive, and he believes that the leading cause of joint pain and injury is poor mobility which the body then adapts to, and subsequently becomes injured through weaknesses and instabilities created by the adaptation.

Fundamentally, I found myself nodding yes throughout the book as I learned more about Starrett's background and framework for addressing preventive care. The thought that our bodies become injured through a lack of mobility and strength in different muscle groups just made sense to me, and the idea of doing self-maintenance to reduce or prevent injury just seemed like a smart thing to do.

Since reading the book on July 5, I've attempted to cultivate a daily habit of 10-15 minutes of mobility exercises and I can tell a marked difference in my mobility as well as my resilience after workouts. I highly recommend Dr. Starrett's book, and I also recommend reading the whole way through to think through the why of his book, and the why of the mobility exercises contained within. What I love the most about the framework is that it gives a sensible and practical pathway for improving mobility, functional strength, and injury prevention. Having been sidelined by injuries in the past, any tools I can use to reduce my risk of injury are tools I want to deploy with consistency.

May we all become supple leopards, always ready for whatever physical challenges come our way.

Blurred, Filled With Challenges, But . . .

Rolling across I70 from Morgantown to Columbus, I took this photo near dusk. I was a little frustrated with the way it turned out, but then I considered it a good reflection on much of the day. This post is a mixed bag of frustration from daily challenges, applause for great service, and some perspective that has been flooding my mind.

This morning I woke up slightly before 6AM (which has been pretty typical as of late). My good friend Derek and I had a pretty busy day so I felt it was imperative to get started early. Looking back on our lofty goals for the day, we were trying to do too much (probably the anthem of my life), and it took its toll a bit. Looking back, the day feels like a blur, but after a few hours on the road, I feel like I'm seeing a little more clearly. (Sometimes life is like that).

I won't bore you with the details of all of the challenges, I'm sure your day was filled with challenges too. One of the biggest for me happened around 11:45. I was cutting paper with one of those big paper cutters, and I let my left thumb hang absently over the guard. I swung down, and cut half-way thru my thumb and nail. I'm so thankful that I reacted quickly enough that I didn't finish the swing of the cutter or I might be severely disadvantaged if I ever needed to hitchhike. I'm not sure anybody fully realized what happened when I said I cut my thumb. As I saw the size of the cut, I thought, NOW my day has challenges. I had deadlines to meet and a long drive ahead, and my thumb was cut. Great!

Another friend sprayed the cut with Saline, I threw some tissues on it, and hopped in the car and drove to the local urgent care center. The receptionist was understanding, and filled out my patient information sheet for me. My biggest challenge was signing paperwork because I'm left handed, and it was my left thumb I had cut. Amazingly, I was able to stay focused throughout the time. It was as though I had been given a supernatural acumen for sharing the details of my injury and the concerns aroused when I saw what I had done to myself.

When the physician came in, he very quickly assessed the fastest and most pain-free approach to sealing the cut. Because it was cut into the nail bed and not completely through it, he was able to use steri-strips instead of stitches (which would have been very painful) to hold my thumb together. WHat was most amazing is that I was out of the place in less than forty-five minutes. The physican was Dr. David Anderson, and he and the staff of Cheat Lake Urgent Care did an incredible job getting me taken care of and back out quickly. I thought I would be spending my afternoon being treated, but instead I was able to be back at it quickly thanks to their quality work.

ANd that brings me to perspective. Today at times I felt overwhelmed, stretched too thin, and up against the wall with accomplishing a litany of tasks. It was strange how the feelings of self-doubt, frustration at cutting my thumb, and a number of other small set-backs that felt significant seemed to eat at me.

And yet, as I consider my lot and my challenges, they really pale in comparison to so many in our world. They pale in comparison to the people more numerous than I can count who spent today suffering in desperate hunger. They pale in comparison to the millions of women and children who have no idea what the word freedom means because they are slaves who are bought and sold for less than the cost of a tank of gas. They pale in comparison to the multitudes who are fighting a battle against an uncontrolled growth of mutated cells in their body, and who are ingesting poison in hopes of killing those cells.

When I think about how good I have it, it makes me wonder how I could ever get so frustrated. But I think that comes about when our lives become blurry. When we allow our life to become blurry, we lose perspective, molehills become mountains, and minor inconveniences become grave injustices.

I don't know what your day was like, but I hope these words may provide some salve to soothe, heal, and refresh you in your journey.

Life is much better than we might realize in our blurred and challenging moments, and even when it seems filled with challenges, there is joy to be found.