Swolitical science

Author: CB

  • Elvis leg

    A short follow-up to my post last week. A couple of days ago I eked out a send of my first outdoor 5.12. It wasn’t the most inspiring climb, and it’s almost certainly a bit soft for the grade, but it’s an experience I’ll remember. The route is defined by a distinct crux down low…

  • Injuries, training notes, and deliberate practice

    In the late spring I severely sprained my ankle. A little carelessness at an unfamiliar bouldering gym led to a frustratingly avoidable mistake. I hobbled around the first week on crutches, then managed to get by with a limp. Eventually I was able to climb, but only on top rope and only by hopping around…

  • projects and projecting

    During this month MV and I have decided to embark on a particular project: “benchuary.” Each weekday in February there is a workout posted that we will need to complete. The ultimate aim, as the name implies, is to improve our bench press. I’ll admit: this is far and away the ‘bro-iest’ (jock-iest?) venture I’ve…

  • treadmills and citizenship

    Source An observation by Keally McBride in Punishment and Political Order (2007) popped into my head earlier: The U.S. political and economic systems have been sustained by the ideology linking citizenship and labor. But maintaining this construction is requiring that a significant proportion of our population, particularly black men, be sacrificed. The unemployed are branded…

  • crushing the body

    Barbara Ehrenreich writes of her experience in the gym during the initial boom of the modern fitness industry: I may not be able to do much about grievous injustice in the world, at least not by myself or in very short order, but I can decide to increase the weight on the leg press machine…

  • fear of falling

    A few years ago I became severely ill. Despite being in the best shape of my adult life, I found myself laid out. In pain. Unable to eat properly. Rapidly losing weight. Unable to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. I couldn’t physically leave my apartment so, whenever I could…

  • resistance training

    I’m relatively new to resistance training. The stress of finishing graduate school and securing a job took its toll in my late 20s. I threw everything into work. I was overweight, over-caffeinated, drinking too much, sleeping too little, and my nerves and digestive system were constantly on the fritz. For a number reasons, thankfully, I…

  • authoritarian flow?

    Over the last year I’ve populated my nightstand with various books on mental health. A few days ago I picked up a classic: Flow: The psychology of optimal experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Briefly, Csikszentmihalyi’s aim is to understand “optimal experience” — what the sailor feels when the wind whips through her hair, what the painter…

  • newbie gains

    MV and I intend to use this blog as a place to write & reflect. Our training plan is simple: post, post, post. Let the gains begin!