I usually like to tell people I have two main speeds, warp speed (plaid) and off. Anything in between seems to require a finesse that I often struggle with, but there's plenty of positives to slowing down what we do. 

Lessons in Movement from Spaceballs

First off, if you don't get the "plaid" Spaceballs reference, please allow me to enlighten you with this clip. I assure you its well worth your time.

It doesn't seem to matter for me whether its strongman, gymnastics, natural movement or any other type of sports and recreation, I have a habit of jumping into plaid pretty pretty quickly. It's my default playtime setting. But along with that, I occasionally succumb to the risks associated with faster than ludicrous speeds/intensities.

Inspiration in Slomo

Being near the boardwalk in Pacific Beach, San Diego, I'm never far from some contrasting inspiration. His name is Slomo and he serves as regular reminder for me to slow down what I do in just about all areas of training and life from time to time.

Reap the Benefits of Moving Slow

You can reap benefits of slowing down your training in many ways:

• Slow reps and tempo training for hypertrophy and learning better movement patterns/positions
• Do yoga for building mobility, stability, and improving your breathing. Here's a link to see a 300# man, Coach Burgess, doing yoga in the park.
• Increase your rest periods so you can focus on improving absolute strength instead of just going for the deep burn of circuits and intervals
• Walk or hike for conditioning occasionally, it'll increase blood flow and facilitate recovery from high intensity training as well as clear your head
• Plan ahead and write your training down. Taking a moment to have a game plan for your training well in advance will help you stay the course and moving in the direction of your most important goals. You'll also be able to better appreciate how much progress you make over time when it happens in little increments.

And in other areas of life:

• Chew slower and talk longer. Taking more time to eat and enjoy your present company/surroundings is a great way to improve your eating habits and your relationships with others.
• Sleep a bit more. Being well rested improves pretty much everything, your outlook, quality of work/training, and increased productivity/output, and overall health.
• Pay more attention to your surroundings, listen more and make more eye contact

How do you slow down?

The way the world is today it's unlikely any of us will ever spend our entire life in a state slow motion and nor should we. But implementing a little bit of slowness into life can really improve the quality and quantity of our training and more. What are some ways you slow down in your training and day to day life? I'd love to here from you in the comments.

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