No yelling required
By Frank Forencich and The Barefoot Sensei
War is not an adventure. It is a disease.
Antoine De Saint-Exupery
In war, we always deform ourselves, our essence.Chris Hedges
Dulce bellum iexpertis (War is delightful to the inexperienced).
Erasmus, the 16th-century scholar
Wasn’t Vietnam bad enough?
Wasn’t Iraq bad enough?
Isn’t Afghanistan bad enough?
Haven’t we had enough carnage, misery and insanity in the last 100 years? In the last thousand?
Apparently not. It seems that the military mind is alive and thriving in a most unlikely venue: the health and fitness industry. That’s right, the hottest concept in today’s fitness marketplace is the “boot camp,” a faux military workout complete with drill sergeant instructor and in some cases, camo fashion clothing. All across the land, men and women are lining up in droves, paying good money to submit to the tyranny of grim-faced drill instructors who promise to beat them into shape.
Can the world become any more inexplicable? Can this industry become any more out of touch with the challenges of the modern world? Are we completely mad?
history and purpose
If you stop to think about it, which apparently few people actually do, boot camps carry a immense amount of history, metaphor and assumptions that drive the entire experience. The form is not neutral and it can’t dismissed by casting it as a fashion statement or lifestyle experience. Boot camps bring a lot of really nasty baggage with them.
The unavoidable fact is that throughout history, boot camps have had a single purpose: to prepare raw recruits for war, especially bloody combat and infantry missions. And because war is such a messy business, the over-riding objective is to establish a culture of obedience–a reflexive, unconscious response to authority. Physical fitness has a role to play in the process, but it’s really secondary. Establishing and maintaining chain of command is paramount.
Make no mistake. Boot camps are not about health, nor have they ever been. They are about short-term survival and victory. And the only way to assure victory in a conventional war is to make certain that the grunts in the field do as they’re told. If soldiers respond to orders, then power can flow onto the battlefield and victory becomes possible. No one is looking out for the soldier’s longevity or ultimate well-being; just look at the way we treat veterans. Once the battle is over the game is up, it’s time to bring in a fresh batch of recruits, sometimes called “raw meat.”
The priorities of boot camp are clear: Build unit cohesion through a shared ordeal. Make soldiers fit for duty. Break down individual thought and personality. Prepare yourself for the ultimate sacrifice. Punish your body for the sake of the unit. Learn how to suffer. It’s the same the world over.
It’s not just the military, by the way. Boot camp programs are now part of the correctional and penal system in several countries. Modeled after military training camps, these programs are based on shock incarceration grounded on military techniques. Participants typically engage in military-style exercises and marching. So what to make of this? Are we so desperate about the state of our bodies that we feel the need for something akin to “correctional incarceration?”
these boots are made for fighting
Original footwear tells us a great deal about the character of boot camps, in spite of the fact that today’s fitness boot campers are probably wearing athletic shoes. The classic combat boot is black, high top, hard sole and serious leather. It’s designed to dominate terrain, obstacles and as necessary, other people. Little or no sensitivity is possible. There can be no appreciation of environment, no understanding of nuance and no skill. These boots are designed for one purpose; to move forward into battle and defeat the predicament with power and force.
After footwear, formation becomes the key to the boot camp experience. Rows and columns, rank and file, everything in order. No question about who is in charge. Orders flow from top to bottom without question or hesitation. Authority structures are obvious, rigid and unassailable. Significantly, we see this row-and-column format throughout our culture, not just in boot camps. We seem to “fall in” automatically and unconsciously. We fall in in classrooms, in fitness classes and in business meetings. Everyone in their seat, in their position, waiting patiently to be told what to do. We are conditioned.
beat me into shape
Clearly, there is a powerful background assumption that drives today’s participation in boot camps. That is, we are desperate about the state of our bodies. We believe that the only way to get fit is by punishment, ordeal and suffering. “I cannot possibly drive myself hard enough to make fitness happen for myself, therefore I need someone to get in my face.”
But is this really the case? Do we really need punishment for health?
We need challenge, certainly. Sweat, of course. Engagement and attention, absolutely. Discipline, to be sure. But these things are available in thousands of ways, many of them quite enjoyable and non-authoritarian. Surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders get fit without getting yelled at. So do runners, climbers and hikers. And of course, so did primal humans, hunting and gathering their way through the natural world. And even more to the point, so do millions of non-human animals: creatures great and small–playing, hunting and locomoting their way to better health. No yelling required.
failure of the imagination
Fitness boot camps, with their linear movements, authority structure, sets and reps, demonstrate a spectacular failure of imagination. There’s no creativity here and little opportunity for learning or mastery. The movements are simple, single-plane calisthenics. There’s no room for innovation or new ideas. The only success is completing the class and coming back for more.
So is this really the best we can do with the human body under the circumstances? Our physical predicament is unique in human history. We are faced with novel challenges in every direction: sedentary living, faux food, distorted social relationships, chronic stress and temporal poverty. One might suppose that we would craft a training culture designed specifically to meet these challenges. Instead of borrowing a “solution” from an entirely different context, we might do better to create a new form that addresses our problems specifically. Ironically, even the military itself would not make the mistake that the fitness community is making; high-level military strategists know that training programs must be specific to the challenge at hand.
welcome to foot camp
As an alternative to boot camp training and thinking, I invite you to consider the “foot camp.” You probably haven’t heard much about foot camps, but it’s not hard to imagine how they might look and feel.
First of all, imagine a group of people with their shoes off, learning how to recover their walk and get back in touch with the earth. It’s a group movement class with holistic agenda: mind-body-spirit-land-tribe-ancestors. The idea is to promote physicality and reawaken the body to the challenge of living in the modern world.
In a foot camp, we start with bare feet whenever possible. The focus is on sensation and in turn, integrated motor control of the body. Bare feet are highly sophisticated sensory organs. The information that they obtain is immensely valuable in helping the body to coordinate powerful, graceful and athletic movement. Sadly, much of this ability and sensation has been lost in our modern epidemic of footwear. Foot camps offer a much needed remedial education.
The prime objective is environmental integration. The idea here is to read the environment and craft appropriate movements and behaviors. When shoes are off, our attention sharpens and we suddenly become aware of subtle variations in terrain, plants, temperatures and conditions. Instead of driving ahead as cannon fodder on the battlefield, we learn to shape our movements to fit with the lay of the land. We run and walk, not in some preconceived manner, but in response to conditions on the ground. This is a subtle art that involves the entire body, not just muscle and cardio. It is profoundly holistic.
A foot camp is not a top-down authority-driven experience. Rather, it’s a facilitated group experience, designed to foster vigorous movement and health. Trainers inspire through vigorous movement and each player can make a contribution. The tone is a balance of gravity and levity. There’s no yelling and no domination, but lots of joking, laughing and smiling. The emphasis is on learning. There is a sense of discipline and order, but always in proportion and always in the service of a playful and aesthetic end. In foot camp, everyone leaves laughing, sweating and inspired.
Of course, this description isn’t enough for some people and everyone wants to know the real story:
Is it as hard as a boot camp?
Well, it’s not as unpleasant as a boot camp, if that’s what you mean.
Will I suffer?
Probably not; that’s not the point. You can, if you really want to.
Will I sweat?
Absolutely.
Will I get fit?
Of course. Your entire body will get smarter and stronger. Vigorous movement works. Joyful vigorous movement works even better.
Will a foot camp whip me into shape?
No, but it will inspire you into shape. It will bring you into a healthy relationship with your body and with the land. You’ll go home laughing, sweaty and inspired.
And peaceful.
