Ever wonder why Election Day is in November? It turns out that in 1845 (the year the official date was set) most Americans were farmers. November happens to fall right in between the end of the harvest season and the start of winter.
And why it’s on a Tuesday? Transportation in 1845 was not by train or bus, but by horse and buggy. You needed a day to get to the voting station. So Tuesday it was.
Of course, we’re no longer a primarily agrarian society. And instead of traveling to vote at the county seat, you can just walk a block to one of many polling stations. Or you could drive to one in less than five minutes.
And yet, we still vote on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Of course, it’s not just in our election process that we keep doing things due to tradition. Most martial arts, for example, shun more “traditional” forms of strength and conditioning for improvised, inventive, but mostly wrong exercises, mostly because “that’s how my teacher did it.” Hey, I’m all for tradition – but let’s embrace technology and progress.
You may want to consider that Sifu used iron rings because he didn’t have access to a barbell.
The underlying problem is resistance to change. Change is scary. Change is painful. But most times, change is necessary for growth and continued progress.
Are you still doing things that worked for you at the beginning of your fitness program but don’t make much sense now?
What things do you do just because you’ve always done them that way?
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great post. A lot of my friends are still doing bodybuilding style training b/c it’s traditional, and it’s what the magazines say to do. I have converted a few to see the light and train for movement and body patterns. But most are just stuck in their old ways b/c that’s all they know.
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