Earlier this week I was reminded of the old adage: you can have security, or you can have convenience. I was talking with a client about some of the changes the Town of West Hartford is making in accordance with Vision Zero. Much of these changes will result in slower traffic and more congestion, which, agree with the mission or not, is precisely the point. It will make driving less convenient, but safer. And it’s one illustration of the never ending battle between the two.
Examples of Security vs. Convenience
These two ideals are always in opposition. Want to keep your online accounts as secure as possible? Have different passwords for every account. Make them all random combinations of numbers, special characters, and upper and lower case words. Do not allow any device to save these passwords, do not write them down, and don’t repeat any. Given that most of us repeat passwords or allow our browsers and phones to save them, the above recommendations seem unrealistic. And yet, because we don’t follow them, we are less secure for the sake of convenience.
In college, I became a big fan of Barry Eisler’s novels starring assassin John Rain. He was the best in the business because he showed up to meets hours in advance to do his counter surveillance. Everything else he did to stay secure involved removing all patterns from his life. As we are all creatures of habit, this was wildly inconvenient, but it kept him alive. An extreme case of sacrificing convenience for security.
When it comes to health and fitness, what is security? I contend that it is feeling a feeling of physical capability – that feeling that whatever is thrown your way, you can handle. Need to push your car to a service station? You got this. Have to carry a tired kid? No problem. Feel like trying a new physical challenge, like rafting or climbing? You’re good to go.
It’s also the knowledge that barring a car crash or some other catastrophic event, you’re in good health. Your blood markers are in range, and your vitals are solid.
How do you develop this reserve of capability? It’s not by sitting on the couch and eating whatever is ready made and available within arm’s reach. No, it’s through hard work. Putting in time training. Meal prepping and eating nutrient dense foods. Managing stress through methods other self-medication.
None of these things are convenient. If they were, we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic. And yet, here we are. Most people opt for convenience wherever possible, even the most well intentioned.
My coworker at the DoD had crazy passwords for every secure account. He listed all these passwords in a password protected Excel sheet. The password to that sheet was taped under his keyboard. One small trade-off of security for convenience effectively negated his entire system.
You can train all you want in the gym, but if your nutrition is a mess, you similarly undermine your whole system. You can opt for fast weight loss with GLP-1 agonists, but if you don’t strength train as well, you’ll likely induce sarcopenia.
There are no quick fixes. Anything that is quick and convenient will compromise security in some way. This is a universal truth, so we can’t escape it in the fitness world. Remember it, and strive to do the inconvenient things. Only then will you be secure in your health. See you in the gym.