Order and Chaos
Mark Brown
April 26, 2022
The two concepts of order and chaos are often juxtaposed against each other the way a protagonist and antagonist are in a story. I do find the the sentiment that there is only order and chaos without anything in between to be relatively true. However, I don’t believe the relationship between these 2 concepts is all that antagonistic. I find a lot of value in both order and chaos. Understanding where that value is and how to use the elements that make that value up is one of the keys to greater discipline. Chaos is most often times marked by distractions and order by singular focus. To that end readers might think they know where this essay is headed because of what I have written in the past. I am writing this to explain why chaos is discipline’s best friend and why the chaotic moments create a stronger, more resolute willpower.
On the surface, order seems to be the better of the two options. It’s very easy to get consumed by all of the things that are keeping our eyes away from either what needs to be done or the goal. Depending on where one is or what they are doing, those two things aren’t the same thing. When talking about strength training in particular, having a program is essential to make progress in either strength or muscular development. Plans are created to instill order into a potentially chaotic atmosphere. That is a major motivation to create a home gym. I’ve said it before and will keep repeating it: Programs are meant to be completed in the order that is detailed. Commercial gyms make doing that incredibly hard by their chaotic nature. That comes from a witches brew of distractions and complications that include but are not limited to the following: Competing goals of every gymgoer, equipment that is provided by the gym, equipment that is available when a lifter needs it, every lifter’s personal lifting tendencies, and artificial time limits. Make no mistake about it. A public gym is the most chaotic environment for strength training.
Yet there is something valuable in all of that chaos a public gym brings to a lifter: Energy. Order helps bring us to focus on the goals we’re after, but doesn’t really give much in the way of energy to accomplish those goals. It promotes motivation without purpose, which doesn’t do anybody any good. Purpose is created by urgency, the need to get something done within a time frame. That sense of urgency creates a kinetic energy that is transferred to everyone around someone who needs to get something done. When enough kinetic energy is shared, chaos is created.
I personally find this kinetic energy to be an integral part of discipline. Having “good” discipline requires someone to keep doing what they need to be doing without deviating from the plan. For lifters, this means following the program they or a coach laid out for them. Having energy to do that emotionally, physically and intellectually is accomplished by eating mostly well, getting enough sleep and not taxing the body or CNS through drug use. Stress is also a common and destructive energy vampire. These last 4 things listed are major impediments and can be caused by any number of things. It is important to understand that it’s life’s limiting factors that keep us on or off our plans, not the things that we desire that make up our motivations. The biggest reason for that is those limitations require a person to fully question what their desires actually are. In short, the natural and artificial limitations of our lives creates energy that is used to form that plans that help bring order.
There is one phase of strength training where chaos trumps order. I firmly believe that new lifters should begin their strength journey without any established goals or programs. I think that it’s more important to establish learning through experience than watching or reading someone else tell one how to do it. “Book” learning should always act as a supplemental form of education, even for more experienced lifters. The beginning phase being more chaotic than ordered also tells the lifter how much they actually enjoy lifting. That enjoyment will become extremely important for later when lifts that don’t bring any of it become necessary cogs in a program. This beginning phase is one that I call an “organic build” phase. A lifter organically finds out what works or doesn’t work and what they like or don’t like. Having an established program interferes with this necessary phase of learning and overwhelms the lifter unless they are uniquely mentally prepared for the discipline required to complete the program. Burnout is a very real possibility.
I will use myself as my example of why I believe starting up without a program is better. I started lifting in 2013 at Aspen and knew the basics but not much beyond that. My “organic build” phase lasted from about 2013-2018. I learned more each week I went and made some gym friends along the way. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t doing lifts in a correct order, if I was doing some lifts too much, if I wasn’t giving myself enough rest time between sets or any of the “rules” I make myself follow when I lift today. The most important things were that I was establishing a relationship with lifting, the gym and even some of the people at it. The last one is exceedingly important for those who may be thinking of competing or just lifting very seriously. It would be a mistake for me to look back at that time as time lost because the energy I got from the environment around me forced me to learn at a higher rate. I have used that knowledge to better sift through supplemental lifting educational sources to help set my lifting goals and build a program around them.
When one is able to feel the kinetic energy I am referring to without actually experiencing the chaos that creates it, their discipline is at its strongest. I cannot overstate how important it is to reach this point. This goes for any big goal or project. There’s going to be countless times where there aren’t enough people who matter around to bounce energy off of, if there are any at all. Putting in the effort on those days is the difference between success and failure, especially in the short term. Those short term successes or failures build on themselves like complex interest. I felt that in March/April 2020 when the gyms closed and I took many steps backwards in my strength training. Before the gym shutdown I was regularly pressing well above 100 pound dumbbells for 3-8 reps per set. Just 4 or 5 weeks without lifting made 80 pound dumbbells feel like they weighed 125 pounds. Being consistent with gym work is the only way to make progress with strength training. I don’t know how to make that fact any clearer. Discipline is how one attains that consistency.
Home gyms are a good way to avoid the physical chaos of the public gym. Those costs a lifter pays for that avoidance is the energy that other people bring to the gym. Home gyms are serious tests of discipline. It is very easy to get a lot of stuff and never use it because of a change in motivation. I’ve heard too many stories of people getting a bunch of supplements, wearable gear and equipment only to learn they stopped because of one reason or another, some quite legitimate. Getting into strength training like that is like dropping oneself into the deep end of the pool without learning how to swim. Thinking one needs all that stuff to do it is exactly how one ends up burning out in a few weeks time. Gym memberships, especially commercial ones, are looked down on by a certain sect of the people with home gyms because the lifter is “renting” the equipment and may not even be guaranteed to be able to use what they need. I think that is valid at a certain point in a lifter’s journey, but not for years. Home gyms become necessary if and only if a lifter knows they can’t get what they need out of a public gym. No, “I HATE PEOPLE!!!!!!” doesn’t count as part of that. There is significant value in being around other lifters, but if one can find that kinetic energy in themselves then the value diminishes.
Natural and artificial time frames play a significant role in the energy one get from the chaos of our environments. The urgency they provide gives one speed to their movements and decisions. That forces someone to get better at making those decisions. Remember, the point of any training is to turn thought into instinct. The most important time frame relating to lifting is more about keeping track of how much energy one has. That internal body clock is the most important one because it tells a lifter how they are going to about business that day. Working as far into fatigue as possible without dipping into the deep reserves on training days ensures there will be enough energy for the next session. I’ve said it before and will keep repeating it: There is no honor in missing sessions because one went too hard in prior sessions. Besides, training consistently in terms of intensity and sessions helps deepen the energy reserves. Artificial time frames are often associated with the non-gym parts of life. This kind of time frame is the one that will mess with one’s program the most, especially at a public gym. There is an amazing value to working within an artificial time frame because it helps train decision making and how to get the most out of one’s natural energy reserves.
To put all of this a slightly different way, a goal is nothing more than potential energy. The problem with that kind of energy is that becomes the same as no energy if it never gets used. It takes chaos to turn all of that potential energy into kinetic energy. When we use that kinetic energy to get stuff done, whatever that is, it helps us get to what goals we stated or find along the way. Progress is only make through consistent and hard work. That means using our chaotic environments around us to channel the energy that is shared into a powerful work ethic. One that doesn’t need external sources of energy or motivation to get work done. In time, that work done becomes the means by which thought becomes instinct. That is why discipline loves chaos.
Life Through Lifting 
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