Economy of Motion

Two topics I am currently growing to understand are the principles of microeconomics, and the fundamentals of human movement. I will likely write much more on both of these topics in the future, but I wanted to start by highlighting key overlaps in these two, seemingly disconnected fields. The very first thing that we learn about in economics is the idea of supply and demand. The chart below is the most fundamental illustration of the idea I want to touch on.

The relationship between supply and demand is typically inverse, and the point at which they cross is considered equilibrium. If one more unit is produced, it will become "dead weight loss" because there is no consumer demand.

There are countless instances where markets do not reach a sustainable equilibrium. A troubling intuitive example is the growing amount of people that live in hunger despite the enormous amount of food that is produced. It's not that we lack the means of food production, we currently produce enough food to comfortably feed every person on Earth. The problem is that roughly 30% of the food we create is discarded as pure waste.

Many of the problems we face today are problems of overabundance, whereas we were evolved to handle problems of scarcity. I believe that many of these problems would easily be solved if we could improve the functional utility of what we produce. Functionality is about the minimization of waste. If we had access to perfect information, we would be able to optimize production for equilibrium.

The equations needed to model microeconomic trends can become incredibly complex. Most models follow the Pareto principle, and then are enhanced by suppositions and estimates. The quality of assumptions and level of simplicity in a model are typically the best indicators of precision. Achieving precision requires knowledge, experience, skill, and great judgement.

People are largely unhealthy because of this lack of precision. In order to achieve freakish health, we must all model a unique equation of habits to fulfill our athletic potential. An often overlooked component of this equation is the way that we move through space. We all agree on the set of qualities that make someone physically healthy: strength, flexibility, longevity, etc. Most exercise to achieve these qualities, but have a tainted understanding of what it takes to do so.

Suppose the unknown solution to optimal health can be quantified with the score 100. We can assume that most people start with a low level of activity, and approach this journey additively. They do weightlifting exercises designed to strengthen specific muscles, add in some yoga, and the occasional surgery, in hopes that this is going to get them closer to optimal health. People look to 'gain' health through the combination of many different flawed systems. This additive approach leads to pain, injury, and imbalance. For whatever reason, people accept that this is just a normal part of being active or "getting old."

These consequences are a result of a poorly modeled equation for health. Just in the same way that producing more food won't solve world hunger, becoming stronger and more flexible does not make you healthier if not done in context to natural laws. Nearly all systems of health have a point of diminishing return. This is because they do not account for key variables and instead aim to increase the supply of the limited set of the variables they do account for, without looking at our body's intrinsic demand.

Pretty much any exercise you do will make you feel good in the short run. Our biological feedback system rewards us with hormones after a 'sick arm pump' or a structurally degrading yoga session. People tend to rely too much on how certain exercises make them feel, and don't consider what they are actually doing to their bodies over time. When you lift weights, you will increase local tension and some of your muscle fibers will grow, making you feel strong. If you do yoga, you will release tension in your body, and probably feel pretty good for a bit too.

It's impossible to evaluate health qualitatively. That would be like using too many assumptions or estimates in a mathematical model. Exercise must be approached through a purely quantitative, scientific lens. This is an incredibly tall task, one that most people aren't willing to do. People wrongly assume that the marginal cost of this time investment is not equal to the marginal benefit of improved health. But the more precisely we can account for variables, the less dead weight loss is produced in the form of chronic pain, injuries, and declining overall health as we age. Let's be honest, most people are too lazy to exercise at all, let alone spend the time and money to find the perfect way to exercise. Health is not a priority for most people, until it is.

"A 'healthy' person wants a million things, a sick person only wants one"

Incorrect equations leads to remainders, or surpluses and the compounding effect of this is only felt in the long run. The best 'mathematician' that I've found is Naudi Aguilar, the founder of Functional Patterns. I've never met him, but he's totally changed the way I view training as an athlete. I won't get too technical about what I've learned from him in this post, because I don't want to encroach on IP, or risk saying things that are incorrect. Also, I'm not adding any value by taking from someone else, when you can just go look it up on your own.

In overly simplistic terms. Weightlifting = gym muscles. Gym muscles serve a very limited purpose and lead to injury. Most people know this, and try to train stabilizer muscles to become more athletic, aesthetic, etc. This still leaves out tons of variables. People care too much about maximizing the output of a limited scope of muscle fibers. Perfect movement incorporates more muscles, and fibers within those muscles. Poor exercise = poor movement = bad equations = remainders = deterioration of unused structural components. If you don't want to deteriorate as fast, you have to increase functionality of your entire structure through perfect movement patterns. Functionality is the minimization of waste. Wasted movement makes you less athletic and efficient. Some people are naturally athletic, and account for a lot of variables in their training, but the ones they miss will come back to bite them eventually. Perfectly functional movement has a compounding effect that minimizes risk and improves longevity. Functionality encompasses proper strength, flexibility, stabilization, pressurization, tension, structural integrity, ranges, ratios and many more complicated variables that I am struggling to understand.

Functional Patterns is a company trying to simplify the scientific down to a consumer level. If they succeed, they have the type of non convexities to totally monopolize the health industry. But people are stuck in their ways because any exercise is short term rewarding, and people lack foresight.

"The definition of wisdom is being able to predict the long term effects of your actions"

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

"You are under no obligation to remain the same. You are here to create yourself, continuously"