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Got to try out my squatting shoes for the first time. They really help you keep you forces directed to the right parts of your feet so that you can get the most of your power and thus avoid using worse form to compensate. I’m feeling sore in new muscle groups in my legs after using it so I’m inclined to believe I had previously been compensating for not using those leg muscles with something in my core. This change should then make squatting safer by putting more of the strain on my legs and less on my core/back. Understanding how to effectively work out is a very real and satisfying application of the scientific method! In the foreward to the Hagakure I learned about the term 文武両道 or bunbu-ryōdō which is roughly “balance of pen and sword”. It originated when the Samurai class in Japan was serving less of a military purpose but needed something to engage with that would keep them from more hostilities (and preserve their elevated class status). Nowadays it more so means balancing the intellectual pursuit with the physical. I’m increasingly finding merit to this idea as I’ve found my intellectual activities far more energized now that I’ve been regularly exercising again.

Daily Listening

Good soul song that was sampled in the plunderphonics album from yesterday.

Daily Reading

I forgot I also just got the Hagakure for my office mates and I so I will work through that before reading Sebald.