April 29, 2022 • 13 mins
In this Fit Tip, Tom talks about Misogi, and ancient Japanese Shinto ritual of self-purification and the how applying this mindset to your life can help lead you to spiritual, physical and emotional fulfillment.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland, and this is Fitness Disrupted. Miss
aggy or is age. I've heard it pronounced several different ways,
(00:25):
and that's what today's FIP tip is about. I love
this term. I love this concept and I first learned
about it in Michael Easter's book, The Comfort Crisis. If
you have not yet read that book, put it on
your list. It is an absolute I have to read.
If you are listening to this podcast, you need to
read that book. You also need to listen to the
(00:47):
podcast I did with him. Incredible writer, incredible person. And
in that book he talks about miss Aggy Again. It's
the first time I truly came across the term. Now
it's everywhere, not everywhere, but a lot of fitness guru
type people are talking about it. There's challenges and things
like that. So what the heck is it? I'm gonna
(01:09):
give you like kind of the Google definition, and then
I want to read a couple lines from Michael Easter's
book The Comfort Crisis as well. He takes it in
a somewhat different direction, but not really. Okay, So the
traditional definition is that it is a Japanese Shinto practice
of ritual purification by washing the entire body, and it's
(01:30):
also related to another Shinto purification ritual. So let's think
of purification right as part of it. One of those
people who throughout a challenge described it as that it's
you do something so hard one time a year that
it has a huge impact on you, huge impact for
the rest of the year. All right. I like to
(01:52):
define it too as that definition of goals, that your goals,
or at least one one, should be so big that
it scares you, scares the heck out of you once
a year or more. But if you truly have a
(02:13):
true Missoggi for yourself, one is enough. You know, we
always try to do too much too soon. If one
is good, too is better. Now start with one a
year and then we'll talk. But have you truly done
something recently that truly scares you? And in Michael Easter's book,
(02:37):
and I'm quoting right from it, he says, put yourself
in a challenging environment where you have a good fear
of failing. And another definition in the book. I don't
have it written down here, but I remember vividly that
they another person when he's talking about the MISSAGGI. Uh.
The character in the book describes it as, uh something
(02:59):
where you have a sense of dying. That's extreme, but uh,
you get my point. Big scary all right? For me?
That was during COVID the r two are two are
the Rim to Rim to Rim run races were canceled postponed,
(03:23):
And so a friend and I ultra marathon guy, we
had talked about this. I've gone a couple of ultras.
I'm not him, he's a true ultra marathon or we
went and we did exactly what they were talking about.
Michael Easter And and this character in the book, true
true life person by the way, Um he was going
to do that. He didn't end up doing it. And
(03:44):
it is something that's scared the heck out of me.
And guess what, I'm doing it again in two days,
and I'm scared in a different way. And anyone who's
done two of the same scary things or one and
then going back the second time, it's like when I
did my first Iron Man. First one, you don't really
know what you're getting into. Second one, you go, I do,
(04:06):
and that's a double edged sword. We are doing it
a little differently. There's two trails. I mean they feed
into the same one, but there's the South Kaibab and
the Bright Angel. We did Bright Angel last time. We're
doing the South Kaibab this time a little shorter forty
two instead of forty eight. But you're still climbing up,
climbing back down, going across and back, so you actually
(04:28):
end up on the same trail um after the start.
So I'm scared. And at fifty three, it's tough. I've
done a lot of events, have done a lot of things,
and by the way, I'm gonna end this fit tip
talking about it's physical and I want the mental. Miss
Agg's two business family. One thing that truly scares you.
(04:52):
And one of the great lines that Elliott character in
the book Comfort Crisis talks about he puts it so perfectly.
He said, people vastly overestimate the consequences of failure today,
And as I have talked about on this podcast, I
don't believe in failure. Failure is not trying. Failure is
(05:14):
making the same mistake over and over again. But failure
is not doing something and coming up short, because you
never truly come up short. The lessons learned when you
do a MISSAGGI are unbelievable and not only change you.
As I said in the beginning, the person who said
you know impacts you the other three and in sixty
four days of the year. No, it impacts you for
(05:34):
your entire life. And it goes to that term I
love and will use over and over with you self efficacy.
Confidence when you do something that truly scares the pants
off of you and you accomplish it, never quite in
a way you think, But that's also life. Things happen.
We can only control so much, and that's a huge
(05:55):
part of the confidences that you can't control everything. If
you didn't listen to my first recap of doing this run,
I encourage you to do that so much fun, one
of the greatest things I've done. And then came back
and recorded podcast when it was fresh in my mind.
Still sores could be that changed me and I can't
(06:19):
believe I'm going back. It's a little different. I want
to go a little faster. But let me talk about
that too, because that's what's so great. This is not
an event. In other words, there's no aid stations, there's
no start line, it's not with a group. It's not sanctioned.
The actually discourage this, and I love that I've done
all that. I've done the Iron Man's in the marathons
(06:39):
and gone fast. You know, it's really freeing now is
to not worry care about how fast I go. I
still get asked how fast, and people compute miles, you know,
minutes per mile and things like that. You can't do it.
Trust me, I'm just gonna leave it at that doesn't matter.
But people will always do that. And a great line
from the look it's just oh my gosh resonated with me.
(07:04):
Is this, when you remove superficial metrics, you can accomplish
way more. The superficial metric being time, like caring how
fast you go, things happen. And another final thing is
like during a race, people can track you depending on
what you're doing. They can look up at your results
(07:24):
no matter what you're doing, and no one knows if
you've got a flat tire or something crazy happened, and
that takes away from the event. I've done it both ways.
I was racing long before the internet and that changed everything,
especially when you're in the business. And I'm also someone
who has paced clients in races for years or or
been with them right in marathons and and shorter races.
(07:47):
So people look up my times and they see, you know,
time's all over the place because I was running or
doing something with someone else helping. You know, a client
do her first half marathon and finishing second to last.
So those metrics, when you just get rid of them
and listen, I'm all for competing. I did it, but
(08:09):
I like doing both now, all right. And one great
final quote from the book about Miss Aggies is people
aren't watching, right, And the line is this, and it's
gonna be hard not to quit because no one is watching.
But I'm not going to quit because I'm watching. And
then I can reflect back on how I was the
only person watching myself and I still rose to the
(08:31):
occasion in a big way. Now I say that, but
like I'm gonna put it on social media so people know.
But when I'm out there, it's it's not about anyone else.
It's about me challenging myself and enjoying the experience every
minute of it. Okay, So I want you to think
(08:57):
about picking fitness. Miss Aggy be anything people. It can
be going to take that class that you've always wanted
to take, but you are too scared to take it
for fear of not looking great or making a mistake.
And it could be and should be business, something big,
(09:18):
something that scares you because the incredible lesson you will
learn how often you succeed, and the confidence you get
even when you don't because you tried, and then you
go back again and you try in a different way.
(09:41):
Maybe you learn from it's a failure, it's learning. Miss aggies.
I want to hear about them. One final quote from
Michael Easter's book, because it's just so clarified it in
a way for me, and I've seen the way other
people are putting them out there. And listen, I don't
once you get hurt like a MISSAGGI is not not
(10:03):
going to name these specific challenges now doing something stupid
every day. That's not a missage to me. Okay, I
can give you a list of like three exercises and
three crazy things and you can do that for seventy
five days and listen, If that works for you, so
be it. If you don't get hurt and you come
out of that better, fine, But that's that's not the
(10:25):
way I look at it, all right, So these are emotional,
spiritual and psychological challenges that masquerade as a physical challenge, right,
and that's the fitness side, but there's an emotional aspect, huge, spiritual, huge,
and that goes back to and wrap it all up
the call back as they call it in comedy, stand
(10:48):
up comedy, it's the purification. One of my Missoggi's many
years ago was running to the top of Hallaka, thirty
six miles from sea level to the top of Mount
Holyako on Maui. That was your purification. I was not
the same person at the top that I was at
the bottom. Scared the heck out of me, basically, straight up,
(11:13):
I've never done altitude. I suffered, but I finished and
the time didn't matter. And you have amazing stories and
amazing memories because that's what I'm about. I'm about collecting
experiences and I'm gonna go collect another and I want
you to do that too. I don't want to hear
(11:34):
about them, put it out there, let me know. If
you don't want to let anyone else know, let me know.
Tom h Fit Instagram, tom h Fit Twitter, You can
direct message me through there. You can go to Fitness
disrupted dot com email me through the site. Please follow
the show. Anyway you can connect is appreciated. Subscribe even
if you can do that same way we could at
(11:57):
the start, connect right it, all that stuff, it's greatly appreciated. Again.
My most recent book is The Micro Workout Plan, and
I look forward to doing a recap of this when
I come back and give you the new lessons learned.
And I'm scared people, and I'm excited. This is living
(12:24):
to me. It's not about things, it's about challenges. It's
about learning about myself. It's about being healthy, and let
me say that before sign off here. It also forces
you when you do something this scary, Guess what do
you want? Motivation people to eat healthier and sleep better
and do all that stuff. Guess how well I've been
(12:45):
doing that in the last couple of days, trying to
get ready. When something scares you this this much, you
darn well do what you need to do. So I'll
leave you with that. You want motivation talked about goal setting.
When you set miss aggis m you are darn likely
to do what you need to do to get there,
(13:05):
all right, And if you don't have that motivation, it's
not big enough. Thank you for listening. I am Tom Holland,
exercise physiologist, certified sports nutritionist, lover of everything fitness, and
my only goal just to help us with our best lives.
All right, Thank you for listening and believe in yourself.
(13:31):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland, and this is Fitness Disrupted. Miss
aggy or is age. I've heard it pronounced several different ways,
(00:25):
and that's what today's FIP tip is about. I love
this term. I love this concept and I first learned
about it in Michael Easter's book, The Comfort Crisis. If
you have not yet read that book, put it on
your list. It is an absolute I have to read.
If you are listening to this podcast, you need to
read that book. You also need to listen to the
(00:47):
podcast I did with him. Incredible writer, incredible person. And
in that book he talks about miss Aggy Again. It's
the first time I truly came across the term. Now
it's everywhere, not everywhere, but a lot of fitness guru
type people are talking about it. There's challenges and things
like that. So what the heck is it? I'm gonna
(01:09):
give you like kind of the Google definition, and then
I want to read a couple lines from Michael Easter's
book The Comfort Crisis as well. He takes it in
a somewhat different direction, but not really. Okay, So the
traditional definition is that it is a Japanese Shinto practice
of ritual purification by washing the entire body, and it's
(01:30):
also related to another Shinto purification ritual. So let's think
of purification right as part of it. One of those
people who throughout a challenge described it as that it's
you do something so hard one time a year that
it has a huge impact on you, huge impact for
the rest of the year. All right. I like to
(01:52):
define it too as that definition of goals, that your goals,
or at least one one, should be so big that
it scares you, scares the heck out of you once
a year or more. But if you truly have a
(02:13):
true Missoggi for yourself, one is enough. You know, we
always try to do too much too soon. If one
is good, too is better. Now start with one a
year and then we'll talk. But have you truly done
something recently that truly scares you? And in Michael Easter's book,
(02:37):
and I'm quoting right from it, he says, put yourself
in a challenging environment where you have a good fear
of failing. And another definition in the book. I don't
have it written down here, but I remember vividly that
they another person when he's talking about the MISSAGGI. Uh.
The character in the book describes it as, uh something
(02:59):
where you have a sense of dying. That's extreme, but uh,
you get my point. Big scary all right? For me?
That was during COVID the r two are two are
the Rim to Rim to Rim run races were canceled postponed,
(03:23):
And so a friend and I ultra marathon guy, we
had talked about this. I've gone a couple of ultras.
I'm not him, he's a true ultra marathon or we
went and we did exactly what they were talking about.
Michael Easter And and this character in the book, true
true life person by the way, Um he was going
to do that. He didn't end up doing it. And
(03:44):
it is something that's scared the heck out of me.
And guess what, I'm doing it again in two days,
and I'm scared in a different way. And anyone who's
done two of the same scary things or one and
then going back the second time, it's like when I
did my first Iron Man. First one, you don't really
know what you're getting into. Second one, you go, I do,
(04:06):
and that's a double edged sword. We are doing it
a little differently. There's two trails. I mean they feed
into the same one, but there's the South Kaibab and
the Bright Angel. We did Bright Angel last time. We're
doing the South Kaibab this time a little shorter forty
two instead of forty eight. But you're still climbing up,
climbing back down, going across and back, so you actually
(04:28):
end up on the same trail um after the start.
So I'm scared. And at fifty three, it's tough. I've
done a lot of events, have done a lot of things,
and by the way, I'm gonna end this fit tip
talking about it's physical and I want the mental. Miss
Agg's two business family. One thing that truly scares you.
(04:52):
And one of the great lines that Elliott character in
the book Comfort Crisis talks about he puts it so perfectly.
He said, people vastly overestimate the consequences of failure today,
And as I have talked about on this podcast, I
don't believe in failure. Failure is not trying. Failure is
(05:14):
making the same mistake over and over again. But failure
is not doing something and coming up short, because you
never truly come up short. The lessons learned when you
do a MISSAGGI are unbelievable and not only change you.
As I said in the beginning, the person who said
you know impacts you the other three and in sixty
four days of the year. No, it impacts you for
(05:34):
your entire life. And it goes to that term I
love and will use over and over with you self efficacy.
Confidence when you do something that truly scares the pants
off of you and you accomplish it, never quite in
a way you think, But that's also life. Things happen.
We can only control so much, and that's a huge
(05:55):
part of the confidences that you can't control everything. If
you didn't listen to my first recap of doing this run,
I encourage you to do that so much fun, one
of the greatest things I've done. And then came back
and recorded podcast when it was fresh in my mind.
Still sores could be that changed me and I can't
(06:19):
believe I'm going back. It's a little different. I want
to go a little faster. But let me talk about
that too, because that's what's so great. This is not
an event. In other words, there's no aid stations, there's
no start line, it's not with a group. It's not sanctioned.
The actually discourage this, and I love that I've done
all that. I've done the Iron Man's in the marathons
(06:39):
and gone fast. You know, it's really freeing now is
to not worry care about how fast I go. I
still get asked how fast, and people compute miles, you know,
minutes per mile and things like that. You can't do it.
Trust me, I'm just gonna leave it at that doesn't matter.
But people will always do that. And a great line
from the look it's just oh my gosh resonated with me.
(07:04):
Is this, when you remove superficial metrics, you can accomplish
way more. The superficial metric being time, like caring how
fast you go, things happen. And another final thing is
like during a race, people can track you depending on
what you're doing. They can look up at your results
(07:24):
no matter what you're doing, and no one knows if
you've got a flat tire or something crazy happened, and
that takes away from the event. I've done it both ways.
I was racing long before the internet and that changed everything,
especially when you're in the business. And I'm also someone
who has paced clients in races for years or or
been with them right in marathons and and shorter races.
(07:47):
So people look up my times and they see, you know,
time's all over the place because I was running or
doing something with someone else helping. You know, a client
do her first half marathon and finishing second to last.
So those metrics, when you just get rid of them
and listen, I'm all for competing. I did it, but
(08:09):
I like doing both now, all right. And one great
final quote from the book about Miss Aggies is people
aren't watching, right, And the line is this, and it's
gonna be hard not to quit because no one is watching.
But I'm not going to quit because I'm watching. And
then I can reflect back on how I was the
only person watching myself and I still rose to the
(08:31):
occasion in a big way. Now I say that, but
like I'm gonna put it on social media so people know.
But when I'm out there, it's it's not about anyone else.
It's about me challenging myself and enjoying the experience every
minute of it. Okay, So I want you to think
(08:57):
about picking fitness. Miss Aggy be anything people. It can
be going to take that class that you've always wanted
to take, but you are too scared to take it
for fear of not looking great or making a mistake.
And it could be and should be business, something big,
(09:18):
something that scares you because the incredible lesson you will
learn how often you succeed, and the confidence you get
even when you don't because you tried, and then you
go back again and you try in a different way.
(09:41):
Maybe you learn from it's a failure, it's learning. Miss aggies.
I want to hear about them. One final quote from
Michael Easter's book, because it's just so clarified it in
a way for me, and I've seen the way other
people are putting them out there. And listen, I don't
once you get hurt like a MISSAGGI is not not
(10:03):
going to name these specific challenges now doing something stupid
every day. That's not a missage to me. Okay, I
can give you a list of like three exercises and
three crazy things and you can do that for seventy
five days and listen, If that works for you, so
be it. If you don't get hurt and you come
out of that better, fine, But that's that's not the
(10:25):
way I look at it, all right, So these are emotional,
spiritual and psychological challenges that masquerade as a physical challenge, right,
and that's the fitness side, but there's an emotional aspect, huge, spiritual, huge,
and that goes back to and wrap it all up
the call back as they call it in comedy, stand
(10:48):
up comedy, it's the purification. One of my Missoggi's many
years ago was running to the top of Hallaka, thirty
six miles from sea level to the top of Mount
Holyako on Maui. That was your purification. I was not
the same person at the top that I was at
the bottom. Scared the heck out of me, basically, straight up,
(11:13):
I've never done altitude. I suffered, but I finished and
the time didn't matter. And you have amazing stories and
amazing memories because that's what I'm about. I'm about collecting
experiences and I'm gonna go collect another and I want
you to do that too. I don't want to hear
(11:34):
about them, put it out there, let me know. If
you don't want to let anyone else know, let me know.
Tom h Fit Instagram, tom h Fit Twitter, You can
direct message me through there. You can go to Fitness
disrupted dot com email me through the site. Please follow
the show. Anyway you can connect is appreciated. Subscribe even
if you can do that same way we could at
(11:57):
the start, connect right it, all that stuff, it's greatly appreciated. Again.
My most recent book is The Micro Workout Plan, and
I look forward to doing a recap of this when
I come back and give you the new lessons learned.
And I'm scared people, and I'm excited. This is living
(12:24):
to me. It's not about things, it's about challenges. It's
about learning about myself. It's about being healthy, and let
me say that before sign off here. It also forces
you when you do something this scary, Guess what do
you want? Motivation people to eat healthier and sleep better
and do all that stuff. Guess how well I've been
(12:45):
doing that in the last couple of days, trying to
get ready. When something scares you this this much, you
darn well do what you need to do. So I'll
leave you with that. You want motivation talked about goal setting.
When you set miss aggis m you are darn likely
to do what you need to do to get there,
(13:05):
all right, And if you don't have that motivation, it's
not big enough. Thank you for listening. I am Tom Holland,
exercise physiologist, certified sports nutritionist, lover of everything fitness, and
my only goal just to help us with our best lives.
All right, Thank you for listening and believe in yourself.
(13:31):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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