The Key to Physical — and Life — Fitness? A Strong Core *and* Ability to Adapt.

Be who you are and evolve at the same time.

An undeniable lesson of history is that change is constant. This is true whether you’re considering the last decade, century, millennia, or eon; whether you’re considering an individual person, an organization, or an entire species. Your ecosystem — however broadly you want to define that term — is wildly complex and continuously in flux.

The only way to survive as you are is to be who you are and also be willing (and able) to adapt. This is what fitness is all about.

Being who you are means having a strong core; knowing what you stand for: what values, traits, and habits are integral to you being you. Being willing and able to adapt means understanding that as certain circumstances arise, you’re going to have change, at least at the periphery and perhaps even more.

“Strength without flexibility is rigidity, and flexibility without strength is instability.”

This is the mechanism of evolution. Ecological evolution. Industrial evolution. Personal evolution.

Without adhering to a strong core, when change occurs you become something else entirely. Without being willing and able to adapt, when change occurs you get selected out. In both cases, “you” cease to exist; you become extinct.

Whether you’re leading a team, organization, or simply trying to lead yourself, this is an important lesson to understand. So much internal tension is created if you don’t know who you are and what you stand for, and if you don’t live in alignment with it. However, an equal amount of internal tension is created if you’re unwilling or unable to adapt. Too many people, teams, and organizations prioritize only one part of the equation, but both are integral.

Are you developing a holistic fitness?

I once had a yoga instructor who said: “Strength without flexibility is rigidity, and flexibility without strength is instability.” While this definitely has an application on the yoga mat, it has an equally powerful one off of it.

• Do you (or your team, organization, etc.) know what you really stand for? What lies at the heart of who you are, what makes you you?
• At the same time, are you also cultivating the capacity to be flexible, to adapt when necessary?

Surviving, let alone thriving, over the long-haul requires both.

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Brad Stulberg writes about health and the science of human performance. He’s a columnist at Outside Magazine and New York Magazine.