Dad Strength
Posts
Rites of passage

Rites of passage

Geoff Girvitz
September 05, 2024

Rites of passage
Strength training for flexibility
How to dumb your phone down
A book, a quote, a dad joke

Fatherhood: Rites of passage

There’s a question that gets asked in different circles — youth work, academia, men’s work — about rites of passage. We’ve moved away from these types of rituals in North America. It’s tough to imagine sending adolescents out to hunt lions, like the Masai. If anything, we’ve become quite risk-averse. I feel it too. I don’t know what age, for example, I will send my son alone out on public transit but I can tell you that it’s not right now. There’s a clear gap.

The question being posed is this: are we creating problems for young people by not giving them the opportunity to experience transformative experiences? Especially since these involve some element of danger. You can’t Nerf transformation.

Here are the four elements of rites of passage according to addictions expert, Christina Grof:

An essential shift in attitude from the people doing the initiating. They must look and act differently toward the initiate
The spiritual needs of the youth are addressed
The initiate attains a non-ordinary state of consciousness. This can be through fasting, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, drumming, etc.
The ritual incorporates psychological symbolism of death and rebirth

Fitness: Strength training for flexibility

There is a tendency to compartmentalize fitness. Strength development looks one way. Flexibility looks another.

The truth is that training strength through a full range of motion is more than adequate for most people. Consider expansive overhead positions, like hangs and snatches. And then deep positions like squats and split-squats. If you’re really feeling froggy, combine the two.

When muscles contract, they shorten, creating greater stretch in any given position.

Two caveats:

Full range is best expressed via lighter assistance exercises and a slight buffer is advisable for your heaviest exercises
Some activities absolutely require greater range than strength training can offer. For example if you’re a gymnast or simple want to perform the full splits. Here, more specialized flexibility training is required.

This newsletter is brought to you by Othership.

Get 15% off any pass or membership with the code BANG (one time purchase)

Try the breathwork app for free