John Henryism is based on the legend of the African-American John Henry who possessed amazing strength and decided to compete against a mechanical steam drill in a race to drive railroad spikes (his job at the time). John Henry beat the machine but died immediately afterwards from mental and physical exhaustion.

“…the term John Henryism now symbolizes the coping strategy characterized by aggressive tenacity, determination, and hard work while unconsciously sacrificing health issues in reaching the goal of meeting an environmental demand.”

John Henry not only represents the archetypal powerhouse/time bomb response to stress, but he also provides an example of failing to identify external limits. John Henry worked with only his internal sense of limits, meaning that he was convinced everything was within his power to change.

The lesson of John Henry can apply to both diet, what we do for health, work and life. Many people interested in improving their health through natural diet follow very austere diets which cut out elements of nutrition that are really proven to be healthy. The list is long including all sugars, meats and animal foods, carbohydrates, fats, foods that taste delicious, and calories.

After more than 40 years teaching, counseling and observing people in natural health approaches; I’ve seen that people take these restrictions too far, keep pushing themselves beyond what their body is saying is healthy and coming up with concepts as to why they should keep going in a direction that doesn’t make them feel well.

It can be confusing because during healing more often than not people feel worse at first. There is an idea that healing is all roses and rainbows. The reality that I’ve gained from counseling thousands of people is that there can be a lot of uncomfortable symptoms during healing. These do abate after a period of time.

My definition of knowing that you are following John Henryism in your diet is if your current natural diet is overly restrictive cutting out and demonizing calories and the major food groups: protein, fats, and carbohydrates.

If your diet has no animal proteins and you are not compensating for this with protein powders and supplements, and you are feeling poorly, the diet needs to change. If you are taking protein powders and supplements and feeling poorly on a vegan diet, you need to consider if this is right for you.

If your low carb diet is making you feel lousy, it is not a healing phase. The body needs carbohydrates.

With your diet, it is important not to be a John Henry. This is also a good rule of thumb for life and work. According to traditional eastern medicine’s teachings and the teachings of stress pioneer, Hans Selye, we only have a certain amount of adaptive energy to deal with stress. It is important in your diet and lifestyle to be aware of this and understand one’s limits in order to create a healthy longevity.
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John Henryism: CL Edwards, G Bennett, Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology, [ed.] Y Jackson, 2006
https://www.macrobiotic.com/how-to-be-safe-on-a-vegan-diet-not-vagen.html

According to the World Health Organization, a quarter of the people in the world do not get enough physical activity. In industrialized countries, many of the jobs are sedentary. There is less activity in the physical trades such as construction than in the past because of labor saving devices.

Some people in industrialized nations decide to make balance for the lack of exercise in their lives by adopting a popular exercise regimen. Types of exercise regimens range from mild to extreme. The fitness craze is big business and promotes these systems widely. People do a range of practices including spinning classes, aerobics, jogging, plyometric training, weight training, exercise bikes and elliptical machines and treadmills, Pilates, Gyrotonics, dozens of different yoga methods, stretching classes, core strength workouts and balance training.

Most modern western exercises and some eastern systems that have been incorporated in the west focus on external methods for gauging fitness such as aerobic capacity, endurance and weight lifting.  These are measurable ways but they have limits in describing true fitness and well being.

Exercise has to be appropriate for one’s goals. What is appropriate exercise? An exercise routine used by a professional sports team or designed for 18-year-old US Marine recruits may not be appropriate for the average person who simply wants to improve and maintain health and vitality.

When goals or exercise methods are not appropriate for people, injuries are common from using modern exercise systems including yoga. There are many reasons for this including the wrong use of the body, isolating muscle groups for stretching and weight lifting, excessive amounts of exercise for the person causing exhaustion and too many repetitive motions when the body is out of alignment. 

When stretching is done too long or too quickly, the body becomes tighter. This aggravates body misalignments. Weight training for the muscles also locks in body misalignments.

If we want to see examples of smooth coordinated movements, look at wild animals. Graceful movement is a dance of the various parts of the body in coordination. If we want that kind of desirable movement, we should do exercises that imitate in some ways their movements.

Unfortunately, when people get injuries from accidents or exercise, physical therapy can make the situation worse. Isolated muscles are focused on to strengthen or stretch. People can gain more movement but also more pain by forcing muscles to work.

In physical therapy, it is recommended not to move injured parts. A few years ago, I had injured my knee doing a body weight exercise. The advice that I got was not to use my knee. No twisting movements were recommended. I proceeded after the strong pain went down to begin gentle twisting motions which I believe aided in healing the knee.

The Chinese refer to frozen shoulder as “fifty-year-old shoulder.” The reason this condition is more prevalent in older people is largely because they move less. Movement is important and the kind we do makes a huge difference.

In addition to doing exercise incorrectly for a human body, people seem to be more attracted to movements that come easy. Men who have naturally stronger muscles do weight lifting and women who are hyper flexible do yoga. This also sets us up for injuries.

Exercises that engage the whole-body motion are best for health. These include walking, rowing, kayaking, dancing, Qi Gong, modern restorative body practices, internal martial arts, yoga and certain sports if done according to the person’s capacity.

Qi Gong and body balancing exercises such as Hanna’s Somatic s and similar practices like Physio-Synthesis can play unique roles in restoring bodies that are out of alignment and balance. It can help develop capacities that normally people don’t access in their bodies.

Chi Gung or Qi Gong is a different kind of exercises. Records have been found which reference Qi Gong for healing from the Han Dynasty (206 BC- AD 220). Over centuries these exercises were refined and expanded to include movements and exercise routines that prevent illness, strengthen the functioning of the internal organs, relieve pain and restore normal functioning of the bones, joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles. Qi Gong is an exercise system that is more beneficial to modern people than it was to the ancient Chinese.
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The many benefits of Qi Gong are:

1. Qi Gong exercises are based on natural movements that move the joints, soft tissue and bones in accordance with their natural design.
2. In Qi Gong exercises the whole body is considered; each part in relation to all the other parts.
3. Qi Gong exercises teach the body to move efficiently by balancing tension and relaxation.
4. Qi Gong exercises work with the joints in their correct alignment.    
5. Qi Gong exercises reeducate the body, restoring its natural movement patterns through a kind of neuro-muscular re-programming.

One caution that I’ve discovered in Qi Gong learning is that Qi Gong is either taught today often as a meditation only or incorrectly by  not truly engaging the muscles, fascia and tendons. The deepest type of Qi Gong is Nei Gong. Nei Gung works all of the body’s energetic pathways, and opens and closes all the body’s tissues (joints, muscles, connective tissues, internal organs, glands, blood vessels, lymphatic pumps, respiratory system, cerebrospinal system and brain) simultaneously to produce a powerful synergistic effect on the mind, body, and spirit
  
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity