Fit People Aren't Hunting Werewolves

Photo by Naypong

"Wow!" people tell me. "Your body transformation is remarkable!" I can tell that much already, since they're making remarks.

"Tell me," they continue, "how you've done it. I want to do the same thing."

Usually, they don't mean this. What they really mean is, "I want to know where you bought your silver bullets." They want to shoot werewolves more than they want to overcome.

Truth be told, I don't blame them. When I was mired in the misery of my former lifestyle that made me so overweight, I felt helpless to get better. Even though I actually knew what to do, the thought of making the right changes overwhelmed me. Until I made them.

Now, egotistical as I am, this isn't to hold myself up as the paradigm for getting in shape. It's a series of observations, starting with one from a conversation I had yesterday.

Unidentified Individual: I want to do what you did. Tell me your secret!
Me: I just eat well and workout.
Unidentified Individual: Oh. Well, never mind. I'm not doing that.

It got me thinking. We all want the metaphor I've used above, a special weapon that destroys fat and builds muscle. If it's not a magical juice elixir, or a ultra scientific gadget that exercises for you, it's hard to get excited.

Eat good food and do hard exercise? Go sell crazy somewhere else.

People that are fit already know that it's that simple, and that difficult. They have found a way to make this a part of their lifestyle. Fit people make their health a priority, and life rewards them for it.

They know other things too, none of which are silver bullets. But these are things that they've figured out along the way that have helped them.

Photo by Danilo Rizzuti, 

They're called crash diets for a reason
Don't find yourself in a wreck. Find a healthy eating lifestyle.

They're called workouts, not easyouts
Do something hard. Your body will thank you.

The workouts need to change
Don't do the same workout every day. Progressively make them more challenging.

Maintaining is a just another word for backsliding
Constantly strive for the better you. Get stronger, faster, and fitter.




Keep transforming. Keep regenerating.

Ask the Superheroes about Fitness

Recently, I caught up with the superheroes at Comic Con, and asked some questions about their fitness plans. The results were less than stellar.


S300H: Hulk, what can our readers do to get stronger like you?
Hulk: Hulk the strongest one there is! Hulk smash your readers!
S300H: Um, okay. Any other advice?
Hulk: LEAVE HULK ALONE!





S300H: Wolverine, what would you say the secret to your fitness success is?
Wolverine: I'm the best there is at what I do.
S300H: Great. Can you be more specific?
Wolverine: I'm into musical theater. Did you see Les Miserables?
S300H: Maybe. A bit. Er... what does that have to do with fitness?
Wolverine: Nothing, bud. But I outsang the Kryptonian, didn't I?





S300H: This is a disaster
Captain America: It doesn't have to be. Never give in.
S300H: Cap! I'm so glad you're here! Would you be willing to share how you transformed so quickly into a fit powerhouse?
Captain America: Gladly. I can't pretend to understand the details, but I'm told it's something called CGI.

I wanted to ask Batman some questions too, but nobody saw him for the entire convention. I heard he vanished into the shadows, but I'm thinking that was just an urban legend.

Keep transforming. Keep regenerating.

Pfft. Who Needs Rest?

According to countless magazine articles, fitness blogs and health related youtube videos, there are two secrets to fitness that nobody knows about.

The truth is, if these secrets show up all over the place, they're not really secrets. They're just ignored. Take me for instance.

I actually understand that mastering these simple tricks will help anyone in their fitness goals- whether those goals are loosing weight, building muscle, or gaining strength.

But it's so hard.

The Moment this Doctor made a Hitchhiker's Guide
reference, I was hooked.

The first "secret" is sleep. The body needs sleep to regenerate. Even the 10th Doctor, otherwise known as "My Doctor," needed sleep after he regenerated. Well, that and a good cup of tea. My personality is so much like that incarnation, I should take his sleep habits to heart.

The Doctor can regenerate in seconds, but still needs rest afterwords. We take 7-9 hours a night to regenerate.

Unfortunately, I'm more like the 12th Doctor. Um... very mild spoiler here for anyone that hasn't seen Doctor Who, Season 8, Episode 1, "Deep Breath."

He didn't understand the importance of a bedroom. The very idea made him incredulous. "You mean you've got a whole room for not being awake in!?"

My thoughts exactly.

Without sleep, our bodies won't produce growth hormone. Growth hormone maintains or bones, reduces fat storage, and builds our muscles. That's just some of the benefits.

"You mean you've got a whole room for not being awake in?
But what's the point? You're just missing the room. And
don't look in that mirror, it's absolutely furious!"

Lack of sleep leads to obesity, fatigue, and if you're really good at not sleeping, hallucinations. At least two of those are bad side effects.

I'm getting better at the sleep portion, but I mentioned two secrets didn't I? The other goes hand in hand.

Rest days.

I hate them.

Really. My current workout goals are a mix of strength and skill. I'm working on handstands, and handstand pushups, with the goal of eventually being able to do a back lever, and planche pushups.

I rarely take rest days. I've come to (incorrectly) view them as wasted days. Now, I usually have a light day that consists of just swimming. But it is a rarity that I don't do a workout of some kind.

For instance:

Don't do this workout everyday. You'll look
more like a dead soldier, not a Spartan.

Monday, I did the 300 workout. Tuesday, I did several pushup variations, for a total of 225 pushups, plus handstand practice. Wednesday, I did a killer combo of bodyweight and free weight exercises for about 40 minutes. As good as the workout was, I only did about half of the intended reps.

Why? Because I'd been pushing my body too hard for too long. Ever since I completed the 300 workout, I've thought that every "hard" day should have the same intensity. Some of them can, but pushing your body that hard 3-4 times a week has consequences. By Wednesday, my body finally told me to give it a break already.

These aren't secrets. Chances are, you know that the body needs time to rebuild the muscle fibers that were torn down. Tissue damage is repaired, and the body grows stronger. But so many of us fall into the trap of "more, more, more."

I've been trying to do "more, more, more."

But without rest, my performance becomes sub-par. I risk injury. And I actually impede my success, rather than guaranteeing it.

Yesterday, I didn't work out. I practiced a few handstands, but not for any substantial amount of time. And today? I feel fantastic.

I'll hit the gym hard tonight. And next week? I'll take another rest day.

Keep transforming. Keep regenerating.

Don't Make Weight Loss Your Goal

Go to a gym, randomly choose ten people, and ask them a question. Really. I'll wait.

Here's the question: What are your fitness goals? Chances are, they're going to say, "to lose weight." I did this last night, and 9 our of the 10 gave me a variation of the weight loss goal. Some had a specific ideal weight, while others just wanted less of them to go around.

The tenth person's goal was to complete a workout without being bothered. So maybe you shouldn't do this after all. Guess I'll have to write myself a post on gym etiquette next.

I'm going to propose a better type of goal. Not that weight loss is a lousy one, but it's limiting. This doesn't even begin to address the fact that building muscle is essential to overall health, and how muscle weighs more than fat. Moreover, even with a specific target weight in mind, it's vague. That makes it an unlikely goal to meet.

I'll prove it. Go back to the gym and ask those same people for their phone numbers, so you can call them in 6 months and ask them whether or not they met their weight loss goals. We both know what will happen if you do this. You'll be asked to leave the gym. (I learned that one that hard way.)

But if you did follow-up, most of them would still be over their "ideal weight."

What's the better way? Performance related goals.

When I started out, I had a hodgepodge of goals. "Lose weight," was a big one. I also needed to lower my blood pressure, and get rid of my belly fat. Fortunately, I followed an excellent plan and began to see some of these results. That's about the time that the workouts became easy. When your workouts are easy, it's time to change them.

Had I not refocused my goals, I guarantee you I'd be on my way back to obesity already, and all in the name of "maintaining."

Instead, I decided to continue my transformation. I want to be stronger. Quicker. More agile. And that means performance related goals.

I learned about the 300 workout, which I mentioned briefly before. Here's a great article from the good people at Nerd Fitness that discusses it in detail. Here's the breakdown.

In 30 minutes or less, perform each of these exercises, which will total 300 reps. Take as many sets as you need, but remember the time limit. You don't move to the next exercise until you've completed each of the allotted reps in the prior one.

• 25 Pullups
• 50 Deadlifts with 135 lbs
• 50 Pushups
• 50 Jumps onto 24 inch boxes
• 50 Floor wipers with 135 lbs
• 50 Single-arm Clean and Press with 36 lbs Kettlebells (Each arm. Ugh)
• 25 Pullups

And yes. I keep thinking there's no way you have to do 50 kettlebells with EACH arm. And you do.

I took several weeks, alternately working on these exercises individually, and then putting them all together to see how far I could get in 30 minutes. The effect is cumulative. 50 box jumps wears you out, but it's nothing compared to doing them after 50 deadlifts, 50 pushups and 25 pullups.

Finally, I managed to complete it in 29:40. Nobody even looked at me funny when I cried out, "THIS IS SPARTA!" That's because I waited until I got into the empty pool area to yell it though.

What's my point? I pushed myself much harder than I had been, prior to finding a performance related goal. I got stronger, faster and more agile. I still don't look like King Leonidas, but maybe it's because I don't have a beard.

I continue to do this workout once a week, and hope to cut down on the time. But I've moved on to different performance based challenges that will build on this one. I also still have appearance based goals. There's not much belly fat left, but it's still there and I want it gone. But it's through these challenges that I will accomplish that.

What are your performance challenges and goals?

Keep transforming. Keep regenerating.