Fitness Future

Many of us have often fantasized about knowing the future and how we would take advantage of that knowledge to improve our lifestyle in one way or the other.  There are also many things in life we can’t stop, change or control, even though we know they will be occurring in the near future.  One future all of us can see and change is our “Fitness Future.” 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we will all age, our muscles will deteriorate and gravity will over power our bodies, if you get my drift!  One of the things I try to tell people and a large part of my exercise philosophy is that you must keep an eye on the future, your fitness future that is.  After all, at the end of the day one of the many reasons people get into fitness is to look good.  Looking good when you’re young is easier than when you’re older, that is why exercise selection and developing a good routine early is crucial to long term fitness.

THE SAGGY FUTURE

What the future has in store for us is a saggy butt, arms, chest and an oversized waistline, this is one future we can all see coming.  Obviously there are other body parts (muscles) that will be affected by age.  The body parts shown, in my opinion, have the most impact on external appearance and have a wider impact on surrounding muscles when exercised.  In order to prolong this particular “saggy” future, an exercise routine that consistently, efficiently and safely works these muscles must be developed and utilized.

EXERCISE ROUTINE

As I have mentioned on earlier postings and on my website "Exercise Philosophy" certain body parts must be exercised every time you exercise or hit the gym, every time you go, not every day.  I also mention the importance of having a base routine or foundation that provides the consistency needed.  There are hundreds of exercises, moves and routines available, but not all are efficient, safe and long term capable, so be careful when developing your base routine, some are just show-off moves. 

For those that get bored or feel they must do something totally different, just keep your fitness future in mind and realize that at some point you will have to be more consistent and realize it just has to be done, bored or not.  In the working environment, the longer you perform a certain task the better and more efficient you become.  When it comes to fitness the more consistently you perform a certain group of exercises the stronger and more shapely you become.  So when it comes to exercising pay particular attention to these muscles that have a “saggy” future.

                 “It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step
                   must be itself a  goal and a step likewise.”
                                                ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The W.I.N. Syndrome

The summer is coming to an end and my local gym was busier than usual this year.  I was glad to see a large number of youth, both females and males motivated and highly engaged in achieving fitness.  The sooner they get started the better, within reason of course.  I also noticed a large number of youth walking around with shaker bottles filled with, red drinks, blue drinks, vanilla drinks, orange drinks, etc… I was a little concerned and disappointed as they walked around texting, talking on the phone and sipping their concoction.  But then I realized they must be suffering from what I call the "Want It Now" (WIN) syndrome.  There seems to be a growing trend in society these days where people just don't have the patients to work for something they truly want.   It's bad enough that technology has made us "Tools of our Tools", don't let your body and health suffer the same fate.

We all suffer from a little WIN syndrome once in a while when it comes to material things or careers, but for now I will focus more on the physical fitness impact of the WIN syndrome. The desire to succeed and achieve certain goals faster and better than the next person drives us all, not just the youth.  The high expectation society and we place on each other drives many of us to take short cuts when it comes to achieving our fitness goals.  We want to be stronger, faster, skinnier, and sexier than others and the less effort we have to put into it the better right?

In my opinion, the human body is amazing, very intelligent and capable.  At the same time it’s innocent and looks to you for direction and assistance.  The human body depends on you and trusts you like a child and at times it can be as forgiving as your favorite pet (dog), so be careful what you feed it and how you treat it.  In my opinion feeding the body chemicals before and after a workout can offset the body’s natural processing balance and functions.  You may not notice it right away and you may even feel like you're making progress, but there will be a price to pay in the long run. 

The body adapts very quickly, if you train it to perform on a good natural diet, after several years you will have a very efficient body capable of dealing with stressful and emergency situations better than a body dependent on chemicals.  At the same time if you accustomed your body to chemicals that provide a short cut to its normal processing routine, it will let you down when you need it the most.  The body will become lazy, weak and totally confused, potentially causing serious injury when you stress it or force it to perform without its chemicals.  Read my earlier posting Fitness for "The Battle" for another take.

In my opinion, if you must take supplements, stick to a good multi-vitamin and limit your intake of supplements that claim to improve physical gains.  It is better to take the pain now than later, I realize we all have our demons; it just depends how strong our cage is.  As always, remember the “Tortoise and the Hare” story, take your time and do it right!

   "Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor".  ~Dr. Alexis Carrel

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Fitness after the 90 days

 The amount of fitness information and programs available today are tremendous, and at times overwhelming.  Choosing a program that works and helps you with your fitness goals can be difficult.  Most programs advertise success in 90 days and depending on how you measure success, do succeed in helping many people, but what about after the 90 day period?  Can you see yourself following these programs 10 or 20 years down the road?

One of the many reasons why I starting Stress Free Fitness is to help people eventually break free from relying on fitness programs to achieve long term fitness; to look towards the fitness future, 10, 20 or 30 years down the road; to gain self-confidence and self-awareness; to walk in any fitness facility and know exactly what needs to be done and to adjust and adapt your fitness program in order to meet your lifestyle.  I believe in the "practice what you preach" philosophy and would not be writing this if it did not work, so in case anyone is wondering, that is my photo taken June 2011, could be better but I like to enjoy my calories every now and then:).

Canned Fitness Programs or Videos

These programs play a positive role in motivating people to get fit.  They provide a good foundation on proper form, exercise techniques and help boost confidence.  I’m not here to bash these programs, in fact I support any program that gets people interested in fitness; developing programs that work for a wide range of people is a very difficult thing to do, but it’s my opinion that these programs can only take you so far.  Of course, like any good marketing strategy, the program’s marketing team will continue to push new content in order to keep you dependent.  This dependency can slow you down as quickly as it got you started, I realize it's much easier having someone telling you what to do, but try to break fee eventually and develop your own program.

Custom Routine Development

Everyone's fitness levels are different, so while following a canned fitness program be sure to take good mental notes of any exercises that apply towards your future fitness goals.  Of course some exercises are more efficient and more long term friendly than others, so some adjustment will have to be made as time goes on and as we age. 

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

~Muhammad Ali

 
This stress free fitness (SFF) base routine is geared towards normal working folks, that have a busy schedule and not for professional "gym rats".  So, what you want to look for are body weight exercises, that when combined with others, provide a total body base routine you can do every time you workout.  This base routine should include some aerobic activity "cardio."

The SFF base routine should include a set of exercises that hit the whole body or most of it, do these after your "cardio", with little rest between exercises or reps <30 seconds, <15 if feeling froggy.  By not resting between exercises, you're stimulating your anaerobic process.  This base "total body routine" should be done every time you workout, swap out other body weight exercises if you need to.  Why body weight? Because they require no extra equipment and can be done anywhere.  Depending on your body shaping goals, a body part my need extra attention during the base routine activity. This base provides consistency and a fitness foundation, just about everything in life needs some form of consistency.  After your base routine, perform focus area exercises using resistances.  

This method will wind your body up like a rubber band driven propeller on toy airplane, so if you miss a day or two, don't worry you will come back even stronger than before, Stress Free Fitness!  Remember don't rest longer than 30 seconds.  Your strength will fluctuate as will your reps, there is no need to log reps and get disappointed.  By not logging your reps and walking around without a notebook and pen, you will work on your self-awareness connection.  Set your rep goals high, eventually you will achieve them.  

More information can be found at Routine Development

Check out my Nutrition page as well.


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