Keep It Simple
It’s high time we stop over analyzing how to get in shape.
I remember when the idea of exercise was about going to the park and kicking a ball around, playing pick up hockey on the street or launching a frisbee to one another on the beach. Nobody did it to get a six pack, we went to play the damn game because we loved it. It was fun and that was all the excuse we needed to slap on a pair of runners and meet up. With all the added health and physique benefits associated with sprinting around without actually having to think about it! Ahh, the glory days.
But somewhere along the path we got lost. We started to analyze exercise to death a la the mad scientist who’s only focus is performance metrics. We started competing in the sport we loved and turned what was once our sanctuary into a spreadsheet for boxes to be ticked. And god forbid we didn’t do EVERYTHING on the list that day! We chastised ourselves for being lazy when we didn’t wake up early and go for a run. If we looked in the mirror and saw anything but a fitness model’s body staring back at us we got down on ourselves for not being good enough. And we let the world around us dictate how we were to live our lives through the conventional wisdom of the day.
Here are a few things conventional wisdom has “taught” us over the years. Please read with a sarcastic tone!:
Drink 8 cups of water a day
Don’t squat below parallel 🤦♂️
Grains should be a staple source of carbohydrates in your diet
You only need 30 mins of exercise each day
You only need 1 hour of exercise each day
You need 90 mins of exercise each day
Intervals are “better for you” than “cardio”
Saturated fats are bad for you
Nonsense.
Ya it’s good to stay hydrated so just make sure you drink water during exercise and otherwise drink when you feel like it. Cereal grains have been shown time and time again to wreck havoc on your gut flora , to create insulin resistance and to hamper your immune system. And the amount of time you exercise is situation dependant. This is not rocket science.
But we’ve taken this advice and altered our days based off of what we were told was the best course of action without really considering if any of these things was actually right for us.
And whether or not we still live by any of these antiquated one liners we’ve taken that attitude and brought it to the gym with us. 6 pack abs in 6 weeks. 5x5s to get stronger. INTENSITY IS THE KEY! And on and on and on.
My advise, stop making this so damn complicated. Analyzing exercise to death is only going to take the fun out of it and when you stop enjoying what you’re doing you’re going to stop doing it. If not, you’re going to resent it and your relationship with it is going to suffer. If you want to get stronger put something challenging on the bar and get some reps in. If you want to be well conditioned mix up the stimulus and the time domain everyday and get after it. If you want to lose weight find something you love so that you can be consistent.
Keep it simple. Remember the kid in the park. He was there because he loved it.
What about you?