Fitness

Fitness. Its kind of a weird word, is it the gym goer that hits chest every day and looks huge, or is it the marathon runner that runs for hours every day. Maybe the gymnast, or the powerlifter, Strongman, Crossfitter, or decathalete. At one point or another if you have done any of these things at a higher level somebody has told you that you are fit. However, can all of those people be fit? Or are some more fit than others. The marathon runner is going to say that the Strongman is not very fit because they have no endurance, and on the flip the marathon runner can’t even pick up their own body weight the strongman would say. These are general statements, but there is some severe declines when anybody body gets sucked into one exercise discipline. Crossfit has put a label on fitness and claim they are looking for the fittest person, and personally I find that they are at the very least the closest to looking for fitness, but is that sustainable over time.
I am going to break down my hair brain thoughts on fitness, if you are a normal person, looking into trying to be fit, build some muscle and cardiovascular endurance, and get healthier.
If you have no idea what you are doing and you have a crossfit gym near you, go see them, in general if you are looking for general health and fitness and don’t know where to start this is a good place. Please! Really look into the trainers, make sure they are truly trying to do a good job and teach the basics. These gyms are preprogrammed for you, so you don’t have to worry about coming up with a workout, and if the trainers are good you will learn good proper technique

Become proficient at moving your own body, a good starting point with fitness is just starting to move around. You could never pick up a weight and be incredibly fit by doing body weight movements ( I have talked about these before but I want this to stand alone) like Pushups, pull ups, Air Squats, Run, hike, jump, sit ups, burpees and so on.

Consistency and Intensity (something else I talk about way to much). These are really probably the 2 most important factors that you have 100% control over. The consistency is going to vary a bit depending on the person, but I would say at least 3 days a week, where you are doing something much more intense than normal daily output. The intensity portion is just as important, working out should be pretty uncomfortable for most of the time you are in the gym, so toughen up I promise you will be fine.

Mixed it up. If you want real fitness, you should try and be good at a variety of physical aspects, which is why I say crossfit is a good place to start even though they do fall short in a few aspects (That’s just my opinion). Lift weights for all muscles head to toe, so for lord sake please work your legs. Squats, lunges, deadlifts to name a few. Yeah you get sore, keep going, you will be fine. Also, do all sorts of pressing movements, overhead, bench, incline for example. Pulling movements are next, pull ups, rows, cleans are all great. Run, jump, swim, row, and bike, cardiovascular fitness coupled with strength is the ultimate in making your holes in your fitness smaller.

Last. Try new things and find things you are bad at, gives you a bigger pool to realize where your fitness truly is, and gives you a better understanding of your weaknesses.