Nate-Radio (Origins Edition)

I was going through some of my old stuff yesterday when I discovered an old 178x222m notebook buried amongst some old Wheel of Time books. On the inside cover read the following:

All text, lyrics, poems in this booklet are copyright to me

© 2006

I had no recollection of ever writing such a thing or having such a book, so with some degree of curiosity I opened it up. It was mostly empty except for the first few pages of which I had drawn some crude stick figure comics very similar to the ones I occasionally post here. One in particular I found so fundamentally stupid that I actually laughed. Out loud. That's a genuine 'LOL' there.

The Original (enhanced slightly in photoshop)

So, being the cool cat I am, I decided to pay tribute to my 2006 self and recreate this comic digitally in vintage Nate-Radio style!

Nate Radio Anniversary Edition

Six years in a dusty box, finally digitally remastered. If paper had feelings I'm sure this notebook would be pretty pleased with the outcome of more than half a decade of patience.

Be The Change You Want To See

We live in an imperfect world full of flawed characters. None of us are perfect, neither are our parents, neither are our teachers. Those people this substandard world idolise are definitely not perfect. Yet we all have good within us. Light to cover the dark. I love the old Cherokee story of the Two Wolves:

One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf wins?’

The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’

How true that is. We are all the sum of our decisions. At the end of a tumultuous first year, Harry Potter lies in the hospital wing and listens to Dumbledore say "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." How do you define yourself? What actions are you taking to make that definition accurate? Everyone is blessed with talents and abilities- what is yours? Are you using it for good? Which wolf are you feeding?

I am lucky to live in a free country with an amazing wife and a wonderful family. I am passionate about sport, health and fitness. There is a change that I want to make and I am striving to live it myself. I want to start a revolution.

 Specifically, a revolution in how we see ourselves and how we approach personal health. The fitness industry is rampant with faceless cashpires (vampires that suck money). The media bombards us with thousands of articles every day on how to "lose 20kg" or "get slim for bikini season". On the other side of the spectrum, plus size models advertise feel good messages of "it's okay to be big if you're happy".

This has to stop!

Adult obesity rose from 49.85% to 55.2% between the years of 2001 to 2008 and it has had no reason to slow down since. Obesity is a disease, there is no sugar coating that. It is a gateway disease that leads to diabetes, binary calculus's, respiratory insufficiency, nocturnal apnoea, cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension, arthritis of backbone and lower limbs, infertility and cancer. Remove obesity and you severely cut the likelihood of all those disease. Remove obesity and you cut a huge personnel and economic burden free of the hospital system. Money better spent on the education system or on medical research. Plus size models can be as confident as they want but that won't make them healthy. That won't shorten the laundry list of risks they expose themselves to and it won't relieve the pressure on an overburdened healthcare system.

How do we stop obesity? It's simple. It's not easy, but it's simple. We take the onus off weight and we put it on performance. I cannot stress the importance of that statement so I will repeat it in big bold letters:

We take the onus off weight and we put it on performance.

This is the central premise behind this fitness revolution. This is the latchkey idea that the world needs to swallow, consider and apply. 

For too long the world of health and fitness has been devoted entirely to how much an individual weighs. Big Bang Theory character Sheldon Cooper says it best with the question: "Is your body mass somehow tied in with your self worth?", and it's true. For a lot of people, health starts and stops with the number on the scale.

However, weight is a tricky thing. People can get to what they think is a healthy weight and be falling apart on the inside. Weight is not an accurate indicator of health. What is? Performance. If you can run a mile under four minutes, lift your body weight effortlessly or sprint one hundred meters in under twelve seconds, chances are your not going to be obese or underweight. Unhealthy people simply cannot do those things. 

The motivational mental aspect is much better with performance too. Weight comes off slowly and we live in an impatient society. A one hundred and twenty kilogram woman aiming to lose forty kilos has a yard stick of forty notches to measure her progress. Losing forty kilograms in a healthy way would take at least eighty weeks. That's eighteen months, of waiting on progress with the only evidence that she's improving coming once a fortnight. How long would any of us last with a goal that progresses so slowly?

Performance on the other hand gives a much longer yard stick, a much more motivating progression of improvement. That same one hundred and twenty kilogram woman might walk a mile in thirty minutes. The next day she might be able to do it ten seconds faster, a week later she's knocked off a full minute. If she's using a stopwatch and counting to the seconds, trying to get that mile run down from thirty minutes to ten than she has now built a yardstick with twelve hundred notches.

I spent the best part of three years in a gym trying to get muscles that would impress. Now, I just want to get strong. My goals are all strength related. I build to them slowly and see progress each and every week and I've never been more motivated. I want to share this motivation, not just with you but with everyone. 

If you agree and if you have time to share, I ask that you spread this article on. Together we can start the revolution. The wolves rage on, which one will you feed?

So you're fit... But are you POKEMON FIT?

Gym leaders never made sense to me as a child. In fact, even today as 
an adult they still seem to be fundamentally flawed in their approach to battle. I remember my first visit to Pewter City, nervously walking through the enormous gym and battling its leader, Brock, for my very first badge.

I didn't think I was ready, I had barely done my due diligence to my newly acquired Squirtle, but I was impatient so I went ahead regardless.

And I won. Easily.

Brock's stone-type Pokemon collapsed like a sand pillar under the wave of my level fourteen water-type turtle. I took the Boulder Badge and a complimentary TM and was on my way.

The next time I stepped into a gym was in Cerulean City. I was weary from run ins with a seemingly infinite parade of Geodudes and Zubats but I was chomping at the bit for another badge. Misty, the Cerulean Gym leader, however, would not hand over her badge without a fight.

Her Pokemon were Water-Type. Same as mine, neither were especially effective against one another but hers were stronger and they quickly bullied me into defeat. Embarrassed I left the Pokemon Center in search of an answer. An answer that would soon show up in some long grass in the form of a Bellsprout. A grass type Pokemon with a razor leaf that would cut Misty's watery whelps to pieces.

I claimed Misty's Cascade Badge that day, but more importantly I learned some lessons that would eventually lead to past the Elite Four (and my childhood rival 'Buttdude') to claim the title of Pokemon Champion.

Not only that, but as a bonus feature I discovered I could apply these important lessons learned in the gyms of Johto to my own gym outside my lime green game boy color. What follows is the details of just how I did it.

Variety Is The Key

The world of Pokemon is home to hundreds of Pokemon, all with unique skills and abilities. Similarly, the world of Resistance Training otherwise known as 'weights' contains hundreds, even thousands, of different movements to target muscles of all shapes and sizes.

Three days a week at the gym where I work, a group of young guys come in and do a work out. The work out is always  exactly the same. Always the same exercises. Always the same amount of weight. Always the same amount of reps. Always the same amount of sets. The worst part, however, is that every work out is for the exact same muscle group- their chest. They have skinny legs and slight hunches from tight chests and weak backs- not what anyone would call a picture of strength.

A strong Pokemon team contains six Pokemon with a wide range of strengths and weaknesses. A strong body performs a program that require a wide range of muscles to contract and relax so that it is ready to perform in any situation.

A program built entirely on pushups and bench presses is as defeatable as Misty's parade of water Pokemon.

Balance Wins Battles

I remember once trying to use a level 12 Growlithe against a level 35 Victreebell. My other Pokemon lacked type advantages and I was convinced that my weak fire pokemon had the advantage. Oh how wrong I was. Despite my ember attack being super effective I was quickly crushed and had to dash back to the Pokemon center.

In exactly the same way, training legs once a month is no way to be a champion. Exercises like squats and deadlifts are excellent because they train multiple muscles in the same lift, ensuring balance is maintained. When I see BROrilla’s in the gym with spaghetti legs, I cannot help but cringe. They would surely be the first to go if a stampede of Tauros got let loose through the gym doors.

Avoid Rare Candy

My brother and I both played through Pokemon Red and Blue around the same time. I raised my Pokemon slowly, leveling them up in battle against trainers and in the wild. My brother on the other hand took a short cut and fed his Pokemon nothing but Rare Candy. Not only were their teeth probably rotten but when we finally hooked our Gameboys up via Link-Cable, my team came out victorious- despite being of a similar level and type.

There is nothing more important to your body than good nutrition. Food can be the most powerful medicine or the most repulsive poison you put in your body so make sure that, if nothing else, you’re eating well- you can’t run a car on mud.

Believe

Every single person who has ever lived has had moments when it is easier to give in than go on. Professor Oak (or was it Dumbledore?) said it best with: “there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.”

We all have our Team Rockets. Our Dark Caves. Our missed workouts. There are moments where you think you’ve won and Lance the Dragon Trainer uses a full restore. Some times you get through, other times you have to start again. It doesn’t matter. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Believe.

“I see now that the circumstances of ones birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with that gift of life that determines who you are” - Mewtwo