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

Functionality Rant

The fitness industry is a flawed industry. Walk into any commercial gym in the world and you will find people working hard and not getting results, people not working hard and expecting results, people spending money for results they won't get and people getting results that aren't what they need.

This is not the fault of the paying customers. Everyone in those gyms deserves the results they want, or at least the results they are willing to work for. However, the notions of what is healthy, what is desirable and what is good for us has been skewered beyond all recognition for a reason as simple as this: $$$.

Fitness is not about: being skinny, having big muscles, benching big numbers or looking awesome in your matching Nike dry-fit compression gear. It's about being fit to function. Being able to control your body efficiently under a range of different circumstances, whether that's climbing a ledge, pushing your malfunctioning car or running from zombies.

Sure, lifting the entire weight rack on the Lat Pulldown is impressive, but it's not functional. Leg Pressing a thousand pounds impresses your friends but it doesn't impress the joints in your lower body. The same goes for cardio equipment, treadmills are designed to simulate running, but running on a machine is not the same as functional running. The flat belt does not account for the ever-changing terrain of the outside world. Air conditioned rooms cannot replace the wind resistance of the great outdoors. These differences may seem small but they make a difference. Running five miles on a treadmill is much easier than running five miles on a dirt track, if you find that hard to believe, try it for yourself.

When it comes down to it, the one and only thing I want you to gain from this post is that fitness is about being able to use what you've got. Train for the right reasons. There are a lot of things out there telling you the opposite- don't listen to them, ask yourself: How is this making me a more effective machine?

If the answer is: "It's not", then find something that will.

And thank me when you're not a zombie =) 

Push Ups Rock!!

The push up (or press up for those of you from British backgrounds) is perhaps the most easily identifiable resistance movement in the world. It is accessible (all you really need is a working body and a floor), it is simple and it is loaded with benefits.

The raw power behind any push up comes from the pectorals (your chest) and the triceps (the back, or posterior, side of your upper arms) much in the way your typical bench press would. For this reason, a lot of people who enjoy resistance training assume that the push up can be replaced and even improved by substituting it for the bench press.

This is not the case. In fact, it is quite far from the truth. On the bench press, the body is sandwiched firmly in place between a bench and gravity. There is little core stimulation, for the most part your body is held in place and your arms and chest do the work.

The pushup however, is performed with your body in the air, all those muscles must contract and stay tight, after all, a rigid structure is much easier to move than something that flops all over the place. Someone once said it to me like this: "You know those planks we do, where we're forced to hold ourselves off the ground, tighten our stomach and just wait for the pain to overwhelm us? Well, a pushup is basically a plank where you go up and down."

It's like doing two extremely effective exercises in one hit. Killing two birds with one stone (not possible), etc, etc.

On average, a standard pushup moves about 70% of your weight. This changes based on where your weight is located, your unique body proportions and whichever fitness magazine you believe, but 70% is a fair estimate. The problem with this is that for some people, 70% is too much and for others that weight is far too little.

Never fear, this is where progressions and regressions come to the rescue!

Progressions and regressions are simply fancy gym jargon for tweaks and techniques that make certain exercises easier or harder depending on your individual needs. Progressions are more difficult and regressions are slightly easier. Some people, especially (in my experience) young men, shun the idea of a regression and will simply push and push and push themselves with an exercise that is too hard until they either get discouraged and quit (or proudly go about it with poor form). Others will see a progression and impatiently try it, disregarding the proper technique needed to do it properly in the process. Keeping that in mind, I beg that you would heed this one piece of advice with an understanding and open mind.

Proper Form Is King.

What I mean by that is that if you can't do something with good form, no matter what it is, you should be meek and lowly of heart and humble yourself down to something that you can perform properly. Poor form robs you of the true benefits of exercise and can lead to disasters later down the track (chronic back pain, anyone?).

So, for the pushup, here is a 5 step regression to progression standard:

1. Wall Pushup: Perform your pushup with your hands against a wall, keep your feet together a step away from the wall. Inhale as you lower yourself forwards and exhale as you push back.

2. Incline Pushup: Use a chair, bench, table or anything else that is sturdy and matches your level of strength. Put your hands on your surface of choice and perform your pushups inhaling and exhaling as you did on the wall pushup. Remember, the lower your surface, the more difficult the pushup.

3. Kneeling Pushup: Perform a standard pushup from a kneeling position. Be sure to keep your weight forward and your palms a little wider than shoulder width. Keep your weight forward and push through the ground, exhaling as you come up. You want the emphasis to be on your upper body so avoid using your legs and back to assist you.

4. Pushup: Congratulations, you've built up a to a proper pushup, now do them until their easy! Remember to keep your body in a straight line, nice, tight and rigid like a solid beam of concrete.

5. Diamond Pushup: Form a triangle below your chest with your thumb and pointer fingers. This puts a great deal more weight on your triceps and you will certainly feel it!

From there, you can progress further to assisted one armed pushups, single arm pushups and even bar pushups (where you are performing pushups from the top of an elevated bar), however, we won't go into that, as frankly, those movements are crazy enough to warrant a post of their own.

Starting with the wall pushup, which 99% of people should be able to do right through to a standard pushup, all these movements are attainable to you regardless of your age, gender or strength. When you can perform two sets of twenty repetitions (twenty straight wall/incline/kneeling etc pushups) move on to the next progression. Give yourself time and be patient. Don't try again until the soreness from your last attempt abates. Keep a sheet of paper (or a note on your phone) and track your progress. The pushup is a fantastic exercise that really does benefit your entire body. I strongly urge anyone and everyone to try it out.

All you need is a floor.

Run Free, Young Grasshopper!

 Running is the original mode of fast human transportation, we have been doing it for many thousands of years. Our ancestors ran for food and for pleasure, it is built into the very cells of our bodies as part of a 'fight or flight' reaction. When things were dangerous, those who came before us fought. When it was too dangerous, they ran. The only reason that you are able to read this today is because all of your predecessors were better runners than those who weren't so lucky.

As far as I know, most of us are not in any danger of being chased away by lions, tigers and bears (oh my!), so lets drop that side of the coin and talk about running for pleasure. As far as we know, the earliest competitive races were run in Ireland in the Tailteann Games in a 1829 BC, a good thousand years before the first recorded Olympics. Running back then was surely different from what running is now. For starters, nobody had iPods, Nikes, heart-beat monitors or TV screens in front of a moving conveyer belt, they had the cold (it was Ireland, after all) wind in their hair, the ground beneath their feet and the world of the track before them. Nobody cared about reaching the 60%-80% fat burn zone and nobody checked their scales when they got home. Why? Because running is fun.

In our current superficial day and age everybody wants payment for their efforts. If you do something, you get something, it is not a courtesy but an expectation. In the corporate marketplace, that is a fair philosophy, but when it comes to fitness, well being, health and happiness, that is not the way the world works. If you are running to fit into some smaller jeans, to develop a ripped six pack or for any number of other self serving reasons, chances are you're going to hate what you're doing and give up quickly. However, if you love running for the pure sake of being outside, moving over the earth the way you were designed to do, feeling in touch with your movement and surroundings, you will reap rewards you never even knew you needed.

HOW?
Have you ever seen anyone pick up a golf club for the first time and nail a hole-in-one? How about a bullseye on their very first dart? Chances are you have not and will not. Golf and darts are technical skills that rely on flawless technique- you need years of training from professionals who have learned themselves over many years just what to say and do for you to improve. Same with any sport, swimming, basketball, tennis. Poor technique leads to poor performance and injury.

And it's the same with running.

Just because the ability to run is naturally hardwired into our system doesn't mean we know how to utilise that ability. Yet, how many people run without ever hearing a single word about 'proper form'? People get up and they run. They don't go very far and pretty soon they start to hurt. This isn't because running is evil and a waste of time, it is because they are not doing it the way it should be done. If you tried to play golf holding the club upside down, chances are you wouldn't enjoy that much either.

So here's the lesson that you should take from this post and apply to your lives:
In order to run free and be free to run, these are the cues you should repeat in your head every time you hit the track- these are taken from Christopher McDougalls excellent book Born To Run, for the simple reason that it is brilliant, straightforward and easy to apply.

1. Easy: Make your steps nice and easy, don't force it. Don't take long strides, just nice, short, easy strides at a pace that is comfortable for you.

2. Light: Once you've mastered easy, focus on making yourself weightless. Picture your feet barely sweeping the ground as you float along the track.

3. Smooth: When you're easy and light, make it flow like a smooth rolling river. Think of yourself as a tide rolling down the track.

4. Fast: If you master easy, light and smooth you'll already be fast.

The biggest mistake people make when they run is pushing themselves too much too soon. You don't jump straight into a hot bath and running is the same, you must ease into it. Start slow, build up from there, push yourself if you feel like a challenge, ease off if you don't. Do it for the right reasons and let yourself enjoy it.

And don't forget to smile, after all, running is fun.

Fit Ideas

The funny thing about exercise is that it's not that hard to do. A lot of times, we build it up in our heads to be this impossible, painful, agonising chore that is as much a figment of our imaginations as dragon/unicorn hybrids that breathe fire through the tip of their horn (okay, that might be a little obsessive but you get the picture, right?).

Todays post is a list of simple ideas to help you, me, that guy in Norway who occasionally stumbles online and reads this site and anyone else who is interested in being a little bit healthier.



Simple Idea #1: You're Supposed To Be Healthy
Our bodies are built to be efficient machines that work hard and recover quickly. Up until the last century or so, thousands of years passed where humans exercised their butts off just to provide the necessities (food and whatnot) just to survive and they would do it seven days a week. No weekends for cavemen! We are not made to spend days on the couch or in bed, we are made to be active, healthy individuals, it is, in rather dramatic terms, your destiny. Embrace the fact that your body is perfectly capable of standing up to rigorous exercise because that is its purpose.

Simple Idea #2: You're Supposed To Be Happy
Building on from idea #1, when you are doing what you're supposed to do, you are happy. This goes for anyone and anything. A professional cook is happy when they are cooking, a stand up comedian is happy on stage. If hammers could talk, I'm sure they'd be happy when they are hammering rebel-punk nails into submission. Therefore, if your body is built to be active and healthy, doing that will make you happy. Endorphins are the bliss inducing chemical people like to spout out here, but it's more than that- it's about the peace in knowing that you are living the way you are supposed to.


Simple Idea #3: Eating Healthy Isn't Impossible
With a plethora of fast food options on the menu and their few healthy competitors vastly overpriced, a large majority of people think eating healthy borders on the impossible. It's not. You just have to think: Fresh. Fresh food is what our heathy ancestors ate and it served them well. So next time you go to a supermarket think: 'Can I trace this food in three steps or less back to its original place in nature?'. Breads and pastas go through three steps as grain, flour then final product. Milk and butter are only a quick two steps away from the cow (as is a juicy steak). Vegetables and fruit juice are barely even a step away from their place outside. These are the foods you want to be eating. That chocolate pudding or microwave pizza, on the other hand, could be more steps than a marathon. Eat fresh and feel great.

Simple Idea #4: It's Not Easy
Ask any professional cook or hammer if they got to where they were easily. The cook will probably rant on about their years at culinary school or the overworked-underpaid apprenticeship. The hammer will probably give you something about being melted and reshaped as solid steel. Either way, just because you are supposed to do something that will make you happy doesn't make it easy. Changing a relaxing routine or swapping your favourite foods for fresher alternatives take more than a day and it's best to start slow. It's something you have to work at but it's something you'll be glad you did.



So that's my four simple ideas. Nothing too heavy but hopefully you found something thought provoking in their to ponder next time you have a long commute and left your phone at home. You're supposed to be healthy, you're supposed to be happy, eating healthy isn't impossible but it's not easy.

But it's worth it =)