Fitness Manifesto for The Young at Heart

As Groucho Marx once stated: “These are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.” Although in this case, this wouldn’t be true. :-) The principles presented in this post have evolved gradually over the years to form the basis of my approach to fitness. Moreover, I have found that most of these principles are equally applicable to life in general. 

Being the middleyoung man that I am today, knowing and applying these principles 25 years ago would have been of great benefit to me. I believe that they are really universal, in the sense that they will work for anyone that applies them intelligently. So, without further ado, here we go:

1. Don’t blindly trust the “experts”
The problem with many of the so-called experts or gurus in the fitness world of today is that they really don’t want you to think for yourself. They have a program for you, and they want you to do it. Some offer online advice - if you’re doing the program. Results are promised - if you’re doing the program. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that these programs are all bad, or that these coaches are intentionally lying to you. This is not my point. My point is simply that you need to think for yourself. I don’t know if you have noticed, but many of these experts/gurus/coaches even disagree with each other.

Does this mean that you should never listen to coaches or read books about training? No, of course not - there is a lot of useful knowledge out there. Most often, you will also get some results by doing their programs. But I’m here to tell you that you can get better results by critically evaluating this information through a filter of your own goals, experiences and talents.

Starting today, accept full responsibility for your body even if this means disagreeing with the “experts”.

2. Focus on quality contractions
This might come as a surprise to some of you, but it’s not the weight on the bar that is important — it’s the quality of the contraction, which isn’t always the same thing. In essence, the harder your muscles can contract, the better the effect of the particular exercise. For example, Pavel Tsatsouline talks about the importance of creating high tension in Power to the People, advising us to consciously focus on flexing while lifting a certain weight. However, I believe that there is a more efficient way. My experience is that trying to consciously create a maximum contraction by focusing on flexing, will in practice NOT produce an actual maximum contraction. A better, more efficient way, is to use your body to reduce leverage.

To give you a concrete example: think of plain old push-ups. This basic exercise can be manipulated in numerous ways to increase resistance, forcing you to work - contract - harder, the more difficult progression/less leverage you are using. For example, try moving your hands further down towards your waist and then perform a push-up (you will probably need to point your hands outwards as well to save your wrists). Depending on your preference, you could also move your hands further up, past your head, or closer together. A different variation is to elevate your feet instead, from just a little to a full-blown handstand push-up. Or how about the one-arm push-up? The common denominator for all these variations is that they, performed correctly, will force you to contract progressively harder. What particular variation you choose will of course depend on the desired result.

3. Slow down
No, I’m not trying to introduce a new fitness concept where you perform all you exercises in slow motion. Wait a minute, I guess someone already did that! :-)

I’m talking about performing below your maximum performance level for a longer time period than you might think is necessary. What do I mean? I’ll explain the concept using the bench press as an example. Let’s say you start with 150 pounds on the bar, doing 3 sets of 8 repetitions. Since you want to become stronger, you then would need to progressively increase the weight on the bar while keeping the number of repetitions constant. So, if you started with 150 pounds, and the 8 repetitions didn’t feel too hard - the logical step might seem to be to add some weight to the bar next time. I would like to suggest that you don’t. Instead, use the same weight for two or three sessions in a row - and then add some weight to the bar. This way, you will still progressively increase the weight, but at a slower pace. Don’t buy into the crap that you MUST add weight to the bar every training session. By slowing down the pace of the progression, you will give your central nervous system ample time to recover, while also letting your joint and tendons getting used to the weight as well as the movement itself. Muscles has a tendency to adapt at a faster rate than your tendons and joints, which means that while your muscles may be able to handle a certain increase in load, the same increased load might be too much for your tendons or joints, resulting in an injury.

4. Have fun, or else…
Yep, you gotta have fun when you train. Not fun like laughing-your-ass-off in the gym (it’s hard to squat while laughing), but you gotta find a way to enjoy the process. You may think that it is enough to stay focused on the outcome; losing weight, packing on x pounds of muscle etc, but it really isn’t — especially not long term. I’m telling you — you need to find a way to enjoy the process, or one or two things will eventually happen:

1) You will drag your ass to the gym or to the track, but you will just be going through the motions, and your heart won’t be in it. This will work for a while, but eventually your results will start to suffer more noticeably. It’s a downward spiral which will affect your motivation, which in turn leads to…

2) …this: Your motivation will take a nosedive. You will start making up creative excuses not to train. Soon, you will stop altogether for a while, using your creativity to come up with explanations for why training never really was all that important to you anyway. Of course, deep inside you will still know that this is BS. You will probably start again, but at a lower level of fitness than necessary, essentially flushing a big part of your progress down the toilet…

So - of you currently find yourself somewhere in this downward spiral, what to do? The short answer is: something else. Just try something else…anything that may give you the results that you are after. If you are trying to get in shape, maybe taking up boule wouldn’t be the smartest approach. For example, you might switch from training with weights to bodyweight training, or from interval running to swimming. You get the picture. The process is always more important than the outcome, so find something that is fun and that works, and stick with it. If you focus on enjoying the process, the result will take care of itself. Enjoyment also brings with it a sense of flow, making your training — even though you’re working really hard — seem almost effortless.

5. Understand the concept of variety
Variety is important, both for the mind and the body. Without variety, your body will adapt faster and your results will suffer. However, varying your training doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to change your whole workout every other week. Don’t get suckered into the mindset that you have to do certain exercises. For example, I believe that squats and deadlifts are great exercises, but there are a lot of people that have become strong, fit and healthy without doing these regularly - or even at all. Also, doing the same things day-in day-out gets downright boring, and boredom kills motivation, so spice things up once in a while by doing something different. However, use variety intelligently. Don’t change everything at once — instead, try replacing one or two exercises at a time, keeping the base of your program intact.

6. Move fast
The human body is made to move, and at least some of the time you need to move fast. This really doesn’t have to be all that complicated. For example, if you are normally doing squats, just remove of some the weight and speed up the movement, moving as fast as you can with good form. Usually, somewhere between 50-75% of your normal weight does the trick. This accomplishes two things: first, you allow your body to get some rest from heavy training while still practicing the movement, and second, these high-speed variations will improve your ability to produce force, which in turn has been shown to have a positive overall effect on strength development.

7. Don’t move
Yes, you heard me. Don’t move. What do I mean? Well, I believe that most of us would benefit greatly from incorporating a static, or isometric, component in our training. This is more or less the dark horse of fitness and strength — misunderstood and hence discarded by many. Studies - as well as my own experience - have shown that an intelligent use of static training is good for both your joints and your overall strength levels. How? Well, there are numerous ways to add isometric training to your program; holding a weight in a static position, or pressing against an immobile object (like a wall) - or the more advanced variations, like the planche from the field of gymnastics.

8. Follow the 6-week rule
Whenever you add a new exercise to you training regimen, stick with it for a minimum of 6 weeks no matter what. This will ensure that you give yourself enough time to start seeing some of the potential benefits. If an exercise is new to you, start out slowly, using light weights and focus on good form. It will most likely take you some time to develop good form when incorporating a new exercise, so be patient. It’s nothing magical about exactly 6 weeks, but I have found that this time span is a good rule of thumb; it’s long enough for you to be able to evaluate the potential of the exercise, but - if it’s not right for you - it won’t stunt your progress too much.

9. Be an athlete
Whoever you are, no matter what your current level of physical fitness is, and whatever your fitness goals are, start looking at yourself as an athlete. Being in the mindset of an athlete can be very different from being in the mindset of a person who just wants to get in shape. Looking at yourself as an athlete also means that the way you look at the world changes; it changes your perspective. For example, an athlete might look at a meal first and foremost as providing the body with quality fuel, whereas the person just wanting to get in shape will look at a meal using different criteria, such as taste. Using the criteria of taste will produce a very different result from the criteria of fuel, and everything starts with cultivating the right mindset.

10. Age is just a number
This may be the most important principle of all. Often, people fall into the trap of looking at themselves as being unable to do something, or feeling limited, only due to the fact that they have reached a certain age. Don’t buy into this crap! Know that more than anything, age IS just a number, and that you can do anything you set your mind to. Don’t use age as an excuse to live life below your potential, whether it comes to fitness or anything else. Just take a look at Jack LaLanne, who at the age of 70 swam 1.5 miles while towing 70 boats with 70 people. Oh, did I mention that he was handcuffed and shackled at the time? At 94, Jack still works out for two hours every day!

Got it? Good! The practical application of these principles will be covered in more depth in individual articles, so stay tuned.

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March 9, 2009 | Filed Under Etc, Training 

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