I should also say right now that I am by no means an expert on fitness, nor have I gone to school and studied to any great degree some of the things I'll be talking about. I'm just a guy with a blog who spent a long time reading up and observing things. I'll try and be as concise as possible so as not to waste too much of your day, but this article will probably be pretty long. Give me a break though; it was a long year and if you're at all interested in exercising or living a healthier life, you might learn a thing or two (the last point is kinda the most important in my opinion). And it's got headings, so feel free to skip ahead.
And so, in no particular order . . .
YOU CAN'T OUT-EXERCISE A BAD DIET
Diet is literally the most important element of healthy living. I went from a diet consisting mainly of pizza, hamburgers, chicken strips, chips, soda and chocolate to one that was rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat diary, healthy fats, and lean protein. The results were astounding. My energy skyrocketed and my appearance changed quite drastically in a short amount of time. While the biological process is far more complicated than I'm probably making it seem, diet accounts for anywhere between 60-80% of your fitness goals and has a profound impact on your health. You could exercise hours everyday with a shitty diet with no results, while otherwise get great results with a good diet and only a few hours of exercise a week.
Remember, a healthy meal shouldn't be the exception to your day (i.e. "At least I had a salad for lunch!") but the other way around. Eating an apple doesn't cancel out several candy bars.
HAVING SAID THAT, FOCUSING TOO MUCH ON DIET CAN RUIN YOUR LIFE
I have a very obsessive personality, and when I launch myself into something, I usually do it with as much zeal and effort as I'm able to dedicate. Unfortunately, it's more than possible to take something such as a desire to be healthy and have it transition into a very unhealthy frame of mind. I became obsessive about counting calories and macro-nutrient ratios (the percentage of protein, carbohydrates, and fats you consume daily) and overly critical about how I looked, feeling guilty if I had something like pizza or chocolate. I'm not near as bad as I once was, but it's still something I deal with from time to time.
WHAT YOU SEE IN MAGAZINES/MOVIES AREN'T HOW THINGS WORK IN REAL LIFE
Much like how porn has warped the minds of young men into believing sex operates a certain way, movies and magazines often portray fitness in such an incorrect fashion too. Looking as good as models and actors requires months and months of dedication and discipline. It requires sleeping 8-10 hours a night, consuming dangerously excessive and then dangerously limited amounts of food, and six intense days a week in the gym (with one day for rest). Before a photo shoot or a shirtless scene, models/actors will often dehydrate themselves to lose water weight, plus lighting and camera positioning plays a huge role too. Those instances are often built up to; actors rarely maintain such a level of "shreddedness" for an entire film shoot, and they especially don't maintain that level of fitness once shooting is over. That lifestyle is simply too demanding, and it's especially daunting to even try and attempt when you're working a 9-5 office job.
IT'S NOT ABOUT BUILDING MUSCLE, IT'S ABOUT LOSING BODY FAT
I, like many others, used to think that the key to a six-pack of abs was an unprecedented number of crunches and situps. My mind was therefore blown when I found out that not only do those two exercises suck for bringing out the ab muscles, but you can get a perfectly decent flat stomach without doing any ab exercises whatsoever. What matters is dropping your body fat to the point that all of your muscles become visible and highly defined (which is most easily achieved through diet). It's an illusion that the fitness industry has capitalized on for decades. Case in point, Brad Pitt - who's body in the film Fight Club was considered the epitome of male fitness for a long time - only weighed around 155 pounds during that film (he's six feet tall). You'll hear it everywhere, but it's true: abs are made in the kitchen.
YOU HAVE TO PRETTY MUCH EAT DRYWALL TO GET SUPER TRIM
The "drywall" bit is a joke Ryan Reynolds made about what he had to eat to get into shape for Blade: Trinity, but anyone who's followed that kind of diet would have to agree. In order to drop body fat you pretty much have to stick to the leanest of proteins and the most nutrient dense of vegetables, which is why chicken and broccoli are such staples of fitness diets.
PEOPLE HAVE A STRANGE DISASSOCIATION FROM THEIR BODY
Sometimes I feel that the majority of people think of their body as some physical entity completely disassociated from their brain, like their mind is a driver and their body a car, and that if the car gets rundown the brain will still be fine. Unfortunately this isn't the case, as the mind and body are BOTH the car, and as one gets rundown so does the other. There's no way to separate the two. Your body is the vessel by which you live, and if you don't keep it in good health, your quality of life will suffer.
IT'S AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN TRAIN YOUR BODY TO DO
The human body is a highly adaptive organism, and it's incredibly efficient at learning and adapting to new movements. The nervous system plays just as much a part in weight training as do muscles. It's often the initial hurdle of becoming familiar with new movements that sets most people back, but as many motivational posters claim, your mind will often quit before your bodies does.
COMPOUND BEFORE ISOLATION EXERCISES & BODY BALANCE
This is more actual training related, but an awful lot of people walk nervously into a gym not entirely sure what exercises they should be performing, and immediately start either bench pressing or doing bicep curls because those are the only exercises they're familiar with. It's important when beginning to exercise (honestly, for the first several years) to focus on big, compound exercises that make you use several muscles at once, instead of worrying about doing isolation exercises like bicep curls that only target one muscle. It's also important to make sure you have proper posture and execute everything with good form, otherwise you're setting yourself up for a nasty injury, and for the love of Christ, never try to lift more weight than you can do comfortably. If you want to see what overreaching and bad posture delivers, go to YouTube and check out any number of "CrossFit Fails" compilations.
The best exercises to focus on are things such as bench-presses, deadlifts, squats, pull-ups, dips, shoulder presses, and anything else that requires natural movement and that works more than one muscle group. Unless you're a bodybuilder, there's no reason to try and follow a bodybuilding style training routine. And it's also important to make sure you're balancing your body properly. If all you do is bench press without worrying about working the opposing muscles groups (in this case the back, which is targeted through movements like rows and pull-ups) you're on a one way trip to muscle imbalance, which isn't pleasant.
CARDIO SUCKS FOR FAT LOSS
That's not to say it's not an important part of an exercise regime, but if you're spending hours on the treadmill or elliptical hoping to burn calories, think again. While it might be great for improving your cardiovascular fitness, it won't put much of a dent (like, at all) in your daily caloric consumption. Studies show lifting weights is actually more effective for weight loss with strict cardio a distant second. If you want to lose weight, you NEED to reign in your diet. There's just no other way.
THE BODY ISN'T A JIGSAW PUZZLE
Having said that, it's also important to realize that the body isn't broken down into separate entities such as when you divide your routine into "cardio" and "strength training." The body functions as a whole, and while it's possible to work different processes through certain methods, ultimately everything works as a cohesive unit.
PEOPLE WANT A QUICK FIX
I used to think that one hour of exercise three days a week was enough to offset whatever poor lifestyle choices I was making, and I realize now that was a very unhealthy notion (in the same way I used to think an hour of yoga a week was enough to fix seven day's worth of bad posture). Similarly, I have a coworker I overheard talking about how they have a very bad back and wanted to pursue surgery, but was furious when their doctor suggested exercising first; my coworker didn't want to think that something that would require that much effort and discipline on their part was the solution to their problem - they wanted the "magic pill" solution.
We've become obsessed with the idea that there's a singular cure for whatever ailment we have. A healthy lifestyle is like any other discipline - you can't do it for a day and expect to see results. It takes a lot of time and hard work to see any progress.
EXERCISE AND PROPER DIET ARE THE MEDICATION NO ONE WANTS TO TAKE
I understand that not everyone enjoys exercising like I do, and I certainly understand that not everyone wants to adjust their diet either. That shit's hard, plain and simple. Unfortunately, being healthy isn't like other hobbies or skills that we can choose to indulge in based on whether we enjoy them or not; our bodies all operate on the same biological processes, and being healthy is literally capable of curing a good percentage of lifestyle-related diseases (of which heart disease, cardiac problems, and a good chunk of cancers fall under). It's a cure that is sitting in front of everyone's face, but few people want to pick up. If there existed a pill with all the benefits of exercise with none of the hard work, it would be the best selling product in all of human history.
REST IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS DIET AND EXERCISE
I've made the mistake of assuming the key to fitness was strictly exercise, but it's actually a holy trinity of exercise, diet and rest, with each part being just as important as the other. Muscle is grown by tearing it so it may build back up, so you actually "grow" muscle when you're not exercising. Six days of hard exercise a week is probably going to keep you from reaching optimal results unless you're eating a dump truck worth of clean food a day to compensate, or at the very least being smart about how you structure your routine.
EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET MORE SLEEP
I truly underestimated the degree to which rest plays in living a healthy lifestyle, and from the looks of a small Facebook poll I took, so does everyone else. I'm lucky if I sleep more than six hours a night, even though it's recommended that everyone should get at least 7-8 on average (more if you exercise vigorously). Hormones released during sleep contribute to everything from stress management to weight loss to muscle growth, and yet I think because it's something free that most people enjoy, it's therefore viewed as an indulgence instead of a necessary element of healthy living.
FITNESS ISN'T ALL ABOUT MUSCLE
There are some fun videos on YouTube showing what happens when professional bodybuilders try rock climbing for the first time and are easily beaten by someone half their size with a third of the muscle. Having big muscles won't help you at all if you aren't performing functional training; if someone steals your wallet and runs off, it won't matter how much you bench-pressed the night before if you can't run thirty seconds without being out of breath. Overall fitness is broken down equally between muscular endurance, flexibility, cardiovascular processes (how well your body utilizes oxygen) and body composition (how much fat to muscle you have).
WEIGHT LOSS IS A FINICKY THING
Weight loss is predominantly related to one's diet, but the details are freakin' hard to nail down. Everyone's body is different, and while there are tons of "calorie calculators" online, finding out what works best for you is going to take a lot of trial and error. Eat too much and you'll be gaining more fat than muscle; eat too little and your body will enter starvation mode and you'll actually gain weight. You can also fluctuate up to ten pounds in a single day based on water-weight alone, so don't rely on fitness magazines and the bathroom scale to tell you how much progress you're making.
SUGAR ADDICTION AND OBESITY ARE WORSE THAN PEOPLE REALIZE
I've always considered myself an extremely disciplined person, and I always thought the threat of obesity was just a matter of people being too lazy . . . until I tried cutting out all processed sugar from my diet. To say it was challenging is an understatement. I still get cravings and have to fight off the desire for sugar (especially chocolate). Studies show the body reacts similarly to sugar in the way it also reacts to hard drugs, and if I had such a hard time breaking it off then I fear for everyone else, because it's in fucking EVERYTHING.
SERIOUSLY, SUGAR IS THE FUCKING DEVIL
The documentary Fed Up is a great film that I highly recommend because it takes a very no-nonsense approach to obesity and the effects of sugar, and if it's good enough to get Kevin Smith to change his diet, it's good enough for everyone else. To sum up the science, the body can only process about six grams of sugar at a time, and eating more will trigger an insulin response in your body that automatically starts converting food to fat. This provides a double whammy because all the nutrients get stored as fat instead of filling you up and giving you energy, so not only are you still hungry, you feel sluggish as well. Therefore, it doesn't matter how few calories you eat; if what you're eating is still high in sugar, you're still converting a lot of what you eat to fat.
Also, take a look at any nutrient label. Notice how sugar is the only item that doesn't list its "Daily %" value. That's because sugar corporations (I hate using the vague term "corporations" but what else do you call them in this situation) lobbied to have that removed, otherwise a can of Coca Cola would say something along the lines of 110% on the label.
A CALORIE ISN'T ALWAYS A CALORIE
This is an old school notion that assumed if you burned more calories than you consumed, you'd lose weight. But because the body isn't a calculator and sugar is a nefarious bastard, science has shown that isn't the case. 200 calories of chocolate and 200 calories of vegetables are not going to have the same nutritional effect on your body.
EVEN IF SOMETHING IS HEALTHY, IT'S STILL POSSIBLE TO GET FAT OFF IT
Almonds are healthy, and there have been some studies that show health benefits to dark chocolate, and yes, even a glass of wine now and then is good, but holy shit, that's not an excuse to shove it down your throat like it's the antidote to a six pack. Almonds and dark chocolate are still high in fat, and any chocolate is still filled with sugar (some types more than others, obviously). Even fruits when eaten in large quantities can be high calorie. Really, vegetables are one of the few types of food that you can pretty much eat with abandon without ever having to worry about their calorie count.
MISLEADING MARKETING IS GOING TO KILL THE MISINFORMED
Fuck fruit juice, and fuck any other thing that claims to be "Gluten Free." There are a lot of old misconceptions about food that marketers capitalize on, and because the majority of the population isn't as informed about nutritional science, the fallout can be rather severe. People may assume the juice from 100% juice is healthy, but without the fiber of the actual fruit to accompany the natural sugars, drinking juice is almost as bad as soda. As for gluten, if you're not actually allergic to it, there's no need to treat it like the devil's food. And don't trust Doctor Oz for your nutritional advice either - the guy was just called out in court because half his claims were proven to be bullshit. I went to a Whole Foods the other day and was really disappointed by how a lot of unhealthy foods were disguised as healthy with overblown prices.
A LOT OF TRAINING MENTALITIES ARE ANTIQUATED
There are a lot of guidelines in the fitness world based on old schools of thought that recent studies have proven to be false, or at the very least, not as concrete as once believed. Protein is a great example. Lots of bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts still cling to the notion that in order to get big you need to be eating 1-2 grams of protein per pound of body weight a day, but recent studies show that the body can really only utilize 0.8 grams per day towards building muscle. The same thing goes for ideas such as you need to eat several small meals a day to keep your metabolism going (it really doesn't make much of a difference) and you should eat something protein heavy within an hour of working out (while it's good to eat something, the "window" for protein synthesis lasts anywhere from 24-48 hours; your body isn't a clock).
A large number of these notions are based on practices that - because they were part of certain successful routines - were just naturally assumed to be right. It's not to say they're all bad (I still follow certain guidelines myself) but there's really not as many magical formulas as people think.
PEOPLE CAN BE VERY MISINFORMED ABOUT HOW THE BODY WORKS
The uprising of fad diets and juice cleanses is very frightening, as is the number of people who read a single article about health and proclaim its content as fact. "Cleanses" are a waste of time because the body is designed to cleanse itself; drinking nothing but juice is only going to make you sluggish and piss yourself silly. The same goes for the demonizing of carbohydrates. There are lots of articles claiming low-carb diets are the secret to weight loss, but it's not limiting the carbs themselves that make you lose weight but the lack of calories you're eating from omitting carbs from your diet. I remember screaming at a weight-loss magazine awhile ago over a similar claim about how you can lose tons of weight drinking only lemon juice a day because they were praising the weight-loss effects of lemon juice instead of acknowledging the weight loss came from not eating anything else.
EVERYONE THINKS THEY'RE AN EXPERT
If you really want to lose your faith in humanity, check out any online fitness forum and count how many insults get hurled at people because their "program" is wrong. This is more just a negative personality trait that many people have, assuming they're an expert on something because of their own personal experience instead of acknowledging that there are many successful practices (and yes, I realize the irony of that statement considering what I've written thus far in this article) and everyone's body responds differently. For added fun, check out how many people claim the cast of the movie 300 were all on steroids because the commenters had been exercising for years without getting those kind of results.
YOU DON'T NEED A GYM MEMBERSHIP
I've been able to achieve a relatively decent level of fitness without having stepped foot in a commercial gym since first year university (almost ten years ago now). There are tons of YouTube channels that show you how to get in a great workout at home with almost no equipment. I myself follow a program that is largely based on calisthenics (body-weight exercises) dumbbells and yoga. If you want to build muscle, you really don't need anything more than a pull-up bar.
LIVING HEALTHY CAN BE EXPENSIVE . . . KINDA
I don't have a gym membership, so I don't have to rely on spending money for my actual workouts. As for food, being smart about what you buy can save you a ton of money in the long run. You don't need to buy everything organic, and avoid anything that's high priced with a bunch of big-print health claims on the packaging. Yes, some foods cost a bit extra, but it's not nearly as bad as you might assume.
IT'S IMPORTANT TO LOVE YOURSELF
At the risk of coming off too narcissistic with this post, I wholeheartedly 100% agree that first and foremost it is important to love and accept your body for what it is. I went through some bad body image issues myself regardless of what people around me were saying, and my excessive compulsive nature only added to the trouble. It's much better to take the Average Joes approach from Dodgeball: you're perfect the way you are, but hey . . . if you want to take a stab at getting a bit healthier, all the power to you. If you don't want to, that's your decision.
. . . BUT ALSO BE REALISTIC
It's one thing to be happy with who you are, but it's another to turn that around and take it too far in the other direction. I think fat shaming is a horrible thing, but to grab hold of the "it's okay to be big" movement and take it all the way to "fuck skinny people" kinda misses the point. Fitness models are just as insecure about their bodies as everyone else (one could argue more so, because their actual livelihood is dependent on it) so it doesn't help anyone to go up to a skinny person eating a slice of pizza and guilt them by saying "I wish I could eat that and still look like you" (which happens quite often, whether it's meant to be scornful or not). If you forgo eating healthy and not wanting to exercise, more power to you, but don't try to convince others that it's a superior way to live, in the same way you shouldn't shame others if they enjoy indulging in less-than-healthy alternatives.
THERE IS A GENETIC LIMIT TO HOW FIT YOU CAN REALISTICALLY GET
I didn't realize just how prominent steroid abuse was in the world of bodybuilding until I looked into it. It's sorta startling, actually, so much so that there's actually contests referred to as "Natural Bodybuilding Competitions" which means it's actually expected that you'll take steroids in your typical bodybuilding contest (but that's not to say they're all that way). The reason for this is that there's actually only so much muscle you can build naturally, depending on your genetics and your body type. Some people are just naturally gifted (like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) while others can achieve a pretty good body with strict dedication (such as skinny-man Adrien Brody's transformation in Predators) but there really is a limit. The average weigh in during "Natural Bodybuilding" contests is actually somewhere in the 170 pound range (and that's at a very low body fat percentage, mind) so if you're looking at someone whose abs look like paving slabs the size of your face, it's safe to assume they may be getting some assistance from steroids.
IT TAKES A LONG TIME TO BUILD MUSCLE
Following that line of thought, it actually takes a very long time to build muscle. Like, years and years. I've been exercising for well over a decade, and while I may have gained some new muscle when I fixed my diet, I also plateaued pretty fast (I'm still pretty skinny). Again, look at movie stars who literally have all the time and money in the world to get fit. Henry Cavill went from being incredibly ripped in Immortals to being still incredibly ripped but with about ten extra pounds of muscle in Man of Steel. The kicker? It took him a year to do it, training three hours in gruelingly intense sessions six days a week, eating five thousand calories per day. Brad Pitt was at his fittest in Troy, which took almost a year to train from how fit he already was. It takes a lot of time and effort, which is why you're not going to look like Stallone overnight.
There are also a lot of women who are afraid to lift weights because they fear getting bulky like some women you see in bodybuilding contests. Women possess about 1/10 the testosterone levels of men (a key ingredient of building muscle) so that woman who looks unnaturally bulky is either a genetic abnormality or getting help from steroids. So ladies, if you want to get "toned," get off the treadmill and start lifting some heavy barbells.
THE HIPPIES WERE RIGHT
A great many ailments of the modern age are a result of us moving away from nature. Our bodies adapted and evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to get used to certain functions and food. Processed food and sedentary lifestyles only developed in the last hundred years or so, and frankly, it shows. Our bodies haven't had the time to adapt to a high-sugar, high-caloric diet, just as they haven't adapted to spending most of our days sitting on our asses. For many thousands of years people exercised by climbing and moving heavy shit, not by dedicating an hour a day to bench pressing; they ate mostly fruits and vegetables and occasionally meat, not two quarter-pounders a day with a gallon of coke and a bag of chips. Honestly, the best way to get fit is to embrace the mentality that evolution forged us a certain way, and if something fits in line with evolution, it's probably good for you to do. This is why activities like sprinting, rock climbing, and gymnastics are extremely effective for getting fit, because they embrace natural movements of the body.
WALKING IS GREAT, BUT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO A BIT MORE
Walking is a fantastic exercise. It gets your blood flowing, helps improve your cardiovascular system, and is a great overall functional exercise. But if that's the only thing you're doing and you're still waiting for the pounds to melt off, you're going to have to try a bit harder. Walking isn't particularly physical stressful (i.e. it won't stimulate an insane amount of muscle growth) and it doesn't burn an awful lot of calories. At best it's a supplement to a proper exercise program, but it shouldn't be the anchor by which you plan your weight loss strategy.
MARTIAL ARTS AND GYMNASTICS ARE TOTALLY BAD-ASS
Gymnastics and martial arts are probably two of the things I've gained the most respect for in the last year. I have a close friend who is heavily involved in martial arts who was a big inspiration for my fitness endeavors this past year, and learning about how intense martial arts can be was really eye-opening. The same applies to gymnastics, which many dismiss as a "sissy sport" when in fact you'll probably find some of the fittest athletes in the world partaking in such activities. It's one of the reasons I've taken such a huge interest in calisthenics. For anyone who doesn't think you can get strong doing body weight exercises, I challenge you to try your hand at ring dips, one-arm push-ups/pull-ups, headstand push-ups, single-leg squats, dragonflies, or the human flag.
That shit is downright inspiring.
IT'S AMAZING HOW MANY PEOPLE SAY "I CAN'T" WHEN THEY SHOULD REALLY BE SAYING "I DON'T WANT TO"
This is probably one of the most important psychological lessons I've learned about people in general this past year. Everyone wants to be fit; everyone knows they should exercise (every doctor in the world wouldn't recommend it if it wasn't an essential part of living a long and healthy life) and yet an awful lot of people will seek out excuses not to. I can understand not enjoying exercise, but I am also intimately aware of the mental gymnastics people often do to convince themselves that something is beyond their control. I have many friends and family who cannot understand my vigorous enthusiasm for exercise, and that's fine. I know I'm a bit more hardcore than I should be, but I enjoy it, and I recognize not everyone does. What kills me, however, is when I hear people say "I want/wish I could do that too, but I can't because . . ." and then follow it up with a very poor excuse, such as not having time or not having a gym membership.
I think it's important to be honest with yourself. If you're unable to replace "I can't" with "I'm physically incapable because . . ." then you're probably just making an excuse, and that's fine, but at least admit it. If you tell yourself that you can't exercise because you don't have the time, genuinely sit down and look at your schedule. If you're spending two hours a night watching reality TV, then it's not a matter of "You can't" but rather "You don't want to."
Exercise isn't easy. It's not suppose to be. It's supposed to hurt, because if you're not sore than you're not challenging your body enough to stimulate growth. People hate being put outside their comfort zone. It's going to be a challenge, especially if you're new to exercise - your body is finally moving in ways it hasn't been forced to move in years (if not decades). Your joints and muscles are probably going to be sore in the beginning (although please note there's a difference between "sore" and "painful" - I'm not encouraging people to hurt themselves) but the body is incredibly adaptive if you give it enough credit and patience. It's one thing to not want to squat because you have a previous injury and are physically incapable, but it's another to tell yourself you have bad knees and just can't do it (especially since after that initial hurdle of getting used to the movement, most exercises are extremely beneficial for your joints). Just be honest with yourself; do as much or as little as you want, and if you don't want to do anything at all, that's fine too, but acknowledge that it's a personal choice you're making and not something dependent on anyone else.
And that's it, folks. That's probably my longest article by far, but what can I say - it was a hell of a year.
