Which group are you?

When it comes to fitness, most of us fit into one of three groups.

  1. People who are not moving much and doing very little exercise
  2. People who are regularly exercising
  3. People who are training consistently and hard

If you’re in group 1, then you’re in luck.

You’ve got so much low hanging fruit available to you. Your mental and physical health, future wellbeing and emotional happiness will all enjoy a massive boost for very little physical effort. Now I am not minimising the difficulty you may face starting. Starting takes bravery. However, sometimes all we need is a nudge and a bit of encouragement, some accountability and a bit of knowledge to dispel the fear.

Next steps for group 1, start doing something.

See your GP and get the all clear.

Doing anything will make a difference if you’re sedentary. This is the basis for most Government’s policies. Do something. Anything. 15-20 minutes a day ideally, but if that is too big a step, go for a short walk. You’ve got a 3-6 week window where any physical activity will improve everything. Your body is like a sponge for movement. Even a small amount of exercise acts like a rising tide for everything else.

Start gently and small. Be kind to yourself.

You could add in a walk, see if you can build to a gentle run/ walk if your joints allow it. Take the stairs at work. Find your local pool and swim. Hire a coach or PT to teach you how to strength train or join a gym and work from videos. Find a yoga or Pilates class. Get on a bike and cycle to work. You’re smart, you get the idea.

If you want an good (minimalist) mix, do 2 things.

1. Learn some basic body weight exercises you can scale back to be doable and progress as you get stronger. Squat, lunge, step up, push up, knees off crawl for example

2. Start doing something that gets you a little out of breath. Fast walk, jog, swim, ruck, bike, row etc.

Commit to doing something every day, even if that is only one minute of something easy. Scale up on the good days, commit to the one minute minimum on the bad days.

Being able to train at home takes away several big barriers to starting. This isn’t supposed to be completist, it is being realistic. You can always add more.

I’d love to hear what your challenges are and what is holding you back.

Is it fear? Time? Knowledge? Previous bad experience? Health limitations? Access to equipment? Money or something else? Tell me what you need.

If you’re in group 2, exercising regularly:

Well done, you’re getting out and doing something. Whether that is walking the dog, a couple of rounds of golf or hitting the gym a few times each week. Nice one. You could leave it there and hope for the best but…. wouldn’t you rather step up from exercising to training and get way better results?

Training means having goals to train towards, a plan to follow and milestones to aim for along the way.

For best results, apply the principles of training so you maximise the results and minimise wasted effort. (more on the principles of training in other posts).

Group 3, Training hard and often:

If you’re in group 3 you’re already doing lots of training. For this group, the issue isn’t time in the saddle or at the gym. It is alignment on what matters long term and having half an eye on the future as well as your current goals.

Groups 2 & 3:

You guys rock! Well done for being active.

We need to do an audit of what a typical week looks like. It is easy to just get on with training as usual blindly following habit.

Now fill the gaps in your training plan.

We need to talk about goals.

Goals matter, they are the mountain on the horizon you are walking towards. They are your North star.

The two goals that’ll have the largest impact on the length of your life are:

  1. Aerobic capacity measured as the volume of oxygen you can consume (VO2 Max)
  2. Strength and muscle mass (to a large degree, they come packaged together)

While staying alive is obviously important, your quality of life is vital. There is no point in being alive but miserable.

If we’re looking at goals that’ll maintain your quality of life as you age, then:

So an ideal program will promote:

If you have strength, then power is easy to achieve.

If you have strength + aerobic capacity, then speed is easy to achieve.

If you are strong, mobile with stable joints and a strong core then you are taking care of many of the causes of age related pain.

The who is as important as the what:

Be proactive about building a supportive community of like minded people around you.
Men. Especially you. We are terrible at maintaining friendships and the ones we have usually revolve around an activity. So make the activity fitness and you get a double win.

The most successful transformations I’ve ever seen were the result of a community of people who supported each other and held each other to account. Even when you’re scared. Especially when you don’t feel like it.

Summary:

Doing something is infinitely better than doing nothing. People who do nothing are vulnerable and tend to have a fairly miserable last couple of decades.

For best results do a combination of cardio, strength, stability, balance and mobility. Mix it up. Keep things interesting. Follow FS programming if you want an easy life.

Build a gang to train and socialise with. Fitness is an easy way to get to know people and if you have a garage gym, it is an easy way to reach out and have something to offer to your neighbours and friends.

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