Why is it that fitness is so hard to gain, yet so easy to lose?
If you have slogged away for months gaining some areobic fitness, only to return from a three week holiday in a lot worse shape then you have experienced the effect of de-training.
It is an unfortunate reality, that fitness is a lot harder to gain than it is to lose.
It all has to do with the daily stress you put your body under: If you follow a well periodised training program then you are sure to experience excellent gains. If you place your body under too much stress then you are likely to get injured or suffer from over-training. To little stress and you will not progress very fast at all. No stress at all and your body will not be given the stimulus to burn stored energy in your body (read: fat) nor put on muscle.
When we train over a period of time the body gradually adapts to the ’stress’ we are putting it under. If suddenly that stops the body immediately begins to adapt to the new ‘normal stress’ state ( ie nothing) by dumping the excess muscle and associated metabolic enzymes/proteins it no longer requires.
The obvious and easy way to prevent this is to continue to train all year round. This does not mean long and hard all the time, but by stressing your body between events/weddings you will find you are in a lot better shape all year round - literally and figuratively.
In the process of cleaning out some of my crap in storage I came across a great little book by Joseph Romanos called “We knocked The Bastard Off”. In it are a number of great Rugby quotes. Here are a few of my favorites:
You don’t look big enough to be a rugby player
The Queen when presenting former All Black David kirk with his MBE
We can get you a ticket if you’re short
All Black lock Murray Pierce invites the Queen to the Barbarians match at Twickerham in 1989
Obviously not getting a trial is very perplexing. It is hard to not be ranked in the top 10 locks in the country, and if that was the case, I wonder why the selectors had not talked to me about it.
Gary Whetton, All Black captain in 1991, after failing to make the 1992 All Black trials
I don’t see too many Bring Back Gary signs.
All Black selector Gary Thorburn when asked about reaction to Whetton’s omission. (Non-NZ residents should read the eighth paragraph on this wikipedia link for a reference to this joke)
The All Blacks came forth and conquered. The Aussies just came fourth
Banner at Eden park during the 1987 World Cup rugby final.
I asked them to make me an offer I couldn’t refuse and they did
All Black john Gallagher explains why he signed to play league for Leeds in 1990.
You’re f… joking.
All Black coach Alex Wyllie’s reaction when told Gallagher had switched to league
The weakest team New Zealand has ever had…weak in the scrums, weak on defence and lacking in pace sums up the team.
Former All Black hooker George Tyler writing in the New Zealand Herald about the 1924-25 New Zealand side about the leave for Britain. They returned unbeaten and have since become known as the Invincibles.
“I’ve left my body to Science, but I’m afraid they turned it down”, Eric Idle
How well would you say you take care for your body?
Better or worse than you car? Pet? Children? House?
It is a little cliche, but worth being reminded of I think, that you only have one body, and so should take care of it. Almost daily we do things to our body that we know are bad for it: eating deep fried food, smoking, not exercising etc. Compare the care, time and money you put into looking after your car, pets and house. Imagine now how much better shape your body would be (both literally and figuratively) if you spent the same care, time and money on looking after your body.
And I don’t just mean buying a gym membership. Looking at the long term is important, but doing small things everyday is the real key.
If you feel like you have not been taking care of your body, and/or have not achieved your athletic/aesthetic/health goals then ask yourself the following:
Do I take my time eating and stop when I feel full?
Do I do some exercise most days?
Do I never smoke?
If you answer Yes to all of those then great. (if you did not answer yes then your priority should be reminding the reasons why this is so).
When Tony Woodcock punched an Irish player in The Irish Test match on the recent grand slam tour an interesting sequence of events unfolded that was to the detriment of Rugby.
The touch judge reported seeing Woodcock being held back by an opposing player - whom Woodcock, in a minor brain explosion it must be said, punched. Woodcock was subsequently yellow carded, Ireland awarded a penalty, and since Woodcock was “sighted” and risked being banned further. Thankfully he got off this charge.
All because an Irish player cheated.
It seems ludicrous to me that nothing comes of the Irish player who was committing a professional foul. No talking to or warning from the referee, no penalty, nothing.
In fact he was rewarded for his professional foul through the penalty his team received.
Is this really the lesson we want Rugby players to learn? ie If you can cheat to the point of annoying an opposing player of cheating also, then you will not be punched punished?
I think an ‘initiation rule’ where the player offending is penalised, rather than just the player reacting is a much better idea. A better outcome last month would have been to yellow card both players - the Irish for committing a professional foul, and Woodcock for punching, and then award a penalty to New Zealand as the Irish player was the first to offend - ie ‘initiate’.
This is one easy way you could strongly discourage negative play, especially ‘off the ball’.
…I also cynically wonder if the touchie would have intervened on the professional foul he viewed by the Irish player were it not for the punch?
I am talking about seriously overweight people here - not your average 115kg person who has enjoyed too many big dinners.
To me a seat as something you rent off the airline for the set trip. Much like shipping cargo, it makes sense to have to pay when requiring additional area and weight. If you need more than one seat it only seems fair to the people that would have otherwise been squashed up next you that you pay for additional area.
It is not an issue about discrimination, or the cause of being severely overweight. The PC response will be that charging more for overweight people on an airplane is outrageous. But what about someone with long hair paying for a haircut, someone with lots of hair getting a full body wax, and someone putting their dog in a kennel for a few nights while they are on holiday? In these instances we accept the additional financial costs when the service provided has to cater for specific (additional) physical characteristics. Why should it be any different with people and airplane tickets?
Some issues I have with the idea:
What about pregnant women?
What if the severely obese person is traveling with a 60kg person with no bags who is happy to sit next to them?
Where would you set the specific cut off in area/weight?
What if it results in obese people self-inducing vomiting, and starving themselves before flights simply to avoid additional costs?
“It never gets easier, you just go faster.” Greg LeMond
I have just finished a great book by Malcom Gladwell called Outliers. One of the themes of the book is how people who have achieved success have more often than not had a number of fortunate events take place in their lives (including in many cases begin born at the right time!), and have spent a lot of time practicing their area of expertise.
It reminds me of the success of many sportsmen.
Time spent training and competing is an attribute that people often fail to identify when discussing the success of athletes. We hear how an athlete is ‘gifted’ or has ‘natural talent’, but when you dive a little deeper you find that the person actually has simply trained hard and regularly - and not a lot more. Also, doing the sport/event from a young age is crucial. Think Tiger Woods. I think a lot of his success comes from practicing regularly for year upon year - and since he was very young.
So the secret is really no secret at all. If you want to get good at something practice specifically that. If you want to improve your flexibility then stretch. If you want to run faster then spend some more time running. If you want to lose fat then spend less time eating food you know is no good for you. If you want to be better at shooting free throws then shoot a lot of free throws.
The recipe is simple. Work hard at what you want to improve in, and you almost certainly will.
Here is an impressive demonstration from ‘The Chin Up Master’:
Some interesting points:
This is performed at a playground - no membership or specialised machinery needed!
The “full” pull ups (that start at about 45 seconds into the video) are an incredibly hard exercise. Being able to do even one of these makes it worth taking a video of yourself and putting it on Youtube!
These exercises are some of the best upper body exercises you can possibly do, no matter what your goal.
If you find them too difficult then your aim should be to build up to them. Do them after your warm up, and if you can only do 1 repetition (or half a repetition) do not worry. You will gradually get stronger…
If you think a gym (and the associated equipment) is the answer to you gaining muscle, losing fat, gaining health, or achieving athletic goals (or a combination of), then you are likely to be very disappointed from your membership. The reason is that going to the gym and doing the appropriate exercises does not automatically happen from having a membership!
Motivation, desire, and well formed habits are the key to you achieving your goals.
Home exercises are excellent if you have the aforementioned traits. The problem with exercising from home is that the same ‘gym’ mistakes are made. Making my point are the Ab Flexes, Home Gyms, and Swiss Balls gathering dust in garages around the world right now.
If you are interested in exercise from home then check out this exercise that I saw recently on Coach Dos‘ blog: a ‘Spiderman’ Push Up.
10 of those will be enough to push all but well trained individuals. For most building up to more than two will take time.
If you do find that version too difficult then try doing it without moving the starting point of your hands. If that is still too difficult then no need to raise your knee towards your elbow.
This is not to say don’t buy home exercise equipment. My point is that by doing exercises that require no equipment you can test yourself to see if exercising from home is really a good, sustainable option for you.
Great news out today for London tourists, cyclists, and greenies. London is to follow many other cities throughout Europe, and have 6,000 bikes available for hire from 2010.
Obviously you could hire a bike in London today if you wished, but this scheme should make cycling much more accessible, cheaper, and provide increased infrastructure (bike lanes, stands, pumps etc).
Consult your doctor before following any of the exercise or nutritional advice posted on this site.
If you feel pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, or faintness at any time stop the activity and/or eating prescription immediately.
KitchenPT.com and Bradley Simpson take no responsibility to any injury or loss incurred from following advice posted on this site.
