Getting Serious

Being sedentary is certainly not the same as sloth. Working at the computer is work, and productive. Not a deadly sin at all. A virtue, even. Not sloth -- sedentary. But the body doesn’t know the difference. Bodies don’t get it, about morality and wickedness. They just feel and react, like animals. The thing that distinguishes our bodies from those of animals is our magnificent brains, what with their intellects and wills and, uh, other good human stuff. Ambition. The ambition to excel.

We say it a lot, because simple truths resonate the loudest: As easy as it was to get out of shape, that’s how hard it is to get back into shape. On the other hand, getting back into shape is like forgiveness. It’s like redemption. It’s almost religious. Hallelujah. The cliché is, the more you put in, the more you get out. True, but that’s a sort of euphemistic way of saying it. The harsher, more accurate way to say it is that it takes intensity. That’s harsh because intensity really means suffering. Breathing a little hard is not intense at all. Gasping like you’re terrified is intense.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that most folks don’t aspire to be world class, elite athletes, so they don’t need to suffer quite that much. Their intensity level can be much lower, and they can still attain very respectable goals. The other bad news though is that their intensity must be much, much, very much more than just breathing a little hard.

It really isn’t about the effort. It’s not about desire or will power. It’s about your body’s hormonal response, the signals to and from your brain that tell the body to store or burn fat, or build muscle, or the like. Wanting such messages to be sent isn’t enough. Sending a clear signal is what it’s about. We send those messages by stressing the body. The bigger the stress -- not, mind you, distress -- the clearer the signal, and the more beneficial the response. In this case, intensity equals effectiveness.

Effectiveness matters, because most people are not genetically gifted. The dudes you see on the muscleman mag covers, they didn’t get that way because they had effective workouts. Barring steroids, they’d look like that by doing pretty much any workout. They have bodies that respond to motion, whereas most of us have to do actual exercise -- the effective kind, that we’ve talked about before.

So, depending on your genes to keep you healthy and looking good is a bad plan. It’s like depending on luck. It’s not a plan at all. It’s depending on your body, your animal body, rather than your magnificent human brain. Your body is what got you out of shape. Your brain will get you back into shape -- by disciplining the beast, the way a lion tamer works his craft. Crack the whip.

If people could do it on their own, there would be no fitness specialists. On the other hand, if people could set their own broken bones or treat their diabetes, there would be no doctors. Point is, we need help. Help with what’s effective, rather than what’s a waste of effort, and help with motivation -- it’s all so emotional, after all. It’s on you, you know, your health and appearance and the way you feel. But feel free to ask for help.

Be excellent.

Here: CrossFitBurbank.com

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CrossFit Burbank