Category Archives: Health and Wellness

Could you save your own life?

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I wish I could remember where I was reading it, but basically a question was posed: are you fit enough to save your own life? What does that mean? It means: could you run, jump, swim, or maneuver yourself out of a life threatening situation that a normal fit person could probably navigate easily?

Swimming

If your plane crash landed in the water and there were no life preservers, could you tread water until help arrives? If your boat sinks in the middle of a lake and you have no option but to swim to shore, could you do it? You should be fit enough to swim a quarter mile or tread water for at least half an hour.

There are two issues here. One, you should be able to swim, so if you can’t you should learn. I was listening to the news the other day and six children drowned in a river because a couple of them went out too far and another four drowned trying to save them. None of them could swim. Their parents stood on the shore horrified, but couldn’t do anything because they couldn’t swim either. I feel like that situation should never happen.

The second thing is: you should be in good enough shape to be able to swim and tread water for an extended period of time. You never know when you’ll find yourself out on a lake or the ocean with no option but to swim for it or wait in the water until help arrives. You don’t need to be Michael Phelps, but you shouldn’t be the first person to drown either. That would be embarrassing.

Running

I know this probably only happens in action movies, but you should probably be able to sprint at full speed for half a mile or so. I mean a solid run at 6mph or so. Let’s get a little out there and consider that a serial killer is chasing you at a dead run. You want to be able to run to the neighbors house or police station, because you know you’ll never be able to get the keys in your car in time. That never works.

Let’s flip it around and pretend you see someone in need. They’re over a half mile away and need CPR. There isn’t anyone else around. Could you save their life?

Agility

Are you agile enough to climb a cargo net or jump over some waist-high obstacles without breaking your stride? You never know when you might need to run down an alleyway strewn with debris. You should be able to climb a cargo net at a respectable speed and use monkey bars.

Your balance should also be decent. You might need to climb some thin pillars or cross a 4×4 beam between buildings while you’re running from the aforementioned serial killer. It would be a sad site if you were running to save your life and died trying to get away.

Training

Obstacle courses are great for training your survival fitness – especially when they have a body of water available for you to swim in. You should just try to complete a predetermined course to begin with, but move on to set a personal record every time you attack it. Try adding obstacles when you begin to plateau. Increase the length or difficulty of the course if it gets too easy.

Try to attack an obstacle course at least a few times a year to see how you do. If you’re really into it, set aside one or two visits a month if one is readily available to you. There is a reason that one of the core exercises of the military is obstacle courses. They provide real world obstacles for you to overcome.

11 Simple Tips to be More Fit

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Looking back at what’s been done so far, I thought I’d give you ten easy tips that will help you be more fit:

  1. Be in the right mindset. Getting your mental game together will go a long way in improving your physical performance.  If you’re not where you need to be, identify the problem and neutralize it.  You mind can be the biggest hurdle in making yourself better.
  2. Drink enough water. Water is the thing that gives all things life.  It cleanses your system of toxins and allows you to extract energy from your food.  If you’re dehydrated, you’ll feel horrible and perform even worse.
  3. Work out. Really? Exercise is the basis of being fit coupled with a good diet. Get into a routine of working out at least three times a week for at least a half hour.  That’s a minimum.  If you can do more, do it. If you don’t exercise, you’ll never gain muscle and always be low on energy.  Don’t just exercise your body either.  Make sure you exercise your mind daily.
  4. Only eat carbs for energy and don’t over-do it. Having too many carbs will promote fat growth, but having too little will leave you starved for energy during your workouts.  You need carbs to build muscle.
  5. Use biofeedback to get the most out of your workout. Listening to your body is the best way to increase gains when you’re working out. Do range of motion tests before each exercise in your workout and you’ll get maximum results.
  6. Pick a diet that works for you. I’m talking about vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous diets here. That whole South Beach, Atkins, Peanuts Only thing is just a gimmick.  Pick the one that fits your lifestyle and is the easiest for you.  I’m an omnivore myself.
  7. Eat high protein foods before and after you work out to build muscle. Get those proteins three hours before you work out and three to four hours afterward.  You’ll get maximum synthesis then and see excellent gains in muscle growth.  Of course only do it if that’s what you’re going for.
  8. Vary your workout to give tired muscles time to rest. If you give tired muscle groups that time to rest you can keep your heart rate up and give them some R&R at the same time. That will maximize your time to gain ratio.
  9. Don’t just worry about weight loss. Keep your mind on fitness, not weight loss.  Unhealthy weight loss can cause health problems later. Don’t sweat it out or starve it out.  Earn it.
  10. Cut out the alcohol. This is the single easiest way to lose weight and feel better. Alcohol dehydrates you and adds a ton of extra carbs and calories to you body that you don’t need.
  11. Strive for perfection and perpetual progress. This is the most important point.  Striving for daily perfection is what will keep you going forever. This will keep you from slipping back into your old habits. When applied to other facets of your life, you’ll only see positive things.

If you exercise (hah, see what I did there) those ten tips every day you will be well on your way to becoming more fit.  What tips do you have?

Weight Loss Isn’t Everything

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If you’re only on a fitness kick to lose some weight to look good for the summer, then your thinking is deeply flawed.  Being superficial about your health and wellness and doing it to look good will only get you so far. I will admit though: that’s better than not caring at all.

There is so much more to fitness than the finite goal of losing 5 or 10 or 100 pounds.  If you only strive to reach that goal you have a pretty good chance of falling back into old habits and losing everything you gained.  You need to get into the mindset of caring about your body and going beyond visible results.

Building Muscle

Building muscle will actually make you weigh more, but has added long-lasting effects beyond shedding fat.  You will feel better and have more energy, which if you haven’t heard – is a good thing.  Having more muscle also increases your metabolism, allowing you to enjoy those tasty foods you enjoy.  Don’t go overboard though.

Focusing on losing weight only could also come in the form of losing muscle, which you don’t want.  Reducing your body fat should be the only way you lose weight, otherwise you should be gaining weight in the form of muscle growth.  If you’re overweight now, don’t focus on that.  Focus on being healthy and growing muscle.  Everything else will fall into place.

Unhealthy Weight Loss

Losing too much weight too fast can have detrimental effects on your health.  Sweating out pounds or fasting for extended periods of time deprives your body of much needed nutrients and will cause health problems later. I always feel sorry for those Mixed Martial Arts fighters that have to sweat out pounds to meet their weight.  Couldn’t we just promote healthy sports?

Losing 25 pounds in 2 weeks isn’t something to be proud of if you only weight 150 pounds to begin with. A lot of that was probably water or muscle, and now you’re dehydrated and weak, leaving you susceptible to illness or worse. Being emaciated and tired isn’t what life is all about.

Christian Bale in the Machinist - Being emaciated and tired isn't what life is all about.

Let’s face it: if losing weight was all that mattered, we could all just pick up a nice healthy heroine habit and the pounds would just fall off.  Yeah.  That’s good for you.  If you didn’t pick up on the sarcasm there, I’m sorry.

Perfection in Both Mind and Body

Fitness isn’t just about a flat stomach.  It’s about striving for perfection both in mind and body.  Every time you reach your goal, set a new, more ambitious one.  Reach that goal too.  Getting into the mindset of perpetual progress will keep you healthy for years to come and spill over into other facets of your life in a positive way!

Striving for perfection is no easy task, but continuous growth will only lead to great things.  What seems hard now will be a breeze when you look back at it.  Remember when you couldn’t bench press the bar? Now you’re doing 265 pounds?! What?!

Please: tell me what your goals are.  Don’t just limit them to your own health and wellness.  Let’s talk ambitious life goals too!