My Inspiration

I think way too often about what I want to do with my life. I'm sure any of you reading this do too. I think most of us (except the lucky few) are still pretty lost about our career goals, life goals, and finding ourselves. This stage of life is generally a transitional one.

Yet, we all love to have those people in our lives who have their shit together, and who can tell us that we will figure things out, and everything will be okay. For me, that person has always been my brother, Jonah. Jonah is a senior at the University of Pittsburgh studying exercise science. He has an exceptional gift for Ultimate Frisbee; he captains Pitt's A Team which has won several national championships. He is by far the most knowledgable, hard-working, and dedicated person I know.

Now, you're probably wondering, "what does this have to do with Evil Shortcuts or Six Pack Abs?" Well, I thought I'd err on the motivational and existential side of fitness this week, just to shake things up.

As compared to Jonah, I'm severely less knowledgable about exercise science and less disciplined. I often go to him for advice. But the main benefit in fitness that I get from having him as a brother is asking myself the question, "what would Jonah do?" Essentially, I try to use him (even when he's not there) to guide my decisions in the gym. Should I do another set? Will I get hurt? Is my technique right? What would Jonah do?

We should all have a Jonah in our lives; a person whose spirit lives within us and who without, we could not get through the day. This isn't to say people shouldn't be self-reliant, but I also think we'd be fooling ourselves to say that we could survive emotionally on our own. Anyways, the Jonah's of the fitness industry can guide gym goers in many ways. George Leeman, former holder of the American Raw Deadlift Record, uses the memory of his deceased brother every time he attempts a heavy lift in order to get himself into the appropriate state of mind. According to him, he has used his brother as motivation for many years since his death, and each time he brings him back into memory, he will undoubtedly get fired-up.

Yes, someone could make significant strength and conditioning gains without having an inspiration. However, Leeman shows us that there is a wealth of benefits waiting for us as soon as we incorporate a Jonah into our lives.

The message of this post is larger than Jonah or George themselves. You shouldn't be afraid to take advantage of whatever becomes available to improve yourself in the gym, whether it be going with a friend, bringing music, rewarding yourself with an ice cream cone, etc. Work smarter not harder! There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you are willing to explore the ways in which you can achieve your goals more efficiently, easily, and with more excitement.

I Want to Start Lifting, But...

My mom and I are very close. We often discuss our interests, concerns, problems, and worries with one another. Perhaps to her annoyance, I never shut up about lifting. I am obsessed, addicted, and in love with this transformative hobby; I can't get it out of my head. So until I curl my last curl, bench my last press, and push my last up; my mom won't stop hearing about my iron addiction.

During one of my gym rants, a thought ran through my head. I asked my mom, "Hey mom, why haven't you ever lifted?" She responded, "I don't want to look too bulky." Oh, Mom. It appears she has fallen victim to the topic of today's blog post: The "bulk" misconception. 

So, what is this misconception? From what I've heard in talking to people (mainly women), it seems that many people think that if someone lifts weights, they'll look like this: 

This misconception is understandable; as I've mentioned in an earlier post, the stereotypical bodybuilder looks like that ^. This makes it too easy to associate lifting with ridiculous, arguably unattractive physiques. The truth: lifting weights can actually make someone look better (regardless of gender). No, it will NOT make women look bulky, unless, of course, they want to look bulky. 

Honestly, I wish it were that easy. If I could get big just from lifting for a couple weeks, that would make this whole gym effort a piece of cake. But unfortunately, it's not. 

"Bulkiness" or size comes from a muscular process known as "hypertrophy" (pronounced hyper-trophy). It's important to understand that hypertrophy takes a long time: it will take you months of lifting to see noticeable muscle gains. Additionally, women have significantly lower levels of testosterone than men. Thus, the hypertrophic process takes even longer for women. Additionally, lifting doesn't have to include hypertrophy. If someone trains in the 1-6 rep range, they will experience very little hypertrophy but still be able to get stronger. If you were still worried about looking bulky, you can make the simple choice to be in a caloric maintenance (burning as many calories as you consume), which will further prevent hypertrophy. 

Overall, hypertrophy is harder to induce than it is to prevent. Yes, lifting will change the way someone looks; but in most cases, it will make a person look better (and yes, that includes women)! I'm not saying that looking good should be the goal of lifting; nor am I saying that people have to say "screw others opinion of me!" and bulk up just for the sake of lifting. My point is that lifting will not drastically change your appearance unless you will it. 

Let's admit it: we all worry about our appearance. It's perfectly fine to do that. (assuming that it is not making someone's life miserable, such as in a body-image disorder) Despite the adage "Don't worry about what others think of you," it is almost impossible to do that. In my opinion, we should embrace the part of us that wants to look good, but not prioritize it. That being said, I can understand the root of this misconception, and why on the surface it is valid. 

Photo credits to Gunter Schlierkamp

Shame and Judgement

Close your eyes. Now imagine a world where your weight determines your success. If you're too skinny or too fat, your chances of happiness are low. Not only that- you also receive the blame for not being the perfect weight. People won't describe you as "Joe" or "Sarah," they'll say you're "that fat guy Joe," or "that skinny bitch Sarah." Now open your eyes.

There's two notable things about this scenario. First, you must have read with your eyes closed. That's pretty cool. Secondly, while it's not something many of us would like to admit, this scenario reflects reality. Yes, it does sounds extreme, but allow me to explain why I believe that our society has gone to this extent in "fat shaming," how it has gotten to this point, and why this societal perspective breeds harm.

In high school, I had a group of five friends who were all very close to me. I loved them; however, they often said stuff that didn't quite sit right with me. For example, there was a girl in our school whom they despised, and she happened to be overweight. They'd often say, "stop being so fat" when talking about her (not to her face of course). There are many things wrong with saying this statement, so I'll isolate a few. First, it assumes that being fat is "wrong." Second, it suggests that she could be skinny if she wanted to be. Finally, and the worst of all, it implies that they themselves have developed the work ethic to control their weight regardless of what their basal metabolic rate was. 

Let me clarify that last statement: someone's basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories they burn per day at rest. We are all born with a different basal metabolic rate due to genetics. This means that for some, staying at a healthy weight doesn't require any effort. For others, staying at a healthy weight requires a good deal of hard work. Unfortunately, many people don't understand this, and they assume that an overweight person has become overweight because they're lazy. This perpetuates the subconscious guilt that many overweight people feel. Assuming that laziness is the cause of obesity, as my friends did with their comment, largely oversimplifies the issue.

To reconcile the common oversimplification of this issue, we as a society need to reinforce several concepts: 1) No one should feel guilty for being overweight. 2) Someone's basal metabolic rate often determines how much work is required to stay at a healthy weight, and thus 3) No one should be judged for their weight. Just as is the case if you observe a cigarette smoker on the street; if you don't know the person, you cannot judge their situation. You have no idea how they've gotten to that point in life. It could be a variety of factors, many of which could be out of their control. 

Of course, I'm not suggesting that society should encourage being overweight or underweight. We must educate our children on the best ways to live a healthy lifestyle, the best choices for living a long life, and the methods to sustain those lifestyles. Still, we need to also teach that when a child's circumstances prohibit them from executing those methods of living a healthy lifestyle, they should not be labeled as "lazy," "worthless," or viewed in any negative light. We must educate people on the complexity of this whole issue, and how thus making quick judgments is inappropriate. Stop fat-shaming! 

Too Much Hard Work

"Hard work is the key to success." Yes, I know, how original I am. Think of all the posters, ads, and quotes that have ingrained this idea! Success being linked to hard work has been a common theme throughout the history. All of the greatest musicians, scientists, philosophers, and politicians that this world has seen have had humungous work ethics. If you want to succeed, there is no way around it; you must work hard.

However, I'd like to make a ridiculous proposal: too much hard work is bad thing. Yes, I know this goes against the highly romanticized idea of the direct correlation between hard work and success; but, I think that this issue has been simplified to a fault. There are many more factors to success than just hard work, and how much work someone should put in to something entirely depends on the context. To reconcile this misconception, I'm going to provide an analogy. Yes- you guessed it- that analogy involves fitness! 

So in our analogy, let's examine a fictional character Julia. Julia is a healthy 21 year-old female who regularly engages in cardiovascular exercise. However, Julia's friend Dave had always talked about how much he loves lifting, so Julia decided to give it a try. After about a month of lifting 2-3 times a week, Julia was hooked. She decided that she'd like to compete in strength-training events, so she immediately upper her frequency: she began lifting 4-5 times a week, spending about 2 hours in the gym trip. While she still loved strength-training, she sometimes had to force herself to come to the gym. Workouts were becoming more of a chore and less of something to look forward to. But, after a year of lifting, Julia competed in a powerlifting meet and placed second. Great job Julia! 

At the same time Julia began lifting, another woman named Denise (also a healthy 21 year-old female) also began lifting. Like Julia, Denise quickly fell in love with strength training. Denise was lifting about 2-3 times a week. She wanted to go to the gym more frequently, but her work schedule didn't allow her to. For Denise the gym served as an oasis from the nagging worries that normally just wouldn't leave her alone. As a result, she looked forward to every gym trip. After a year of lifting (like Julia), Denise competed in a powerlifting meet and placed 1st, just above Julia!

What these examples demonstrate directly contradicts the "hard work = success" ideology. Julia worked harder than Denise, but still achieved roughly the same results. Denise's trips to the gym didn't feel like hard work, but Julia's did. From these examples, we learn that after a certain point (especially in the fitness considering the limits of the human body), hard work becomes futile. There is a limit to how much hard work someone can put in before whatever they're working on simply can't grow or progress. This is especially true with the human body. A 30 minute workout can grow just as much muscle as 3-hour workout. In fact, some of the world's best powerlifters only train once a week! From these examples we also learn that sometimes, putting in less work can make the work itself more enjoyable. This will allow for sustainability, and less of a chance of the person wanting to quit.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't work hard. I still think that success requires hard work. However, people (especially those in the fitness industry) need to step back and examine the situation they're in. They need to make sure that their hard work is being applied in the most efficient way possible and that most importantly, they're having fun. Unfortunately, most problems have a complex solution, and this misconception that "hard work = success" convinces people that the path to achieving their goals is simple and clear-cut. This is simply not the case. But, if someone is willing to embrace the complexity and the importance of context of any situation they're in, they will be much more likely to succeed.