The Exercise Confusion

Energy Bulletin

 Every week I hear all about how confusing all this fitness stuff is and I suppose, if I wearn't completely tired of hearing another reason why someone shouldn't, couldn't won't exercise, then I’d have to agree on some level that there is a reasonable amount of conflicting information that hazards our industry. However, the basic fundamentals of staying fit and healthy haven’t changed for… well probably forever.

 Our inability to maintain an optimal or even basic level of health and fitness in our society these days is completely of our own making. The benefit of it being our fault of course is that it should be and can be easily rectified.

 But who do we listen to? Who is right and who is just trying to sell us something? Is good nutrition as important as going for a run or should I not run and instead hit the gym for some good old fashion weight training? I’ve also heard that pin loaded machines are out of favor and what’s this about lifting weights fast??? I thought that was a ‘contraindicated’ gym activity?

Hmmmm?

 Well, not surprisingly I’m sure, the answer lies somewhere in the middle if not a little to the side. Sure there is almost always a better choice, even for the experts. That’s why we keep subscribing to different journals, newsletters and blogs just to make sure we’re still on the right track and perhaps to find something that’s just a tad bit better than what we’re currently torturing our clients with (in there own best interest of course).

 Now as I’ve said, the best fitness choices have never really changed, we do, they don’t.  Here is something I found that pretty much sums up my philosophy on health and fitness.

Fitness to live by if fewer than 100 words.

 Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.

(Feel free to cut and paste this and stick it on your fridge.  Read it every 
morning like it was going to save your life... It just might)


 Man-o-man I wish I’d written this. Well, sadly I didn’t but I do live, teach and coach by this code everyday. Why? Because it’s living. It is what we as humans were meant to be able to do and what we should always be doing. So why aren’t we?

 My guess is because it’s just plain hard to start and let’s face it, if you haven’t done a hand stand since primary school then chances are you’re not likely to head out to the backyard and start practicing now. Likewise with the Olympic lifts, if you haven’t done much or any of them before, then once again it’s unlikely that you’ll be trading your leg press machine for a Clean and Jerk anytime soon.

 This is the tragedy of our generation. Health and fitness today has been designed by large fitness conglomerates and high brow health clubs to be easy for everyone. In fact they’ve made it so easy that even if you are doing it on a regular basis, the likelihood of achieving anything close to optimal fitness is very slim.

 Furthermore I’d say there wouldn’t be more than 30 instructors (that’s right instructors) who could do, let alone teach an effective Clean & Jerk in Adelaide. Why…? Because it’s soooo much easier sticking a client on a piece of pin loaded machinery and start counting reps than it is developing real life functional lifting patterns, so why bother.

 My closing thought on this matter is this. Elite fitness is for everyone, not just athletes. Sure the exercises and loads need to be scaled around the individual but ultimately we all need to be able to perform the same fundamental movements. We all need to squat, press, pull, jump and yes, occasionally run like hell.

duncan