I started exercising in the Dark Ages. No, that's not a reference to the fact that I am a crone, it's a reference to the fact that that I cut my fitness teeth in the eighties.
The eighties were not the age of fitness enlightenment. Oh, we thought they were! We had discovered fitness as a nation. The "jogging boom" of the seventies had given way to aerobics studios and walk-a-thons. We were breathless in our enthusiasm: Low-impact aerobics! Low fat diets! Rice cakes! Walkmans!
America had discovered being in shape. It wasn't just for athletes any more. There was a whole generation of women whose marriages had unexpectedly imploded mid-life. They went to work for the first time. They discovered Jazzercise and sweat for the first time. It was the embodiment of the American dream; you could reshape yourself into someone better. Start over. Not age. Jane Fonda made workout videos. Jamie Lee Curtis showed us that we could be perfect. Oprah got skinny.
Here was the dogma: Eat a low fat, high carbohydrate diet. Exercise at a moderate intensity and you will burn more fat. Stay around 60% of your max heart rate for at least 40 minutes a day and you'll look like Jane and Jamie.
Yeah. Bullshit.
Let me back up.
Where was I in the eighties? Well, aerobics saved my life. After my tentative start, I dove in with mind, body and soul. I took two classes per day. WIthin 6 months, I was teaching classes myself. I was an evangelist. I checked out nutrition texts at the library and read them cover to cover. I preached to my classes about good food; complex carbs, the importance of calcium, the benefits of nonfat dairy products, the evils of saturated fats. I was happy for the first time in my adult life. I looked good, I felt good. Most importantly I was helping others to do the same.
One day, I was in a fitness equipment store shopping for something that could make me even fitter. Ankle weights or some stupid shit. I was checking out the muscle magazines. I loved seeing photos of female bodybuilders. Maybe it was because I felt that I had a better chance of looking like that than I did of looking like a fashion model. I've always been kind of solidly built, big arms and big legs, short limbed. I didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of ever becoming "willowy". But these strong lean women were something else. I loved their strength and I really loved that this was an alternative view of feminine beauty and perfection.
"Where do you train?" Oh fuck. Was that the guy at the counter? The one I may have noticed before in this store who may have been part of the reason I stopped by? And "train"? How cool was that?
"Um. I don't. I just like to look at these." I managed to stammer while bending down to retrieve the magazine I'd dropped when I jumped.
"Well you look like you do." He looked amused.
A viewing of Pumping Iron II sealed the deal for me. Bodybuilding was a sport I wanted to try.
So I joined his gym, a hole in the wall called "Solid Sweat" and spent the next few years changing my body drastically. That's the point of bodybuilding. It's the only sport i know where the competition has nothing to do with the training. Training to build muscle is hard. It requires lifting heavy, scary weights, regularly. It involves coming face to face with your limitations. You either lift it or you don't. There's nowhere to hide.
BTW, this is why you won't, especially if your female, "bulk up" if you start lifting. It's fucking hard to build muscle. It's so hard that I seriously considered using steroids. To build muscle you have to lift so hard you can barely fucking walk. It will not happen by accident. You will not wake up big. Fuck.
And training for competition is so much harder. Because on top of the workouts, you have to be fanatical about diet, rest, and every other aspect of your life. It took over my life, but with a lifetime of "fatty" comments floating around in my brain, I had something to prove. I was going to get on stage in a tiny bikini. And I did.
I learned so much about what works and what doesn't work in terms of getting fit and lean. Bodybuilders have been getting lean for years. Bodybuilders did not jump on the high carb band wagon in the eighties. I finally got lean following a bodybuilding diet that was high in protein, low in carbs, low fat and made up of mostly unprocessed food.
The recommendations for a healthy diet seem to change every few years. The low fat craze of the eighties is likely a factor in the fattening of America; the introduction of "low fat" processed food was co-incident with a steep rise in sugar and high fructose corn syrup consumption. In the 80s the NIH funded an advertising campaign to encourage people to reduce their consumption of eggs that was based on flawed science. We are increasingly aware that the government agencies charged with setting our nutritional standards are beholden to big agriculture and sometimes bad science.
There are voices of dissent to mainstream nutrition.
The same can be said for what sort of exercise to do to get in shape. There are many different theories on what works.
I will talk more in my next post about what I have learned over the years about what works and what doesn't for getting "in shape". I will talk about my own results on a diet that is way too high in fat for the nutritionists, but has helped me improve my performance across the board. I want you to take all I say as one data point in your quest to find what works for you.
I want to make one point in this post: If you want to get fit, do your homework. Figure out what you want to do or be. Then research it. Find a plan and STICK TO IT for a prescribed period of time. Keep track. Track results. Find what works and what doesn't.
You have access to the best laboratory in the world: your body. Research on it.
Let me give you an example of what I mean:
Let's take the marathon. "Old school" marathon training has runners running 50-100 mile weeks. Newer "less is more" theories have runners doing shorter workouts at higher intensities. The old school method is the one that works for me if I want to run a marathon (which, btw, is stupid for me. Not a good sport for me. I have learned this the hard way.) I know what works because I've followed both types of programs. I followed the program religiously (even when I felt one wasn't working) so that I would have good information. I've raced using both and one is clearly better than the other for me.
So, if I ever run another marathon, well, please shoot me if I talk about it. If I survive and insist on running anyway, I know what method works for me.
If you use a coach, trainer or nutritionist, trust them, do what they say. If it doesn't work for you, move on. There are many, many ways to get there; wherever there is. Become an expert on you and you will find your path.
