Monday, May 17, 2010

How To Kill A Man...the Stealthy Way

This is easier than you might think…

It requires no real skill. You won't have to spend the next ten years honing in on your ninja-like moves. There's no special weapons or poison to buy. It turns out that all you have to do is bore them to death. The best part - no one will notice! The body will simply show up one day and leave others guessing as to what may have happened. No marks, no bruises, no blood, nada!!

A study conducted by a couple of scientists, Annie Britton and Martin J. Shipley of the Department of Epidemiology at University College London, studied over 7,500 civil servants between the ages of 35 and 55 and recorded their level of boredom. Then they called back 10 years later to find out who was still alive.

Those who’d said they had high levels of boredom were 37% more likely to be dead by 2009! What was the conclusion? Bored people are more prone to being unhappy, unmotivated and unfulfilled and generally all round miserable leading to unhealthy habits like smoking, drugs, or drinking…blah, blah, blah.

So, for that stealthly kill simply.....DO NOTHING! But what does this have to do with strength training/lifting or fitness for that matter?

I hear so many people whine - "I don’t know what program to do!", "How long should I rest for?", "How many reps?", "Should I add muscle or should I drop weight?", "Do I need to do cardio?". Just STOP!

You owe it to yourself to make your training brutally effective and with a little imagination, fun! If you have to choose one, go for the former but if you're even just a little bit clever, it can be both.

We all know the benefits of regular exercise. We know that the physical and mental pay off is worth every minute. But so many guys & gals get hung up on the small stuff and turn the process into an effortless gazing exercise. The mental component of training only kicks in when you're actually training. I don’t care how much Napoleon Hill you read, you're not going to think and grow big or fit! You have no choice but to put forth the effort to move & get going!

Train properly and there will be no time to fuss over details, that in all honesty, have little or no impact on your overall conditioning.

First things first - Make your training sessions short! I know I've said this before but I'll say it again. Don't confuse short with easy. I often simply pick two exercises and work them back to back, superset style. Rather than worrying about muscles, think about moves. We're designed to push, pull, squat, lunge, bend, flex, extend and rotate/twist. So, why not try a lunge matrix followed by a pyramid set of Kettlebell/dumbell squats. How about Hang Cleans followed by wide-grip pull ups? You don’t need a ton of gear to do this and it's simple to take a drill you've mastered and make it more challenging.

For those of you who think of training as a neccesary evil, you'll always be taking two steps forward and one step back. If you can get your head in the game and make your training “playful”, you'll open up a world of potential.

Today? Rain or shine, I might go to the park and swing, roll, run/jog, jump, anything. Bottom line is, I will move!

So yeah, it’s great to have a plan, it’s good to have a goal. More importantly, it’s essential to simply move like you mean it. Embrace the chaos, try stuff, experiment, ditch the stuff that doesn’t work, do the stuff that you don’t like, temper that with the stuff you love.

One thing is for sure…you won't get bored!

-AR

No comments: