Now that I am Motivated, what do I do?
Once you have made the decision to get up and do something, no matter how “uncomfortable” you may feel, or how much it “hurts”, you want to get in shape, and you want it now, what is the next step?
Is your diet in control? If so, what do you want to do? What activity gives you the most pleasure? Ok, I can hear the replies to that one, but yes, even sex can help you, but, make sure you are healthy enough, and that your partner is ok with it. My point is, if you have a favorite activity, do it! For me, it is the gym and heavy iron, even though I have over three decades of training under my belt, I have to start slow, and so do you, otherwise, you may hurt yourself and have to start all over again.
I don’t know what caused you to get out of shape, I know my reasons, and I know how complicated that subject can get, there are just so many variables involved, like injury, illness, financial, marital, the list goes on an on, but what ever the problems were, if you have now made the decision to get fit, good for you, and yes, you can do it!
If you enjoy winter activities like snow boarding or skiing, you don’t want to just go get on a slope and go, just like any activity, you have to start slow, but, for over-all fitness, regardless of your “target”, like skiing , the gym is a great place to start. Again, start slow, and work your way up.
The main point is, once you are motivated and have made that firm, un-movable decision, without any doubt, just get up and do something! For some people, the swimming pool has been reccomended as a starting point, and that is a great place to start, it can help you get stronger and increase your mobility without putting as much stress on old painful injuries, but unless swimming is your thing, it may get old, once you have gotten all you can get from it. What do I mean by that? Let’s use a dumbbell for an example, like in the picture. Do you see that little bitty one on the top right of the rack? That looks like a two pounder, if you were to use that and do curls with it, how long would it be until it felt like you have nothing in your hand? With the dumbbells, you simply move to the next heavier one, then the next and so on. With a swimming pool, once you have overcome the set resistance of walking, treading water or whatever, there is no place to go, but get faster at those activities, yes, playing games and such can be fun, but unless you do it an awful lot, you will plateau, and your progress will seem to stop. No, I am not saying the pool is bad, but I am saying, that is just one tool, add a few more for even better results.
Just don’t let whatever you like get boring, boredom is probably the worst enemy, so keep it fun! If you do that, you will see the results you are looking for! You can do it, one step, one rep, and one bite at a time!
Free Weights: The best exercises, the Squat!
This is the first article of many about exercises, I am going to cover the basics, something that is most often left out by anyone trying to sell you some sort of magic routine that will do something that no other training method can, if you buy their fancy gizmo and follow their secret plan. Do yourself a favor, ignore those gimmicky junk pedlers, the only one that can benefit from it is them, they get your cash!
In today’s fitness crazed world, where everything is bad for you and you can’t eat anything but rabbit food, always remember the basics, where did these new age gurus come from? How old are they and who taught them what they know?
This article is about the Squat, the most loved and hated exercise ever. Why is it hated? It hurts! Why is it loved? It works! In fact, if you only have 10 minutes, three days a week, you can get a full body workout, with just three exercises, the Squat, Bench-Press, and Dead-Lift, all the other exercises only add to what you can get from the basic three.
The squat is the best exercise, period, regardless of what your training goals are, because it uses every muscle in your body, yes, even your eye muscles are involved, when done properly. I found a great article about the squat, at NerdFitness, and that is where I found the image below.
The main Thing that I need to point out, is the eyes, see how the guy in this pic has them fixed on an invisible object, that only he can see? This is very important, once you learn the proper form, by fixing your eyes, you keep your posture and you body’s position straight, if you look around the room, or up and down, your body will do the same, and this can get you hurt.
The positioning and angle of the feet is also important, you can vary the angle of your feet to put more or less emphasis on different parts of your legs, but that is an issue for those that have a lot of experience, for the beginner, or the old and injured like me, keep the feet almost straight, but slightly pointed outward, you’ll see, find the most comfortable for you.
Keep your back straight, remember the eyes, find a point on the wall in front of you and keep your eyes on it, this helps.
What makes the Squat so special? When you have an injury, you tend to favor that, be it an ankle, hip, knee, whatever, and long after this injury is healed up, it still influences your posture, by doing squats, you re-train your body to be straight, and you work every muscle together, all at the same time, thus strengthening your entire body. When you do something that trains your various body parts to work together, even the little muscles that only help stabilize are put to use, this makes your overall conditioning and even your appearance more balanced.
I know, you are saying, “but I have a bad back”, I do too, I cannot stand for more than a few minutes. My problem is basically arthritis, and bone spurs, I have spikes growing out of my spine that start a chain reaction of problems, and walking, or standing make this worse, but, squats make it feel better! Of course, talk to your doctor before doing squats if you have a back problem, but, if they tell you exercise is ok, squats should be number one on your list, it can help you.
Over Weight or Over Fat? Running vs Weight Training?
If you served in the military, before 1983, you may not have experienced the first changes that I know of, about weight restrictions. I joined the Army in 1982, and for my height, 5′ 7″, the limit was 205 pounds, I know this, because that is what I weighed and was told that I was at the limit for my height. This was of course after basic, and AIT, was after passing my PT test at my unit in Germany, and was just part of their physical requirement check-up. I was not fat, not even close, but, I was at the max for my height. Within 6 months, when the next evaluation came along, I of course passed my PT test again, but this time, 205 pounds was over weight! The chart used at that time said I was to be no more than 176 pounds, that is now, 29 pounds over weight! I hadn’t changed, the chart did!
From what I have read, the Army is using body fat along with the height/weight/age chart now, that is good news, because I would not wish what I have been through on anybody! (Read This, Click Here)
After being told that I was now fat (over-weight), I was shocked, but that was just the beginning of the embarrassment, they put me in an extra-PT group and we had to do PT twice a day! This by itself was fine, it got me out of the boring, motor pool and do maintainance routine, but there I was, with a bunch of fatties from the head shed, like clerks, secretaries, and such. The spec-5 that was in charge of our PT was so fat he breathed hard just standing there! All of my fellow platoon members, were rolling on the ground laughing, it was awful! We went on a run, around the block, not even a mile, and I was one of maybe four or five that made it all the way, and, it was my first time to be the one calling cadence, because the spec-5 was the firt to fall out, he didn’t make it out of the gate!
The next day, Top called me into his office and put me in charge of the Fat Platoon, that is what they called us, made up of the over weight and failed PT test group, and I was instructed to get everybody in the group Fit! I said, “Yes!, First Sargent” and walked out to the group. I was an E3, but now, I was in charge of getting about 20 tubbies in shape, so, I marched everybody to the gym! Now, I am loving this extra PT, I get to go to the gym on Army time, not mine! I started the group off with a sort of circuit training, using the limited equipment we had, an old Universal Machine, a stationary bike, a jump-rope or two, and of course Free Weights and a basketball court. We were a bit disorganized at first, but, it worked out pretty good.
After about 2 weeks, my CO, an arrogant, skinny, pencil-neck, geek, was mad, because he never saw us do anything, he wanted to see us running, so, I got called into Top’s office again, where he informed me what the CO wanted, again, I said, “Yes, First Sargent” and walked out to my “trainees” and told them we had to go for a run at least once a week, and I fibbed a bit, and told them that we had to do at least two miles or I was getting replaced, and that the extra PT was going to just be running from now on, when we marched out the gate, I have never heard such a loud group of but maybe 20 soldiers, something was different about them, and me, I was actually proud, not embarrassed!
Once we were about 5 minutes underway, we still had a tight formation, no one was lagging or falling out, we were actually picking up speed! Here we are, the “Fat Platoon”, and we are running! Where we ran, there were only a few options, places where the sidewalk was wide enough, or a street that was not too busy, even to just turn around and go back the way we had come, without stopping, which kills momentum. Since around the block was not allowed this time, we had to do at least a mile, according to Top. Our options on this road were, around the block, one mile, two miles, or the next was just over three. As we got close to the cut-off for one mile, the squad was going strong, and something strange happened, the whole squad wanted to do 2 miles! So, we passed that first turn, there was no turning back, it was either two miles or failure!
As we ran, all the way through the gate, it was now time for the afternoon formation, and everybody, every platoon, every battery, every single soldier at Bismark Kaserne was outside, watching us, all of us, not even one had fallen out, so, instead of just stopping, we make a victory lap, all around the inside of the Kaserne, about a quarter mile rectangle, past every single formation, and all the way back to our unit, which is right at the front gate. As we stopped, I didn’t have to tell them that they had done a great job, they knew it, you could see the look on every single face. I dismissed the squad to their platoons, we were about 5 minutes late to formation.
The next morning was our “Brigade Run”, which meant that everyone from the Kaserne went on one big group run, before formation, Top called me aside and told me to go the Headquarters building and get the Brigade colors, which is a big flag, I was thinking that I was just supposed to bring the flag back to Top, but,as I get there, the harness to help support the thing, was strapped on me, I knew what that meant, I had to run 7 miles with about a 50 pound flag! Whats worse, is that it meant I was running in front of the entire brigade!
The next day, the “Fat Platoon” was given 6 weeks to train as we pleased, then those that had not passed the previous PT test were to take it over, everyone passed! Then came the weigh in, guess what, each one of us had gained weight! Now I am guessing, but I would say that the average for the group, we had lost at least 3-5 inches in the waist, some were a lot more, some were less, but, everyone was in better shape.
After all of this, those of us that were the “over weight” group, had to get a fat test, if we passed great, but, if we failed, we would be barred from re-enlistment, awards, or anything positive, then, would be given another 2 months to lose the rest of the “weight” or get kicked out of the Army, NO ONE FAILED! All of us had room to spare, we were over weight, but not over fat!
By using weight training, we had all gotten stronger, this had made it easier for us to run, do push-ups, and the fat loss had made sit-ups a breeze, so, get in the gym, push some iron, ignore the scale, and get fit!
What can MyFitVet do for you?
What do you want this site to do for you?
First and foremost, we can bring like-minded veterans together, for a common cause, getting in better shape, and staying that way. Together, we can share our experiences, our stories, the good, the bad, and the ugly, which can possibly help another veteran learn something from another.
By sharing, we can motivate each other, we can help each other get past those sticking points and plateaus in our training. It does not matter what you are doing to get in shape, from a five-minute walk, to a 500 pound bench press, it all involves training, and not just physical, but mental as well. It doesn’t matter how long you have tried or how many times you have failed, you can achieve your goals, one step at a time, one rep at a time, one less bite at a time.