I was at the gym yesterday, just like any other day. I was doing some squatting and I between sets I just sorta hang out at the squat rack, scanning the gym. I’ll glance at whatever game is on TV, then I take a quick look at the clock to see how much rest I have left, then I scan all of the other people in the gym. I can’t help it, I’m always observing everyone else. I guess this is a normal human reaction…perhaps I’m a bit more judgmental than others. But I like to think that I don’t ‘judge’ as much as I ‘label’.

In any event, on this particular day I found that my observant eye kept coming back to a particular girl in our gym. She is a rather muscular girl, too muscular, as in drug  induced muscle. Now I’ve seen this person 100 times before and she’s a perfectly nice girl but for some reason today her presence seemed to stick out.

At what point does it become too much?

What I noticed was that she seemed to be training harder than everyone else, I noticed the expression on her face during each rep of each set…and the expression wasn’t want I expected. It wasn’t an inspiring look, I wouldn’t describe it as determination, or an expression of serious focus or effort…it almost looked…desperate.

Then I started looking at her overall presence and actions, and I couldn’t help but perceive her as a totally desperate person (again this is my own perception).

I’m not sure why I felt this way, but I think it had something to do with the fact that she is clearly using steroids and has long since past any feminine or even fitness model level shape, she now looks much more like a man than a woman. Her determination and exhausting effort to build muscle seemed like a vain attempt to change or fix some other issue in her life.

It actually made me want to leave the gym because for a moment I wondered if I also looked so desperate, and as I type this I realize why it bothered me so much.

It reminds me of my former steroid days when I must have looked equally desperate. I was over 250lbs lifting as much weight as I could and never satisfied, always wanting to lift more and be bigger…nothing was ever enough. And now I look at this girl doing the same thing…and I wonder, when will she figure it out? When will she realize she is already too big, and already past what looks good, or what is healthy? When will it ever be enough for her?

Some people may look at her as a beacon of drive and determination and an example of dedication and discipline, but all I see is a desperate person who will never be satisfied with their body.

I guess the moral of the story is that working out can become an unhealthy obsession if you find your way into one of it’s bizarre subcultures.

I’m not suggesting that this happens to all people who compete, or take bodybuilding or powerlifting seriously…BUT it can if you  let it.

As with anything, there is a sweet spot that is just right, and then there is a level that simply becomes too much that ceases to be healthy.

At some point you have to be honest with yourself to know if you’ve crossed the line from healthy exercise habits to an obsessive compulsion.

Knowing where to draw the line and creating a healthy balance is one of the keys to adopting exercise and weight training as part of a lifelong strategy for health and well being. The point is you must always be in control if it, and not let it control you.

John

Over the past two weeks I have moved from my former dwelling to a new one, in between the two places I went on a 4 day excursion to watch the opening college football game in Syracuse and visit with a good friend of mine. When I got back into town my new place still needed to be furnished and outfitted with just about everything from the ground up.

The point is that I spent almost 2 weeks without being able to cook a meal at home. I spent the entire time eating out and on the road. This isn’t how I would recommend anyone to go about eating but when it has to happen then it just happens.

This is about what my diet and workout routine has felt like the past two weeks

The interesting thing I noticed was how short of a time it takes to develop a habit or routine. When I finally got my new place set up I found it odd and almost as if I was an imposter when I finally cooked a meal at home. I even found the first trip to the grocery store to stock the new place with food to be a unfamiliar event. Even though I’ve been to that store 100 times before and I bought most of the same stuff, it just felt like it was a totally new thing. I almost felt as if it wasn’t my place to be buying groceries because I hadn’t done it for almost two weeks.

This experience just reminded me how quickly habits and routines can be formed. In just two weeks I completely lost touch with what it felt like to shop for and cook my own food.

The same thing goes for working out. It’s fine to take a few days off, and 2-3 times per year I advocate that you take a full week off and let your body recover/recharge/rest. But if you don’t plan for it, and you’re not paying attention to it, a few days off can easily turn into a few weeks off and before you know it a month will go by without working out.

We’re all creatures of habit, your daily diet routine and your workouts are both just habits. Once you get into a groove with each of them it becomes much easier to stick to a plan. But as soon as something shakes you out of your routine you’ve got to work to get it back into the groove that you had before.

It’s kinda like the messy room entropy theory. If you don’t constantly clean a room it will invariably become untidy and messy until it’s a total train wreck. The same sort of thing will happen with your diet, workouts (or lack thereof) and your body…if you don’t constantly work out, and pay attention to your diet your body will also become a train wreck.

John

I’ve been interviewing some fitness and figure competitors as well as some bodybuilders and people who coach these types of competitors for their shows. After speaking with many of these people I’ve started to realize that there is a fundamental disconnect between the idea of ‘fat loss’, ‘muscle building’, and obtaining a particular look.

For people with 20% or more bodyfat, the main issue is simply fat loss. until you’re sub 10% none of the advanced bodybuilding nutrition techniques are going to make any difference.

At this condition the type of foods and when he ate them will make a difference on how Arnolds Abs looked.

Once you start reaching the single digit bodyfat levels things start to change. This is when the types of food you eat, when you eat and how you train can change the look of your body on a moment to moment basis.

Let me repeat, unless you’re in single digit bodyfat %  none of this will matter.

And this is the problem most people have when they’re ‘researching’ how to get in shape. Most people hear about what bodybuilders and fitness competitors are doing but don’t realize most of the advanced techniques are only put in use and of benefit for people who are already leaner than most of the population would ever hope to be.

For the vast majority of people, getting down to 10-12% bodyfat (for men) and below 20% for women is going to be attainable with a rather simple plan of eating less total calories (no matter what they are and when you choose to eat them).

This will get you in better shape than 95% of the population. Taking it to the next level and stepping on stage is where the more advanced techniques start to matter.

The take home message is to first be honest with where you currently are. This will determine where to best place your effort and focus.

John

Working out without a defined plan or goal is a little like running a race without knowing where the finish line is. You could be putting in lots of effort, enough effort to actually win the race, but if you’re not heading in the right direction you’ll never see the true benefit of your effort.

Gotta set clear goals to get where you want to go

This is why a specific goal is the most important step to take before you start a workout program.

A lesson can be learned from high performance athletes here. They do very specific workouts in order to maximize their performance in a very specific event. Sprinters do everything they can to sprint faster. High jumpers just want to jump higher, speed skaters want to be faster speed skaters. Powerlifters focus all their energy on getting better at 3 specific lifts (bench press, squat, deadlift). Olympic style weight lifters focus on the two olympic lifts (clean & jerk, and the snatch).

All of these examples are performance based, they have nothing to do with building a specific ‘look’ of their body. Bodybuilders, figure and fitness models all train for a specific look, shape, and leanness to their body.

The difference between training for a look vs a performance outcome is the specific workout routine you follow, how far you take it and what you want your body to look like at the end of the day. If you expect to be a world class speed skater or swimmer you’re body will take on the distinct look of these styles of athletes (based on the training that is required to get there). Same thing goes for every other performance based training goal.

If you want to look like a figure or fitness model then your training should be aimed at building that specific look.

Cross training and borrowing workouts from all different styles is fine for overall fitness/health. But if you have a specific body shape/look goal in mind the more specific you are with your workouts the faster you will get to your goal.

Being clear about your goal at the beginning is the first and  most critical step to achieving that goal.

John

In a recent interview with one of the Venus Index contest winners a very interesting point came up. It was the concept of being “ready to change”.

Is it finally time to change?

We all know that everyone is physically capable of changing, losing fat, gaining muscle and improving the overall look, shape and health of their body. But the physical aspect isn’t the rate limiting step, in almost all cases it’s the mental aspect.

In other words, are you mentally ready to change? Do you have the spark, the desire, the drive to put in the necessary effort to actually follow through and make it real.

This is where most people fall short and give up hope.

Not being ready to change doesn’t mean you’ll never be ready, it just means your not ready at that moment. Some people try and fail multiple times before it finally sticks. But when it finally works and you make it to your goal, you will then realize that you were never broken, but rather you just weren’t ready to commit to yourself yet.

Most of the diet and fitness media prey on this lack of self confidence and inability to get into a mental and emotional state to make a real change happen…they tell you stories of how your metabolism is broken and how you  just need to eat a certain food, or take a certain supplement, or do a special exercise and then it’ll all magically fall into place. They constantly distract you from the real stumbling block (mental and emotional readiness to take action) and tell you it’s some metabolic or nutritional trick…

What a load of BS!

Years of being out of shape takes a toll on your mind and emotions and your belief that you’re capable of making a change. Your mind starts to fill in reasons why you’ve been unsuccessful and you start to imagine that maybe you are the one unlucky person who can’t do it (and the diet and fitness media ride this way of self doubt and make it worse).

But I can assure you there is nothing wrong with you, you’re body is perfectly capable of shedding fat, developing muscle and being as fit and healthy as you want it to be…but it only happens when you’re finally ready and in the right frame of mind to make a change.

John