Your fitness phase
I started working out when I was about 17 years old and have been doing some form of structured workout since then (I’m currently 36 so that’s about 19 years of workouts).
If you get too far into the powerlifting culture this body shape can become the goal
In that time I’ve gone through my functional training phase, my powerlifting phase, my bodybuilding phase (drugs and all), my olympic lifting phase, and some form of what is now called crossfit (back then it was just called cross training, but now it’s got a cult associated with it)
One thing that was never in question was that I was going to do some sort of working out no matter what it was. What kept changing was my local and short term focus…my long term focus was always to improve/maintain the look and shape (and to some degree cardiovascular condition) of my body.
In general I think many people who workout go through similar phases where they explore each style of training and the different social groups they lead you into. No doubt that things like bodybuilding, powerlifting, running (and now ‘crossfitting’) are lifestyles/cultures and not just a style of exercise.
But in the end everyone wants to look better, and some of these training styles don’t necessarily lend to an improvement in the look or shape of your body as much as they just lead you into a social group that may or may not value the same things as you do about improving your body…and at some level that includes the way your body looks.
There seems to be value in adopting some sort of structure to workout in if that is what you need to keep you motivated to workout, but the issue arises when you get side tracked from your original goal and in some cases end up going the opposite direction.
Nobody would workout if it made them look worse (even if it improved some other measure of health).
Powerlifters are a good example of people who become purists about the workout itself and forget why they started working out in the first place…and in most cases it was to improve the look and shape of their body.
I think this is a simple example of goal hijacking that is adopted by people who are not getting the results they want from their workout. Namely their body is not looking like the lean chiseled muscular physique they were hoping for, so they turn their focus to a strength goal, or an endurance goal, or some other performance metric that doesn’t require a look, and frankly doesn’t require as much effort (specifically on the diet side).
Working out is only one part of the equation that is required for getting into shape. The other part is diet…but effective dieting is much harder than effective training. Lots of people can get strong, not very many people ever really get in great shape.
Finding ways to stay motivated to workout is a great idea and if that means setting some other performance goal like strength or endurance or a distance run then go for it. Just be clear what you real goal is and if the look and shape of your body is still headed in the direction you want it to.
John
16 Responses to “Your fitness phase”
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March 14th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
You are right, most people do not admit that they work out to get more attractive body. IT’s a pitty they would be able to progress more, if they did.
Anyway, I got a question for you. Do you think that taking steroids in the past affected the way you look today? do you think you would look differently (Less muscle mass, differnt shape)?
I know that once you stop taking it, the extra muscles mass somehow “vanish”, but still there is no long term difference?
March 14th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
It’s a great question and impossible to test (unless I could go back in time)
There may be a lasting effect, but I find it hard to believe that doing steroids 12 years ago would affect my look today…if that were the case then I would tell everyone to just do a few cycles when they’re young and they could reap the benefit decades later…it kinda seems too good to be true.
March 14th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
”There may be a lasting effect, but I find it hard to believe that doing steroids 12 years ago would affect my look today”
What about muscle memory?
March 14th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
good post john . on another note would you say that the adonis training also increases athletic performance like jumping and running capacity ?
compared to your powerlifting days how do your one rep max at your current weight stack up to your previous best lifts in the big three ?
March 14th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Tswede, I never do max’s anymore so I can’t compare. As far as athletic performance is concerned: It’s a specific outcome. So if you want to jump higher you gotta train for it, if you want a bigger bench or to run faster you gotta train for it specifically. So I’d imagine that our program doesn’t hurt these outcomes, but I doubt that it makes them specifically better either.
March 14th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
well lets say you play a pickup game of basketball or some flag fotball having a perfect AI couldn hurt your performance i mean this program is leaps and bounds better than the regular chest and curl program that alot of guys are doing at the gyms worldwide !
March 15th, 2011 at 12:05 am
not to hijack this topic but quick question John. I keep hearing that once you get down to pretty good levels of body fat that eating less doesnt work, and you have to manipulate your hormones, is this BS?
March 15th, 2011 at 8:58 am
Darren,
It might not necessarily be a hormone manipulation per se (as this is difficult to do without drugs)…but rather accepting that results will come slower and more work in the gym might likely be needed.
March 15th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
John thanks for your straight forward and very effective approach! please i need your opinion on the fast 5 approach to calorie reduction, i know that ultimately any method that allows you to eat less and not gorge on food all day long will be effective, just wanted to have your view on this, maybe as an accompanying method to EatstopEat, thanks
March 15th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Fast 5 works fine, I know a few people who have adopted a version of it as their regular eating pattern during the weekdays and then they loosen up a bit on weekends.
March 16th, 2011 at 5:44 am
Great! John thanks
March 17th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Hey John,
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but if someone were to get only 3 hours of sleep per night for 3-4 nights in a row, would that stall fat loss even though they’re still eating in a deficit?
THanks
March 18th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I can’t see why that would affect fat burning.
March 22nd, 2011 at 6:09 am
Hi there John!
Great post and exellent tips on staying focus to get into shape. The picture you put up reminds me of a few “gym friends” I had years ago. It is so true that people can easily lose the objective they once had for themselves.
Whether it was getting into great shape but ended up as a powerhouse that can lift a car, or someone losing weight but never actually achieved their ideal weight is a very sad thing for me!
As you said, effective dieting is more difficult than the actual workout routine. I know from experience that when I worked out before (The days where I would go strong for 2 months and feel great but never reach the ultimate goal) I thought I could eat anything I want. I learned the hard way and quickly understood that a diet is not a temporary thing! It is a daily routine of eating the way you should.
Thank you for sharing this and I truly enjoy your blog and articles.
Michael
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