The correct definition of fitness is “the condition of being physically fit and healthy” I’m telling this so that you know what to aim for. And the opposite of being physically fit is being frail, weak and unhealthy. I know which one sounds better to me. Do you?
A Good Level Of Fitness Is Essential For Your Fundamental Existence
Your body is the one place in which you experience the whole world. Think of it like this. How many people do you know that spend all their money on a fancy house or car or even both(not to say that there’s anything wrong with this because obviously there’s not). But fail to look after the one place in which they connect with the whole world. And neglect their body and their health.
A Good Level Of Health And Fitness Improves Your Life Dramatically
Think back to that time when you first sat in a nice car or went somewhere that you completely adored. Imagine this being your primary reality in the health and fitness sphere. Imagine being happy, comfortable and healthy in your own skin.This can indefinitely be your reality. It just takes some hard work and doing the most important things right most of the time. Like tracking your calorie intake, and engaging in some resistance training and cardio. It doesn’t have to be hard.
How A Healthy Disease Free Body Can Improve All Areas Of Your Life
Literally everything becomes easier If your health and fitness is in good order. Whatever job you do a good level of fitness and health can help with:
- Brain fog and improve mental clarity.
- You will be less stressed especially when engaged in heavy resistance training or taking a calming walk In nature(history tells us that humans are meant to move)
- Atrophy ( which means loss of muscle) or the correct term which is sarcopenia which means that you tend to lose 3-5% of muscle for every decade after the age of 30. Resistance training throughout life and into the 60’s and beyond can basically bring this loss of muscle mass to a halt.
- It can improve your confidence and self efficacy. this basically means you are more likely to believe in yourself and what you do.
- A better quality of life.
- A fantastic example for your kids
- A longer life
So How Do I Develop A Good Level Of Fitness?
Stay Hydrated
This is one of the many things that gets overlooked when getting into better shape a good rule of thumb is to get 2-3 litres of water for a woman and 3-4 litres of water for a man. From my own observations and research. If you have more water you will have much more energy compared to if you were dehydrated.
regarding the type of water you should be drinking I like the zero water filter for filtering my water.
Consuming Enough Calories
Depending on your goals this could vary. Look to my weight loss article for more on this.
If you’re looking to build muscle and strength just find out your calories and then add 10% of your intake on to put you in a calorie surplus. Use the Katch McArdle formula for this.https://henrypagetcom.wordpress.com/2020/02/29/how-to-lose-weight-easily/
Push, Pull, And Squat
To get fit you need to learn how to push pull and squat a few hundred pounds. For natural weightlifters a good standard to shoot for across the duration of your training journey would be a 300 pound bench press, 400 pound squat and 500 pound deadlift. If you can hit these numbers you will have an incredibly strong and healthy physique. Assuming that you’re at a healthy body fat of 10-20% Depending on your genetic endowment this could take a few years. 3-5 years maximum.
If you’re unsure on how to perform these exercises the book starting strength is an invaluable resource to help you the link is below.
Fitness And Health Isn’t Just In The Body It’s In The Mind
What I’ve mentioned so far is with respect to getting physically stronger and fitter. But I believe that developing health and fitness in the mind so to speak is one of the more important factors of developing all-round health and fitness.
Resistance
When striving for a better body and life it can be hard. No matter what negative thought patterns you obsess about like not going to the gym, eating lots of unhealthy processed foods. Giving up. This is resistance taking over. It’s up to you to recognise these destructive thought patterns accept that they are there and go to the gym anyway. But you don’t have to identify with them. You can choose if you want those thoughts or not.
For example, you get home from a hard day at work and you’re tired. You turn the on the tv when you know you should be going to the gym. In your head, you just know you should go. Yet part of you feels resentful for sitting there in front of the tv. As Steven Pressfield refers to this in his book “the war of art” as resistance which is between your life now and the life you’re striving for. Deep down a part of you desires a fit and healthy body the other part of you is the life you’re living now and between the two lives stands resistance. This is why it’s extremely important to recognise this resistance and disregard it and do the right thing anyway. Which is almost always the harder thing to do. Go to the gym.
The Magic Of Habit
Getting into the routine of strength training and eating healthy isn’t hard. Just set yourself a small goal. For example this week I’m going to strength train 3x a week. Focus on that one week. Once you achieve it you would have come to the realisation that you actually can do this because you just have.
Over time your results improve exponentially. At the beginning it will only seem like small gains every week but overtime your strength and fitness will improve exponentially. Below is a graph to show you what I mean.
After a few years you will be fitter and stronger than most people will be in their entire lives.
You just need to stick at it and trust the process. As the Chinese proverb says “a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”.
Recovery And Sleep
To actualise your true potential of becoming healthy and fit you need to be getting enough sleep. This may seem like common sense but it can’t be repeated enough. If you don’t get enough sleep. Then your body won’t recover efficently. In Mark rippetoes book practical programming for strength he talks about the stress adaptation response model. This basically means that you lift weights (stress) then you recover (adaptation) then you go to the gym and can lift more weight (response). But to get yourself to adapt and get stronger your body needs to recover. 8 hours of sleep should be adequate.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System
To allow yourself to reduce cortisol levels and adapt to stress more easily you can do a few things such as:
- Meditate
- Read a book
- Yoga
- Watch a movie
- Going for a walk
These are all ways to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. This will allow you to recover better. Reduce cortisol levels ( which is the stress hormone) And give your body the chance to recover better and improve your fitness level.
Conclusion
- Fitness matters dramatically to your wellbeing. As the old saying goes “if you don’t use it you lose it”.
- Engage in resistance training 3-5 times a week.
- Stay hydrated.
- Look after your mental health. Read books meditate go for a walk to reduce levels of stress.
- Recover adequately 8 hours of sleep is adequate. And stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system
- Do cardio a couple hours per week (or less) is normally all that’s needed but you can stay fit just emphasising resistance training and doing the other things I talk about in this article. As I’ve mentioned before you don’t have to do cardio to be fit.
If you have anymore topics you want me to write about don’t hesitate to comment below. Thanks for reading.
Henrypaget.com 
Leave a Reply