Workouts

Workouts

I've recently made an effort to get back into regular workouts and, hopefully, regular old good shape. I feel like I've gone all over the place on the fitness map, and it's maybe worth setting down.

I was a fat little kid. I'm talking fat as in "if you pushed me, I might have rolled," fat. So, yeah, chubby. My culinary world was sort of a reflection of the third, poverty stricken world. Easymac was pretty much my favorite meal. Of course I got teased a little about when I was a little kid, but I was still a strong fat kid. Soon the bullying games on the playground at morning recess became a two way street, me and the older kids exchanging hurtful remarks as well as hurtings.

When I was ten, I moved to a new place and had a whole new life. City, apartment, school, classmates, friends, teachers, distractions, desires, and sports-- everything was new, especially the basketball. I ended up running a lot just by playing basketball, and I had a more athletic diet to suit my now growing and active body-- steak, steak, and then steak with pasta and fruits and vegetables. No joke, I was steak crazy.

I started doing some other sport stuff in the off seasons. I tried my feet at cross country, and I never turned out very good at lots of long distance running (note concerning fitness doubts this raises regarding the military: I can do standard military distances without too much trouble) unless it came to hills.

I tried out Judo, and it was a whole new ballgame. I was always a little slower, but stronger, than most of my peers. Okay, mostly way slower. So I played forward on the basketball team instead of guard, because I might not have been fast or even tall, but I could box out with the best of them. The sport philosophy behind judo seemed like an instant fit to me. It was a mindset, a practice, through which one attempted to better themselves. I dug that. It was also a sport that my body took naturally to. Individual combat styles don't require straight speed, size, and strength in the same way that traditional ball games do, and my body seemed like a fairly appropriate type, with decent build and lower center of gravity.

I loved Judo, and when I went to highschool in yet another new place, I followed it with wrestling. Since I went to highschool in the US, that means I did american folkstyle wrestling, with the aim of pinning your opponents back to the mat. Loved it. Got me into the best shape ever. Informed my very definition of fitness, strength, endurance, focus, and the possible.

When I got more serious about my wrestling, I tried pumping iron and running on my own for the off seasons. I ran and lifted every day, doing a 3-5 mile run and a big circuit training lift immediately afterwards. Gyms can be mystical places where through pushing yourself beyond physical discomfort and focusing only on one movement at a time can initiate a mental decompress. Most physical activity will do this, but the solitary and indoor nature of gyms is very conducive to an almost meditative set of mind, yeilding the sorts of benefits one can also take away from breathing exercises. In fact, one can lift using yoga breathing techniques. I made a ton of progress in moving the weights up, and I maintained most of my strength until the next season. However, I just described a fictitious, perfect gym. Most gyms are plagued by little things that sort of preclude me from making the gym my main center of athletic activity.

One of these problems is that as strong as iron can get you, it's really not functional fitness that one could use in a wrestling match (the ultimate test, in my opinon). You get great strength in certain muscle groups, which helps, but the smaller stabilizing muscles are what allow you to combine power and strength with precision, and avoid injury. Also, the strength you get from lifting is really specific, and if you lift for high weight (power), or more medium weights (strength), like most everybody does, you miss out on the muscle endurance that a more dynamic and functional exercise, like wrestling. But these are specific complaints about the fitness benefits of lifting based on my perspective and fitness goals.

And, how can I not mention the even more tiresome aspects of the gym? Bad music being pumped in does not pump me up. If somebody wants to pump iron to some heavy metal or traipse on the elliptical to Enyah for half an hour, that's cool. But why shouldn't they use headphones? What if I like to hear myself breathe instead of the umps of some fucking techno music that got piped in? What if, god forbid, I think you're music sucks (I'm talking to you, you contemporary popular crowd) And if it's not that, then it's the douchebags who sit in front of the mirror, taking up free weights and bench space, just so they can work their biceps (useless) for three hours. Seriously, fraternities need to re evaluate their lifting regimens. In any event, those are valid drawbacks of gym-based workouts, and the list continues until finally I just give up and say that one drawback of the gym is that it's a huge fucking hassle sometimes that makes me sympathetic towards those who suffer from roid rage and just finally snap. So much for the breathing exercises.

I've since branched into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, since the wrestling club at my college wasn't really as laid back about the tournament attendance as I was, and I didn't like their fees. I also took a page from an old holiday workout challenge that my wrestling coach gave me once. Essentially, the object was to accumulate the most points over the winter holidays to win a prize. You earned points by doing something physical-- One set of a calesthenic exercise, one set of weights in the gym, three minutes spent sparring, one mile run, etc. There were point multipliers and bonuses for extra big workouts, or getting to a wrestling practice. I figured that since I didn't have weights or a wrestling room at home, I'd do a ton of calesthenics and use the point multipliers to get the bonuses. I did workouts everyday, nonstop, circuit style. At the end of three weeks I was ten muscled pounds heavier, stronger, and breathing much better at the end of a match. That's when I realized: body weight exercises and home workouts are the best option for building and maintaining functional strength and overall fitness. Disagree if you'd like, it's just my personal fitness philosophy. Keep the results, lose nearly all the hassle. Get those breathing exercises back in.

I've been too much of a couch potato recently between being down and out and homeless, and here's how I'm going to get back out of it. Regular meals, stretching, calesthenics, and participation in a martial arts class (BJJ). Just back into decency, instead of wheezing around like an alcoholic who's bounced off the bottom a few times. So far, so good, but my problem has always been long term consistency (TWSS?). I haven't checked my weight super recently, but I'd guess it at 176lbs as a starting point. Updates to follow when I look good naked.