Tagged: crossfit
Another WTF Fitness Industry Moment
It’s not often I post twice in a week, but I just read something on my Facebook that was both sad and alarming at the same time. In a nutshell, one of my acquaintances who is training for a fitness competition posted that after her leg workout, she got the shakes and threw up – for the second time.
This wasn’t the most alarming thing. Throwing up after a workout is just stupid, unhealthy and totally unnecessary, and anyone should know that. It should also be a sign to you that something might be seriously wrong, and posting it on Facebook in order to seem hardcore is bad enough. Let’s not also mention that you already did it once, and then chose to do it again. What was even more alarming were the comments, likes and things that people were saying to actually ENCOURAGE this behaviour and make the original poster feel GOOD ABOUT IT.
“Very proud of you.” ?????
“That’s awesome! I want to do that workout!” ?????
“Inspirational!” ?????
Are you fucking kidding me?
Let’s step back and take a reality check here for a second. If this person pukes, it’s really cool? This is a good thing? Vomiting is basically your body telling you that it is so overloaded that it needs to vent anything else it is doing in order to make you lie down. It is telling you that it can’t take care of a simple process like digestion because you have totally destroyed it. This is an incredible stress on your digestive and nervous system. You can also die from it, or it might result in a trip to the hospital. People vomit when they are having concussions, brain aneurysms and have ingested toxins. However, you can also vomit from intense pain or emotional stress. Any way you cut it, this is not something to be celebrated.
At least the coach posted that the volume was obviously too much and that it was counter productive, but then proceeded to “like” the girl replying that she felt like a champion. After vomiting. Good job, champ. Maybe if you do it enough you’ll get a shiny medal or a piece of paper that says you’re a “pro”.
The reason I’m writing this is because this is one of the serious problems with the fitness world as a whole. Competitors use diets, drugs and whatever method they can to get into the condition they want to be in without any regard to what it is likely to do to them down the road. Being a fitness competitor or bodybuilder isn’t healthy in the slightest, but for some reason society pictures ripped abs and big biceps and aspires to be that way, not realizing that 90% of these people are sick, feel terrible and have massive health issues before long most of the time. And I’m not even touching the mental issue side of the industry. Want to find people with eating disorders and massive body image problems (both men and women)? Look no further than your local gym or Instagram fitness profile. This weekend is the Arnold Classic, where guys (and many girls) who have done amounts of steroids you can’t even imagine are celebrated with acclaim by millions of fans. Supplement companies all vying to be the next big money maker packing booths with people wanting the promise that if you just take this, you can look like (or date) the girl handing it to you! I promise! Just don’t read the ingredients because it might amaze you what people ingest these days in the hopes of looking “fit and healthy”. Looking it is about all that’s going on, unfortunately because if you looked inside these people, there isn’t an ounce of health there.
You can look great, perform at a high level and have a good quality of life without resorting to these things, but once you’re part of the club then look out. If you don’t push yourself that hard then you aren’t hardcore enough to be a champion! Blood, sweat and iron! Whatever it takes! Sacrifice your health and well being and you can have your picture taken by a photographer (that you paid) and photoshopped and then market yourself as a fitness expert because you look good with an airbrush.
And people believe it. And they wonder why when they turn 40 they can’t move their joints, have long term health issues or have to be on piles of medication. But hey, look at those pictures from 10 years ago, right? Remember that show I did? Remember when I used to be able to make myself puke? That was awesome.
The ironic thing is that under the circumstances of this particular person’s life she should be one of the last people to ever push herself that hard, knowing what could possibly happen. But for some reason beating herself into the ground with weights and intensity to the point of collapse and vomiting makes her feel good about herself.
And maybe that’s what we should really be talking about in the first place.
Join My 30 Day Challenge!
After reading about the latest company promoting a 24 day challenge that guarantees amazing results and can totally change your life, I realized that I have been really missing the boat. Obviously if you can create a program that causes people to feel better, lose weight and inches quickly and also make money at the same time it’s going to be a huge success. Therefore I decided to put together my own 30 Day challenge to provide people with an amazing new revolutionary way to do all of these things. I don’t know if I should just release this to the general public, but since I am typically a generous soul I decided to share my amazing new secrets with the public and give them the help that they need in order to be fitter, healthier and happier. Are you ready for this? It only takes 30 days and you will be a totally new person!
Okay, Step One:
Go into your cupboards and fridge and throw out everything that is packaged, didn’t at one point have eyes or wasn’t grown or made from something from the ground. You may find that your cupboards and fridge have suddenly gotten really empty. This is a tough challenge, but you don’t have to spend two hundred dollars a month or sign up for auto ship – just throw it out once, which is basically the same thing. So that leads us to Step Two:
Go to the grocery store. See those different coloured things called vegetables to your right as you walk in? Buy lots of them. So many that you can’t even see the bottom of your cart. And lots of different colours too. Then go to the butcher section and buy a bunch of that stuff too. Watch the butcher actually cut it up in front of you. Buy some white stuff, some pink stuff and some more white stuff. If it had a beak or gills at one point it’s a bonus. Then, go to the checkout aisle without going anywhere else. Can you do it? Can you make your cart turn left before the cookie aisle? I know it’s tough, but you wouldn’t have signed up unless you were totally committed and amazing, right?
Oh, and you have to do this more than once a week. So if you don’t have time then watch less TV or don’t post on Instagram for an hour and go back to the grocery store. You might actually have to go twice or three times in a single week. That’s why I said this was a challenge.
Step Three: Cook stuff. Don’t cook it in a microwave; don’t pull it out of a box and plastic wrap. Put it in an oven. Or slow cooker. Or barbeque. Or steamer. Leave it there for a bit of time. Or don’t cook it and eat it raw (not the butcher stuff though). Oh, you don’t have to do this every day – if you are smart about it and cook three days’ worth at once. I promise it won’t kill you. Put it in that cold thing in the kitchen that is designed to store things and keep them fresh.
Step Four: Eat the food. Eat a bit of animal stuff and a lot of vegetable stuff. For every meal, even breakfast. I know – your body might explode if you don’t have cereal or toast for breakfast, but I want you to take that risk because you’re hardcore and fully committed. Oh, and if you don’t eat breakfast now, eat it anyway. I know it makes you feel sick to actually eat before noon, but push yourself! You’re awesome! Oh, and you have to take stuff to work too. It might make your bag really, really heavy but that’s all part of the challenge!
Step Four: Don’t drink anything that isn’t water or coffee or tea coloured. And no, that doesn’t mean water coloured paints or Coke or whiskey because it’s brown. There are rules here. Drink until you have to pee. And it’s not a dark colour. Keep drinking until you’re peeing a lot. See, even your bladder is getting into the challenge!
Step Five: Exercise. Put on those things with soles that sit by your front door and go outside. If it’s -25, go to the mall. Walk there. Hell, walk up and down your stairs. Set a timer for 30 minutes and just keep doing stuff that involves movement until it beeps. I know, I know, it’s another 30 minutes you could be pretending to do work at your desk. But this challenge is meant to separate the committed from the uncommitted. I know you’re committed! I know you can do it!
If you have a gym membership, actually walk into the door. Once you’re there, pick some stuff up and put it down. Then do it again until you’re tired. You can use the black things, the long skinny things and even the really complicated looking big pieces of stuff.
Okay, so we’re at the end of Day 1. Having fun yet? Okay, now your challenge is to do this. Every. Single. Day. For 30 days. I know it sounds totally incredible that regular people like you can actually do this. At the end of it, you won’t believe your eyes! Then you can help me sign up more people for this amazing program.
Does it sound simple? Does it sound ridiculous? Does it sound like anybody can do it? Not just anyone can do this, it takes a special breed of person, but I know that you are definitely that person. That’s why I’m sharing this amazing new program with you, and only you. Feel free to PayPal me $50 to paradigmfitnessottawa@gmail.com if you want to sign up and learn more about this amazing offer!
#yesthisissarcasm
The Biggest Loser? So What?
Since its’ inception The Biggest Loser has been a source of controversy, not only in the fitness world but across the internet and blogoverse for the extreme way that they approach weight loss and “health”. Most recently this all came to a head when at the finale the winner revealed a 60% loss of weight, losing 45 pounds in just over a month to win $250,000. The thing everyone freaked out about is that at the finale she looked incredibly skinny and was classified as “dangerously underweight”.
People, let’s have a reality check along with this “reality” show. If someone told me that I’d win $250,000 if I just got on a scale lighter than two other people I wouldn’t give a care as to what I looked like when it happened. I’m quite sure that immediately after that taped the contestant simply rehydrated, carbed back up and gained 15 pounds in a couple of weeks (if not days). In the fitness competition world it is quite common for men and women to drop 8-10 pounds of water in a day. Is it healthy? Of course not. Would I do it to win $250,000? You’re damned right I would. Professional fighters do it before almost every fight. For $250,000 you would be surprised what I would do.
On Season 7 Helen Philips lost 55% of her body weight and 30 pounds between the final episode and finale. She looked really, really unhealthy and her BMI was 18.9. Nobody freaked out. Did I mention that she was 47 years old? At least the contestant who did it this season was a former athlete and in her 20’s. She lost 45 pounds between the final episode and finale. The guy who came in 2nd in this controversial season dropped 57 pounds in the same time frame – nobody mentions that though, because he lost. These people are doing what it takes to win money. Period.
That all under the bridge, this show has never been anything to do with proper health and weight loss. Contestants regularly get injured doing workouts that they have no business doing. It gives a complete false impression of what healthy exercise and eating is (along with lots of product shout outs for marketing dollars). When one of your main sponsors is Subway, which has been proven over and over again to be almost as bad as many other fast food places for health then you really don’t have a leg to stand on. Showing people who are obese getting put through exercise that makes them pass out, throw up and hurt themselves is totally irresponsible, but it gets ratings, right? The “trainers” (and I put Jillian Michaels well into this category as a quotation mark “trainer”) spend barely any time with the contestants beyond shooting the puff pieces used for television. The contestants are contractually obligated to work out for several hours a day and eat mandated amounts of calories. This is about as far from “reality” as you can get, which is also why many of them gain weight back once they leave the show. Surprisingly enough, more often than not the ones who do well and get sponsorships and more promotional deals stay motivated to keep the weight off.
The show is about losing scale weight. For some reason, many people are obsessed with this concept. Athletes don’t generally give any consideration to their weight unless their sport involves weight classes like powerlifting or boxing. They care about what they can do with the body they have and how it performs. In an ideal world, we would all just accept our individual bodies, treat them with respect and focus on what they can do and what we want to do with them, not what a number on a machine says about you. For some sports, like cycling and running if you are lighter it does mean you will be faster, but smart people know that if it means your performance suffers then it isn’t worth it. Let’s focus more on what we can do, not what we look like.
Be healthy. Be strong. Be whatever you want to be without obsessing about a number because the media tells you you’re “too” anything, be it big, small, short or tall. Just get out there and stay active, do it responsibly and respect your body. And please, please don’t take this “reality” show as anything you should aspire to.
What Is Your Bus?
This article was inspired by a little old lady I observed while in my car driving home today. The woman looked to be fairly elderly, walking slowly along the sidewalk holding a large bag. As I drove closer, suddenly she stood up straight, grabbed her bag tight and started to run. Not just run, sprint. I noticed that she saw the bus coming and really, really wanted to catch it rather than waiting for the next one, which is obviously why she made that decision. Suddenly this somewhat frail looking woman could become Usain Bolt just because she suddenly wanted to. She did catch the bus, by the way (good for her).
As a society we typically take the easy way out, unless it is something that we really want. Then we will beat ourselves up, lie, work ourselves into mental illness or neglect other important things simply to get it done. This all comes down to simple priorities and motivation. When was the last time that you missed dinner with your family or an event because you were working late? When was the last time you skipped breakfast in order to get an extra ten minutes of sleep? People tend to confuse “want” as opposed to “have to” more often than they need to. As Tony Robbins would say, if you can change your “shoulds” into “musts” then your brain will literally change the way it thinks about things.
Think about this the next time you tell yourself that you “should go to the gym”. Change the way you say it to “I have to go to the gym”. The intention completely changes. Just like we as trainers manipulate the intention of different exercises, you can literally change the intention of how to spend your day to day activities – without having to drop everything and sprint. Find that reason and everything suddenly becomes easier. I often tell people – what if someone was holding a gun to your head? Would you get it done? What if your children or family were at risk? What would suddenly change that thing from 4th on your priority list to 1st?
In short – what is your bus? What would make you drop everything and sprint, possibly sacrificing injury and losing your bags without a second thought? Is it your job? Your family? Or maybe is there another bus you should be running for – like your health? So often I hear stories from clients and people I know that they wish they had started to take care of themselves sooner, or just stayed consistent with what they were doing before another bus came along that they felt they had to start running for. The thing is, once that bus pulls away and you miss it there might be another one coming, but it won’t take you to the same place. You might have to travel a few extra stops before you get to where you want to go.
I’m obviously an advocate of taking care of your health and well-being first, and then everything else kind of falls into place. This can be as simple as meditation, finding an activity that inspires you or setting a goal that motivates you to get out and do something active. And the next time you think about stopping the momentum, just imagine that you look behind you and that bus is coming down the road. Maybe you won’t have to sprint to get there, but it might help you pick up your pace just a bit.
Therapy and Exercise Refined 