Fitness Tips You Don’t See On Screen
Does any of what is going on here actually apply to us? Do ordinary folks like you and me just trying to lose some fat and get a bit of muscle definition have anything to learn here? Does being fit require you to be locked away in some high-tech lab or on a snowy farm? I think not. What Rocky and Ivan Drago are doing here actually works to build muscle, no denying that. Even the steroids work. Ivan Drago, the evil Russian is of course shown getting injected, but apparently it turns out that at least Sly was on them for real. However, these are athletes (in actuality movie actors of course) training full out to push their bodies to the limits.
Does this sound like our goal, which is to be trim and fit for life? I don’t think so, anymore than I think we should drink raw eggs like the stereotypical movie bodybuilder. We are just going in a different direction from these people. The truth is that the things providing 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. Diminishing returns is a law of nature, so our first concern is to make sure we are doing at least the things that make the biggest difference. And seriously, how much time do you have in your busy life to work on fitness anyway?
The one thing that will make the biggest difference is nutrition. In the scale of importance for actions you can take, Alwyn Cosgrove says that #1 is nutrition. #2 also happens to be nutrition, it’s just that important. Any type of exercise is third priority. Many trainers give lip service to nutrition, but then they skip right past it to talk about their favorite new exercise of the week.
So why does the needed attention not get paid to food beyond saying “eat less” and similar platitudes? Difficult athletic displays are always interesting to watch. So I think the simple answer is that eating isn’t exciting and photogenic like the Rocky training montage. Thrill as Rocky eats doughnuts only one day a week instead of seven! Marvel as Ivan Drago does not eat fries with his cheeseburger! Just don’t have a great ring to them, do they? These training scenes make us want to watch specifically because they are difficult and out of the ordinary, but by that very nature they promote the idea that fitness is difficult and out of the ordinary instead of composed of simple ordinary actions.
Given that it is so important, and that unlike exercise you probably do it three times a day, what should you eat? There are reams of evidence behind the prescription to lower your intake of carbohydrates until you are achieving the fat loss you desire. Particularly you should decrease anything containing sugar first then move on to bread and potatoes. I never considered myself particularly overweight, but I have lost more than 20 pounds so far by doing this, and it still seems incredible to me. Michael has already lost over 60 pounds and is still going. Step one is to reduce the fat on your body, only then can your muscles shine through.
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It is difficult to express how inexplicable the needless droning in your post actually is.
Rocky IV will be twenty-five years old in a matter of months. It has been popular for a while for a reason: people find it motivational (something that should at least give you pause yet instead we get the feeble rejoinder above).
Movies and television are not accurate reflections of reality. If you make meaningful life decision based on movies you watch, then you get what you deserve.
Life is difficult, and so is obtaining actual fitness. It doesn’t matter how good your nutrition is unless you are consistent and consistently improving.
Essentially, you’re telling people to be average, and that’s ok because the world needs sheep to populate the bell curve.
You should probably also mention to people that the high-tech training and steroids endemic to Soviet sports science remain a needless waste of time if they truly interested in being “fit”.
Luke,
These days, just being in shape puts a person well above average. Yes, you get what you deserve if you expect movie reality to become your reality, but the fact is that most people who don’t know what fitness entails will watch a movie like Rocky IV or 300, get inspired, and then give up and never try again when they see just how hard it is to get a godlike body. The media, jam-packed with its sexy bodies, affects us all on a subconscious level to some degree, making us want physiques that we would have to sacrifice our current lifestyles to obtain.
The truth is, fitness is as easy and fun as playing like you used to when you were a little kid, and nutrition is as easy as not eating any processed food.