Fitness Lessons from LEGO-land

I think pretty much everyone can agree that LEGOs are awesome!

Doesn’t matter if you are a boy or a girl, an adult or a child; they are one of the greatest toys ever made.

When I was a kid they were fun, but they were nowhere near as cool as they are now. Back in ye olden days they were all primary colored blocks, and you were lucky if you got an angular piece.

Building anything more complicated than a house with a flat roof was difficult at best.

Now though, with enough pieces and a healthy imagination, you can build almost anything.

It’s crazy!

You can get motors, servos, axles, gears, couplers, even freaking robotic computers to control your creations! On top of all that there are even LEGO engineering camps…

(Just look what people build now, I could barely build a castle!)

So what does this have to do with health and fitness you ask?

Well, let me tell you!

You Have to Hunt Down the Right Pieces!

Want a Japanese castle with ninja crawling all over it? There’s a kit.

Need the Delorean time-machine from “Back to the Future”? There’s a kit.

Just have to have a “Star Wars” Super Star Destroyer? There’s a 3152 piece kit.

No matter what you are trying to do with your life, there is a “kit” for you!

• Want to lose weight?
• Want to get ripped and look great into a bathing suit?
• Want to bulk up?
• Want to have the energy to run a half marathon?

You just have to look for the correct pieces.

Just like no two people are the same, no two results are going to be achieved using the same methods!

A person looking to shed some fat is not going to follow the same diet plan as someone looking to add muscle mass to their skinny frame. A power-lifter looking to increase the max weight he can lift is not going to follow the same strength and conditioning program that a gymnast is going to use.

So depending on what you want to build it could be relatively easy to find what you need, or it might be a monumental pain-in-the-ass.

Want to build a LEGO Firetruck? Then a simple set that can be found at any Toy’R’Us will hook you right up.

Have a burning desire to snap the hard-to-find 1230 pieces of the LEGO Shuttle Expedition Set together? Then you are probably surfing Amazon or looking for one to pop up on eBay.

Regardless, with a little vigilance you will be able to secure all the pieces you need to make your LEGO dream a reality!

LEGO fun fact: There are 62 LEGOs for every person on earth!

The same goes for your fitness goals. You might have to spend a little time hunting for the appropriate program or method to help you achieve your goals, but thanks to the Internet and science there is sooooo much knowledge available to us. You just have to do the legwork to find it!

Remember what I said about the LEGO of my youth? The same can be said about fitness and health.

Back then all we had was Charles Atlas and the disingenuous food pyramid. Now, we have so much scientific data and individualized programs at our fingertips that there’s always going to be something available to meet your needs.

For example – Let’s say you woke up one day and decided that, even though the only time you have ever run was to catch the neighborhood ice cream truck, you want to run a 5k race. Then you order the detailed training program, “5K Training For Beginners: From Couch To 5K Runner In 8 Weeks Or Less”, and get on your way to meeting your goal (while I have never read this book, I know a lot of people who have great success following this plan).

Or what if you know you need to go to the gym but you have an insane work schedule that makes it nigh impossible? Then you track down a home-workout program (like our very own Nerd-Core Fitness workouts) and fit that into your schedule instead of making excuses.

How about if your diet is a wreck and you literally don’t know where to start to turn it all around? Then you grab a copy of our Heroes’ Transformation Guide and get with the program!

Once you have collected all the pieces you need…

You Can Build Anything!

The Mighty Jerd chilling in a LEGO Shire at SDCC 2013

Once you have the right pieces, and with enough time and determination, you can build whatever your imagination desires!

No matter how daunting a task it might seem seeing a giant pile of LEGO on the ground, the great thing about them is that building a massively cool structure or scene is very systematic in execution.

You simply start snapping pieces together one by one.

Much like putting a puzzle together, the simplicity can be very soothing; and the fact that you can see your creation take form piece by piece is very satisfying!

When people first decide they want to get fit, they often have a vision in their head of what the “end state” should look like – ripped abs, bulging biceps, shapely thighs, etc… and ofttimes it feels like that finish line is so far away that people will get discouraged.

This is when the LEGO approach really helps!

Remember that every piece you snap into place is one step closer to finishing your LEGO masterpiece, just like every ounce you lose or extra pushup you can do is bringing you closer to achieving your fitness goals.

Don’t worry about the 2817 pieces laying in a jumble on the floor, you will get to them, instead focus on the 235 pieces you have assembled and appreciate the progress made instead!

Also, don’t ever feel like you are beholden to building a “kit.” If you have something in your mind and you can’t find an all-in-one solution then get creative; half the fun of building things with LEGOs is letting your imagination go wild anyway!

If you want to build a LEGO Batcave… no, you can get one of those… Temple of Doom… nope, that too… Death Star? Yep, you can drop major coin and buy that too. Castle Grayskull… no way there is a He-Man Castle Grayskull kit. There is? Arrrgghhh!

Okay, how about a tree crashing through a 3 story Victorian house? Fine, then just grab as many free pieces and kits with the right color parts and get to creating!

The point is, don’t limit yourself. If you decide you want to become a parkour runner, while losing weight and developing flexibility you’ve never had then do it!

Don’t get discouraged, or be put off, just because there isn’t one book or website that will give you all the pieces you need.

Just go about diligently gathering all the pieces you need (which is this example would be pinning down a proper diet, finding a stretching program you can stick with and finding and joining a parkour studio or group) to make your personal dream come true.

Also, make sure you don’t forget…

It’s More Fun as a Group Activity

I remember sitting in my room as a child, snapping LEGOs together and building all sorts of crazy contraptions.

Have no doubt, it was definitely a fun way to spend an afternoon but it was so much more satisfying doing it with a friend or two!

Whether it was collaborating on some massive sculpture or competing against each other to see who could come up with the craziest vehicle, it was always more enjoyable and the time always flew by much faster.

The same is definitely true when it comes to working on your fitness goals! Think about it, even the mightiest of heroes accomplish more when they team up, why should you be any different? Having a buddy or two dedicated to a healthier lifestyle alongside you will keep you motivated, accountable (an “accountabili-buddy”?) and  provides an often necessary sense of camaraderie.

Motivation – I don’t know about you but the thought of waking up at the crack of dawn to get a run in or to lift some weights is less than appealing, and often so is the thought of doing it after an especially long day at work. Luckily with a couple of buddies, or in a group class setting, even if you show up to a class or gym session exhausted from the rigors of everyday life you will tend to re-energize once you join in.

Not only are you more motivated to actually stick to your diet and exercise, there’s also the motivation to improve! If you work out with people who are healthier and more fit than you, you are probably going to get in better shape faster than you would have just trying to slog through it all on your own!

Accountability – I remember when I was in high-school I would sleep right through my alarm every day (I honestly don’t know why I even had one) and my mother would wake me up every morning. She was keeping me accountable and on track (I don’t think I would have graduated without her yelling through my door!) A friend or a workout group serves the same purpose.

I speak from experience here, trust me.

There have been many a day when I might have skipped a workout or a training session if it weren’t for the fact that I knew I would catch grief from my workout partners. Never underestimate the fear of ridicule from friends!

Camaraderie – Human beings are social creatures; even most introverts crave being around other people in small doses. We all love to joke around, laugh and have fun… and as mildly twisted as it may sound, nothing brings people together quite like shared hardship and physical suffering. This is why people get so excited for boot-camps or similar style classes (try one, you’ll understand what I’m talking about); people sign up to get more fit and end up making friends through this mutual ritual. It really is one of the best ways to meet people, develop a common bond all the while getting into real-life superhero shape!

So while yes, stepping on a LEGO can cause a few spontaneous jump squats (and a steady stream of obscenities) I hope you see there’s a lot more you can learn about fitness from this awesome toy!

Let me know what your favorite LEGO kit is in the comments below!

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