The Basics of Getting in Shape

No matter what endeavor you want to talk about, one universal truth will hold true – People hate learning/practicing the basics!

Martial arts? “Don’t tell me to stretch for 30 minutes a day and then do 1000 front kicks to get proper form… show me how to spin around in the air and hit multiple targets at once with my foot of death please!”

New Language? “I don’t want to spend months learning basic grammar and fundamental vocabulary… tell me how to form complex sentences and argue about politics and religion immediately!”

Art? “I don’t have time to spend hundreds of hours doing perspective, shading, and color hue exercises… just give me a canvas so I can get right to my career as a comic book cover artist!”

Sounds ridiculous, but as someone who has taught martial arts for many a year and provided art tutoring in his younger days, I can’t count the number of times those sorts of conversations have come up. The worst culprit of all though is the fitness n00b*. Those conversations usually sound something like this…

N00b – “I want to lose some weight and get in better shape.”

Me – “That’s great! Where are you planning to start?”

N00b – “I thought I would buy a bunch of supplements I saw advertised in the latest Muscle magazines, go partial Paleo diet mapping out exactly 25.245 carbs per day and start a 5 day a week bodybuilding regimen focusing on super-setting compound and isolation exercises.”

Me – *facepalm*

Why people insist on trying to start with the complicated and convoluted first is for smarter people than me to explain, all I know is that if you want to be successful you need to focus on what is important to you in relation to where you are in your Heroes Transformation (That’s a fancy way of saying “get your ass in shape”; but if you are unclear on what exactly the Heroes Transformation is, make sure you brush up on our 8 Laws of the Jerd Herd!)

If you are starting out you need to simply be focusing on the basics of getting in shape by feeling these three simple tasks:

1. Staying motivated
2. Eating cleaner than you currently are
3. Engaging in a regular exercise regimen

That’s all!

If you are just starting out do not dump money into supplements, do not overload your brain with intricate workouts and do not obsess over your diet trying to optimize your glycemic load or map out impact carbs.

The three pillars of health are – Diet, Fitness & Motivation

I am going to use a martial arts example here but the point holds true no matter what your venture, just substitute as you see fit.

I was in a class the other day and the instructor was explaining a series of movements he wanted everyone to work. Before he was done, he made a distinction; the less experienced people were to work on the gross motor motions of the techniques, just drilling them to get the movement down, while the more experienced students (it was a mixed level class of all levels) were to try and string them together in a set of strategic transitions.  He let every go off with their training partner and practice for a few minutes and then called everyone back to the center of the mat.

It seems a bunch of the beginners had been trying to work on the more advanced transitions shown, so he had stopped everyone to make a point.

“When I tell you that beginners should only be working on the basic movements, it isn’t because I am trying to keep some secret knowledge from you. I am saying that because you need to practice at your level. White belts have white belt problems, blue belts have blue belt problems, purple belts have purple belt problems… a white belt trying to solve a purple belt problem is just going to frustrate himself and more often than not focus on the wrong thing.”

From my personal reference points that was the perfect explanation of what I am trying to get across here (for non-martial artists maybe not so much but I think the point is still evident)! You have to focus on where you are at the moment to be successful. This doesn’t mean not to be forward thinking or ambitious, but to focus most of your time and efforts into what is currently appropriate for yourself.

Just beginning your quest to lose some weight and get more fit? Just burn more calories than you take in and regularly engage in some sort of physical activity for awhile!

Seeing a little success and building some consistency? Start examining the content of your food a little more, maybe cut out added sugars and overly processed foods, and get on a regimented exercise program (here is a prime example of a beginner’s workout program)!

Lost some weight and feeling more alive but not seeing the results you want? Pay more attention to scheduling your meals, cut back on carbs, examine the ratio of protein to vegetable matter you put in your face-hole and up the intensity of your workouts by repetitively lifting heavy things and putting them back down!

Never lose sight of the fact that fitness is a never-ending iterative process and just like Buckaroo Banzai cryptically says, “Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.” If you forget where you are and look too far ahead there is a good chance you might feel over-loaded and sabotage yourself into falling off the fitness wagon because it is too hard. Fitness is easy as long as you don’t make it too complicated!

So how are you going to keep it simple and start making changes in your life? Let me know your plan by dropping a comment below! Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter and be sure to Sign up for our free newsletter! (No spam, I promise!)

* Noob – Noun; Slang: Usually Disparaging. A newbie, especially a person who is new to an online community and whose online participation and interactions display a lack of skill or knowledge: “Some games and gaming forums are crawling with annoying noobs.”