How to be Fit

If you stop and take a look around at fitness magazines, you’ll see that they’re overwhelmingly geared towards first “Looking Fit”, with actually being fit an afterthought.   Think about it – first, you see an image of a huge bodybuilder or incredibly thin bikini model followed by a brief description of a product promising some extraordinary results. I think it’s time we start to shift the thinking towards actually being healthy/fit and not just looking the part.  There’s so much more to it than just having great aesthetics.  That being said – check your ego at the door and check out the following quick “fit-test” I put together and see if you’re actually fit, or just looking the part! 1.)  Run a mile – If you’re “fit” there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to run a mile without stopping to take a walk or rest break.  What’s a reasonable time to run a single mile? I feel that 9:00 isn’t bad at all.  If you can move continuously for a mile and do it 9:00 or less, you’re reasonably fit. Huffing and puffing to get that mile done, and come in over 9:00?  Don’t worry too much about it.  Believe it or not, an excellent way to gain some more aerobic capacity is on the stairmill – the revolving stair case machine at your gym.  Run some sprint intervals up those stairs and your next mile test will fly by. 2.)  Pull Ups – You probably don’t see a lot of people at the gym doing pull-ups.  I remember having to do these in elementary school PE fitness tests! That being said – men and women differ in the way their muscularity is built and statistically speaking, men do more pull ups.  What’s a reasonable number of pull-ups for an adult?  Men: 10, Women: 3.  In a moment of complete honesty, I still struggle with this one and only recently was able to complete 10 dead-hang, body weight pull-ups. Not able to get all of them?  Focus on strengthening your upper back and arms.  If you’re not doing pull-ups regularly, START!  You can also incorporate some lat-pull downs and t-bar rows into your routine. 3.)  Push Ups – A thorn in many people’s sides, pushups are a great measure of overall strength and muscle endurance.  Men: 35 – Women: 15 (note:  these are standard pushups, no knees on the floor, chest comes all the way down, elbows fully extended on the way up).   That being said, I think it’s time to “push up, or shut up”.  I haven’t done a pushup test in quite some time, so why not now?!  Completely unscripted, I decided to record a video of me doing a push-up test for this post.  How did I fare?  Here it is: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQBzCCnMJH0&feature=youtu.be[/youtube] Struggling with push-ups?  Incorporate some barbell bench press into your workouts.  Triceps are also a big part of pushups – so hit those dips in the gym as well. So there you have it.  A quick, three item test to gauge your fitness.  If you’re lagging in one or more of these, don’t let it get you down – just work harder!  Run a little bit more often, do some pull-ups as part of your regular routine, and knock out some push-up sets during commercials of your favorite TV show.  Supplement your diet with BEAST Sports’ excellent lineup.  BIG.STRONG.FIT.HEALTHY       From 9-5, Lonnie sits in front of a computer.  Outside of being an IT Geek, he’s an athlete who’s familiar with the cycle of being fit-fat-fit that so many of us struggle with.  Down from his highest weight of 300lbs in June 2009, he’s made the permanent lifestyle change to remain Big. Strong. Fit. Healthy.  When not spending time with his wife, son and daughter, he’s at the gym keeping off the fat and adding quality lean mass.