I went into a gym, lost. Rows of cardio machines- those should get me into shape right? Those weights look intimidating, and no one uses them anyways... I'll just use the bench press machine instead. Then maybe I'll pick up some dumbells and work my biceps... that sounds like a good plan! Leg day? Arm day? Sure I can figure that out... After months of going through the motions, having no idea what a real workout plan actually was, I wasn't getting any noticeable results- making it easy to quit.
Then I learned about Circuit training: the ultimate workout. Crossfit has popularized this method of high intensity training, but it has actually been around for decades. It is the best method of building both muscle strength and cardio endurance. By combining multiple weight training exercises, you move from one to another with minimal rest so that you elevate your heart rate. Instead of taking a break between sets of weights, or using some kind of cardio machine requiring a lot of time at the gym, you can often keep your workout under 20 minutes.
Years ago I turned to the Dark Side (desk job) after years of military, construction, and various physical activities that kept me in reasonable shape. Over time my fitness gradually slipped away until I found it a struggle to run just 1 mile at a good pace. I thought because I could run a mile in under 5 minutes when I was 20, I should be in shape for the rest of my life right? Way wrong. Combine lack of activity with junk food and the body goes downhill fast. I finally got a gym membership at a local YMCA and when I stepped on the scale... I was not happy. More importantly, I didn't like what I saw in the mirror and I felt like crap. Weak crap.
The Army never really taught me about fitness or how to properly work out. They basically just beat me into shape through 5-7 days a week of hell. 2 hour "smoke" sessions, 15 mile road marches, 9 mile runs. There was no weight training at the time, so everything was based on body weight exercises: push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc. Later in life I would learn that working these same muscles with heavy weights would dramatically improve my strength, and in a lot less time. I can comfortably say that I can push, pull, and lift far more weight now than my 20-year-old self.
The other difficult thing about getting back into shape was running. I never liked it, even when I was good at it. 22-year-old me could run a 5k in under 20 minutes without any preparation. I ran a single mile in 4:51. (still much slower than competitive runners) Fast forward 15 years and just the distance of 5k worried me. So I started slowly jogging and trying to work my way up... big mistake! Each run was only slightly better than the last- if at all. After researching, I started to do interval training and my gains were much faster. I would run no slower than an 8 minute/mile pace for as long as I could, then I would rest/walk for a minute. I would also work on sprints from 100 to 400 meters. In a month I could run a mile in under 7 minutes and knocked off 10 minutes of my worst 5k time. I also started barefoot running, but I'll save that for a later post...
Sometimes it's easier to just SEE what a person is talking about. Here is set number 5 (out of 5) of four exercises: box jumps, roman chair sit-ups, back squats, and pull-ups. To add an extra layer of difficulty, I am wearing an Eagle SPC (armored vest) with 6 loaded 30-round magazines attached. I move from one exercise to the next without a break, and you can see I'm pretty spent at this point. Between sets I would rest about a minute and rehydrate a bit.
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