Getting fit vs Being Fit

There is this old joke in the wine world when a young winemaker approached an older winemaker and asked how he could become a millionaire making wine, and the older winemaker said: “Well, the important thing is that you start off a billionaire.”

Thankfully, in fitness that’s not the case. You can start any time with any resource.

There is a difference, though, if you are just starting to go to the gym in your 40s or if you’ve been going for 20 years.  You will have to get your body accustomed to the pressure of the exercise.  You will start with lower weights and more reps.  This will be beneficial for your joints, especially, and for your overall muscles.  The focus at this age is not to get injured.

Other than that, don’t let anyone say you can’t do it.

Why Get Fit?

This may seem a rather strange question at this point in time, but still there are millions of people that don’t go to the gym and pay a heavy price for that.

The ordinary answer is that it is good for your health. But what does that mean?  Well, simple. The more muscle mass you have, the more you use it to do stuff. To walk, get groceries, and carry luggage when you travel.  I don’t need to fill this space with more obvious examples, do I?  Using the muscles spares other body parts from participating in that activity.  Wow!

I have a very good example in my own body.  My intervertebral discs in my lower back are mostly herniated.  I had surgery to remove one of the hernias. Totally recommend it.  If you have this problem, shoot me a message and we can talk.  

Anyway, having good body muscle prevents me from pressuring those poor discs.  Whenever I have to pick something from the ground, I mostly use the strength of my legs, core, and arms, leaving the discs almost untouched.  As a side note for anyone with lower back pain: always bend your knees when picking something from the ground, it doesn’t matter if it’s a piece of paper.

The real answer, though, is that you are going to have a beautiful body. And that has a powerful psychological impact.  In simple words, there is a very much perceivable gain of confidence and self-esteem that reverberates to otherwise unthoughtful aspects of life.  

If you look at yourself naked in the mirror and like what you see, you are already in the 1%.

And let’s be honest, we men are in the habit of measuring our metaphorical penises.  Money is probably the number one unit of measurement.  But how in shape you look is not that far off.

Again, I’m going to use me as an example.  Well, that’s the whole purpose of this blog.

I’m a middle aged bald guy.  Not much of a selling point isn’t it?

Nonetheless, I was able to date interesting, beautiful, younger women.  Younger, as in early to mid-30s.  I even had some 20s fall in my DMs.  That’s another story.

To be honest, after being married for so long, I didn’t really think I would get any attention at all from younger women. After all, in my head (not a pun), I was a middle-aged bald guy. 

As a researcher at heart, I was curious about why they would date me, having plenty of more fitted counterparts their age.

I learned that being fit kind of offsets my baldness, because I am put in a certain style category where that makes sense.  The category of tough guys Like Jason Statham and Vin Diesel. That’s even kind of funny.

Anyway, the thing is that getting in shape and staying in shape will only do you good.  If not, change your life for the better completely.

It’s a Function of Means Not of Ends

In this post, I won’t go through any training routine.  I’ll leave it for another one.  But the important takeaway here is the following: don’t fall into the trap of setting goals that represent an end result.  Things like losing X amount of fat or gaining Y amount of lean body mass.  Not all bodies behave the same, not all days are going to be the same.  There is a clear path to frustration when we set end-like goals.  

Your goals should be of means.  Set goals that put you on the track for achieving that end result.  Set your weight loss goal to not eat junk food; diminish your alcohol intake; skip a meal; eat more protein and so forth.  The same thing with gaining muscle mass.  Your goal is to go 3 to 5 times to the gym.  No more than 30 to 45 minutes needed. That’s it.  Follow a normal workout plan.  Don’t get too distracted by the girls filming themselves for social media.  Eat your normal proteins, in higher quantities than usual.  Muscle mass will come.