Is it strictly for aesthetic reasons? Do you only care about what you look like or is there more to it than that? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be healthier and what is your definition of healthier? Only once you figure that out can you truly put together a program that will help you reach your goals.
I want to be able to walk up stairs and not get tired. I want to be able to fight for at least 3 minutes all out. Along with gaining fitness and strength, I want to lose some fat. Fat, not weight. Right now I weigh between 176# and 180#.
My weight constantly shifts somewhere in between those two weights. I like those numbers. I don’t want to be too light. Let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to push around someone who weighs 150 that it is to push around someone that weighs 180.
It’s funny when someone tries to push me and then realizes they didn’t have enough force to do it. They end up like wow it’s like trying to move a tree or like I tried to push against a wall.
When I first started trying to get back into some kind of shape, I focused on purely gaining fitness. My definition of fitness is the ability to move my own body through space. That meant I focused on gaining endurance, strength and mobility.
All of these things were gained through body weight exercises. I didn’t lift heavy weights that often, they were pretty light. I made good gains working out this way and had an added benefit of losing some weight and gaining speed.
I continued working out this way for awhile, but then somehow got sidetracked with trying to lift heavy weights. I see now that, for me that wasn’t a good move. By focusing on heavy weights, I actually lost a lot of strength overall, in the body weight arena, as well as speed and power.
I found what worked for me and feel like I cracked the body weight code a long time ago. By switching to heavy weight lifting, I feel like I lost a step. I will be going back to what worked for me, body weight work with some medium weight work.
Any thing that makes you move your body through space is considered body weight work to me. Martial arts, boxing, pushups, pullups, running, swimming, dipping, climbing, lunging, yoga and gymnastics all force you to move your body.
Then there is the added bonus the body gets from lifting some weights. Along with Shovelglove, kettlebells and dumbbells used for full body movements like deadlifts, clean and presses, snatches and swings will help round out a workout program.
Since I post my workout log at the end of every week, feel free to follow along, or use it as a guide to make your own program.
I workout, not because I want to look good, but mainly because I want to be functional. I want to be able to play sports if I choose to. I want to be able to lift weights and carry boxes if I need to. Swim across the river, have the strength and stamina to defend myself or another if I need to.
How about you? Why do you workout?
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