The Questions To Ask Myself

I’ve begun to realize over the course of the weeks and months I’ve been intensely focusing on fitness that there are a few core questions I should have asked myself when I started. Knowing the answers to these questions — essay, not multiple choice — helps me focus on what I need to do to achieve my fitness goals.

1. Why do I want to be more fit?
2. Think about the level of fitness I want to achieve. What does a person at that level do on a daily and weekly basis to keep and improve upon that level of fitness?
3. Think about my current level of fitness. What do I do at that level on a daily and weekly basis?
4. Assuming as true that someone not using steroids should intensely resistance-train* each body part for a maximum of one hour per week, how could I improve my workouts to prevent overtraining while maximizing results?
5. What are your current eating habits? Will they support your fitness goals? What can you improve?

My answers:

1. I want to be more fit, in part, because I have a huge Irish bobble-head that is out of proportion to my body. I’ve tried being fat, and while that definitely makes my head be proportional to my body the downsides really suck: being out of breath all the time, unable to keep up with my kids, looking awful at the pool and avoiding swimming because of it, pre-diabetes, etc. That’s just not worth it. So I want to build some nicely bulky muscle to get the body size to make my head appear a little less huge. There are other reasons, too, but this will do for today.
2. A person at the level of fitness I want to achieve:
   • Eats six to eight small, protein-filled meals per day.
   • Monitors body fat and weight daily, getting used to the fluctuations and able to ascertain the moving average to maximize results and keep fit.
   • Performs resistance training four to five days per week, training each body part a maximum of one hour per week.
   • Does twenty minutes of cardio three times per week to keep body fat in check and support heart health.
   • Avoids sugared foods, soda, white flour, and white rice.
   • Consumes healthy, slow-digesting carbohydrates in moderation, while focusing on getting most of his caloric needs from lean protein and planned fats high in omega-3.
   • Ultimately, eats boring food to have an exciting body, and supports this with regular training while trying hard to avoid over-training which would hurt his fitness efforts.
3. Currently I do much of what my idealized fitness-nut would do. I eat five to six small, protein-filled meals per day. I resistance-train three to five days per week, but miss a day and don’t make it up here and there. I’ve occasionally over-trained and felt the inevitable sleep problems, lack of desire to train, and overall fatigue as a result. I avoid high-glycemic-index foods really well, but will have a piece of dark chocolate on occasion. I regularly eat more dietary fat than I plan for, and it comes from fatty and processed meats.
4. I should hit the gym every day Monday through Friday, leaving promptly at 8PM, regardless of if I feel like it or not. I should resistance-train four of those days. One of those days — probably Wednesday — should be an open day to either work on a lagging body part, try a new exercise, do some cardio, or try out a class like yoga or circuit-training.
5. My current eating habits definitely support my desired lifestyle, but there is room for improvement. I should reduce the amount of processed meats I consume, while increasing lean meats. I should find a palatable source of omega-3 supplementation that is not in a capsule form, and begin taking enough to support my heart health.

(*Note: I use the word “intensely” to mean “to the point of muscular failure”. If you’re doing light weights and high reps, your recovery time will be much faster, but your muscle gains much slower. If between 6 and 12 reps your muscles simply can’t lift the weight again, that’s “intense” resistance training. If you’re just doing push-ups and sit-ups or other calisthenics without additional resistance, you can do them every day without the week-long recovery time.)