(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.)
Getting started: Red flags, Resources, and Equipment
Let’s assume if you’re reading Part 3 that you actually want to get started laying in a supply of fitness alongside your beans, bullets, and band-aids. Good. It’s one of the most neglected aspects of preparing in a society where well over 40% of us are obese. Not overweight. Obese. Less than 25% do regular exercise. You adding a daily exercise routine will put you ahead of people who don’t, simple as that. Adding daily exercise bumps you to a “C”. Not great but not a bad starting position compared to the other 75% of Americans. You laying in fitness can easily put you ahead most of the population. And if no great disaster strikes, it will still put you ahead as the quality of medical care declines and demand for it increases. So. How do you start?
First, you do need to talk to your doctor. Again, I’m not a medical doctor, exercise is inherently risky, talk to your doctor to find out any specific restraints or resources you have. Some medical centers offer consultations with physical trainers as part of your bills. Others will offer specific recommendations. Only you can find out what’s right for your situation. Start. With. Your. Doctor.
Second, you’ll want to start with a published resource that gets you started. I would recommend that you go to your local library and browse the fitness section. Choose what catches your eye and start there. These days it’s also worth browsing the DVDs, you may find a yoga or other exercise DVD that catches your interest. The internet has many resources that we’ll turn to later but assuming you don’t have a good level of experience with proper training, something published as a book has passed through a layer of screening (and liability assessment) and will be less likely get you hurt. Books aimed at or written by athletic coaches are a good bet.
Third, more optional here, you may want to see what gyms and classes are in your area. Many people enjoy going to the gym and group exercise. There is a lot to be said for in person instruction instead of self-teaching. Somebody who can see what piece you’re missing and teach it to you is an incredible time saver. If you can’t afford the time or cost then you should be grateful that modern video and cost of media mean that it is far easier to teach yourself these days than ever before.
While you are browsing for training watch out for some red flags. Red flags are things like:
- Overpromising results
- Picture perfect models on websites, doors, or walls
- Constantly selling equipment and supplements
- Selling too hard, in general
- Words like “BEAST MODE”
- Matching clothes and equipment
- A revolutionary new method
- A lost ancient method
- Quick tricks to lose bellyfat (or anything else)
A lot of these go hand in hand with tribalism. Tribalism is a big one and goes with a lot of the other things. It can help you feel motivated and get where you should go, it can also lead you to Rhabdo. I chose the least sensational article that I could find about it but the upshot is: a group and culture of people pushing everyone to their limits will lead to cases of Rhabdo and lots of other injuries. I would caution against anyone selling tribal membership. It’s a red flag for me. Also, be aware of cultish thinking like: “the day you start lifting is the day you become forever small”. Self-induced body dysmorphic disorder might be marginally better than obesity but it is a fundamentally unhealthy way of thinking.
Some good things you should look for in your book, website, DVD, or gym:
- They should care about injury
- They should care about warmups and cooldowns
- They should care about form. Form is king.
- They shouldn’t overpromise
- They shouldn’t pressure you
- They should refer you to exercise science sources if you have questions
- They should use well-established methods (such as dance, gymnastics, acrobatics, and yoga)
- They should be clear about their accreditations and certifications
- They should not be obsessive about looks. (None of us will look like our best possible 25-year-old self when we’re 40.)
The last two are especially important with Internet sources. There are a plethora of sporty and attractive people who film themselves exercising to make a quick buck. That they look a certain way in no way means they are knowledgeable about what they are doing. If they don’t even bother to claim they have some sort of accreditation and education that’s a very bad sign. So look for things that say “I’m a certified [blank]” or “I have a degree in [blank]”. Also, look for history, someone who was a college athlete has at least probably been coached by professionals. No guarantees in this life but those are some red flags and things to look for as you begin.
Resources I’ve found helpful
I am not affiliated with any of these sources, I do not receive any compensation, and they don’t know I exist or am writing this article. They’re just what I’ve found useful. Your mileage may vary. You are looking for a way to exercise you find meaningful and enjoy while avoiding injury and building your fitness reserve.
Online resources
Stew Smith is a former Special Operations who became a coach after he finished serving. He cares about injury prevention and realistic progress. His shoulder rehab blog and his video helped one of my shoulders fit in its socket much better. I wouldn’t hesitate to follow any of his programs and he has a free beginners program in addition to his published books. Recently, he had a discussion and the section between 1:40 and 7 minutes give an excellent insight into his approach.
Their classic stuff is better than their newer stuff for the most part. Originally, they were a husband and wife team that are an oasis of sanity in a world of hype. They have recently moved into a “freemium” model and hired new trainers to help make more videos and put some of their content is behind a paywall. Even with this, the free workout library is over 600 follow-along videos. They care about form, their comments are useful, and they do not use hype. Even more importantly their filter function is excellent. You can search by level of difficulty, equipment, body focus, training type and length and filter accordingly. So if you’re looking for a level 3 workout with a swiss ball or a level 4 no equipment cardio you can search that precisely. I’ve used them for years. A couple of my favorite workouts are:
“When I say jump” (which will leave you sucking air even if you’re in decent shape. At the other end of the spectrum their is low impact cardio. That will make you break a sweat even if you’re in good shape. Many of their videos have warm up and cool downs included and they were the ones who built up that habit in me. I highly recommend them.
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil has three official exercise playlists on YouTube. Some follow along some just demonstrative and explaining the specific workout. It’s well grounded and balanced and challenging. Some of them are too challenging and certain workouts call for specialized equipment so be aware of your limitations and I would skip around the video on your computer before doing a follow-along so you have an idea of what you’re getting into, each time.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9RDgPtBc9akGr609Hu1sNF2Qj3MskJuq
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9RDgPtBc9amjeEKv2cDDrRD0A56vbsdd
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9RDgPtBc9alPUqmTFhJrbcmCT3Nxqmql
Specific recommendations: Their 4-video yoga series is the best intermediate yoga program I’ve found. I do highly recommend it. Their “unicycle abs” 3-part series includes quick core workouts that are challenging and balanced. Certainly something you’ll have to work up to but well worth the effort. Some of the playlist videos I enjoy some, and some I don’t. But I like the coaching and program design.
Julia Reppel
I like this as an alternative to yoga. She focuses on follow along mobility exercises and that’s helpful to me because I have not built up good patience in performing these mobility drills on my own. I also like her single dumb-bell or kettlebell workouts and her handstand work.
Power Monkey Fitness
I like if you’re interested in gymnastics type exercises. Here former olympic competitors discuss specific exercises and form and progressions. Dave Durante’s video on building bulletproof shoulders is highly recommended even if you’re not interested in gymnastics style training.
Finally, for advanced training I’ll suggest Caroline Girvan if you want an advanced follow along exercise her exercise videos are brutal. Her kettle bell week and her calisthenics week. Are both very difficult. Even her low impact is challenging. She is sane and balanced but I would categorize her exercises as advanced.
Books
Go the Distance: The British Paratrooper Fitness Guide. This is my favorite of the exercise books that I found in my entire library system. He cares about injury, he has equipment and no equipment variations, he has a testing protocol, it’s a great starting point. It’s short. It’s useful. It’s cheap. If you’re only going to get one book I’d get that.
You Are Your Own Gym. I like bodyweight exercises and this is the most beginner-friendly minimal equipment book I’ve run into. He gives a lot of options and his progressions are sane.
Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy. This is a more intermediate source. If you’ve been making some good progress and want to understand things more deeply or if you are ready to start doing your own program development this is worth your time. It’s not beginner friendly but if you want to go deeper it’s good.
Overcoming Gravity: A systematic approach to gymnastics and bodyweight strength. This is intermediate to advanced bodyweight exercise. It’s expensive and it’s not really accessible to beginners. But for what it is, it has few competitors and is close to exhaustive. You could buy this and skip bodyweight anatomy but I would not buy this as my first exercise book. This is gymnastics focused and grounded in exercise science. The formatting and editing leaves something to be desired but the content is excellent.
Enter The Kettlebell. Pavel brought the kettlebell into the American fitness conciousness. I learned 80% of my kettlebell skills from this book. I am actually using his clean press and pullup schedule from this book right now as part of my exercise routine. If you think kettlebells are cool and don’t know where to start, I’d start here.
Equipment
Equipment is everyone’s favorite part. We Americans are good at buying fitness equipment. We buy it, we pay lots of money, and then we don’t use it. That’s the first part: if you don’t use it, then it’s wasted money. On the flip side: you can’t lift weights you don’t have. Not having the equipment you need can lead to imbalance which leads to injury. Spending money on equipment, access, or training you use to build your fitness reserve is money very well spent indeed. So an expensive purchase can be justified.
Consider cost per use as your main metric. If you pay a lot but you use it a lot then it’s probably well spent. If you pay a little and use it a little, it’s probably a waste. My kettlebell was initially expensive (by my standards) but in cost per use its pennies now. Buy tools that you use and increase your fitness.
The following are things that I think are probably good bang for your buck if you actually use them. A set of weights and a squat rack and all that can set you back a few hundred dollars easily. A rowing machine likewise. Well worth the money if you use them. A large waste if you don’t.
The list that follows is very spartan because that’s my approach. I am of the philosophy that I shouldn’t need external aids (lifting belts and elbow wraps to lift the weights) or a super specialized diet (pre-workout, post-workout and protein shakes and an absurd amount of calories.) And since this article is geared at people who are starting almost from scratch I’m keeping this to low-cost and high-value things.
Pullup Bar
Bodyweight training is great but having a pullup bar is very important to keeping that type of training balanced. I have bought the door jamb pullup bar at a thrift store for less than 10 bucks. In two places I lived, it didn’t fit in the door. In my current house I bought a 3-foot section of 1-inch steel pipe and I mounted it to the wall in a hallway. That one set me back about 20 bucks. But my shoulders are grateful. These are not just for pullups and chin ups: leg raises, L-sits, and front levers are excellent exercises you can do here. Solid bodyweight routines use this. Buy one.
Therabands
I don’t like these. But. They are more effective than you think and more versatile than light weights. They are excellent for rotator cuff work (and beginning to intermediate strength training. Bang for buck it’s hard to beat.
Swiss Ball
These are the giant balls that were so popular for a while. They are excellent for stability, balance, and core. I consider these as an addendum to bodyweight training but they are a little more than that you can get a good fullbody workout with them, as demonstrated here and here. I’ve paid 5 dollars for a busted one at a garage sale and 2 dollars for one that works.
Medicine Ball
These are small and useful. Throwing and catching them is good. Coaches will have athletes slam them into the ground. I like to do pushups with my hands on the ball, the unstable surface makes it very challenging. We paid a good 20 bucks for ours I wouldn’t prioritize this but I’d keep an eye out for a good price. My wife uses this so the price per use went down pretty fast
Jump Rope
Highly underrated. Excellent cardio, agility, and surprisingly low impact on your joints. There’s a reason they are a mainstay of boxing training. Buddy Lee is the most well known apologist on these. Fitness Blender has workouts with the jump rope as well. I paid a good 8 bucks for my jump rope new. You can get them pretty inexpensively.
Final thought: Do something instead of putting your feet up.
I found a picture of Australian soldiers in WWII playing cricket in a semi-bombed out town. I don’t have rights to the photo so it is linked rather than posted here. That photo struck me. I’m sure their commanders had them do plenty of work before they knocked off for some downtime but after that physical labor they went and did something. They had to have one person looking for enemy aircraft while they played but they did something physical.
In steel mill towns in the US they played stickball, adults and children. We are meant to move. To do things. To throw, to run, to climb, to carry, to hit. Regimented exercise and training are good but in some ways it is necessary only because we are not moving as we ought to. So include movement throughout your day and before your sedentary recreation.
“That which they fathers have bequeathed to thee, earn it anew if thou wouldst possess it.” – Goethe: Faust