Getting fit and staying there…
Chubby dude becomes a lean mean machine
Who wouldn't want to be as "healthy as a bear"?..
Look good naked?..
You wouldn't, ha?... OK.
I could only guess but... Either you have issues or quite separated from the norm. Or perhaps not very honest with yourself?
Perhaps you can at least cherish the few moments in history you were an adorable baby that everybody would want to hug, kiss and some GUGGI GUGGI.
Ever since I can remember, I have been creative, curious and increasingly adventurous. Very supple, yet chubby.
A soft boy, in body and soul. A Kapha constitution in Ayurvedic terms.
Building stuff in Lego and anything creative (not dancing and sports though) won't help the inherent calmness, except for feeding an awesome brain.
My parents (my father, mostly) with my siblings and I did hike och travel, and papa took me horse-back riding on Saturdays.
I liked the Judo course, and went up to yellow belt. And hey, it was the 70's and the 80's - there was very little on TV and there almost no computers or electronic gaming platforms, let alone any mobile phones.
Growing up, I gradually found my way through these chubby tendencies into athletics, even though I've always been strong but not into common athletic activities. Which rendered me at the most mediocre in ball games and thinking too much with the ball will definitely not get anyone better at ball games.
I started looking into fitness upon smelling the the army service just around the corner, at 15-16 year of age. I realized very soon that jogging was taking a toll on my knees and lims (being a big guy, and slightly overweight) but didn't know any better. Common wisdom said, and still does, that cardio training and jogging are fantastic for becoming fit. Since I wanted to go to the Marine Commando, I wanted to prepare myself for the army and started jogging and training hard terrain treading, with a weighted rocksack on my back.
The goal was training my legs (ligaments and muscles) and my concentration, to be able to move fast on a difficult terrain, such as a newly plowed field or a mountain terrain.
Additionally, I trained my core (crunches) and trying my best at pull-ups.
Common wisdom was the default and I just did not know better. You jog if you want to become fit and you go to the gym to become a body builder, which is a seriously flawed view of fitness.
Obviously, I would have done almost everything differently with my knowledge of today.
I trained quite religiously on the common fitness and, to be honest, I was quite discouraged at how hard and demanding any spurt of progress was.
But after becoming a teenager, and more mobile and agile, I discarded my avoidance of ball games, basketball and football. Even if I was never the best, I had great fun. As it can happen, one football game led to some knee injuries, arthroscopy, and an instabile knee. I also stopped jogging in the fields of the kibbutz, in order not to make matters worse.
After moving to Sweden, I became an avid biker. Without a car, I just took all I could on my bike and a self-made bike wagon.
Aikido
By reaching 40, I stumbled upon a fantastic book of George Leonard, "Mastery", where I learned about the process of becoming a master and and expert. This book is a gold mine for chizzling oneself, in my opinion, a great self-help book.
“Mastery” was followed by another known book of George Leonard, "The Way of Aikido", that led me to aikido training, even though the book is about the basic mindset of aikido, rather than specifically training aikido, which to me felt very liberating. Like "I don’t have to, but I could if I wanted to".
I trained in a club in Stuttgart where most aikidokas were more advanced than I was. Training was held at least 2 times a week, no recess except for holiday and special seminars, held somewhere else.
The demanding atmosphere was just the right kind of challenge, and after leaving Stuttgart for Eskilstuna, I never again found the same classy, egoless devotion and continuity as in that club, under Jürgen Buchmann and Peter Schmidt.
Even though I quit training, I still hold a lot of respect to this Japanese martial art and to Bushido, the way of the warrior.
The devotion to mastering skills and the mindset of being in the Now, cherishing the moment (since a warrior knows he/she can die in an instant.... Especially when not attending the Now, i.e. thinking too much and missing a moment of attention, just to get the deadly blow).
For now, I have paused my training and have the ideology left, which is very applicable for everyday life.
Body-Weight Training
Body-weight training, when done wisely, can help you develop your physique in almost every direction you desire:
mobility, balance, strength, etc. (not to mention the otherwise slightly overrated cardio portion of physical training), with hardly ANY tools or special space.
It starts with YOU. Yes, you.
You need some basic knowledge of how to train, how to progress, what muscles can and should be trained, how often, some pitfalls to avoid, some will power and persistence. Just skip the gym and train where and when ever you find appropriate.
I started body weight training sometime after training my legs, post knee operation. So when biking around felt a little too mild and inconsistent as a training form, I gathered a few basic routines and just kept on doing them.
It was a routine that was fixed for a long time with very little changes, consisting of stretches, sit-ups and core exercises.
I kept more or less the same training routines for longer periods out of convenience (of mind, that is), in order just not to think too much about what I do next, and let my mind wander freely during training. Sometimes it was intense, other times it felt like meditation.
But keeping the same routine, making it harder with time have led eventually to boredom and with intensity and lack of rest and sufficient relief, even bursitis in my elbow.
Attempting the planche, out on the deck. Perhaps not as tough as it looks like, unless you weigh 115 kg
Attempting the planche again, with a rubber band for assistance, used for relieving me from a few kilos.
Attempting "Back Lever", June 2022. Getting my back straight will be the challenge, as well as holding it for a longer period. Need to get stronger...
Attempting the planche, out on the deck. Perhaps not as tough as it looks like, unless you weigh 115 kg
Calisthenics
Somewhere along the way, I needed some inspiration for body-weight training. Again, for lack of motivation to go to a gym or pay for anything one can do on his/her own.
I found several guys with their own youtube channels, and some impressive skills in body weight training, and a whole new world has opened its door to me.
Several of the advanced techniques done by these athletes demand so much power and balance, that it can suffice to train towards mastery of the techniques, never really reach mastery, but become very powerful and very well trained.
A few of these techniques:
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Planche (even pseudo push-ups are awesome)
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Front lever
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back lever
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Handstand, handstand pushups
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Muscle-ups
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Human flag
Any of these, done on rings, will make it notch harder. So there is a LOT of space to get better and more powerful and skilled. Kissing the age of 50 won’t cut it as an excuse to quit. There's life over 50, get over it.
I did.
There are some pretty strong guys out there, who are older than that and still won’t give up, so neither does anyone need to.