There's a misconception, I believe, in the fitness industry that weight is the enemy. The simple fact of the matter is that only a certain demographic of people and body types can actually be told "This weight is what you should be, so lose XX pounds to achieve your ideal bodyweight". Being a 260-265 pound guy, I take the whole debate over healthy bodyweight very seriously! You would expect to see a 260 pound person not be able to run for the life of them. Well, I can tell you from my own training, that running is not only something we (we being dense and largely built folk) can do, but something we can thrive upon.
Running for a larger and more dense person, is an insane war at first. Your shins, ankles, quads, hams, and gluts all fight for you to stop - at first. After going through the hell of conditioning my body to accept the punishment of hardcore running, I'm finding that it's become increasingly easy to do. I may not be able to run distances like my 120-160 pound friends, but I can run faster, and harder than most of them.
The strength that we innately have built in to us is impressive when harnessed. I feel as if maintaining our natural strength, and adding agility and precision is more adequate for the way we're built. I enjoy my body a lot more now that I'm agile and capable of running my skinny friends down, rather than being the bulky and powerful person I used to be. I may not be able to do pull-ups or dips very well, but the power I have in my legs is incredible. Hell, back in high school when I was breaking leg press records, I still didn't even really have to try in order to do that. I knew almost nothing about how to build power, en yet I still destroyed those records.
The great thing about being so dense, is that our calorie expenditure is enormous during rigorous exertion. I can't tell you how many times I'll burn three times more calories than my 140 pound counterpart during sprints. He'd be running the entire time, which is sad...haha.
The best way for us larger bodied folk to put on solid muscle is through doing giant sets, with almost no rest. Giant sets being 4 or more exercises, one after another. 6 sets being the goal. 15 reps or more being the goal for each exercise in each set. I've heard through other professionals and friends that skinny, and more lanky folk put on muscle through lifting heavy, instead of the method that I've used on myself. It's extremely fascinating to me how we're all the same organism, en yet every machine is built to succeed in such a different fashion.
I've also found out through my own training that the human body really is more complex and ridiculous than any of us average americans could ever understand. There's soooo many things that I've done with my body that I really shouldn't have been able to do at the time. Just the other day, I put my body through a rigorous workout filled with jumping, push-ups, and variations of bodyweight cardio. The pace was absurd for my body's size and weight. Even though my body kept telling me to stop, through the lactic acid being built up, I told it to keep going. I was losing a small bit of control and precision with each exercise and set, but my body still kept on going. What was even more insane was that in my last set of jump roping, I absolutely SPED through the 100 jumps. I really had no idea how or why my body said "Go faster. Go harder", but I obliged and pushed on. That was just my way of expanding upon the thought of how amazing the human body really is. It's just capable of amazing things.
Something I've noticed throughout the general public and through tv programs is that people in this modern world, or the zoo syndrome as that french dude describes it, literally have no idea what their bodies are capable of. It's insane to think that we as humans have just trotted along with creating easier ways of doing things, when we really should be reverting back to the olden ways of how things used to be. Everything being carried by us, or even with help by family livestock and horses. It's insane to think that we as humans are better off than we were 100-200 years ago. Yes, our lives are extended and we live in a medicated society, where no condition is left solution-less...but at what cost? Are those years of being an elderly person...feeble, incapable of maintaining ones own life...incapable of even thinking for one's self...is it truly worth everything that we're giving up? I'd rather live a healthy and fruitful life where I live off the land at my disposal, dying at the age of 50-80...being entirely coherent and self-sustaining...rather than live trapped within this zoo-like environment where we cherish food and material goods over attributes, friends, family, and relationships in general.
If you've read to this point, then thanks for putting up with the randomness of my thinking process. Hopefully a discussion or burst of thought may have been created, haha.
This is great, Kyle. I have gone through war with my body, and now I'm loving it and being with it. It's still hard sometimes, but my potential has exploded. If we start believing in and accepting our bodies for what they are NOW, we gain the power to actually change them to make them healthier and stronger.
ReplyDeleteYea, I like the part of the potential of the human body. We most definitely are capable of more than we give ourselves credit for.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to our current societal way of life, it has surely perverted the crucial relationship with the natural and healthier ways of life. Going against nature, is asking for huge trouble. Let's keep to those simple and natural practices of well-being that we were created for.
I agree. The old-school ways of being may not have been best for longevity as a whole, but the people of olden days who still, as of today, live off the land and have no form of enhancements are doing just fine. The people within africa that are still in a tribal state are still living off the land. They have no issues with the world as it is. They may not live to be 70+, but they are insanely capable of doing things while they're continuing on in life, whereas the american counterpart simply diminishes in quality of life as we pass 60.
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