Robert Ryan
Dr. Micer
Effective Writing 101
April 20, 2012
Pioneering Your Own Frontier
Looking into the past is usually when people can see most clearly. In
hindsight of my pursuit of fitness, it is clear that I did all the wrong things out of a
mistaken can do attitude that anything can be achieved with effort and a little elbow
grease. I was young, energetic and eager to perform; spinning my tires, going
nowhere fast. It wasn’t until I learned how much there really was to being successful
in fitness that I started to see results and I learned there is much more to the gym
than most think. Following exercise plans set by others is a common misstep;
individual fitness plans are the key to individual success. People cannot rely on the
success of others to guide them in the pursuit of personal goals. For example, Albert
Einstein found his key to success was napping and when he awoke the answer
would come to him; is that to say we should take naps when the going gets tough?
My senior year of high school I was in the throes of infatuation with fitness. I
had just finished my first ever Crossfit competition where I placed third and the
feeling of achievement was overwhelming. I loved everything about the gym and
being fit but I had a history of bouncing around several areas of exercise. I regularly
lifted weights and ran to get better at lacrosse; I did the same to train for my
lifeguarding test, the same to get better at Crossfit and the same to enter into
bodybuilding. Having 20/20 hindsight, I can see the ineffectiveness of generic
weight lifting and running to achieve goals on opposite ends of the physical fitness
spectrum. In order to more fully grasp the concept that individual fitness plans are
more successful than the run of the mill steroid hungry bodybuilder plan, personal
experience will be shed to aid the acquisition of my argument: contrary to popular
belief.
I began the pursuit of a national personal training certification May of 2012
and have learned a lot since then. To date, I am still pursuing the certification after
having read up on methods, techniques and supplements that are supposedly
optimizing performance for those who wish to use them. What most don’t
understand is that there is no mold for success; it’s as unique as our fingerprints. If
there were a mold, the uniformity in society would be sickening, success would lose
its covetousness and the hard work mentality would be lost to a placated set of
instructions for anybody to follow.
In order to fulfill the goals of a bodybuilder many factors come into play. The
goals of these men include hypertrophy and hyperplasia, the growth of muscle
tissue and creation of new muscle tissue (2013, Pearlman). Ronnie Coleman, eighttime Mr. Olympia, offers his keys to success to anybody who wishes to follow his
program. He divulges his daily routine to exquisite detail, just shy of over-
explicating. The elements he lays out seem attainable and reasonable, yet why isn’t
everybody who tries his program successful? It lacks individuality. Ronnie finds
motivation from loud grunts and screams and digs deep to effortlessly move
hundreds of pounds in opposition to gravity. The reserved and introverted
mailroom assistant, seeking to build muscle, who no one has heard speak more than
a gentle greeting or soft valediction is incapable of replicating such actions.
Most may ask why someone would even embark on such a task and it leads
to the question of why do we like fitness? For some it’s the excuse to flex and
exhaust the use of every mirror they encounter, for others they find the challenge a
conducive use of their time and for others a mistaken sense of manliness comes
from making a lot of noise in a room with heavy objects. From personal experience I
have seen all too often people in it for the wrong reasons. The over-zealous
narcissist who purchases a membership to a room with mirrors that happen to have
weights in it is the epitome of who shouldn’t be pursuing fitness. In addition, the
steroid hungry Napoleon with the oversized truck, muscles and ego is the most
insecure, and give new guys the hardest time. Steroids defeat the purpose of the
honest competition of you vs yourself. Now it is you vs. yourself vs. hundreds of
dollars of synthetically produced hormones and hypodermic needles. For all intents
and purposes we’ll stick to the average Joe.
Because the average Joe doesn’t want to race Usain Bolt for fun, or out-lift
Hercules himself, he needs a reasonable fitness plan to suit him. Most seem to have a
tomorrow complex where all of there needs and desires will be fulfilled tomorrow –
not now because I’m tired and just don’t feel like moving – but tomorrow. For the
few and proud that make it in workouts from Rocky, and Fight Club seem to be the
go to. Expectations are set way too high so coming up short is inevitable. It is OK to
not know what you’re doing, as long as you have the will to try and the desire to
learn no one can stop you from starting a healthy regiment. Starting small is the only
way to go when looking to change a lifestyle.
Now that a movement to become healthier and fit has been set in motion,
that movement will tend to stay in motion. Small reasonable goals should be set in
accordance with most personal training programs. About fifteen minutes of cardio
and thirty minutes of weight lifting is all anybody really needs to begin a generic
workout routine. However, personal goals are where the complexity is brought into
play. Muscle building has its own protocols, as does power lifting, as does endurance
training as does really any aspect of fitness. The only one who dictates what course
of action that is best is you. Establish your goals and align a personalized fitness
plan to attain it. Whether you employ a personal trainer, or do research on your
own; paving your own way is the only way to get where you want.
Pick and choose your style of exercise from different people that you find
successful. Sample the methods of those you admire most. Try out their different
methods and choose which combination works best, but is still a challenge. Track
your results; as long as progress is being made you are a step in the right direction. I
can say I reached for the bodybuilding build as well as the slim functional physique
of a crossfit athlete and am happy where I stand. It wasn’t until I realized that
following wasn’t the best approach; pioneering my own frontier got me here.