A buddy of mine introduced me to his friend the other day. You couldn’t really miss this lady. Joan was definitely physically striking, with what most people would consider a perfect body. She was wearing a summer dress and you couldn’t help notice the perfect feminine muscle tone of her arms and back – she simply exuded health and vitality. More importantly, she was absolutely charming and just a pleasure to chat with.
We were at my friend’s restaurant and it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to food and then to fitness. Joan loved to eat, loved to workout and kept very busy trying to take care of her two infant sons. She described her workouts and the “cardio” program her trainer had recently put her through. This cardio exercise consisted of water skiing and wake boarding, beach volleyball, and just splashing around in the water swimming. There was no real time limit, these were just the activities her trainer put her and a small group of other ladies through daily during their previous week of training. They loved every second of it. She told us how “it was so much fun”. This guy also had the ladies doing short, intense bouts of resistance training with free weights a few times per week on an ongoing basis. Prior to all of this though, he had changed their dietary philosophies for the better.
When she told me who her trainer was I quickly realized why she loved working out and why she looked so great. I know him and he’s a fantastic personal trainer. He’s also a really nice guy, former Olympic athlete and I completely agree with all of his philosophies. He goes against the grain relative to workout regimens broadly prescribed in the fitness industry. I think the biggest difference with respect to the results his clients achieve is that they actually pass a finish line. Most people struggle with these issues, lost in confusion and effort, never achieving their physical goals. With this trainer though, there is no carrot and stick, just enlightenment. His clients actually reach their goals and are able to just maintain their great condition permanently. Joan was a perfect example.
I strongly believe the key is to introduce people to the basic physiological truths behind diet, exercise, and building muscle. Having a person fully understand the simple unity between all three areas and then applying them always delivers success. The key seems to be the successful explanation and then comfortable exposure to these principles. People then experience success without hardship, pain or sacrifice. The benefits always highly outweigh the costs. They soon become autonomous and are able to control their own physical destiny for good.
Joan reminded me of one of the ladies who started at my gym about a year ago. That was the first time she ever did free weight strength training exercises. Recently, she approached me with a question. Her dilemma was what to do now? She explained that she was now squatting, dead-lifting and bench pressing well over her body weight for repetitions. Her body had responded very well over the previous year and she had quickly become very strong. Like Joan, she couldn’t look much better. She is a physically stunning girl, tall, lithe and gorgeous.
My strong suggestion was to simply get out of the gym and do other physical activities that she really enjoyed. After a break from the gym, and to maintain her excellent condition and tone, I suggested one or two workouts per week at the most. I also suggested that she take off a week or even a month every now and then to do other stuff she liked. She had no plans on changing her dietary philosophy which was seminal to getting her into such great shape and health. Much like Joan, she too had achieved permanent control over her physical state.
In our conversation, Joan had also lamented, “I wonder, where do I go from here?” She had read in a fitness magazine that for her height and weight she should be at 12% body fat and that perhaps she should try and attain that. My buddy and I looked at her and just laughed. We knew very well that there was no additional “traffic she could stop”. She was already “turning every head” in the room. In other words, she shouldn’t give something as inconsequential as a body fat percentage a second thought. The mirror, her radiant health and vitality and anyone who laid eyes on her told her everything she needed to know. We strongly suggested that she simply maintain her healthy diet and active lifestyle and ENJOY HER LIFE! (Including taking occasional time away from the gym and enjoying cheesecake every now and then)
So, from a practical standpoint, both of these ladies had quite obviously “arrived”. No one I know would question it if they were told that either one of them had posed for Playboy. Regarding getting as toned, lean and healthy as possible – they had demonstrably achieved permanent victory. They had won.