Today I am going to sound an alarm that I hope is
heard throughout the world.
I’ve written many times about the benefits of hill sprints – as well
as sprints in general. I’ve written about rope skipping and
swimming.
But … what if you’re 75-150 to 250 pounds overweight. Or what
if you’re the typical sedentary American who sits before the
boob tube and/or the computer all day long.
This is the reality for more and more Americans. Go into
Walmart sometime and you’ll know what I mean. Big fat,
puffy, super-sized lardassian Americans – eating themselves
into the grave.
Physically lazy, inactive, tee-vee addicted, ipod crazed, cell-
phone zapped Americans.
Our fat bodies are the laughing stock of the world and
we’ve got to do something about it.
Everyone worries about the Iranians and their nukes. But what
about the nuclear weapons we see slugging along on two gout
infected feet?
I tell you – a lot of people are so doggone fat they look like they’re
the ones that are going to explode – not the weapons everyone is so
afraid of.
What to do?
Well, for starters, get off your arse and MOVE.
Start with some long-distance walking and the calisthenics and
breathing exercises in Combat Conditioning and Combat Abs.
Now, bear in mind something: When I talk walking, I’m talking
about a minimum of 30 minutes a day, outdoors – not on a
treadmill.
I’m talking about walking at a moderate pace. I’m talking about
walking in a way that your heart rate is not elevated into the
so-called ‘cardio zone.’
In short, just get out there and walk. Walk in the morning.
Walk in the evening.
If you’re a total couch or computer slug you may have to start
with a minute just to get started. But eventually you must do
30 minutes in the a.m. and 30 minutes in the evening.
And once this gets easy, you go to an hour in the early
morning and an hour at night.
Again, this sort of walking is not brisk. It is not fast. It
is at a moderate pace.
Why? Because you have a lot of lard to burn off and hard,
hard cardio will only stimulate more hunger because instead
of burning off flab, you’re burning off glycogen. The higher
intensity training doesn’t hit the problem.
I trained a lady back in Santa Cruz, CA, in the late 1980’s
and early 1990’s. Her name was Judy. Truth is, she came to train with
me for the
higher-intensity stuff AFTER dropping 150 pounds.
I asked her how she did it. Her answer is what I have just
given. She walked her ass off, morning and night. And she
spent time everyday visualizing how she wanted to look. She
created a NEW self-image. An image of a woman who was fit
and healthy and comfortable in her body.
After she dropped the pounds from walking, she came in
for some vigorous training.
Now, lest you think ’tis a woman’s routine’ I just gave you,
think again.
After hearing this lady’s story, I had a client come to me, his name
was Sean, and he
weighed 400 pounds. He was a very big man.
I started him on deep breathing exercises, some light
calisthenics and walking.
When I left California in 1999, he was down to 140 pounds.
I encourage walking and do it myself. But I don’t do it or
encourage it so much for the ‘cardio.’ I encourage it
because of the time you get alone to move and picture
how you want to look and feel.
Walking clears the mental cobwebs. It opens your mind
and gives your body a form of exercise that is natural,
powerful and invigorating.
I have many different walking routines. Some are
vigorous. Others are strenuous. But my personal
favorite still remains just plain old walking at a
moderate pace combined with deep breathing and
visualization.
Regardless of your fitness level – I’m betting you’ll
feel the recharging power of a good walk.
Go do it. Then get on the Royal Court from Combat
Conditioning and the Magnificent Seven from Combat
Abs – http://www.mattfurey.com/products.html
Kick butt – take names,
P.S. If you want to know how to combine your exercise
with the self-image visualizations I referred to above, then