What's Right For Me? A Thoughtful Tip On How To Get Fit

There are of course many ways to achieve your dream physique, from simple cardio like long-distance running and team sports such as football or rugby, to disciplined martial arts practice or the tried and tested formula of lift, eat, sleep, repeat. There is no one right way though, at least not for everybody - that depends on your fitness goals. Perhaps you want to torch the belly fat away, maybe you want to put on mass for a buffer body, or you may just want to improve your cardiovascular fitness for the benefit of your health rather than just a bigger chest or more chiseled abs.

When beginning your fitness journey, choosing which path is for you can be a difficult decision, especially when you hear or read conflicting arguments claiming which activity is best to get to where you want to be. I too was confused when I started paying attention to my own health. I used to be one of the awkward academic ones who would accidentally on purpose forget my kit for P.E. I didn’t ever join a club or do any extra-curricular activities. For me, school was a place where in the six hour day I’d disappear into the shadows of more capable sportsmen and just keep my head down until the 3.15 home-time! Now though, I can cast as a big a shadow as any of my secondary school friends. Fitness changes you in every way, and now I stand tall with confidence which I never had before. You may presume that getting in shape will only change your exterior, but you’ll actually find that you gain a lot of self-respect and become a lot more confident on the inside too. 

All of this came in time though - time in which I spent a great deal just trying to figure out what exactly to do to get myself in shape. It started when I was about 15 and my older brother saw just how timid I was. He was a Royal Marine, so was having none of that! He took me to a local muay thai boxing gym and my life changed from that point on. It was the best thing my brother could have done for me. That gym wasn’t necessarily the start of my fitness addiction, as it was more of a causal once-a-week thing I did, but I certainly recognise it as what had spurred me on into the life I now lead - as something that made me appreciate fitness rather than shy away from it. I continued to practice muay thai for about 5 years, but never got into the cycle of a six-days-a-week workout that I’m now used to.

Now, I own more than a thousand pound’s worth of equipment in my parent’s garage! It started with a simple punch bag and speed rope to compliment the fitness I did at boxing, and slowly escalated until you couldn’t really call it a garage anymore but rather a home gym. I now own an agility ladder, resistance bands, a pull-up bar, a bench and an olympic weight set, and most recently have bought myself a huge set of dumbbells amounting to nearly 400 kilos. It’s fair to say working out is now an addiction for me. It’s almost too much equipment to know what to do with! But lifting weights, bodybuilding, getting bigger and stronger, that’s what my regime is all about now. There’s nothing like the pump you get from pushing 10 more pounds from the previous week or pulling another rep or two before failure. Some other fitness freaks may disagree, but as the boxing might suggest, it hasn’t always been that way for me either - I’ve tried out various ways to get fit, and the obsession began with Insanity, another home fitness programme.

For 30 gruelling days I challenged my body, and mind, more than I ever have before. With that programme, it wasn’t just about the workouts, it was about eating the right food and following a strict schedule - learning how to be disciplined and push yourself through plateaus, or say no to biscuits with your tea or even the standard two teaspoons of sugar! In fact, caffeine altogether, which I’ve since learnt to steer away from given its energy-boosting effects and subsequent disturbance of your sleeping pattern.

In essence, my point is that you need to identify what it is about yourself you want to change. Why is it you’re wanting to get fit? Is it simply because you can’t run a few paces before losing your breath and so want to improve your stamina? Or is it that you’re not happy with your weight and want to slim down? Or, it could even be the opposite. After boxing, Insanity and nothing but high intensity cardio, I found myself feeling like Captain America before he was injected with that super serum! I ended up disappointed with my scrawny body shape and so decided instead to bulk out and gain more mass, and maybe that’s what you want to do too. It’s no good saying you want to get fit and then immediately pay for a gym membership and go swimming the very next day or just hit the treadmill for a couple of hours. Think hard about what getting fit is all about for you, and then you can make the right decision about what type of routine will help you get there.