No One Cares... But Bust Butt Anyway

“It is a sore thing to have labored along and scaled the arduous hilltops, and when all is done, find humanity indifferent to your achievement.”

--Robert Louis Stevenson

 

          The harsh reality is… no one cares. No one cares about your fitness journey. No one cares about how much weight you’ve lost. No one cares if you’ve shattered a personal record yesterday. As you continue down your road of self-improvement, it is human nature to share your accomplishments. You managed to run that mile, master that exercise, or conquer that fear. You think, “This is something to be proud of! I am becoming a better me!” We go to our favorite social media outlets for validation of our progress. You get some likes and some words of encouragement. But secretly, people hate you for your success. It doesn’t mean that all your friends are jerks. Again, it is basic human nature.

          Psychologists will explain that a person’s success holds up a mirror to the other person and reminds them of what they could be if they walked the same path. It reminds them of how they have come up short. And people hate to be reminded of their failures.

          But the other extreme can be equally demoralizing. Case in point, there is this guy I graduated high school with. On a Facebook video, I watched him bench press 400 pounds. That is more than I can squat! There is always going to be someone out there that is stronger than you, smarter than you, richer than you, faster than you, better looking than you, funnier than you… There are going to be people that you will try to measure up with and you will never be good enough.

          When you see someone bench 400 pounds, you don’t ask things like: How long have you been training? Is he in the gym twice a week or twice a day? There are all sorts of factors that you will never know. We don’t see the failures, the injuries, the setbacks, the research, or the techniques that didn’t work out… We just see the highlight reel.

          Reading this right now, you might feel a little down in the dumps. “So, Ryan, you are telling me that no one cares if I lose weight, secretly they hate me for it, and there is always going to be someone out there better and stronger than me?” Yep, pretty much.

          “So why even do it?” Well, my friend, you do it because it is the right thing to do.  

          I’ve said openly on here I want to look good naked but I am the only one that sees me naked. Sure, I want to be ready if my relationship with Katy Perry takes off but for some reason that hasn’t happened yet. Part of me thinks that I should compile all these essays into a book and publish it… but no one will ever read it. I see the analytics on how many “page views” this blog gets. (Hi, both of you!) If no one will read it, if it doesn’t sell, if my improvement is not recognized, and if no one cares, why do it? Why waste my time? Why even train in the first place?

          The answer? Because it makes me happy. Because it is the right thing to do.  

          I lift weights to make me healthy, so I can feel good about myself. I don’t lift weights to impress the ladies. If that happens to occur, that is just icing on the cake. But if that is your sole reason, when you figure out the ladies don’t care or you see that guy bench pressing twice what you are capable of, your motivation wanes. If you are doing it to impress your significant other, when the breakup occurs you won’t do it anymore. It is the same thing with motivation. Anyone can work hard when the gym is full. Can you work hard when the gym is empty? When there are no eyes on you, when there are no accolades, no nods of approval, can you go just as hard or harder?

          I lift weights it because it is turning me into a weapon. Granted, I am a sword that will never be pulled from its sheath but it doesn’t matter. I hated who I was before. I like who I am becoming. I enjoy the research. I enjoy seeing what this process is sculpting me in to (regardless of how slow). And if people don’t care or don’t like me, it doesn’t bother me because I am the only person that I am on this journey with. Friends move, marriages divorce, parents die, kids get old. I am the only one in this life with me until the very end. So if you are your only co-pilot, you better like who that person is. Life is sweeter that way.

          And if it is the right thing to do, you do it. Praise or no praise, you do it because all that hard work is making you a better person. And that is its own reward.

 

“It’s far better when doing good work is sufficient. In other words, the less attached we are to outcomes the better. When fulfilling our own standards is what fills us with pride and self-respect. When the effort—not the results, good or bad—is enough.”

–Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

Elevating Your Heart Rate to Maximize Fat Loss

           The goal of any exercise program is to elevate your heart rate. The more intense your program, the more your body is screaming to get blood and oxygen pumped into those muscles. Your body is burning calories and that is attributing to your weight loss. So, how hard do you need to work to get to that fat burning stage? Let’s use a little math to figure things out.

           You want to figure out your Max Heart Rate which is 220 minus your age. For me, as a 41 year old, that means my Max Heart Rate is 179. Now, generally speaking, the zone where you are hitting the “fat burn” is 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. I only learned this after I had been wearing a heart rate monitor for a few of my workouts but this is a learning process for me too.

           I try to register my heart rate after most sets. Do a set of Bench Presses, check the rate. Do some Seated Cable Rows, check the rate. On average my heart rate was floating in the high 130s. Occasionally I would see a spike over 140 if the weight was really heavy and I was straining really hard. So I break out the calculator… 70% of 179 is 125. 60% of 179 is only 107. This means that if I can maintain a heart rate between 107 and 125 beats, I am burning fat.

           Considering when I would check my heart rate and I was never dropping below 130, that means I am doing awesome! And how do I sustain this heart rate? The key lies in Circuit Training (aka Antagonistic Sets). For just a brief refresher course, Antagonistic Sets are two exercises that complement each other. If you do an Overhead Shoulder Press, you then immediately do a Lat Pulldown afterward. You are not just waiting around to shake off that fatigue. You could even throw in a third exercise, something ancillary like a Dumbbell Calf Raise or a Forearm Dumbbell Raise. All that strain keeps the heart rate elevated, which means you are burning more calories.

           So how much of a difference does this strategy make? If you log into the My Fitness Pal app and log “Strength Training” as a cardiovascular activity, it will ask you how long did you work out? If you punch in 60 minutes, the base amount of calories they estimate is 331 calories.

           I recently asked a friend of mine that is a runner. She tracks her runs via Nike’s app. She said that an hour run at a 5 mile per hour pace, will burn her approximately 530 calories. Obviously, the more you run and the more frenetic the pace, the more you will burn but who can sprint for an hour?

           Meanwhile, using circuit training and minimal reps… My calculations show that 1 hour in the gym nets me 900 calories burned. Let me stress that. 900 calories. That is basically two meals. At first I thought something was wrong. But like they say, once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. As of this research, I can consistently get to 900 calories in an hour’s worth of work.

           Now, that is not to say that you can just stroll in, go about a standard milk run workout, and expect 900 calories to melt away. I clang and bang. I don’t socialize. I put my headphones on and I go to mutha humpin’ work. The other regulars know once my headphones go I on, I get into my zone very quickly. My music is loud and I stay focused. I am not strolling about in between sets. I am not hitting on the chicks. I am there to work. To paraphrase the immortal Rowdy Roddy Piper, I am there to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.

           I think there is a reason why medical science is proving that resistance training is superior to straight cardio when it comes to weight loss and the evidence is clear. 530 calories burned running versus my 900 calories burned while pushing iron. I have said it before and I will say it again. Sure, I could run on the treadmill but who jumps off the treadmill and flexes their thighs in triumph? But I can get done and hit a Double Front Biceps pose and feel pride in my accomplishments. 

Materiam Superabat Opus

          Here a while back, you may have seen the trend on social media involving the “Love Your Spouse” challenge where you are supposed to post pictures of your spouse to show how much you love them. I read an article on how one person refused to take part in the challenge because it is a glorification of the “highlight reel.”

          Let’s think about selfies for a moment. How many do you take and swipe through before you find that perfect one? Do you flip through them saying, “Ugg, my eyes are droopy in this one. Don’t like my smile in that one. Well, I guess in this one I don’t look as fat…” You can then go through and do color corrections and apply filters and do all this stuff to make that picture look amazing. And then you post the selfie and wait for the “Likes” to start rolling in. I am not going to say that it is fake but it’s not exactly 100% real either. It’s a highlight reel.

Me at 243 pounds

           I am not pointing fingers here because I do the same thing. Here, just to show I am not blowing smoke… This is one of my most recent “gym selfies.” I use an old boudoir photography trick. My hips are always turned 45-degrees away from the camera with my front leg bent slightly and then I twist so that my shoulders are squarely facing the camera. This slims and tapers the waist. Go ahead, try it in the mirror, you will see what I am talking about.

           Don’t get me started on the “Facebook Fishers.” We all know that person. They throw out vague statements with no explanation just so they can get all those “keep your head up, girl” comments to validate their self-worth.

          I feel life is one big balancing act. It is a razor’s edge that we have to walk. You cannot love yourself so much that you become egomaniacal but you cannot hate yourself so much that you sink into hopelessness. You don’t want to be a braggadocio but you cannot be all “I am such a worthless peon” either. Remember, confidence is one of the sexiest things on the planet.

           Now, just so I am not a highlight reel hypocrite, allow me now to shine a light so you can see my imperfections. Over two years ago, I started FURYAN STRENGTH. If you haven’t read through this whole thing, the name is derived from Vin Diesel’s RIDDICK film series where Furyans are some of the baddest mammer-jammers in the galaxy. I had no idea what I was doing and I built this program from the ground up through research, study, and good old fashioned trial and error.

           I had very specific goals when I started. I had found my “why.” The truth is I hated my physical appearance. I was tired of being overweight. I told myself that I wanted to cut a striking figure when I walked my little girl down the aisle. I wanted to be physically attractive. Women can say all they want about how they want a guy that makes them laugh but I’ve never heard women swoon over the latest Adam Sandler movie trailer but let a sequel for MAGIC MIKE get announced… 

           Through this, I’ve dropped weights, injured my ankle, smashed fingers, been on the verge of vomiting, and even shed an occasional tear. Not kidding about that last one. I’ve consulted trainers, spent countless hours on websites, and I even weigh my food. But this struggle has made me a better person.   I have had people tell me that I am doing a great job and I am thankful but ego is the enemy.

          In all of my training, I have made it a dedicated task to stay humble. I still see all my flaws, probably more than any other person ever would. I know this because here a while back I was basically felt up and molested by an aggressive woman and rather than feel my head inflate with pride as she was squeezing my muscles, I was embarrassed for the praise…

          I am not where I want to be yet and the only way I can get there is through hard work. There is no magic pill, no special drink, no shortcuts. I have to clang and bang and sweat and curse and cry. You have to hate to elevate.

           But in doing so, it also makes me a modest teacher. I’ve given my program to several people when they asked me. It is this blog you are reading here. And just last week, I was answering a question for a trio of ladies picking up weights for the first time. I was happy to help because I wish I had a mentor to guide me at that phase. (Did you know how to target the three different delts for nice rounded shoulders?) They told me, “Maybe if we keep this up, we will get to look like you.” I responded so quickly, it was just instinct, “You all need to elevate your standards.”

           Humility. Humility in the face of praise. Humility makes you bust your ass. You have to believe that you are good enough. You have to believe that you CAN do it. But once you start believing that you have achieved it and that you are great, you’ve lost. You lose that hunger. Your aspiration dips. You start believing your own hype. I seem to recall a certain movie title ROCKY III that was built around this entire concept. The antidote for this poison is iron.

          Iron is the great equalizer. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your pride. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your hype. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your ego. 200 pounds is 200 pounds. Lift it or don’t. Iron will humble you faster than anything and despite how far you have come, it will remind you how far you have to go.

          And when your resolve is wavering, remember this. Materiam superabat opus. The workmanship was better than the material.  Imagine a martial arts master that has climbed the ranks. The more he learns the more he realizes how deadly he truly is, so the more he learns the less apt he is to use what he knows because he knows how bad he can mess someone up.

          All that hard work you put in will transforms you and not just physically. If you stay humble and stay hungry, you become a teacher. You will be supportive of the novice that is nervous walking into the gym for the first time. You will become inspiration for those that are struggling, offering praise and encouragement. But if you let your ego run unchecked and start believing your own hype, you become that arrogant guy strutting about in a barely there tank top. Free advice, kids. No one likes that guy.

          Now take this lesson and apply to aspects in your life: job, family relationships, whatever. Ego is your enemy. You’ve still got a lot to learn. Stay humble in all things. Now, go forth and do likewise.