Fast and Furious Fitness

All,

These days the media pressure to “conform” to a certain body type is relentless. For men, the onus (I should say “sh-onus”, if you get my drift!) is on the “super lean, ripped to the bone, gleaming muscles; whether or not the muscles are actually strong matter not, and an abnormally low body fat content amongst others). For women, the super-skinny/bony/bulimic look seems to be the “in-thing”.

I mean, when was the last time you saw folks commenting on a solidly built guy walking down the street (and I’m not talking an unnatural bodybuilder look) as compared to your latest “fitness model”, or “eight pack 0% movie star” as compared to a regular, fit guy with normal levels of body fat and a not-so-steriod laden look?

Which should YOU be?

Well, I’m not you, so I can’t speak for you - but, I’ll speak for myself. Personally, I much prefer the natural look vs the abnormally (in my opinion), “ripped” to the bone look that comes from following unnatural weight/dieting regimes.

The natural, “solid” look (which comes from following routines such as the ones detailed here) is far better in my opinion because of both health, and fitness reasons.

Healthwise, the almost 0% body fat look is simply NOT healthy, and is NOT natural. Ask any doctor, and they’ll tell you the same thing. In addition, what you have to do in order to make your body look like that is definitely NOT healthy for you either. For instance, Stallone had that look in the Rambo movies, but he’s the first one to admit (on his website if I’m not mistaken) that the training regimen/eating routines he followed during that period were most unhealthy, and NOT recommended for anyone. In fact if I remember right, he also said that his body “cannibalized” itself during that phase (I’m paraphrasing here).

Think about that. Your own body eating itself up - how healthy is that? Ouch, to say the least. . .

In addition, these unnatural training regimens do absolutely nothing to make you fit. Show me 10 guys with “eight packs” and I’ll show ya nine who’d flop on their stomach if asked to bang out 20 slow extended arm pushups. Show me supermodels, and 99.99% of the time, I’ll show you someone with an eating disorder.

Strength wise, I’ll take a solidly built person any day. Many reasons behind this, but the #1 reason is that working out naturally such as with the routines I advocate, and eating naturally tends to give one a naturally strong look. Ever heard the expression “strong as a bear”? Well it’s true - and bears don’t have 0% body fat, do they?

Last, but not least, I am not advocating walking around with huge bellies, and hanging pectorals. NO. If your naturally the “eight pack” guy, then go for that as well. My point simply being, be HEALTHY - and strive for HEALTH, rather than the “look”, and, do it the natural way. Your body will thank you for it.

So there’s my opinion on that. Of course, if you still prefer the “ripped” look - I have no objections whatsoever and neither would it make a difference if I did. But, my only advice to you would be to pay heed to what I say before passing judgment - if you so choose to.

All for now. As always, get FIT - FAST!

Rahul

PS: Have kids? Here are some routines you can encourage your teenager to adopt - they’ll work far better than starving to get the “eight pack” look.