Six Steps To Superfit
- Becoming your best self -
The Journey Begin
When it comes to fitness 
its very hard not to immediately look to Hollywood in awe of the inhuman, godlike physiques of people like Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt and the other Chris (Always forget his name). You see them and wonder how any mere mortal could attain such a gorgeous and lean body. The truth of it is, you can’t, or at least, you can’t through conventional means. That long running joke of a reason for these superhero aesthetics is that they train 6 hours a day and eat nothing but broccoli and chicken breast. Although, yes, they do train like crazy and eat clean, it is however, not the only reason they reach these lofty heights of Vitruvian perfection, unfortunately, they also get a “helping hand” in the form of special supplements. In reality without dedicating your whole life to it, you may never actually be able to mimic your favourite Hollywood hero, there are just too many variables at play and too many things that me and you don’t have access to. Not to mention, looking like that and having 10% body fat is not healthy and nearly impossible to maintain all year round. Even the finest bodybuilders in the world like the big man Bumstead himself can’t do that, nor would they recommend it. Here’s the good news though, you don’t have to!
At the end of the day, the real purpose of exercise should be to build up your health and performance. I can promise you now that if you focus on those aspects you will be far happier and feel more fulfilled by the outcome than if you were chasing some Hollywood pipe-dream. Not to mention the confidence that this kind of progress will lead to. We were once a highly active species, running, hunting, climbing and swimming. Modern living has hampered our physical capabilities, so now is your time to stop and turn back time. Following these seven simple steps will get you on the road to a longer and more active life. I mean simple too, exercise doesn’t have to be complicated, nor should it be boring!
Step 1: Get Moving!
Like I said, simple steps. Just like any journey, you can’t get to where you’re going until you actually get going! In this case it just means you need to start doing something, anything that gets you moving. Depending on your own personal goals and start-point, this could mean different things. Remember, it’s never too late to start training, so whether you’re large, small, young or old, get going and see where it gets you. Of course, I would recommend consulting your personal GP before starting any exercise, those guys know what they’re talking about, so listen to them. For me, it started with walking, moving into a slow jog eventually. On top of this try removing lazy habits from your life, take the stairs at work or walk instead of getting the bus to the shops. Even if you get the bus back, it’s still more than you would have done. As you go, it may initially feel draining, again, that is totally okay. That is just a sign that your body is using energy to repair itself and improve itself. You will get used to occasionally feeling this way. But it is worth it, because soon, you will start feeling more energised in the morning, maybe you’ll even start quickening your pace or extending your walks. Maybe you realise you can go further than last time and if it’s your goal, maybe you’ll be glad to start seeing a bit of a drop in weight!
Like I said before, exercise shouldn’t be complicated. Running and walking is always a good way to start, but other activities could be swimming, climbing, cycling or if you were wanting to try some more advanced stuff, callisthenics are a great way to build strength and cardio without the need for any equipment or gym memberships, especially if you’re looking for a bit more intensity. Whatever it is, as long as you’re moving, you’re improving. If you find that you haven’t got much time in the day, as most of us don’t, then fit it in where you can. I used to work with in-and-outs. Whenever you walk in and out of your kitchen/sitting room/bedroom/office door, do a small set of exercises, maybe some push-ups, sit-ups or squats (remember to check online to ensure you get the proper form to avoid injury). If you’re really struggling to find something that suits you, check YouTube. There are plenty of fitness experts on there with great routines for you to follow. For something to ease you in I’d recommend:
Or for those of you who want to challenge themselves:
Step 2: Make It Fun!
Now that you’re moving, you want to find a way to make it feel less like a chore and more like a hobby. You need to make sports fun for yourself, or you’ll lose that motivation quickly and before you know it you’re dragging your feet, reluctantly to the gym, sitting for 10 minutes in the changing rooms before deciding you don’t feel like it today and going home. Maybe that’s a specific example, but it’s something we all feel from time-to-time. That is, unless we make it fun for ourselves. There are few different ways to achieve this, so let’s go through them! The first and simplest solution is to try new things. Shake it up. If you’ve been doing nothing but running, try swimming a few days of the week, maybe do a day lifting weights and see what fits. There are enough exercises in the world to try something new every day. Maybe experiment with different sports, I’ve come to realise that as adults, we shy away from fun a little bit too much. How dare we do something so childish as enjoy ourselves? In reality, no other animal does this, so let your inner child take over a little. Stop caring about what people might think and enjoy yourself, no matter your age it’s always fun to climb a tree. While you’re at it, you might be surprised to find some like minded people, which leads me on to my next tip.
Find a group! Whether it’s a team or club dedicated to a specific sport or just a friend or two who want to get fit too, having someone there to keep you company can stop it from seeming like a drag. If you’re cheeky, you could maybe help give someone that little push to get started themselves. The other benefit of teaming up is that it may add an element of competition to your training. Healthy competition has been proven time and time again through countless studies such as this to improve your progress and prevent stagnation, it stops you from slacking off when you feel that urge to give up, so you don’t fall behind. Plus, competition can improve your testosterone production which improves your physical performance. This kind of friendly, competitive environment can improve your progress at a much faster rate than training alone.
The final way to keep things fun is to make it into a bit of a game. The Bioneer and Jaxblade both have a long catalogue of videos dedicated to working out and training like certain fictional characters like batman or your favourite anime heroes. Maybe looking like the exaggerated and unrealistic Hollywood “heroes” is not worth it, but you might be able to fight and think like Batman or power-up like your favourite anime character. Having a fun little goal like this can keep you moving and give you something to work towards at all times, pushing yourself to train and try different approaches without it feeling too much like hard work.
Step 3: Up The Intensity!
Now you’re having fun, it’s time to make sure we stay on track to self improvement. As mentioned before, you don’t want to stagnate. When it comes to working out, you always want to be trying to move forward. It becomes all too easy to start going backwards if you slow down too much, so keep on pushing your boundaries and trying to go harder than last time. You don’t have to go too crazy or go overboard on this, just enough to ensure you’re making progress. You’re still fairly early in your journey, so you do this fairly simply. Get used to trying to beat your previous time on the next walk/run session, maybe start trying to up your reps, increase the weight you’re lifting a little or make your training sessions a bit longer. No matter how you do it, you’ll always feel accomplished at the end of each day if you know you always do your best.
The Japanese way of Kaizen, is all about continual improvement. No matter where you are in life or what you’re doing, you can always find a way to improve and exercising is no different. At this point you’re very comfortable with exercising. You’ve been eating right, setting goals and are probably beginning to see and feel the change within yourself. This is great! 
It’s fantastic actually! But it has the potential to lead to you resting on your laurels. Getting too comfortable at this point could easily make someone complacent, which would only result in a dreaded backslide in progress. We don’t want that. So what you gonna do about it? Simple! You hold yourself to account each day and remind yourself that you always need to be trying your best. Of course you will sometimes hit plateaus in your progress, but that is not the end of the line. Keep on trying, change things up a bit and keep on pushing. You’ll break that plateau and keep climbing. Every time you exercise, treat it like you’re just starting out and attack the workout with enthusiasm.
Step 4: Fuel Right!
So this part can sometimes be the trickiest bit as everyone is completely different in terms of their nutritional needs and 
there is so much conflicting research that it’s sometimes near impossible to see what the best course of action is. I like to keep it as simple as possible and follow a few easy rules. First up, try and avoid fad diets. Each of them has their own benefits, but also bring with them their own draw backs and in some cases, can have a detrimental effect on you. Since they can be so hit and miss, I believe it’s best to just ignore them. You don’t want to be thinking that hard about food. I mean, eating is just a part of life, no point in making it too complicated. Which follows on to our next point, keep it simple.
So many foods we get today are highly processed and contain a litany of ingredients that can lead to a multitude of health problems. As explored in this food study. The answer to this is to make sure you cook things as fresh as possible, make it all from scratch when you can. It can be fun to work in the kitchen, get online and look up a few recipes, you’ll find a whole world of things for your taste buds to explore, eventually you’ll wonder why you ever wanted the processed junk you’re eating now. I understand again that it isn’t always convenient to eat home-cooked foods, but not all dishes have to take hours in the kitchen to make, Maybe look at having a dedicated cooking day to make all the weeks food in one afternoon, that way you won’t have to think about it.
Now, what should you be cooking. Overall, the modern diet contains too much fat, sugar and salt. It’s also been mentioned in articles like this that we consume too much meat a dairy. Perhaps we should look to our ancestors and see what their diets used to be or take inspiration from the Blue-zone diets explored here. The Blue-zones are areas in the world with the best life expectancy and it has been found that they all have several lifestyle choices in common with each-other, we won’t go into all of this today, but in terms of diet, it is common in these areas to consume high levels of fresh fruit, vegetables and grains as well as nuts and high polyphenol wine. They do sometimes have meat but in small portions, maybe once or twice a week. This diet provides their bodies with all of the energy and nutrients they need to live healthy and stay fit into old age. Maybe try giving it a go!
Step 5: Set Goals!
Now I am aware that you might expect to find this step much earlier in the process, but I like to leave until a little later. There isn’t much point in setting goals when you’re just starting out as it may be too overwhelming when you’re only getting used to being on the move. I find it better to wait until you find your feet, learn to enjoy it, get yourself in a good spot, then set a target as a more advanced way of pushing yourself. Having something to work towards can act as a way to prevent boredom and over time will give you a huge morale boost as you start approaching and hitting the targets you set. I started out by setting targets on my running times and managed to move from a 12 minute mile all the way down to a 6 minute mile by the end. You may not hit your target straight away, but every time you get a bit closer, you will feel this boost deep down and it makes you work harder next time.
Although it is good character building to get used to working through small failures to get a big win, you don’t want to set you sights too high right off the bat. The best way to set goals is to have one long term aim that you want to hit over the course of a larger time period, then set smaller targets to hit as you build up to your final goal. This way you can always feel your progress without becoming bored with a single big goal that takes too long to achieve. For example, when I set my 6 minute mile goal, I started by trying to shave a minute off of my time every few weeks until that become too difficult to achieve then moved to cutting down by 30 seconds. Over the course of about 7 months, I got there and it felt amazing. Something I didn’t originally do is set a reasonable date to achieve each milestone which is something I would wholeheartedly recommend as having the time constraint will push you even more, especially as the due date arrives. For example, it could be as simple as saying that every 2 weeks you will increase the distance you walk by a mile and then after that you can say you want to knock 1 or 2 minutes off that time by the end of the following month. Write it in your calender and off you go. It’s like a friendly competition with yourself and you’re also your own supporter.
Step 6: Experiment!
So at this point you’re very comfortable with exercise. You’re enjoying your new lease of life, doing whatever activity is keeping you happy and healthy. Now is the time to start broadening your horizons. You have built your fitness up a lot, you’re getting stronger and more confident, why not try something that you’ve always wanted to but never bothered. For me it was surfing and paddle-boarding. I only started them last summer and have fallen in love with both sports as both of them provide excellent benefits, from cardio and building strength in your upper body to increasing your balance and co-ordination which are things that you can make use of throughout your life. I’ll look to try more water sports this year, or maybe try something a little more extreme and different like snowboarding if the chance arises.
What I’m saying is: Become more adventurous! Start hiking, go camping out in the wilderness and enjoy wandering through
the hills and seeing and doing things that ‘you from a few months ago’ never would have dreamed. This is the true beauty in getting fit and healthy, you can begin t enjoy the world around you and explore new aspects of life and in some cases, it won’t cost you a penny. Whatever you do, be sure to stay safe and take all the necessary precautions, especially if it is something you are unfamiliar with, but other than that, the world is now your oyster. Keeping your body and mind strong opens up doors to places you won’t believe. The only thing that can hold you back now is your imagination. If you truly hit a brick wall, check out this list of the best new sports to try this summer. I’m sure something will catch your eye.
Keep on pushing!
At the end of the day, there is no easy quick fix to getting yourself to a fit and healthy place in life. Just like all good things, it takes time and effort to achieve. However, that doesn’t mean it has to be a struggle or that it is unachievable. It just means you need to keep chipping away in whichever way suits you best. Hopefully after reading this, you at least have a guide in your head so you know how you can tackle this and get yourself to where you want to be. At least having that path can help to make things clearer and less intimidating. That’s all from me for now, so stay safe and keep pushing. We can all make it together if we try. All you need to do is take that first step and before you know it, you’ll be living in a whole new world. I hope you enjoy the journey.