No Brain, No Gain

I have come to a single conclusion. . . I need to write a book on fitness.

What? It's true.

Walk into any bookstore in the United States (and, most likely, Canada) and you will find an entire section of books devoted to making everyone fit, healthy, strong, and generally gorgeous. There are diets from the sensible to the absurd, weight training routines that are supposed to make anyone look like Conan the Barbarian, and fitness routines that are a melding of martial arts and dance that, in all honesty, I truly wonder about.

And, yet, we are a nation of obesity. Obesity is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., with approximately 60 million people considered obese (Body Mass Index >30) and approximately 9 million extremely obese (BMI >40). Once again, though, I have to wonder how true those facts are since, not that long ago, I also saw an article about how the BMI index is inaccurate, as it does nothing to distinguish between lean body weight (muscle) and fat. In fact, it doesn't even consider clothing.

I wear, on average, around 5 pounds of clothing, not including my shoes. This is jeans, shirt, and whatever is in my pockets or on my belt (wallet, keys, cell phone, spare change, etc.). At home, weighing myself in lighter attire, I am not considered overweight by the BMI index (though it is only by a narrow margin). At the doctor's office, they do not even require me to take off my shoes to be weighed so, there, I am overweight (BMI = 25.8).

Needless to say, I have little confidence in medical science's ability to gauge my health by such tenuous means.

I do believe there is a problem, however. It's hard to not see it. We live in a country where the meat of another animal has become a condiment (i.e., "I'll take my half-pound burger with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and BACON!!"). There are greasy, fast-food places on every corner and, quite frankly, our society is not exactly a model of self-control.

I am not here, today, to take a 'holier-than-thou' attitude on the matter. Far from it, I am here to set the record straight. I am NOT an expert, nor am I a certified personal trainer or nutritionist. I am an average being with above-average knowledge of the subject of fitness because of one reason, alone:

I acknowledge that no two people are exactly alike.

Everyone is different. This fact seems to escape all the 'gurus' and 'experts' who write these books. People buy their collective works as though they are the Word from On High, but what works for one person, or even a sizable group, is not guaranteed to work for the average person. I have, over the years, picked up a large number of fitness magazines, all claiming to have the best workouts for muscle mass, or diets for fat-burning, and I've tried a few, now and again. Have they all worked? No. Have some of them worked? No.

Now, don't get me wrong; there was a lot of helpful information in those articles, but just not all at once. I follow fitness guidelines for myself that is a hybridization of all of the knowledge I've accumulated over the years since high school, and I've made it work for me. I weight train four days a week, run at least a mile on the other days, and throw in Tai Chi as often as I can. It works for me. Will it work for you? Probably not. Remember, everyone is different.

My point, through all this ranting, is that the human body is an amazing machine. If you exert yourself, physically, on a regular basis using common sense, you will improve your health. If you are mindful of what you eat and lay off of the garbage food, you will lose weight or, at least, maintain a healthy weight. For some people, losing weight could be as simple as cutting out soft drinks. For others, medical intervention could be required. Carb-free diets and all-liquid meals are fads that come and go and, quite frankly, should be left alone.

If you are concerned about your weight, you should talk to your doctor. No magazine or book or DVD knows you like he or she does. Doctors aren't all about the prescriptions; they may have a good, simple plan for you to follow. Besides, you should see your doctor for a physical before starting any workout regimen, so you're going to be there, anyway.

Remember, it's our duty as good citizens to live as long as we can, just to keep the Social Security people totally confounded.