I always enjoyed playing sports like basketball and
baseball. In my teens, I would occasionally wander into the weight room at the
local YMCA, but never with any sense of direction or purpose. Like many, the
freedom of college paved the way for soda for breakfast and onion rings for
desert. Needless to say, my lack of physical activity paired with uninformed
food choices resulted in a body that I didn’t recognize in the mirror. Twenty
years into my life, I decided I wanted to do something to change the pasty and pudgy
guy I had become (spoiler alert- I’m still pasty).
Having no idea where to start, and too stubborn and
embarrassed to anybody for advice, I did what any child of the 90's would do…I
bought the 8-Minute Abs video. It’s hilarious, but that tape was my gateway
drug to fitness. Aside from the fantastic spandex unitards, the video
allowed me to try exercises privately. The tape was actually longer than eight
minutes, and included body parts beyond the abs. While I didn’t get a washboard
stomach, or even notice a difference in my appearance, working out at home made
me comfortable with the concept of exercise. It was an important incremental
first step.
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| Pictured above: The convict-inspired onesie is a timeless look. |
After spending a summer break flailing on my mom’s living
room floor doing crunches, I realized I was ready for something different. I
found Bill Phillips’ Body-for-Life book and was exposed to basic nutrition
strategies paired with a structured full body resistance training program.
After 12-weeks of following the program to a T, I knew I would never return to
the days of junk food sporadic exercise. There are a million and one programs
like Body-for-Life out there today, and I would guess that most of them work if
you stick with them.
I like to reflect on how I get hooked on exercise, because
it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that I was a helpless newbie not all that
long ago. If you spend any time surfing the internet for fitness information
you’ll quickly find out that gym culture can be odd and uninviting. If I had a
penny for every time a bro in the weight room rolled their eyes at the puny dumbbells
I struggled lifting, I’d be able to buy eight more 8-Minute Abs tapes. As I
became more comfortable with exercise, I found myself conforming to the
stereotype. Instead of helping the person struggling to figure out how to use a
particular piece of equipment, I would chuckle at their ignorance. In a brief
period of time, I had forgotten the pudgy kid struggling to do three minutes of
the 8-Minute Abs VHS.
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| Newbie |
I tell this story for a few reasons. First, fitness geeks
like me need to be more inviting to beginners. Nobody was born knowing what to
do in a weight room, and we were all helpless newbies at one point. Every
January people complain about the influx of new gym goers trying to stick with
their New Years’ resolutions. Instead of complaining about
having to wait an extra 30 seconds for your prized weight machine,
try doing something to make an unfamiliar face feel more welcome at the gym. Be
an ambassador, not an elitist.
Second, there is no right
way to begin to your fitness journey. If you can afford it, personal training
can be a good first step. For me, beginning in the privacy of my own home
helped me feel more comfortable with the basics. If you’re looking for
something more modern than Jane Fonda tapes, the OnDemand section of basic
cable actually has some good workouts and yoga instruction. My only real advice
is try to do something, no matter how small, to make yourself better each day.
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