Eric Anderson
Eric has been a fitness enthusiast for 31 years. His diverse background has seen him write and lecture on a variety of topics, and now he gets to write about something he has always loved - fitness.
Eric explores a variety of fitness topics and sorts out the good from the bad information, then strings it into an understandable story.
He has spoken to university students, Fortune 500 corporations and fitness associations on “A healthy way to healthy” and “The Financial ROI from Fitness.”
The holy grail of fitness – or anything for that matter - seems to be getting from thinking about doing something to actually doing it.
Now, if you think about why you started something in your life, there are probably only a few key reasons why (or why not in this case).
The following three reasons are what I see most. Yes, there are some critical exceptions, but be honest with yourself – you're the only one that needs to know.
The answer to "how to start into fitness" can be found within what we have already proven to ourselves, over and over again, which is: "What we are doing instead of exercise that brings us happiness?"
It was not an easy conclusion for them to arrive at.
Early in 2015, Flaman Fitness loaned a Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE home gym and a TC20 TreadClimber to a 4thyear University of Saskatchewan College of Kinesiology class.
In the mid-1990s I lived in La Jolla, California and worked in the entertainment industry.
You have our official approval to walk, run, or workout while watching TV - please present this item to all whom doubt you! Heck, you can even do it in your living room, bedroom, den, garage, wherever you have a TV. You can even use your PVR to record your favourite shows or use Netflix and binge on a new series. Go ahead! You're approved. Fitness is not some sacred event that requires your total concentration – it will not be spoiled by watching TV. You can even watch a show on 'how to deep fry foods' – it won't hurt you. It's OK.
A lot of food guides and nutrition labels are well intended, but they are sort of like showing a person the alphabet and then expecting them to read a book. They've forgotten the "how" portion of things. It's also like trying to learn to swim from reading a book – it leads to a lot of disasters. Or it's like saying "Win games and then you win championships." But how do you win the games?
The simple truth that people constantly try to avoid is "you can't out run your fork." Yes, your fork is an incredibly powerful device that can easily destroy any amount of time spent, in any gym, doing any exercise, for any amount of time. It's all about calories taken-in by eating vs. calories burned or used by doing something. Too many calories in and not enough out – you gain weight; more calories out than in, you lose weight.
When it comes to fitness and body-type, some advertising has had a negative impact on male self-image. As an example, let's look at an ad that ran in the back of almost every comic book I read while growing up. Given it was in comic books for decades, it was targeting teen-aged or younger boys. It focused on what you needed to look and act like to be "a man." Looking like "the world's most perfectly developed man" was the goal.
The human body has evolved over millions of years to do things in certain ways – ways that enabled people to survive. In a process commonly referred to "natural selection," those with abilities and attributes best suited to the environment lived or reproduced more, those less suited died or reproduced less.
What ever happened to normal? We seem to have two-species of humans evolving, which has implications for those wanting to get into shape, those heading towards it or maintaining it.