“Physical fitness can neither be acquired by wishful thinking nor by outright purchase.”
The idea of starting, and sticking, to an exercise regime can seem daunting and intimidating. The perceived looks and glances of judgement from complete strangers can be the difference between people heading out for a run or sitting on their couch for another episode of some mind-numbing series on Netflix. But what if your life depended on it?
Hot tip. It does.
Benefits of running for men
The benefits of physical fitness and cardiovascular health are well known and even more well-advertised in all of our media. The fact there are still people, men in particular, that are leading sedentary and lazy lives is staggering. The excuses made and the stories of how fit they used to be just fade into white noise as I see their lips moving with meaningless words passing from them. There’s almost always some form of injury or ailment that apparently prevents them from participating in an active and healthier lifestyle. They’re communicated as reasons, but we all know they really are just excuses.
They’re communicated as reasons, but we all know they really are just excuses.
Physically fit men are capable men. They can run, jump, chase, lift, throw, fight and protect the people around them. They’re less likely to be assaulted or become victims of some form of violent criminal activity as they are not seen as potential victims. They are seen as a threat. This simple reason is good enough to do something about your physical well being as a man that wants to empower himself and become a better version of himself.
Cardiovascular (cardio) fitness is the foundation of just about all fitness. Even strong men train some form of cardio in order to be able to adapt quickly and compete in a sport that is unpredictable and occasionally throws athletes into uncertain situations. Therefore, the first thing you’re going to start working on is your cardio. It’s simple and it’s free.
Just get started. TODAY!
If your starting state is so poor and all you can do is walk, then start walking. Pretty soon your walk might start to turn into short periods of jogging until your walk turns into a jog. After that, the periods of actual running will start. The gains will start to come quickly and with enough regularity, these sessions will become daily. You will stop feeling terrible after exercising and start feeling great as the endorphins flood your brain. Pretty soon, you’ll start to feel lethargic and unbalanced on the days you don’t run. The important things is that you must start.
As a teenager getting ready to join the Army, I realised quickly that I could hardly run out of site on a dark night. The fitness assessment at the time required 5km to be covered in 26 minutes or less with a bunch of push ups and sit ups before it. In hindsight, it wasn’t all that hard, but it also wasn’t easy.
Youth and testosterone only got you so far and there were times when you had to have a look at yourself in the room full of mirrors to get through in the time required. Challenging, but not impossible. The way I got myself ready for basic training was by investing the time and setting some goals. The goals were realistic, measurable and achievable.
Set some realistic and achievable goals
So set some goals and make sure they’re realistic, measurable and achievable. And then commit to a significant event like a charity run or fun run that is no less than 10km. Go and commit to something that will force you to struggle and fight to finish. Go put yourself through something that right now at the beginning of your journey of making a better version of yourself seems impossible. Then start working towards it.
As simple running program is to just run for 2 minutes at a pace that is about 75% of your maximum output with a 2 minute walk as an active recovery break. Doing this for a total of 20 minutes is a very easy way to start out. Three sessions a week and after the first week start winding back the recovery time and increasing the running time. Pretty soon you won’t feel like walking and just want to run for 20 minutes. The gains made in cardio when you’re starting from a low base of fitness are phenomenal as you discover how fast your body can adapt to the new routine.
The important thing is that you start.
Go!