The Roadmap for Faithful Fitness

Welcome to this week's Fit Tip Friday!There is an overwhelming amount of information in the fitness universe. 

Before starting Layman’s Fitness, the quantity of available data almost stopped me from launching.Why venture into an over-saturated field? To use a metaphor, the highly saturated fitness market is like a bustling intersection that doesn’t have stoplights, street signs, or speed limits. You approach it as you drive in your car, and you stop right before entering.  

How do I know when to stop? Or when to go?How do I drive safely?How do I find my route amidst this madness?This type of intersection is a colossal danger zone. Let the game of bumper cars begin. Car chaos is created, no one gets where they need to go, and people get hurt. But the intersection must be crossed. It’s easy to feel this way as a Christian man who wants to build strength and take care of his body. You pull up to the intersection and stop, watching the mania in front of you.To the right of you, there’s a path that looks like it leads to strength, but it’s lined with half-naked bodies, ear-tickling influencers, and motivations that do not honor God. Pass.To the left of you, there’s another path that has billboards with nutrition advice lining both sides. But they all contradict one another; if you follow them all you wouldn’t be able to eat anything. Another pass.  

And in between, there are countless other paths to pick from.One is a sure path to strength, but it is far too time-consuming for you to follow that and be faithful to your other responsibilities. Pass again. There’s another path that has the opposite problem; it doesn’t require any time for you to build strength, because it doesn't encourage you to take care of your body. So while you are faithful to your other responsibilities, you completely neglect your strength. Another pass.Is there a reliable route through this madness?Absolutely. And the roadmap is simpler than you think.Let’s break it down into 3 parts: Stewardship, Skills, and Strength. StewardshipFaithful fitness must start here because stewardship answers the most important questions, such as:What is fitness?What is fitness for?Who is fitness for?Why pursue fitness?Stewardship acknowledges and believes God is our Creator (Genesis 1, Revelation 4:11). Our bodies were created by God, and are for God. They belong to Him and not to us (1 Corinthians 6:19). Fitness then is body-stewardship, where we move, strengthen, and use our bodies to serve God and bring Him glory. We are caretakers of something that does not ultimately belong to us. Fitness must be viewed with stewardship as the foundation. To return to our metaphor, stewardship is the street sign you need to find as a marker to orient yourself properly to this intersection. Otherwise, the competing and noisy roads will disorient you, and you might be led down streets you didn't intend to venture into.  

SkillsFitness is a composite of different skills. I typically think of them in one of three categories: routine, rest, and replenishment. Learning the mechanics of a proper push-up is a skill (routine). Learning how to go to bed early is a skill (rest). Learning how to consistently eat nourishing food is a skill (replenishment). These skills take practice, diligence, and patience. But you have to start, and you must learn. Pick a few skills at a time. Learn how to do the basic bodyweight movements (push-up, pull-up, body squat, etc…) Learn how to use a kettlebell. Find a program to try. Then try another. And keep trying, and keep learning. To again revisit the intersection metaphor, skill is the process of learning to drive your car through the madness. You have to learn how to use your gas, breaks, read your instruments, fasten your seatbelt, merge, accelerate, swerve, etc… And skills are learned through trial and error. 

And, without nuancing this to death, every man can learn fitness skills. And he should. Because they are the foundations for strength. Strength Strength is the result of skill applied diligently over time. Not once, not for a short-lived flurry of activity, but steadily practiced over seasons.  Let’s use the push-up as an example. Once you learn the basic skill of a push-up, figure out how many you can do at once. That number is your max. 3-5x a day, practice your push-up by doing sets of 50-60% of your max. If your max is 20, that means you will do sets of 10-12 push-ups at 3-5 different times during the day. Spread them out over a day (morning, noon, afternoon, evening, etc…). Do this 4-5 days a week. Repeat for 2 weeks, then retest your max. Repeat this cycle with 50-60% of your new max for another 2 weeks. You’ll be surprised at how much your max push-ups will improve over the course of a month, and even more surprised with your gains over several months. You will slowly build strength. And this is only one type of programming applied to only one type of movement. There are others. Learn what works for you, what you like, and what you don’t like. The same practice applies to going to bed early and eating well. Learn when you need to go to bed, and learn the basics of preparing a meal. Learn how much sleep you need, and learn what good food is. And practice little improvements daily, and watch your health improve. Strength is mastery over your fitness skills, earned through experience.To return once again to our metaphor, strength is the ability to drive your car through the intersection and down stewardship road. It’s the sure-handed ability to swerve around potholes, accelerate at the right times, read traffic, and anticipate and avoid obstacles.  

And men must pursue strength. For they are not alone in the car. There are others in the backseat who need your strength. They are your spouse, your kids, your church, and your communities. They need your protection and leadership to help them also navigate through the madness.Strength, whether physical, spiritual, emotional, etc…, finds its ultimate purpose when it is used for others. For their protection. For their good. For their provision. And for God’s glory.The man who neglects his strength is like the man who sits in his car outside the intersection. The engine is running. The energy is there. All the tools are ready and at his disposal. But the car sits idle and doesn’t move. And no one under your leadership is taken anywhere.Take your foot off the break. Steadily apply the gas pedal. Tighten your grip on the wheel. And just start. Pick up some skills, and slowly learn mastery over time. 

The Farmer's Carry Hack to Forge an Iron Grip

The web link to this article is here. Summary:The farmer's carry, also called a farmer's walk, is as simple as it is effective.Pick up an object with some weight. Hold it with your hand(s). Go for a walk. Try not to set it down. Repeat often. Build serious functional strength and an iron grip. But often overlooked in our routines is the most basic implementation of this grip forging workout, the "as you go" approach.