From Fatness to Fitness: A man’s guide for getting his body back.


Yoga in the park won’t cut it. Long walks along the beach holding hands with your girl won’t do a damn thing. Parking in the furthest parking space at the mall is a form of self-delusion-you might burn one extra calorie, and that won’t make a bit of difference to your fitness.

You are a man. You can’t do the things women do to get fit. The suggestions above all come from fitness advice for women.

You have to do man stuff.

No, “man stuff” is not gulping beers at the sports bar. It is about one thing: building muscle. After all the advice about eating carbs vs. protein, taking up running or drinking shakes for dinner, the one thing that is going to work and work for good is putting on muscle.

Why?

Because muscle burns more calories than fat. Period. If you put on muscle, you will burn more calories every day, even on days you don’t work out. Get it? Got it? Good.

Now here is the good news for you, if you are out of shape. Anything you do in the exercise department will add muscle. It’s easy to forget that walking, running and calisthenics require muscle. That’s why you’re sore after doing those things. If you do them every day, you will add muscle.
But you have to do them man style. That means grunting and groaning. It means upping your game daily or at least weekly. It won’t be pretty. Pretty is for the girls. You have to beat your chest and get aggressive.

Now, about weight lifting. Good idea. If you can’t get to a gym, buy some resistance bands. You have to do weights in two steps.

Toning.

You don’t want to hurt yourself. So you have to get your muscles used to the idea that you will be attacking them on a regular basis. Your early weight workouts are not about pushing as hard as you can, they’re about checking how fit you are. If you are sore after a light weight workout, they you are way out of shape. Take it easy and get your body used to the load a little at a time. For two weeks to a month. Don’t worry, you are putting on muscle. Make yourself just a bit sore, not a lot. Do your weights every other day, so your muscles can repair on the off days. You might do 12 to 20 reps of each exercise.

2.     Bodybuilding

Once you feel your muscles have accepted that you are going to be mean to them, start your serious weight training. Now you can add weight and reps on a regular basis. You can push yourself more. You should feel the ache on your days you don’t lift. Keep track of what you lift, and spend six months adding more weight and more reps. Your goal is to add enough weight so that doing ten reps is difficult.

On days you don’t do weights, do your aerobic stuff, but up your game there, too. You have to get mad and determined and well, you have to man up.

You probably see women every day who are slim and in shape, and who don’t push as hard as you do. That works for them. What’s going to work for you is to become an athlete. It’s just part of your man DNA to push, and reach and challenge yourself.

So if your lady wants you to go to yoga with her, go ahead. But realize that is time away from working out. Get right back to the man stuff.


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