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I used to be a fanatic about reading fitness gurus, magazines, books and websites. The fascination took up major portions of my day. I picked up a lot of tips along the way. I still keep my eyeballs in there a bit, but only to check to see if anything useful has actually been done.

You see, the one thing I learned most of all is this - with amazingly few exception it’s all been said before. Jack LaLanne came up with 99% of what Bill Phillips said in Body for Life. Mike Mentzer mostly re-posted what the old greats like Eugene Sandow had already wrote. Don’t get me wrong, I salute the folks like Mike Mentzer and Bill Phillips (Mike Mentzer was a genius in my estimation) who keep the flame alive and carry the message of health to new generations, but very little has been added to the base line knowledge of what it takes to get fit.

My mind keeps going back to the simplicity of calisthenics. Our bodies are our first tool, and every baby knows that the way to get strong, agile, and mobile is to lift and flex the one set of weights you always have with you: you.

Here’s a very simple and effective exercise routine that has served men and women alike since they were first recognizable as such. Get up. That’s it. Lay down on the ground, let your body be completely stopped as if sleeping, then get up. Repeat. There are almost a limitless number of variations here. Speed, position, reps, sets. You can do it with both arms, one arm, or no arms. Both legs, one leg, or if you are fit enough to handstand, no legs.

Do that 20 times as fast as you can I you will be puffing. And, if you are not, just do it 10 more times.

In our modern age we often look to complicate things. In fitness it is not necessary. Just get up.

I have many heroes in my life. Mas Oyama is three of them.

Eleven mottos of Mas Oyama-

01. The Martial Way begins and ends with courtesy. Therefore, be properly and genuinely courteous at all times.

02. Following the Martial Way is like scaling a cliff. Continue upwards without rest. It demands absolute and unflattering devotion to the task at hand.

03. Strive to seize the initiative in all things, all the time guarding against actions stemming from selfish animosity or thoughtlessness.

04. Even for Martial Artists, the place of money cannot be ignored. Yet one should be careful never to become attached to it.

05. The Martial Way is centered in posture. Strive to maintain correct posture at all times.

06. The Martial Way begins with one thousand days and is mastered after ten thousand days of training.

07. In Martial Arts, introspection begets wisdom. Always see contemplation of your actions as an opportunity to improve.

08. The nature and purpose of the Martial Way is universal. All selfish desires should be roasted in the tempering fires of hard training.

09. Martial Arts begin with a point and end in a circle. Straight lines stem from this principle.

10. The true essence of the Martial Way can only be realized through experience. Knowing this, learn never to fear its demand.

11. Always remember: In Martial Arts the rewards of a confident and grateful heart are truly abundant.

I have recently had an epiphany, or three, about my ongoing struggle with weight management. The first was admitting, finally, to myself that the root of my problem is a compulsion to overeat. The next was identifying a source of inspiration that can keep me going in this fight. Next was the realization that it will never be done. Not in the sense of there no longer being any possibility of me being above a weight I am comfortable with.

This is a daily struggle, to live one day well and not succumb to the disease. Each day is a fresh field of battle that waits patiently to be filled with enthusiasm, proper eating, and exercise…. or, sloth, overeating, and self-pity. The choice is a no-brainer, but it is exactly when I don’t use my brain that things go awry.

Each, and every day, I need to renew my commitment to myself, to be in the shape I desire, for that day. And, for that day only. Looking any further forward ushers in doubt. Look backwards ushers in self-recrimination. Today is where I need to work, and only today.

One of the things that has become clear to me lately is the need to incorporate exercise more routinely into my daily life. Not as a specific activity - ok, now I go to the dojo and train. But, rather, as a frequent practice during my day. Walking an extra block when going out to get lunch to bring back to the office. Being willing to park four blocks from my house so that I need to hike my way home carrying my daily load of two shoulder bags (one for the dojo, one for the office), _AND_ back again in the morning. Going out for coffee, rather than going to the kitchen. Cleaning the house a bit when I get home rather than slumping into my computer chair and launching a game.

Daily additions, whenever, and wherever, they can be placed is where the best fitness comes from. Having targeted time for working out is great, but it’s not enough if I want to get truly fit for life.

Read a cool article today (cool in content, not writing style), by Ori Hofmekler the author of ‘The Warrior Diet‘. He’s a total nut job, and his theories on fitness are… unique. But, he made some good points today (he doesn’t always, IMHO.) The main thrust of the article was that the old adage ‘Everything in moderation’ was a sure fired path to mediocrity. That the folks who inspire us are extremists, and if you want to truly excel on your chosen path, you need to be extreme. He also made the point that there are certain things for which moderation meant none (junk food, transfats, vehicular manslaughter).

In this world of plenty it is often difficult to know what moderation means. And, I have to agree with Ori that you do need to go above-and-beyond moderate if you want to excel in any endeavor. If you have a sport you care about, you need to train to do your best. If fitness is your goal you cannot stop at average (which for America is obese). If you want your next work review to result in a raise, you cannot just put your time in, you need to contribute.

Whatever area in life you choose to pursue, doing it moderately should be left for retirement, and really not even then.

On another note-

I was reading the latest ramblings from Matt Furey. He was (again) defending the idea that bodyweight exercises where as efficacious as weightlifting. In all the reading I have done, from the old, old, old school fitness gurus, to the bleeding edge sports-coach elites, painfully little seems to have been learned in the area of methodology for gaining strength, definition, and endurance. In the area of nutrition, the base line of knowledge is also crawling forward very slowly. What major developments have been made are in the areas of chemical supplementation. Steroids, human growth hormone, mega doses of micro nutrients. We have developed a staggering array of methods for delivering extreme amounts of performance enhancing materials. But, when it comes down to it, the body builders of today are much larger because of chemistry, and not the methodology they have access to.

Legends of strength, speed, endurance, and physical performance have been around with the human race since before history. Way before. And, the folks that founded these legends did not have fancy gym equipment or quasi-legal injectables. They had the environment, their own bodies, hard work, and most important of all, will.

I do not believe that weights, megavitamins, and gyms, should be abandoned (as Furey seems to believe). They all have their place. (Especially megavitamins!) I think the whole debate is silly. Humans can obviously attain high levels of development in most any environment, the only truly necessary ingredient being the will to do so. No matter how much you spend on a fabulous home gym, you won’t get any stronger if your only interaction with the weights is dusting them off once a month.

And that’s my ramble for today.