Gentle Giant

It’s been soooo long since I posted so here goes a post I wrote during the pandemic and I’ve meant post earlier in the year. Better late than never as they say.

A bench, dumbells and maybe a pull up bar and a workout program. ( I put my recommendations

in the first sentence OMG)

Over this past summer dos of covid I had the honor of training the Gentle Giant. We had some fun training over a few months and he was super friendly and surprisingly engaging funny banter during our hot summer training sessions.

What was unique to this friendship (because all my clients become my friends) was at the beginning he had never lifted a single weight in his life since he was approaching middle age-ish. While never lifting a single weight he began our summer journey by stating up front I’m doing this for a few months and at the end of my “tour de Baizfit” I want to purchase the de minimus equipment to do the exercises on my own.

After all, this is the real reason I decided to write this blog post. What do you really need in your home gym to be effective? Some say you can do everything you need to do with body weight? I’d argue that some individuals cannot do much with body weight depending on their height, weight, muscle mass, fat mass and lastly exercise experience.

So my recommendation is simple - A weight bench. A decent bench that will hold your weight in addition to the weight of the dumbbells.

Dumbell - adjustable dumbbells will save you space and $$. They come in different max weights. Go the highest you can afford and handle with two arms because you’ll have to move them into place initially. Remember they are adjustable so just because you select the 70’s doesn’t mean you actually lift 70’s during your session. Over time, you body will need progressive overload aka heaver weight so that’s why we chose the ability to go higher.

Final piece of equipment which I think optional is a pull-up bar. I guess you could use a tree branch however that seems a little iffy sometimes.

I know what you are thinking, BF how much does all this cost me in this covid/inflation era?

~$200 Bench

~$400 adjustable dumbbells

~$30 for a pull-up bar

-Free online Weight program with instructions (google)

This is maybe around $630 hundo. I’m sure you can find used stuff or knock off lower quality stuff to lower this value but I usually select higher quality gear that I know are going to last a long time.

I know what you are thinking again - I’m a poor college/high school student etc I cannot afford it. There’s where I challenge you - if you want to reach your goals you’ll find a way to raise that money in baby sitting or chores or lawn mowing or start a website selling widgets…you’ll it figure out if you want it and yes the “juice is worth the squeeze!”

-BF

It’s Time to Quit

Someone once said something like this to me “If you haven’t quit something in your life you ain’t living.” Starting with an extraordinary passion in whatever endeavor you choose and ending with a feeling of mixed emotions or disappointment is always difficult emotionally and physically.

Whether it’s a fitness plan, soccer team, dancing lessons, lifestyle, job, project, social media, hobby, romance or your fantasy football leagues. Whatever it may be there is a feeling of a burden lifted, no more regret or disappointment that you let others down. There is also less responsibility.  Now you can get on living a real-life whatever that could be and your internal mental shackles are broken allowing you to fly like an eagle.

At least that’s the story I tell myself anyways. What I really do is lounge back into my old shitty habits of binge watching Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, TV and Gaming and laying around like some type of elderly dog that’s way past thier prime and just sleeps for 20 hours a day.

What I really meant to do is find a replacement outlet of my time/energy or what I deem as a more positive or constructive way to spend my time.

That On-line romance didn’t end well, there are other fish in the sea or maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. That football/soccer team will find another midfielder, striker or defender or goalie. That dance studio will find another couple that’s getting married, that job and project will find another worker bee, you’ll find another hobby to pump a grand into, and you won’t miss anything really important on social media that you won’t already know about through word of mouth. Lastly that fantasy football league that you thought fulfilled a need and turned into a new type of addiction will simply find another corrupt commish to keep all the hood dad’s in line.

Within a year or maybe less all will be forgotten, your what if’s, your could be’s and your thought that you’ll be missed or provided some type of value to others somehow will be lost in the chapters and memories of time.

Finally, (back to fitness of course), that fitness routine didn’t workout for you - let me tell you, there are many different ways to stay in shape. You don’t like BaizFit or Spin? There are Martial Arts, Pilates, Hiking, Biking, Rowing, Running, Yoga, Paddle Boarding, Meditation, Walking, Online Workout Videos etc to name a few.

It’s ok to quit - to try new things. It’s the way we experience life and find out what we like and don’t like on a daily basis but it’s critical to find a replacement outlet instead of sinking back into your old ways.

I’m not a psychologist nor do I play one on the internet but I can tell you once your “free time” is freed up it allows you to explore the world around you and do the things you’ve been meaning to do for years.

So get out there and find new things out of your comfort zone because we’ve only got one life, time to live it wisely because we ain’t getting younger!

No mas Coronas

I had many blog posts lined up since all this corona outbreak BS but I feel it’s an opportune time to write about how I actually feel at this very moment.

Every morning I wake up very early after a usual stressful and restless sleep. I feel like I’m in a movie where this cannot be real. Then my coworker responded in Instant Messenger, “you are in a movie, a movie that hasn’t been made yet. I’m thinking to myself impossible, someone made this movie already in which everyone receives a corona beer, lots of toilet paper and hand sanitizer and parties and debauchery ensues like in the 80s and 90s and some 00’s movies.

All bad humor aside. If you can move or talk to your loved ones, family, friends you are not alone. In fact with today’s technology it seems you are almost never alone.

The fitness industry has overwhelmingly ramped up various FREE online training for everyone on Zoom, YouTube’s, IGTV etc... my suggestion is you take advantage of them. In fact I plan to do a yoga session this morning and I suggest you do something similar.

In dark and crazy times there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Find the light, and refocus on digging your way out and this will be another adventure story you can tell your family and friends years from now.

-BF

Happy New Year 2020 - To Train or not to Train that is the question for the General Population

I’m going to start out saying that I “borrowed” this title from some play I read about in high school but I’ll discuss it nonetheless by each age population.

13ish to 18ish - usually you are training for a sport because that’s what you are interested in or that’s what your parents are interested in and you want to progress at your sport or your parents want you to progress in your sport.

18ish to 22ish - same as above plus look better and feel better and attract a mate.

22ish to 30ish - same as above plus this could be a time in your life where your career is kind of starting to take off and now your priorities are shifting. This maybe a point where your time becomes more valuable and you really just want to remain in shape or identify opportunities for change.

30-40 - same as above plus your time is more valuable. Maybe you have kids, maybe you don’t, maybe your going through a divorce, but your body is just starting to slow down a little and you realize this therefore you realize you need this as a habit perpetually.

40-50 - Same as above plus there is still plenty of time to live life so get out there and find different methods of training. Baizfit(shameless plug), Yoga with weights, yoga on a paddle board, meditation, boxing etc.. Don’t stop exploring and now you become much more aware of the foods you consume and your recovery may not be the same as in your 20’s.

50-60 - Same as above. You maybe recovering from a few injuries/surgeries that seem to be some part of life now a days. You more find time to do the things you enjoy as you come closer to ending your career or maybe you are kick starting a new career. You have built solid habits and just want to be consistent moving forward.

65-100 - The habits and philosophies you’ve built the first 30-40 years of life have now become part of who you are. You don’t think twice about going for a 10 mile bike ride or 20 swim lap at the local gym. You may still have nagging injuries but nothing that can’t be helped with an aspirin and some rest.

So in summary, building good habits will reward you down the road. The scientists you find on the googles will back me up because I’m not a scientist. I’m a dad, co-worker, motivator, joker, drone enthusiast, amateur backyard pyro, teacher, trainer and lastly coach.

Is it ok to eat candy during Halloween?

Full disclosure I’m not a dietician.

Look folks, if you want to eat candy, eat candy people. Nothing more needs to be said so let’s move on to what I really want to talk about which is food.

There are a variety of different eating lifestyles (note I don’t use diets) because I think of diets as temporary. A lifestyle seems more permanent to me.

Can you eat whatever you want to achieve your goals? Well, it really depends on your goals but the general answer is not really. Eating fast food, processed food, junk food, overeating and consuming excess calories via drinking consistently will catch up with you and whomever says it doesn’t is lying. It will impact your health, your joints, your stamina, your “gainz bro” and even your moods.

The key word here is consistency or consistently if you want to be picky about what I just wrote in the previous paragraph. Find a consistent lifestyle that helps you reach your goals and makes you feel good and optimizes your body. Use the googles people, there are plenty to choose from or I like to take something from each thinking it will help me in some form.

This is what I call the Bruce Lee approach. For those that aren’t familiar with his martial arts style, he “borrowed” from each type of martial art to create his own fighting style. I encourage research to do the same and see what Lifestyle fits your goals and achieves your results.

Remember folks, diet is a huge component of your goals so make it a priority in your life.