CDZ Americans and physical fitness -- Now is not too soon to get fit

[320 Years of History]

What is it with Americans that so many are in terrible physical shape? Some 60 million adults, 30% of the population, are obese. Among middle aged folks it's far more than just 30%, with one study citing something on the order of 70%! What possesses folks to let themselves fall into such states of "disrepair?"

What a middle aged to somewhat older man's fitness level should look like and what the typical older dude looks like:

I don't know the first guy's age, but I can tell he's not young. The second dude is 48.

The dude below is 52.

The top eight finishers in the 45-49 year old masters division at the 2011 CrossFit Games.

What the typical middle aged dude looks like.

Good Lord! Where's the large body of water?
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The same thing is going on with women.

What a middle aged to somewhat older woman's fitness level should look like.

Gillian Larson - 61; the second woman is 50.

This woman is 63.



Here she is with her daughter.

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I'm not even going to post pics to illustrate unfit middle aged to older women. You can turn on your television, go to the mall or grocery store for that.


What is going on in the USA that so many people don't place a priority on their personal fitness? For all the concern it would seem we have for living long lives, the two things that contributes to that happening more than anything else -- healthy eating and regular and rigorous exercise -- are the two things Americans seem least inclined to do. Adding insult to injury, staying fit doesn't have to cost any money at all and eating healthy is no more dear than is eating unhealthily because the least expensive proteins are among the healthiest to eat and fruits, vegetables and starches are cheap to begin with, so it's not about wealth. It's also not about time; one need only invest an hour to hour and a half a day in resistance and aerobic exercises.

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[yiostheoy]

I jog uphill and do situps and pushups on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I lift weights and box/kickbox on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sundays are my days to ride my mountain bike.

If you set aside time to do it, like mornings before work, or lunch break, or evenings before dinner, then it becomes natural and habitual.

If SHTF then anyone not in shape will likely end up as someone else's dinner.

The only exception for me is the month before opening day for bowhunting season -- then I will practice archery morning, noon, and evenings every day for a month. But that's still great upper body exercise.

 

[320 Years of History]

SHTF

What?

 

[320 Years of History]

I jog uphill and do situps and pushups on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I lift weights and box/kickbox on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sundays are my days to ride my mountain bike.

If you set aside time to do it, like mornings before work, or lunch break, or evenings before dinner, then it becomes natural and habitual.

If SHTF then anyone not in shape will likely end up as someone else's dinner.

The only exception for me is the month before opening day for bowhunting season -- then I will practice archery morning, noon, and evenings every day for a month. But that's still great upper body exercise.

I'm very glad to see you do things to stay fit. I do too. So does everyone whom I count as a close friend or family member. Be that as it may, it's not about me, you, or them. It's about the state of fitness among Americans in general. The U.S. has some 250M+ adults, and even though 10M of them, just to pick a figure, may be fit, and that's a lot of people, it's nowhere near most people.

 

[MarathonMike]

I Fully agree. And 'fit' doesn't necessarily mean having washboard abs. I think part of the problem is the gym culture that seems to have evolved. "I gotta get to the gym" is what I hear all the time. Well no, you don't have to get to the gym. You need to eat healthier, cut down on sugar and do something YOU LIKE TO DO 30 to 40 minutes a day 3 or 4 times a week. That can be a power walk, running, biking, yoga, a workout video, lifting weights whatever.

 

[DGS49]

Most people are lazy. they say they have no time to exercise, but spend hours each week watching DWTS and other brain-mush.

Also, our food industry is GREAT at making delicious, irresistible food that is grossly fattening, and we literally eat it up.

I exercise vigorously about 15 hours a week (gym, tennis, biking, running, mountain-hiking), and I am able to eat like a pig without gaining any weight. I'm 67.

It's funny, you don't notice how fat Americans are until you go someplace else where the people are relatively fit (e.g., France), and the only fat people you see are American tourists. Doesn't exactly make me proud.

 

[320 Years of History]

you don't notice how fat Americans are until you go someplace else

Off Topic:
Yes, well, Americans on the whole really should "get out more." The majority of Americans never leave the U.S. Were more to do so, how fat Americans generally are isn't the only thing they'd notice.

FWIW, I work mostly in the PRC and Southern Asia. I cannot think of one person whom I know, whom I routinely or casually encounter in the shops, malls, subways, streets, hotels and offices I visit who also is overweight. I know there are overweight folks in that part of the world, but they few and far between among the general population, at least based on my observations. Perhaps someone else has found "obesity enclaves" in Asia?

 

[320 Years of History]

'fit' doesn't necessarily mean having washboard abs.

Frankly, I think it does. I think it means that because everyone has washboard abs, it's just that far too many folks have fat covering them. Once the fat is no longer there, one will have washboard abs. They may be more or less well defined, but they'll be washboard abs all the same. Fat doesn't disappear from one's abs and remain everywhere else, except perhaps via liposuction.

 

[MarathonMike]

'fit' doesn't necessarily mean having washboard abs.

Frankly, I think it does. I think it means that because everyone has washboard abs, it's just that far too many folks have fat covering them. Once the fat is no longer there, one will have washboard abs. They may be more or less well defined, but they'll be washboard abs all the same. Fat doesn't disappear from one's abs and remain everywhere else, except perhaps via liposuction.

uh oh! I guess I better start ab ripper x again.

 

[320 Years of History]

'fit' doesn't necessarily mean having washboard abs.

Frankly, I think it does. I think it means that because everyone has washboard abs, it's just that far too many folks have fat covering them. Once the fat is no longer there, one will have washboard abs. They may be more or less well defined, but they'll be washboard abs all the same. Fat doesn't disappear from one's abs and remain everywhere else, except perhaps via liposuction.

uh oh! I guess I better start ab ripper x again.

Whatever works for you. LOL

FWIW

I say no "ab ripper x" needed.

I use the techniques above as the core exercises of my ab routine, varying a few of them by doing them with a balance ball, but doing them without a ball is still adequate for keeping the abs in good order provided one's diet is also conducive to keeping the fat off while keeping the body properly nourished.

Most of them are pretty easy to do and they yield great results. It's the obliques that are a PITA to keep well defined and strengthened. I have to resort to machines and free weights for that.

Even so, there are plenty of options before one must resort to equipment.

As someone earlier noted. Emotionally driven rather than nourishment driven eating seems to me the big problem Americans have with keeping fit, or at least keeping un-obese.

 

[320 Years of History]

Off Topic:
My trainer in Shenzhen was instrumental in my learning how to count in Mandarin. I in turn was pivotal in teaching him some English, most notably, "Oh, Hell, no. I'm not doing that." (O, gaisi de. Wo bu zheyang zuo!) LOL