unconventional schmunconventional

This has been one strange year.  Started the year off crappy with sickness.  Though that sickness kickstarted this fitness year, and it started off strong.


Things lasted for a short term, and I kept at it, though illness kept creeping up on me this year.  Not one to be kicked down and let lay there, I did something about it.  Once I got the medical out of the way, back in the gym I was, and starting off slow, but making progress, and I am once again excited about my workouts, and have been working out again for about 4 weeks straight.  


Since being back full time, I've had people come up to me complimenting me on the changes I've made and how "jacked" or "ripped" I look, and have asked how much weight I've put on.  Believe it or not I've lost about 25 pounds since Jan 1, and it's stayed off.  The key, at least for me, is keeping my workouts short (about 45-60 minutes), keeping the heart rate up during that time, and performing unconventional exercises to help with every day real world strength.


When I started lifting eons ago (20+ years), all the training you saw and read about was body building style lifting, 4-5 exercises per body part, with 4-5 sets per exercise, which means you would spend up to 60 minutes working Chest.  


Now with all the craze that's gone into crossfit, classes, and real world conditioning, the game has changed, and so should your workout.  I've had people come up to me this past month to ask how I've gotten in such good shape, and I tell them what I do.  There have been a handful of people who look at me with passion in their eyes because they too have realized the same thing I did, it's about working your body to get into shape, not working 1 particular muscle group.  One will burn more calories the more muscle groups they work.


I also have people ask me what exercises they can do for body part "xyz", and have gone on to mention that bodypart "xyz" hasn't improved with the same workout they have been performing, where in the beginning this same workout gave them results.  The answer, repetition, the body has gotten used to the same old workout, therefore it has developed the "OFFICE SPACE" mentality, do just enough to get by.  It's time you shock the body into making improvements.  These same people do the exact same exercises when they are in the gym, or they work out the same body part 3-4 days a week and wonder why they are not seeing any progress.  One more thing the body needs to adapt and improve, REST, you need to give your body and muscles a chance to rest up and rebuild themselves.


As for the WoD, I need to rebuild my fantastic "bag o' tricks" and pull from them again, but as for today, I know I will workout/lift for about 45 minutes, and then I'm going to shoot for 15-20 minutes of cardio, I'm feeling pretty good so far, so I'm sure the gym time will be a good one.