WARNING: The information that you find on this page will be sane, reasonable, intelligent, and get you good results.  No extreme-elite-level-vomit-inducing-navy-seal-bootcamp-how-to-kill-yourself-with-exercise here.  

Proceed with caution.  You’ve been warned. 

OK, so hopefully that warning label gave you a little chuckle, but the problem is — it’s necessary!  It’s so trendy right now to absolutely beat the living daylights out of yourself with exercise, all in the name of “elite fitness” and “being hardcore” and “dedicated.”  It’s literally become a contest to see who can survive the most amount of insanity and intensity on any given day.

Yikes!

Don’t get me wrong.  I *love* training hard, I love setting PR’s, and I absolutely adore lifting heavy.  But I also recognize that my main goal is to look and feel healthy for a very long time.  And even more importantly, I recognize that striving for a super-elite level of fitness is not how I get there.  In fact, check out my super-amazing-scientific graph showing the relationship between health and fitness below.

 

Anyway… back to training.

Don’t get me wrong, I have zero problem with anyone who wants to shoot for the moon and set huge and amazing performance goals and absolutely bust their butt to achieve them and be the best in the world and… well, you get the picture.

What I do have a problem with is perpetuating the myth that that is the healthiest lifestyle to live, which in turn, confuses the general population who just wants to look better and feel better.  All of a sudden, those people think they need to be running marathons or competing in CrossFit at a high level to be “healthy.”

Repeat after me: almost NOTHING done at an extremely high level is healthy.

Winning the CrossFit Games isn’t healthy.  Elite-level marathon running isn’t health.  Setting world records in powerlifting is’t healthy.

You know what is healthy? (this will vary slightly based on your specific goals)

– Following an intelligently designed strength training program with a solid dynamic warm-up, and lifting progressively heavier weights 2-3 days a week.

– Doing some form of high intensity interval training 1-2 times a week.

– Doing moderate intensity aerobic training 1-3 times a week

– Spending time each week foam rolling, diaphragmatic breathing, and nasal breathing.

Sounds too simple to be true, right?  It’s not.

If you want more information on my training philosophies, check out these articles:

Does Your Program Match Your Goal? Part 1

Does your Program Match Your Goals? Part 2

Two At-Home Workouts For Any Ability Level

Reader Question: How Often Do I Change My Workout Part 1

Reader Question: How Often Do I Change My Workout Part 2

Reader Question: Do I Need Isolation Work?