25 Random Fitness Thoughts

There’s something really relaxing to me about being at the baseball field. A few years removed from my playing days, I can finally sit and watch a game without the anxiety/butterflies I got as a player.

One of my favorite things to do is watch the different players and analyze the ways their bodies move and react to different situations. What’s the pitcher’s arm slot? How long is his stride? How well does the hitter get against his front leg when he swings? How much forward lean does the runner get when he tries to steal second base?

With so much downtime to sit and ponder in Florida last week, here’s a list of 25 fitness/health related thoughts/questions that have popped into my head this week. I may or may not have the answers, but the idea is to get you think critically.

• Why do people in warm climates like Florida and California pay money to run on a treadmill indoors?
• Why are most exercise recommendations based on “evidence-based practice” made with the assumption that people HATE to exercise?
• What’s more effective: an optimal training program that you hate doing? Or a sub-optimal training program that you LOVE doing?
• What’s a better definition of “intensity”: effort or percentage of your 1-rep max?
• Have Tabata or any of the other high-intensity training disciples ever done one of their workouts and then tried to go play a sport the same day (or even the next day)?
• Why do some people wear wrist wraps (not straps) while deadlifting?

• When will manual therapy be talked about in the same breath as rest, ice, compression and elevation?
• Why does so much research damning cholesterol/saturated fat not account for fiber and overall caloric intake?
• Training/eating for health, physique and performance are all very different things.
• Who decided soy milk, whole wheat and egg whites were “healthy” options?
• Speaking of soy, I’m not a fan. But soy itself is probably unfairly vilified rather than all the crappy food it’s in, like cheap salad dressings, greasy Americanized Chinese food and mayo.
• I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve met who train hard enough to worry about overtraining.
• Science may not confirm organic food is “better” than conventionally grown food, but it’s ignorant to hate on someone because of their preference. It’s their choice – leave them alone.
• There’s a big difference between staying positive and giving meaningless, unwarranted praise.
• Who are you more scared of on the field: the guy who can power clean 315 once or the guy who can squat 315 for perfect reps with speed?

• The only thing worse than trusting science only when it’s convenient is trusting science 100 percent of the time.
• If you have a “calves day” or an “abs day”, you’re doing it wrong.
• Writing a kickass lower body workout is not hard: jump or Olympic lift. Squat and deadlift, one heavy and the other for speed or reps. Single leg quads. Hamstrings. Abs. Done.
• Why do people shell out hundreds of bucks a month on supplements but won’t pay for quality food, join a good gym or hire a quality trainer?
• How people work out late at night blows my mind. Anything later than 7 p.m. and I’m useless.
• What’s weirder – the fact that I skip breakfast or the fact that you eat 8 small meals a day to “keep your metabolism up” and you’re still out of shape?

• The fewer psyche-up techniques you use in the gym (head-smacking, yelling, ammonia-sniffing, etc.), the better your strength gains will “stick”.
• You know the old cliche, “Everything works… for 4 weeks”? I don’t believe it. Some things really don’t work at all.
• I don’t care if the hamstring never flexes the knee in isolation in real life. If you’re not doing some sort of hamstring curl, you’re missing out on an entire function of a pretty damn important muscle.
• Why do people spend so much time on the internet reading about fitness? Get out of here and go train!

Got any answers to any of these questions? Share below!