Yesterday was the first Sunday in God knows how long when we didn't have some children's activity planned. Miracles do exist.
Anyway, I decided to enjoy this free time by taking a jiu-jitsu class. I ended up walking back home with a guy from class, Sunny. Sunny is a blue belt, this means Sunny is a lot better than me. He asked if I had any good rolls during class (rolls are to jiu jitsu, what sparring is to boxing). I explained that I finally had the opportunity to roll with someone who was relatively close to my level. (Just because of when I can make it to classes, I usually end up being there with people who are a lot more advanced than I am.)
Sunny said something that, I didn't realize at the time, was very perceptive. He said rolling with higher level people can good and bad. It's good because you learn how to defend yourself. It's bad because you never learn how to go on the offensive. Sunny had perfectly described my experience jiu jitsu thus far.
As day went on and I thought about this more, I realized that this is how most people treat workouts and diets. Let me explain.
Most people make the decision they want to get fitter or stronger or lose weight then they choose blue belt level strategies. Blue belt level strategies (think Keto, Paleo, Crossfit, powerlifting, etc) work. They just don't work for most people.
Put another way, these strategies work but most people who try to implement them aren't knowledgeable enough and/or committed enough for the strategies to be effective. Especially in the long term.
So even when these people see some positive results they are fleeting. Then these people end up spending a lot of time recovering (defending themselves) from self inflicted damage. This damage can in the form of injury or simply the fact that you've just really missed carbs and all you can bring yourself to eat is cake and pie (#cartmanvoice).
These people never end up learning the basic skills that they can use over and over again to go on the offensive. Things like getting more sleep, burning more calories than you burn or learning how to do simple exercises like the squat or push up correctly. These foundational skills should be the first steps anyone should be taking to make lasting fitness or diet changes. The blue belt strategies should be used to put you over the top.
In the not totally unrelated department, if you're looking for a resource that will give you simple fitness and diet advice and tips that you can implement immediately you should follow my new Instagram account: @starting_line_fitness
On this account I share tips on how to properly do exercises, how to start designing your own workouts and nutrition practices that teach you how to eat healthy and lose weight without depriving yourself. Basically it's all the offensive skills I was talking about above.
