Tuesday, September 7, 2010

You’ve got to keep your eye on exercise. Such is its rapid rate of evolution and advancement that what was helping you develop that six-pack last month is probably the main reason why, this week, you haven’t actually got one.

To the casual exerciser this can be an absolute minefield (which is why, at Men’s Fitness we do our utmost to bring you workout fact from workout fiction).

However it still doesn’t stop information changing, refining and updating at quite an alarming pace.

It seems like only yesterday that you would return home from school to find both parent and sibling doing the baked beans workout.

You know the one, it’s where you put some randomly upbeat pop music on the stereo and attempt dumbbell curls with a few tins of Heinz’s finest.

I often wondered why they stopped there, with the beans I mean.

Why not turn it into a full fry-up exercise regime? Get your heart pumping with a dash around a hen coop and a full-on search for eggs, before utilising the fat on beef bacon as some sort of rudimentary Thera band.

It would be brilliant.         

Except that people would keep eating their equipment of course.

“Dad! Where’s my Swiss ball?” “Sorry son, I had it last night with my pie and chips.” Probably why it never caught on really.

At that time the only real weights you would find were generally in a gym, but as the home workout revolution took off people moved on to basic free weights, before being dazzled by the steely beauty of a multi-gym. Suddenly, garages were being turned into home gyms, while people feverishly bought the most elaborate-looking contraption going, to exercise every muscle with just one piece of equipment.

Of course, in reality, the multi-gym was only meant to supplement your workout - you gain far more from free weights and their demand for slow, controlled movements. Once that news filtered down to the masses it was back to dumbells before the current vogue for body weight workouts and major core training was popularised.

As for the future, well I imagine that, at some point, we’ll move on to a virtual reality workout, in which we do everything via email, before ultimately, we arrive at some sort of Orwellian scenario, where ‘citizens’ are created in a lab, with perfectly defined pecs, a rock hard six-pack and no personality whatsoever.     

It’s coming I tell you, so best get ready to embrace the horror; albeit a horror boasting a superbly toned stomach and bulging biceps.

Of course the thing to remember is that fad and fashion will pass, but ultimately the basics of staying fit and healthy remain the same.

Exercise regularly with an equal balance of weights and cardiovascular work.

Keep your body guessing with a variety of different gym workouts as well as regular classes such as spin, body pump or pilates.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet getting lean meat, vegetables, carbs and fruit (and one cheat day per week where you can eat anything you like). And remember to set regular goals, as these aims will keep your mind interested when the body wants to quit.

Ultimately your key to gym success doesn’t lie in high-tech gadgetry or ground breaking science, but just good old common sense.