The Best Type of Exercise to Lose Weight and Stay in Shape

If you've managed to keep your resolution and you're still on the "I'll exercise more" train, good for you.  If you've been able to create a habit of exercising, you're probably wondering now how to kick it up a notch. You're now in the stage of "researching" the benefits and advantages that some types of exercise have over the one that you're doing now. You want to see if there are other ways to get to your fitness goals faster.

A lot of research in exercise science has been published over the last couple of years on the types of training modalities that might be the most effective at causing fat loss, building muscle, improving cardiovascular health, preventing injuries, increasing joint mobility and flexibility, etc.

Some will tell you that training for long endurance events like marathons, triathlons or obstacle course races is the best for overall fitness.  Some will say that you just need to take daily walks and you'll be fine.

Some studies will say that it's more efficient to use different versions of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) where you go all out for short periods of time followed by rest or active rest periods. Other studies will say that resistance training using barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, or calisthenics makes the most sense.

Many will loudly advocate that a specific combination of resistance training and high-intensity training by going to Crossfit, Orange Theory, or a similar type of box gym is the best way.

Others will say that picking up a sport, a martial art, a dance class, ultimate frisbee, pole dancing, yoga, or any other activity that "tricks you" into doing physical activity works the best.

All of these activities can be beneficial and can contribute to your overall fitness and health.  But which is really the best?

Ready for the secret?  Here goes:

The best form, modality and type of physical exercise is the one that you actually ENJOY doing.

You could have the most meticulously-written training program composed of exercise modalities backed by multiple scientific studies along with the most motivating trainer money can buy.  If you don't actually enjoy that exercise program, you will never do it consistently and you will give up after a few weeks.

Even if the exercise program is not perfect, if you enjoy the physical activity that you're doing, you are more likely to consistently do it for a very long time.  That means that in the long run, you will reap the benefits of physical activity, which includes improved general fitness, longevity and health.

If you're practicing a specific sport and you want to improve performance for a competition, then yes some training modalities will make more sense than others. There are even modalities that will get you in great shape after 12 weeks, but you won't be able to physically sustain them for the next 12 years or more.  So after those 12 weeks, you're very likely to yo-yo between being in great shape and being unhealthy or injured.

For general health and fitness, if you don't enjoy the activity in question, you won't do it.  I love practicing martial arts.  Riding my bicycle daily during the spring and summer months is fun for me.  I enjoy using heavy kettlebells and calisthenics to build physical strength.  I've very recently discovered that ballroom dancing with my spouse is a lot of fun.

For some people, all these activities sound like a nightmare.  So while they can be beneficial, they'll never do it.  Because I enjoy all of these things, I am more likely to do them for a very long time.

Will I look like a fitness model with 2% body fat on the cover of Men's Health magazine?  Possible, but not probable.  Will I keep my body healthy, strong and hopefully free from serious injuries until I'm in my 70s or 80s? Very likely.

The point is this: if you're looking for the "best" way to be in good physical condition for the rest of your life, there really isn't one.  There is such a thing as the "best one" for you.

Banning Ring Card Girls is Anti-Feminist and Prevents Women's Empowerment

Anyone who watches professional combat sports will notice that there are always scantily-clad women carrying large cards around a ring or a cage to remind viewers what round in the fight we're in.

Apparently, some very well-meaning, though misguided feminist activists and politicians in Australia have decided that enough is enough.  They want to end the objectification and exploitation of women by banning ring card girls (a.k.a. "round progress managers") at a championship boxing match this past August.  They are now even petitioning the UFC not to have the iconic Octagon girls in between rounds in the upcoming event this coming October.

Are current feminists all of a sudden uncomfortable at the thought of women showing their bodies and getting paid handsomely for it if they want to? I was under the impression that a way to empower women is by giving them choices in the types of work they do.  If a woman wants to show off as much or as little of her body in public as she wants, nobody should be able to tell her otherwise
 
I can see where the "objectification" argument might come from, but as for "exploitation", I tend to disagree. None of these politicians and activists actually asked the women doing the ring girl jobs if they've ever felt exploited or forced to do this.

By banning these jobs, these politicians and activists are effectively taking away these women's right to make a living legally. And yes, I do call this work for the simple reason that it takes commitment and discipline when it comes to exercise and diet to maintain the physical condition that these women have.  Also, if you do any research, you'll learn that many of these women have actually used the platform of combat sports as a launching point for extremely lucrative partnerships, sponsorships and careers in modeling, art, broadcasting, podcasting, and other fields.

Maybe it's a question of representation.  Would there be as many complaints and bans if more "plus-sized" women were represented in the job the same way that we now have an increasing amount of "plus-sized" models?  What if we had more women over the age of 45 doing the job?  Or maybe more women in wheelchairs?

Would there also be as many complaints if in addition to having ring card girls during men's fights, we had ring card guys during women's fights?  The all-women MMA promotion Invicta FC debuted Canadian pro-fighter Elias Theodoru as their ring card boy last year.  He hasn't done it since, but I think it would be more interesting to see dudes doing the same type of job in other organizations.

How many feminists and activists would complain if pro-fighter Elias Theodoru continued working as a Ring Card boy on the side?

 

Personally, I've always thought that it was a bit weird to see ring card girls in between rounds of a women's MMA championship fight.  So it would make more sense to have more ring card guys reminding us what round it is.  It would be somewhat sexist and regressive to consider this job as exclusively "women's work" after all.

The point I'm trying to make is this.  The Australian bans are simply an attack on soft targets that make it look like they're doing something when they're really just trying to show off how much more virtuous they are than the rest of us.  If politicians and feminists were really looking to empower women, stop exploitation and objectification, they would be aiming their outrage at real issues of violence against women and lack of education for girls in other countries outside of the Western world.

True Body Positivity and Self-Love

The body positivity movement as we know it right now tells us that we shouldn't let society dictate how we should feel about our physical bodies.  According to this movement, we should accept all bodies, no matter the shape, size or appearance.

It's a nice thought.  There's nothing wrong with being happy with ourselves.  And yes, we shouldn't let magazines and social media determine what our bodies should look like.

HOWEVER...

The danger is that people who could be physically and mentally healthier will use this as an excuse.  It makes it easier for people who are unhealthy and obese to say that what their body looks like doesn't matter because they should be accepted while ignoring the negative effects of their bad diet and lack of exercise.

If we really were about loving our bodies, we would do our best to keep them functioning at optimal levels.  We should love our bodies so much that we want to keep our muscles relatively strong throughout our entire lives.  If we really loved our bodies we should want to be able to keep a certain level of mobility and flexibility in our joints and tendons as we get older.  Real body positivity and self-love means trying to prevent future diseases by paying attention to what we put in it.

Truly being "body-positive" and being honest about loving our bodies means that we shouldn't accept an unhealthy, physical status quo.  While our physical bodies will never be "perfect", we should be doing everything we can to keep that body as healthy as possible until we die.

How to Quickly Lose Body Fat and Gain Muscle Mass with Minimal Effort

Because summer's coming fast, you're vain, insecure, and you want to look great when it's time to wear less clothing in public...

The warm weather is coming but you've gained all that winter weight. You want to know the secret to getting that beach body fast. What can you do to lose all that fat you've gained over the winter and look great for "bikini season"?

Absolutely nothing.

You can starve yourself all you want in the next 6 to 8 weeks. You can run for miles daily. You can lift the heaviest kettlebells and do hundreds of "kipping pull ups".

You can try. You'll fail.

Even if you were "motivated" by the upcoming warm weather, you might binge on extreme workouts and crash diets for a short period of time. You're more likely to injure yourself because you tried to push yourself when your body is completely out of shape. And yeah a crash diet can cause weight loss, but as soon as you stop you'll simply regain all the weight, if not more.

Remember, if you weren’t disciplined enough to train hard and eat well during the winter, you sure as hell won’t have the discipline in the spring. Getting your "summer body" takes years of discipline and hard work. There’s no such thing as quickly getting in shape with minimal effort.