Understanding The Real Value of Fitness and How Most People Are Getting it all Wrong.

If a personal trainer asked you, "What are your goals?"

What would you say?

If I were to guess, it would likely have something to do with an aesthetic result.

"I want to lose weight" is usually at the top of everyone's list.

And then, if your trainer asked you a follow-up question like...

"Where are your trouble areas?"

Where would you point?

In my experience, MOST men point to their belly and love handle area and say...

"I gotta get rid of this!"?

From here, your personal trainer would start to devise your "custom" exercise program which would likely include things like sit-ups, side bends, planks, and other silly exercises to "target" the abs and love handle area.

They'd likely mix in a little "cardio" to burn some calories and you're good to go.

Makes sense in writing, right?

But here is where things have gone wrong.

Firstly, If you want to get rid of excess bodyfat around your midsection there's no amount of side bends or sit-ups (Who else just sang the "Baby Got Back" song in their head?) or cardio, that will spot reduce those areas.?

The truth is, fitness is a terrible tool for weight loss. (Proof below)

Whenever someone tells me that their primary goal has something to do with weight loss, I know it's a LIFESTYLE PROBLEM rather than a lack of side bends, sit-ups, and cardio.

The truth is, you'd be much better off looking at look at your nutrition, sleep, and stress levels because those will have a FAR greater impact on your fat loss than exercise ever will.?

PROOF: If you are not convinced that exercise is a terrible weight loss tool, go down to your local 5K fun run and stand at the finish line to observe the top finishers.

Undoubtedly, there will be some very fast runners and you may be shocked to see how much excess bodyfat many of these top runners are carrying around their midsection...DESPITE years of training.

It wouldn't be uncommon to see 80% of the top performers carrying upwards of 20-30 (or more) pounds of excess bodyfat.

And if you were to interview these performers about why they have the excess bodyfat, they will tell you that their diet is not good.

Let's look at a different scenario...

let's say a Trainer asks you,? "What are your goals?"

And instead of weight loss, you tell them that you'd like to build some muscle.

Another super common fitness goal for guys.

From here, your trainer may ask you,

"Where are your problem areas?"

This will get you thinking about a perceived problem area that you may have.

Like chest, biceps, triceps, shoulders, calves, lats, hammies, etc.

Then, based on this information, your trainer would build your "custom" program focusing on the specific areas that you mentioned so you can build more muscle.

But here's where the problem lies.

Using Fitness to chase an aesthetic goal, like bigger biceps, is like having a $500,000 Ferrari with 4 flat tires, a crappy paint job, and only a 4 cylinder engine and then taking it to the mechanic to fix ONE tire.

And it would be worse if the mechanic agreed with you that fixing ONE tire is a good idea.

Can you imagine seeing this Ferrari pulling up alongside of you and seeing ONE shiny new tire while all the others are old and flat.

What a waste of potential, right?

This is exactly how I see the guys who are out there training like old-school bodybuilders.

For me, I see the human body much like that Ferrari.

It has soooooo much potential when it's dialed in.

But for it to run optimally, everything from the engine, to the tires, to the aerodynamics, to the weight distribution needs to be dialed in.

Maybe it's because of all the years I spent as an athlete and working with other athletes.

Their bodies needed to be tuned for PERFORMANCE rather than just a specific aesthetic.

And in my decades of working in the world of strength and conditioning, I have seen some of the most impressive looking men get smoked in all things fitness by guys (and girls) who were much less muscled.

It may shock you, but the most muscular guys are not always the strongest, most powerful guys.?

And I am FAR more interested in a person's actual strength and power than how big their muscles are.

Want some proof that bigger is NOT always better when it comes to fitness?

I was recently told by a friend to check out this guy's YouTube channel and I think it demonstrates what I'm talking about perfectly.

The guy (Anatoly) in the video is someone who does not look very strong and/or fit because of his smaller physique, but it's very clear that he's trained himself for PERFORMANCE rather than some specific aesthetic.

And as you'll see in his really fun, entertaining videos, he puts many guys, who are twice his size, to shame with his physical abilities.

This is exactly what I've experienced OFTEN in my years working in the world of strength and conditioning.

But before you jump to the link...let me just summarize the point of this email...

Fitness should be the tool for building superior human performance - not just for aesthetics.?

When it's used ONLY for aesthetics, it will be largely ineffective and you'll be missing out on the best part of what fitness can offer...

Being a legit badass with a body that is highly capable and ready for anything.

And if you're a guy over 40...I believe THIS is what we should be optimizing for...

Here is the YouTube channel I mentioned above.

https://www.youtube.com/@vladimirfitness/videos

Enjoy :-)

Your Coach,

Tony Bevilacqua

Athletic After 40