Pushups, Situps & Tiger Al | Why Are So Many Overweight?

417 Fitness & Wellness Digest (Issue #2)

📢 A quick word to my Springfield personal training clients: As you know, most people just give up altogether on their fitness and weight control efforts during the months of November and December. But here you guys are, getting in better shape during this time. Let’s keep up the discipline people. Sure, enjoy some “treats’ during this time, but let’s hopefully avoid using the holiday season as an excuse to gain 5 to 10 pounds. - Jeff

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How I first got into health & fitness (Pushups, situps & Tiger Al)

The day I first got really interested in health & fitness. Me at about age 14, getting some lessons from my grandfather, ‘Tiger Al’

I was completely indifferent and oblivious to all things health and fitness related until about age 14.

In junior high school, I’d gotten used to being among the last chosen for teams during PE class (because I’m uncoordinated), didn’t have a weight problem, and had no desire to be some kind of “jock” anyway. So why would I have any interest in learning about health and fitness?

But that all changed one fateful summer day in the early 1980’s, when my grandfather came up from Florida to Fulton, Missouri for a visit.

And with him came a pair of dumbbells.

More on those dumbbells later.

I didn’t see a lot of my grandfather growing up, but I always enjoyed when he’d come up from Florida to visit us for a few days.

He was a man I looked up to and admired. A bigger than life character and great story-teller. The kind of guy that commanded attention.

In my grandfather’s younger years he’d done some boxing and wrestling in the St. Louis area, under the stage name of ‘Tiger Al,’ which I thought was pretty cool.

My grandfather, ‘Tiger Al,’ as a young man, ready to kick butt

And my mother had told me how, back in those days, he’d occasionally have some neighborhood boys over to the house for some manly lessons in life, fitness, and self defense.

So, being aware of all these things, I was very much predisposed to listen to ‘Tiger Al' when he broke out that pair of dumbbells and started showing me various dumbbell exercises I could do.

And honestly, in that moment I was pretty much instantly hooked on the idea of developing a stronger, more fit physique. And maybe being able to kick some butt if the need ever arose.

I mean it really was a paradigm shifting moment for me.

I went from having zero interest in health and fitness to suddenly wanting to learn all I could about it, while getting myself into top physical condition.

I didn’t have any dumbbells or a barbell at the time, so instead began an ambitious program of pushups, situps, and rope climbing.

I quickly saw results from that simple home workout program. I could bust out pushups and situps with ease, and could climb the rope in our backyard without using my legs at all, just my hands and arms.

I also began reading every health and fitness related book I could get my hands on from the Fulton public library. (And continue that voracious reading habit to this day.)

Eventually, my mother got me one of those plastic, sand-filled weight-sets from Sears, and then I was really off and running.

Old photo of me using my Sears weight set at around age 14

Granted, I wasn’t going to win any bodybuilding contests at that early stage of my workout career, but I was nonetheless pretty fit looking for a junior-high kid, and finally felt like I got some respect from my peers, despite still not being good at sports.

And the pursuit of health & fitness has been a foundational anchor in my life ever since those days. Especially during the hard times in life. Like a dependable friend who’s always there for you when life seems determined to kick you in the teeth.

And of course I now earn my living in the field of health and fitness, and plan on doing so for a long time into the future.

I’m reminded of the “ripple-effect” as I sit here writing this. The idea that one small action or event can cause a series of related impacts that spread outward. Much like how ripples spread across water when you drop a pebble in it.

My grandfather probably just thought he was showing me a few dumbbell moves. But little did he know the profound ripple effect that would ultimately have on the course of my life.

So yep…that’s how my lifelong passion for health and fitness started. With pushups, situps, and a visit from Tiger Al.

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Why are so many people overweight? (“Smart” people overcomplicate this!)

In my opinion, people (especially smart people) really tend to overcomplicate the answer to this question, with all sorts of theories about leptin, insulin, ghrelin, insulin resistance, etc.

But I think the answer to why so many people are overweight is much simpler.

The main reason so many struggle with their weight is because we live in a culture in which eating mostly calorie-dense, highly processed foods has been completely and tragically normalized.

Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the rivers of “liquid calories” so many people drown themselves in daily. In the form of sodas, sports drinks, 500 calorie “coffee” drinks (more like glorified milkshakes really), fruit juice, beer, wine, etc.

I mean geez, no wonder so many people are overweight and diabetic.

“Intellectuals” overcomplicate this stuff:

Now I can already hear some of you intellectual types out there, who really like to overcomplicate things…

“But what about the insulin, hepatic insulin resistance, ghrelin, blah, blah, blah?”

Relax smart person. Take a deep breath and give that big-ole megamind of yours a break.

Stop looking to overcomplicate this issue.

The simple and obvious answer to why so many are overweight is that it’s due to so many living on mostly high calorie, heavily processed foods. “Foods” that not only don’t do a good job of controlling your appetite, but that are literally engineered (by evil food technologists in laboratories) to drive overconsumption.

So they can sell you more obesity/disease causing frankenfoods.

But here’s the good news.

Problems with simple and obvious causes generally have simple and obvious solutions.

I bet you can already see where I’m going with this.

If you struggle with your weight, the obvious solution is to stop basing your diet mostly on high-calorie, processed crap, and to instead base your diet mostly on less calorie-dense, whole, natural foods. The stuff that fills you up and kills your hunger before you’ve accidently consumed way too many calories.

If we could magically make all high-calorie, ultra-processed “foods“ disappear from the dietary landscape, we would no longer have an obesity or diabetes epidemic. Even if nothing else changed.

Why are so many overweight?

It isn’t, as some mistakenly assert, due mostly to hormones, low thyroid, slow metabolisms, gut bacteria, gut health, sedentary white collar work, failure to be in ketosis, meal frequency, meal timing, etc.

Sure, some of those things may play a role in driving weight gain for some people, but not nearly as large a role as many claim.

So again, why are so many struggling with their weight?

It’s the food!

More specifically, the modern-day tsunami of fake frankenfoods that are engineered for overconsumption, and which make up about 80% of many people’s total food intake.

Somebody had to point out this obvious fact, so I guess it may as well be me. Do with this information what you will.

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Do high reps with “lighter” weights build lean muscle as well as heavy weights? (From my Youtube channel)

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💡 Train with me: If you happen to live in the Springfield, MO area, and would like to learn more about my safe, sane and time efficient approach to fitness, request a free, no obligation consult & workout at: SpringfieldPersonalTrainer.com

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