The Fitness Adviser

Recently, a reader asked me why I don’t write more about military fitness and about how to get in shape military style. It was a good question, and I’m going to address it now. There are two reasons that I usually don’t talk about fitness in the military, one that is more obvious and one that might surprise you. The first reason is that at the end of the day, how we train in the military is not public information and I take that seriously.

The second reason is that even if I could discuss how we train in the military, the training is not necessarily ideal, healthy or even better than civilian training. In fact, from my own experience I found that training the military way is not close to as good as training normally. Why? Because the military, and that goes for every military on the planet, is not a place to pamper you or help you get strong healthily. It’s a fighting force and as far as it is concerned you are just another pawn on the board that has to be fit enough to do its job. It may be necessary, but it is far from ideal.

A long time ago, there ruled a very powerful king named Charlie. Now, King Charlie had everything that anyone in his time could ever dream of, for he ruled over the richest and most powerful kingdom in the world, and it was good to be the king. But there was one thing King Charlie did not have, and could not seem to acquire despite his best efforts. Six pack abs.

[This is a "King Penguin", not to be confused with a real king.]

So one day, King Charlie called in three of his best advisers to give him tips on how to get ripped abs. The first adviser was Arnold, a famous bodybuilder whose ability to build muscle was known throughout the land. The second adviser was Jack, who preferred a less massive but more toned look than Arnold and was extremely popular with the non-bodybuilders.

More people than ever are spending a significant amount of time during the day using the computer. While this means that more people have access to an incredible amount of information with the Internet , it also means that you have to lookout for your eyesight, and that it’s getting more difficult to squeeze in a workout during the day. That being said, to every problem, there’s a solution. Here are 5 fitness tips to help you stay in shape and maintain your eyesight while using the computer:

[I'm always curious how people are able to use their laptops outside during the daytime. Doesn't the glare from the sun make it impossible to see the screen?]

Do Fast, Explosive Exercises While a Program is Loading

Who doesn’t know of Mr. T and his catchphrase, “I pity the fool”? Well today, I’m going to rant about the people I pity. Here it goes:

[This is Rocky III, where Mr. T first rendered his famous line, "I pity the fool".  My favorite part of the line is at the end where he says "Prediction? Paaiiiin." No matter how many times I've heard it, it makes me laugh every single time.]

I pity the fool who believes the “mainstream nutritionists” who claim that the best diet is low fat and high carb.

I pity the fool who thinks the best way to get into shape is doing long, boring cardio and not short burst interval training.

I pity the fool who doesn’t think walking is good for them.

I pity the fool who trains only for vanity, not realizing there’s more to life and more to being in shape than just looking good.

Charlie Gets Pumped For A Half Marathon Race

For the first time in a long time, Charlie was pumped. Despite being in medical school, he had managed to make the time to train for his first half marathon race. He ran three times a week on a set program, and strengthened his body another two days a week. He even made sure to eat well for months, something he hadn’t done in years. But that wasn’t why Charlie was pumped. He was pumped because he made a hundred dollar bet with Jack  that Charlie would beat him in the race. Charlie had been competing with Jack since grade school.

[This has nothing to do with the post, but this picture of crocodiles sleeping is nuts! How would you feel if you just randomly stumbled upon a group of sleeping crocodiles?]

Months ago, I read a fascinating article published by a newspaper here in Israel. It was an interview with a woman who was the head of a huge technology company here. She mentioned in the interview that while Israeli’s are excellent at innovation and quick thinking, we have some work to do in the planning department.

[There's an old Chinese proverb, "Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still." The turtle might be slow, but he's looking up towards the end game and is confident he's going to meet his goals.]

To prove her point, she contrasted Israel, which is well known for innovation but not planning, with China, where they have a plan for everything. She explained that China has plans to lead in industries fifty years from now that it currently hasn’t even started competing in yet. She concludes with saying that because of China’s long term plans, China is now on the verge of being a major competitor in industries that it was not even present in a half century ago. This was so incredible to me, that I immediately began thinking about the importance of long term goals and planning long term.

My name is Rafi Bar-Lev and I’d like to welcome you to my brand new fitness site!  To learn about me and why I created TheFitnessAdviser.Com, check out the about section. Feel free to comment and if you like the site, help put it on the map by telling your friends about it!

Enjoy the site,

Rafi