Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Idea Of "In Shape" OR The "Ideal Shape"


Physical Fitness BadgeImage via Wikipedia
By: Jeff

Have you ever heard someone say, "I want to be in better shape."?  When some people say this they are talking about their outer figure.  The shape of their body.  They want to be skinnier, have more muscle tone, or who knows what else.  When other people say this they are talking about their fitness level.  They want to be able to have better aerobic endurance and better physical health.  You may ask, "skinny people have a better fitness level, don't they?".  I would argue that this is not always true.  Being  the "ideal shape" is noncorrelating with being "in shape".  There are plenty of skinny people that would struggle to run a mile.

It is that latter statement that I would like to focus on.  Sure, sure, I want to look skinner and stronger. Ultimately though, I want to be able to do things without having to figure out where my next breath is coming from.  I want to have a higher level of fitness.  This is one of the reasons that I am running a 5K in June (see previous entry).

I am now on week three of my 16 week training program.  The first two weeks have been interesting.  I feel like I'm making progress.  One foot plopping in front of the other.  In the last two weeks I have logged more miles on a treadmill than I ever have before.  One of the things that is keeping me motivated is that I am focusing on accomplishing a mindset of being "in shape" rather than the "ideal shape".  Being a rather large guy if I focused on losing weight I would be highly disappointed.  I know if I keep working on my fitness level, that eventually the weightloss will start to happen.

Not to change the subject totally, but I had my stride evaluated.  I highly recommend this before getting to deep into a training program.  My results came back that I had a pretty good overpronating stride (think of ankles rolling awkwardly inward).  It was recommend that I get a motion controlled shoe.  I ended up getting the Ascics Evolution 5 shoe.  Since I am new to running I won't give a detailed review on this shoe, but I will say that the soreness in my legs and hips has decreased significantly since I have began using them.
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