ZappoMan.com - Fitness Blog

What is Fitness?

February 21st, 2007

So here’s an interesting question, what is fitness? Really… I mean, I am probably pretty fit by many definitions. But the truth is there are so many different ways to be fit. To live a fit life, to have a level of fitness.

Today, these days, lately, recently… (I’m not sure how to describe it)… I have decided that long distance triathlon is the “thing” I am personally most interested in. My fitness goals should therefore be geared toward doing “well” in that event… how ever I define well. Do I want to finish? Do I want to finish in a particular time? Do I want to do better in some portion of the race that a past performance. These are all decisions I must make in order to make my fitness appropriate to my goals. Once I’ve made those decisions, then I need to develop (and execute) against a training plan to improve those areas of fitness.

Hopefully in this process, I won’t lose sight of the fact that fitness is more than a race or a particular “tuning” goal, but fitness is a life attitude that you can take to any new adventure and apply your skills of tuning your fitness to be “task appropriate”.

So there I am thinking about fitness… and I’m into my 8th week of a pretty big “season” of triathlon. I’ve got some pretty serious goals. Lopping 90 minutes off of my Ironman time is no small feat. Running a 3:15 marathon in order to qualify for Boston is no small feat. Riding 206 miles on a bike in less than 10 hours of wall clock time is no small feat. Doing all three of these things in one year, while living a full life with a happy family and a prosperous career is no small feat at all. To accomplish this goal, I need to pick my battles. I need to focus my efforts, I need to be willing to let some things go.

I know that some people might hear my goals and think, “Wow, that’s crazy, how can he even imagine these goals.” Well, I admit, I am not intimidated by these goals, I am confident that I can accomplish them. And despite the observations by my sister, I don’t think this is a case of me defending my delusions of grandeur by pointing to other more insane individuals. But when I read about other people (running on foot across the Sahara desert, or swimming the Amazon river, or losing 300 lbs) I am continually amazed by what the human body can do when we put our human minds to the task of doing.

And this gets back to my central question, what is fitness, really?

Interestingly enough, a Google search of “define: fitness” comes back with an alarming number of definitions related to genetics and procreation of a species. But a common underlying theme is “the condition of being suitable”. And doesn’t that really get to the core of things. Fitness is completely context sensitive. What matters in fitness is: what are you trying to do? What is your goal?

So yesterday, I did a quick 45 min interval session on a “bike machine” at a gym. Usually I don’t get much of a workout on those machines. I feel like the standard programs will get my heart rate up to about 130bpm at most. I wanted a little more so I cranked up the resistance to 20 and stood up and went crazy on the pedals. I did get to a max HR of 155. Nothing like what I could have got on a “spin bike”, but it was a workout. After that I did a kind of random strength training session: a little legs, a little chest and a little arms. Probably not good, but the truth is I haven’t done legs in a while… because I used the excuse that all my fixed gear riding was giving me a good leg workout.

Ah-ha! Here is that fitness thing. Why only 4 weeks ago I was doing squats with 110lbs + the bar and effortlessly doing 4 sets of 12…. but I stopped and focused on upper body. Yesterday, I thought, “oh, I’ll start easy, and work up”… so I put 50lbs + bar on there and I could barely do 6 reps… no way I was moving up in the weights. Now, sure I have my excuse… “duh, I burned my legs out on the bike…”. But seriously? That wasn’t a hard bike workout for me. And so the truth is, I have “lost fitness” in one particular type of fitness… my ability to do squats. How should I react? Should I be frustrated? Should I refocus my training around doing tons of squats? Should I say “bleh, those don’t matter”? Probably none of those are the right answer.

The great thing about triathlon (and I think long distance triathlon in particular) is that there are so many different stories and goals and approaches out there on race day. Sure, if you want to be an elite, then the truth is you need to be a world class athlete in each of the three disciplines. But if you are an age grouper, there are so many ways to achieve the exact same result. You can be a strong swimmer and runner, and a not so strong cyclist. You can be a weak swimmer, a really good cyclist, and a not too bad runner. Or you can be sort of ok at all three disciplines, but know that your even approach will get you to the finish of a long day at just about where you want to be in the rankings.

I admit, I need to figure out what I want to do about this squats fitness thing. Joe Friel would tell me that squats are useful for both improved bike and run performance…. and so a loss of fitness there seems like a bad thing. But other indicators signalling that my bike and run performance is improving, I think I’m not going to sweat it.

So here’s my question for all of you… What are you trying to be “fit” to do? I think the best answer may be: “I want to be fit for life.” And that likely means that the program that is easy to stick with, that gives you lots of joy, and a sense of accomplishment is the best program for you. So the real question may be: are you getting closer to “fitness” with your current program? If not, then maybe you should spice things up and change your program around. Don’t be a slave to some program that isn’t working for you. You own your own fitness!

Entry Filed under: Fitness, Triathlon, Diet, Weightloss, Swimming, Ironman, Running, Cycling, Marathons, Yoga, Rock Climbing, Strength Training, Flexibility, Stretching, fixie, single-speed, fixed-gear, food, exercise