Thursday, January 2, 2014

In the Beginning...

Welcome to my blog, Fit Austerity. My name is David and this is my journal and communications device with my readers. Here is my disclaimer:

I AM NOT A MEDICAL DOCTOR. The purpose of this blog is to inform, not medically diagnose. Though there are suggestions on my blog about nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle interventions, they are by no means instructions to change your life. Before embarking on any of the suggestions, CONSULT YOUR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN or another qualified healthcare professional. I will not be held responsibility for any changes you make to your diet and life.

Consider this an introduction post, a way to get to know me, which direction I am headed in, and in which direction I want you to head in given you follow this blog. I have a few good directions for this blog, all forward (but sometimes backwards in order to progress). First and foremost, this is a blog about life, fitness, and nutrition.

Who am I?

I am 27 years old, work as a personal trainer at a commercial gym and also do private training. I am a graduate of New York University with a Bachelors in Nutrition/Dietetics. Currently, I am studying to become a Registered Dietitian. Some call me 'ambitious' and a 'dreamer'. I admit I do tend to dream and my goals sound preposterous, especially to my wife, and many times I have to modify or eradicate them. Nonetheless, I hold fast to my passions: fitness and nutrition. I was born in Baltimore, MD and currently live in New York with my wife, Ji Hee, and two dogs.

Unlike most involved in athletic training, I have a terrible athletic background and my genetic predisposition for athletics is severely lacking. I played various sports--baseball, football, soccer, track, Ultimate Frisbee, flag-football, softball, volleyball, and table tennis--but was only successful in a couple of them, table tennis being one. From 7, I cultivated a cannon arm, decent hand-eye coordination, and quick feet. I got the arm from playing wall ball with friends, hand-eye coordination by playing backyard basketball with a bottomless milk crate, and quick feet by running from stray dogs. The arm allowed me to once-upon-a-time throw 90 MPH fastballs; the hand-eye coordination once allowed me to succeed in table tennis and grab 2nd place in a local tournament; and the legs allowed me to run an unofficially timed 10.7 100M sprint. People used to say, "you're naturally athletic". I disagree fully. If you were with me from when I lived in Baltimore, exercise was a natural part of my daily life and that consistency was what forced physical adaptation. Becoming athletic for most is about consistency, effort, and patience.

Now, I lift heavy things and put them down. I love lifting and compete in powerlifting. I have been doing it for five years, from the time I decided to become strong and fit deliberately. When I was in the military, I became a bit lazy, became skinny-fat. I went from 129 pounds to 170, but most of the weight went straight to the gut. I could no longer run as fast as I could, was no longer as agile as I once was, and because I didn't practice throwing, I lost the arm. No matters, throwing hard and fast with reckless abandon would have led me down a path to shoulder surgery. But not running fast was something I sorely missed. Hence, I started lifting. This is the short story, but as this blog blossoms, I will talk about how I used to train. My training now nowhere resembles what I used to do because it is smarter, more efficient, and delivers more results.

My training philosophy revolves around 'fit strength'. My clients and the people I work with exhibit not only strength, but also athleticism. What does athleticism mean? The ability to carry tasks of daily living with little effort, maintaining a high quality of life, and displaying acts of agility, mobility, and strength. Strength is an individual term that signifies the ability to lift heavy things, that in turn contributes to athleticism.

My actual training consists of athletic movements: squats,deadlifts, swings, presses, bodyweight movements like chin-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and jumps.

As a result of my training, I currently hold the New York state powerlifting record with the World National Powerlifting Federation (WNPF). At a bodyweight of 148 lbs, I have officially posted a 425 squat (belt and knee wraps), a 265 bench press, and a 465 conventional deadlift (belt).

THE TOPICS

Life. I am relatively young compared to people who talk about life. But having been in the active duty United States armed forces (Air Force) for six years, fresh out of high school, I feel that I have more perspective than some others my age. As such, I will speak about life whenever I feel the need arises.

Fitness. Since the 1970's, fitness has boomed and practically transformed into a multi-billion dollar industry. This is a double-edged sword: many people are trying to get healthier and fit but such as there is a jungle of exercises out there, so is misinformation. The goal of this blog in regards to fitness is simple, it is austere. It is to provide austerity and clarity in the face of a choking fog of fitness information. Every one has an opinion and many consider themselves 'experts'. I do not consider myself an 'expert', but I do consider myself knowledgeable in some areas of fitness. I will talk on these.

Nutrition. This is my bread and butter. I love everything related to food and nutrition. Unfortunately, nutrition once started out as a sincere desire to get people healthy but as since then spiraled into chaos and branched off into a multitude of directions, each with its faction of followers. Many of these factions are at war with each other, considering themselves superior to others. While some eating plans are better than others, I feel there is too much delineation within nutrition. The goal of this blog is to bring together the best aspects of nutrition, make it simple, and make it work for you. Many times, I will delve into research, but I also realize that research is far from perfect; it is a proxy starting point. Yet, research can apply practically. For example, research has shown repeatedly that you must eat less in order to lose weight. That is the most simplistic saying in all of nutrition. Yet, research is beginning to find that is only the beginning. You can eat like a rabbit for a while and lose weight, but what happens later? In short, it's just more than calories, it is the whole picture, a lifestyle of eating. My eating is unconventional. In other words, I do not follow the government guidelines, MyPlate.

I will go into further detail in future topics, but there is the gist of my eating plan:

- I do not advise eating 45-65% of your daily calories through carbohydrates unless your lifestyle and activity calls for it (endurance running)
- I do not advise keeping your protein intake low at 0.8g/kg/day unless you are suffering from severe kidney disease without dialysis
- I do not advise eating industrial cooking oils that are high in polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acids (corn, canola, safflower, sunflower, peanut, cottonseed, etc)


That's enough information for the first post. I hope you stay with me for a while. Drop me a line.

SBL,
David

2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Absolutely nothing wrong with rice, given it's white, mixed with salt, pepper, and butter, and cooked in chicken broth. And as long as the person eating the rice is not swallowing it.

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