00:55 Strong is healthy, right?
01:05 Five components of health
01:25 Pro BBers,on deaths doorstep
02:00 Healthy at any weight!
03:00 Research PROVES obese are healthy!
03:20 Hurried? Skip weights, do cardio!
03:55 For good health: low bodyfat
04:55 For good health: daily cardio
05:25 For good health: good nutrition
06:10 For good health: strength
06:35 For good health: low stress lifestyle
07:25 Fitness thought silos
08:15 The upward health spiril
09:30 Cardio kilz gainz
10:25 Its not healthy to be lean!
11:30 For the 1%
Before bodybuilders and powerlifters get all excited, this is not a fat bashing post – its equal opportunity bashing. Its just as ridiculous for a powerlifter to fool themselves into thinking that being strong is the same as being healthy as it is for an obese person to convince themselves that they can be healthy at any weight.
What it takes to be healthy
If your health and fitness is not one of your top 5 life priorities, thats your business, but don’t make excuses or deceive yourself. There are five things required for good health in my book:
Daily strenuous cardio.
Clean nutrition using unprocessed foods, lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, and legumes.
Low bodyfat.
Strength training.
Low stress lifestyle including getting lots of sleep.
Doing one of these does not get you an “atta-boy” from your doctor, it will get you a stern lecture about how you need to change your lifestyle or face decreased quality of life and premature death. You need to have all your ducks in a line to be healthy.
Unhealthy at any weight
The number one killer in America is heart disease. High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels lead to clogged arteries, stroke, and heart attacks. Guess what the #1 recommend way to lower high blood pressure is? LOSE WEIGHT. Guess what the recommended way to correct bad cholesterol levels is? LOSE WEIGHT. Guess the #2 way to prevent heart disease is? LOSE WEIGHT, the number 1 way is to clean up your nutrition but the two are very closely related because when you eat clean, you lose weight so they are really the same thing. If you are obese, get out of your ridiculous thought silo shared by other obese people all consoling yourselves that you can be obese and healthy, YOU CANT!
Although 999/1000 research papers say its unhealthy to be obese, these “healthy at any weight” people like getting up on a very high ladder to cherry pick the ONE study that shows being obese is healthy. They often come up with a study like this one that shows that a skinny couch potato is not as healthy as an obese person who does cardio. News flash. What have I been saying for 15 years nonstop? That daily cardio is the most important thing you can do for your health and that if you dont have time for weight lifting and cardio then you should skip the weight lifting. It goes back to my list of five things at the top required for health. Just getting one right is not enough.
The other thing that the “healthy at any weight” people miss is that when you are obese its harder to be active and an active lifestyle is essential to being healthy and fit. If you have a handicap placard hanging from your rear view mirror so you can park right at the entrance of Walmart that is NOT healthy. When you are heavy, its harder on your feet, ankles, knees, and hips. You might be able to walk but you cant run and not being able to run keeps you from being able to participate in almost every sport.
Strong does not mean healthy
Fair is fair. Time to pick on the gym goers. I see this all the time, people who go to the gym wear halos. They think that because they have sixpack abs, huge arms, or can squat 8 plates that they are healthy – NO. Being strong IS important for health because it keeps you from being injured in every day life lifting boxes off the floor but just because you are strong does not mean you are healthy. You cannot judge health by looking, Zyzz and Rich Piana are great examples. They had awesome physiques but were very unhealthy. IFBB pros are some of the unhealthiest people on the planet despite the fact that the industry tries to convince us that they are the epitome of health. The truth is that these pros are on deaths doorstep. I like to joke that pro bodybuilding is a contest to see who can take the most illegal drugs without actually dying on stage and this is only partially a joke. Most people who go to gyms are in this little thought silo where everyone just keeps repeating the mantra “cardio kilz gainz” so they skip their cardio.
