In the world of modern technology, it’s everywhere from
computers to cell phones, satellites all over the globe, little robots that can
do certain things, apps that have just about every single piece of information
you can find and it’s all mostly unnecessary in the fitness world. There are
ways to work around that however. There was a time when there was no internet,
no cell phones, no computers to give us the slightest bit of info and the
closest to entertainment you found was in a movie theater, the radio, Burlesque
shows, Vaudeville and the Circus. You actually had to find a way to make life
interesting whether it was working on a farm, wrestling with many sparring
partners at a YMCA and sometimes the nearest town was miles away and had to
ride a horse or in a carriage.
Machines today
have their reason and some of them are good to use but when it comes to
exercise, most machines don’t really do anything for you because of how fixated
they are. Some people can use technology to their advantage in their training;
I was never fond of the treadmill but somehow certain people like them and use
them in the gym or their home. To take advantage of this while being productive
there has been ways of people getting fit from a treadmill while working at the
same time. A great friend of mine Tyler from Garage Warrior has his laptop
attached to his treadmill so while he’s doing emails and writing up articles,
he can get in a brisk walk at the same time so he’s making something useful.
To be fit
in my opinion is to be as old school about it as possible with as limited
machining and technology as possible. Learn to be more wild-like and open to
getting strong, certain people like lat pulldowns for the back muscles but in
the end if you want a great powerful back stick to basic exercises like
Pull-ups, Chin-ups, Deadlifts and DB/BB Rows. When you move a barbell/dumbbell
or even your own bodyweight, it’s a different feel; you’re part of a tradition
in a modern era that is overrun by microwaves and technological distractions. Learn
how the old-timers trained, you don’t have to be exactly like them but learn to
use their example of how being fit and strong really is. Lift odd objects to
find out how your muscles work in an awkward and unstable position, learn to
use your body like an animal seeing how you move with constant change and
direction.
Since there
are so many freaking apps for fitness there are only two or three I've ever
found that is truly useful, the Tabata apps and the Deck Of Cards. Tabata
training is basically an interval training system where you do 4 minutes of
intense exercise with 20 sec. on and 10 sec. off ratio, this app can be great
for short and timed training. I use it for animal type training. The deck of
cards app is by far the very best one I have found that gives you a workout
that is never the same and it’s an unlimited deck where you can do an infinite
number of cards. You can pick up to 4 exercises that you can type in and you’re
off and running, after you do a certain exercise on the card, press a button to
go to the next one and it’ll tell you how many reps to do for that particular
card, sucks it doesn't have jokers though.
We can use
technology to our advantage in the way we train but you have to be smart about
it, let it work for you. Stick to the basics as best as you can and have a kick
ass time with them but don’t let technology run your whole way of training, overall
its best to turn off your computer, cell phone, radio and just be free to do
whatever you want. It’s all about how you find things that work best for you.
