Many might wonder, what does fitness look like and how is it measurable? A large number of people might consider their weight as a guide to how fit they are. We have heard everyone say, " I need to lose a few lbs." While your weight plays a vital role in determining if you are making healthy choices, it isn't the end-all of determining if one is fit or not. Weight can fluctuate a lot based on how hydrated you are, your caloric intake for the day and month, and how active you are. My body weight fluctuates from 170 lbs up to 190 lbs given the time of the season. Coming out of winter I am normally around 183 lbs. At the end of summer and into fall after a hard year of riding, I could easily be closer to 175. Compare that to the offseason in December when I hit 190. This doesn't mean I am less healthy at 190 vs. 170 or vice versa.
(Left 217 lbs; Middle 190 lbs; Right 170 lbs)
Another way people might determine fitness is physique. Clearly, if someone looks fit they must be fit. Again, while physique might be a clue if someone is fit or not it isn't the determining factor. I would argue that while a bodybuilder on show day looks cut and sculpted, even they will say they are extremely dehydrated in order to showcase each and every muscle properly. They aren't fit to run even a healthy 5k at that point.
This leads me to my next point. The physique doesn't accommodate each and every sport. Bodybuilders train each muscle individually to look like a sculpture. They train for uniformity in their muscles. You won't see this same uniformity across all sports. Tennis players will have larger dominant arms. Cyclists will have smaller upper bodies and arms while having larger quads/calves/hamstrings. Look at the difference between sprinters and long-distance runners. Sprinters are BUILT, while long-distance runners are much smaller in muscle size. But we would label them all as fit right? So physique isn't the #1 factor.
So what does fitness look like? Well, Strava (Click here to Follow me), which is what I have been using since 2013 to track my activities, has a cool little tool that gives you a rough estimate of fitness, freshness, and fatigue. Let me be clear, I use it as a tool and not as the final say in how fit I am. Here is my fitness over the course of almost 9 years.
The first thing you will notice is that it fluctuates. That is what fitness truly is! You aren't magically one day fit. While you aren't magically one day unfit. They call it training for a reason. It never stops, it doesn't get easier. It only gets faster. The scale moves both ways and things don't happen overnight. Check out between late 2016 and Early 2020. That is what you call a 4-year slump in activities. During that same time, I was also my heaviest in weight at 217 lbs. Sometimes as motivation I'll pick up a 30 lb weight and tell myself, "This used to be on your body." I know I am focusing on weight here, but at the same time my energy levels were down, my motivation was down, my weight was up, the amount of fat accumulating on my body was up, and my diet was junk meaning I felt terrible, my alcohol intake was up, my breathing was uncontrolled, my sleep patterns were disturbed, and my happiness was at an all-time low. Those are ALL measures of fitness. Don't let a scale or a photo of your body determine if you are fit or not. Let yourself determine where you are at on the fitness scale. We all know if we are feeling good. That should be the end-all. Take progression photos if you want, but again don't gauge fitness by your physique. You aren't looking for perfection. My good friend Steve will say, " Perfect imperfections," when it comes to diet.
Now there are a lot of other numbers in cycling on which we focus to see how our fitness is improving but I don't want to get into that now. This post is to remind everyone what it truly means to focus on your fitness and how to gauge it. Here are some quick tips.
Improve Water intake (Carry around a 1/2 gallon jug. Easy to measure & always on you)
Portion control when eating and good choices. See Taste & See for options!
Sleep goals (Shoot for a minimum of 7 hrs. a night. Consistent in bed and wake up times)
Structured time for Fitness (If you don't plan it, it most likely won't happen)
Limit alcohol and pop consumption (Substitute tea, Nuun tablets, or something similar)
10 min. for box drill breathing (5 seconds in, 5 seconds hold, 5 seconds out, 5 seconds hold, 5 seconds in)
Set goals, achieve goals, repeat
Remember, it takes time.
Buy a bike
Ride it :)
Keep working hard everyone!
A special shoutout to my supporters who make this all happen!
Taste & See (Delicious meals and healthy food choices)
Berry Fast Bicycles (The best mobile bike shop north of the equator)
EXIT Realty Advantage (The Realtor you NEED to have in your contacts)
Madison Family Dental (Where I go to get my chompers looked at)
Sunshine Foods of Madison, SD (They sell my favorite thing in the world. FOOD)
Stemper Auto Body (They make my car look like new!)
-Mathew Wollmann
Title: (Wannabe)
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