Minimalist Exercise

This week I developed a workout plan based around simplicity and efficiency. My goal is not necessarily to lose weight, but to become leaner and stronger in a healthy way that won’t take up all of my time. After lots of research, I came to the conclusion that a high-weight, low-volume approach will help me move towards this goal most efficiently. Along with many other corroborating sources, I’ve found several of Martin Berkhan’s articles on leangains.com very thorough in explaining the science and research behind the effectiveness of this approach. I won’t get into all that now, since I am certainly no authority on the topic and I don’t think it’s necessary for me to rehash here what is more thoroughly explained elsewhere. I enjoyed Berkhan’s great description minimalist training and his explanation of Fuckarounditis, a no-B.S, confrontational, yet hilarious diagnostic tool by which I concluded that I am no stranger to the affliction and needed to do something about it right now. Go ahead, I challenge you to take the test.

To help me achieve and sustain the general goal of becoming leaner and stronger, I made these two smaller goals:

1. Some type of physical activity every day for at least 30 minutes (going for a walk, stair climbing, cycling, dancing, yoga, home workout, weight training, hiking, etc. etc.)

2. Weightlifting session 2-3x per week: bench press, weighted squats, chin ups, deadlift, triceps extension. (Heavy weight, low reps)

I also decided on these ultimate strength goals, which are looking pretty lofty after my first session at McFit (Friday) on this new weightlifting plan:

1. DL: 220 lbs (Currently I’m at whatever weight the bar is. That’s right, just the bar… no weights… ha ha)

2. Chin ups: body weight x 3 reps (Currently I’m at body weight – 110 lbs x 6 reps)

3. BP: 110 lbs (Currently, 11 lbs)

4. Squat: 180 lbs (Currently, 11 lbs)

5. Triceps: 120 lbs (Currently, 55 lbs on the pulley machine)

As you can see, I’ve got QUITE a ways to go and have no grand delusions about my current strength status. But everyone has to start somewhere. The most important thing is that you do start. My glutes and chest especially are pretty sore right now, and I like it.

What I love about this minimalist approach to exercise is that it’s freeing. I don’t need to spend 6 days a week at the gym to see results. I can use this time to do other things I love, and 4-5 days a week I can choose whatever activity floats my boat to get some exercise, and I only have to commit to 30 minutes at a time. Yesterday I took a long walk in the snow for about an hour, and today I did the one-room cardio workout from backonpointe.tumblr.com that got my heart racing. Both were very enjoyable.

One thing I’ll miss about Deutschland: the wide designated pedestrian/biking paths everywhere. Most American “sidewalks” are nothing compared to these.

Next week I’ll write about my minimalist approach to diet.

Simplicity Project: Week 2

Two areas I’ve honed in on this week were health & nutrition and online activity, since these are parts of the project I can easily make progress on while abroad.

FITNESS:

Weight training is one aspect of physical fitness that has often bored me in the past, but lately I’ve learned too much about its importance to neglect it without feeling like a dummy. Therefore, a two-month membership to the 24/7 gym franchise here, amusingly called McFit, was a very welcome gift for Christmas from my German family. I’ve visited thrice already, and this week I focused on challenging my muscles and really upping the weight. I also began doing the clean and press with free weights, an exercise that supposedly makes all your dreams come true.

I’ve continued my semi-daily routine of running up and down the eight flights of stairs in the apartment building and have progressed to four trips in a row. My aim is to make my heart beat so fast I think I’ll pass out. Also buns of steel would be great.

NUTRITION:

Since overeating is a common temptation while staying indoors most of the day during this cold and snowy month in the land of Fleisch, Kuchen, Kartoffeln, and Käse, I’ve begun an experiment that includes eating a small breakfast of fruit and müsli or toast within an hour of waking, a king-sized lunch around 1-2pm (preferably after a workout), a small dinner of mostly protein and vegetables, then hot tea and a chocolate treat later on. It’s working extremely well so far. I think the big lunch is key.

ONLINE ACTIVITY:

Let’s just say I’ve got some habits to break. Due to the internet being pretty much the sole way I’m able to connect with friends and family back home, it’s difficult not to check social media more than once a day, you know, just to make sure no one’s having too much fun without me. But 99% of the time, I close the website feeling no happier nor more enlightened than before. On the contrary, it usually leaves me quite bored and like I just wasted 5 minutes of my life. Since I believe there’s more value in sending personal emails, I’d like to make that more of a focus. This week it’s been difficult to break the Facebook compulsion, but I’m hoping to make online activity more purposeful and worthwhile in the weeks to come. Anyone have suggestions for strategies to implement this?

-I finished a book this week that has been remarkably influential in my thinking about minimalism, consumerism, and financial independence this year, and I would highly recommend it to all those looking to have their minds blown about these topics. It’s Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence. You can get it here for less than 10 bucks. Or ask me and I might let you borrow it. This guy is extreme, as the title suggests, and I love him for it. His book and blog have inspired many of the changes I discuss here.

-As for entertainment, I’d rather not discuss.

I hope you all have seen success with the project this week! What are some areas you’ve decided to focus on? Tell me about your progress so far.

Simplicity Project: Week 1

This is week one of the simplicity project series. If you missed last week’s introduction to the series, you can read it here.

Real quick, below are two lists I made while thinking about areas of life I’d to expand and spend more time on, and areas I’d like to simplify.

THINGS TO EXPAND:

health & nutrition: increase hiking, cycling, weight training; train for 10k; eat mostly local and in-season foods; cook one brand-new vegan recipe per week

writing

reading

friendships: more quality time with people who make me happy, more communication, do productive activities together

personal development & education: self-sufficiency, philosophy, politics, economics/investing, career skills, piano

causes: animals, liberty

 

TOP THINGS TO SIMPLIFY:

online activity: check social media once a day; blogs, read only what is most helpful; delete all unnecessary accounts; decrease browsing/videos/music/misc/time wasters.

possessions: sell/give away most of what I own and haven’t used in the last year

purchases: buy only what is necessary or would add the most value, spend money on experiences rather than material goods

transportation: begin to phase out driving; learn more about bike care

entertainment: watch no more than one show a day (this is progress for a person who can, without batting an eye, gobble up four episodes in a row of X-Files, Big Bang Theory, New Girl, Californication, Downton Abbey, Gilmore Girls, Mad About You, whatever the current mood calls for)

food: only buy fresh produce, no non-perishables for a while; make own hummus, pesto/tomato sauce, almond/peanut butter, nut milk, jam; start home canning

media: delete all unnecessary/lame media files

Next week’s post will discuss ideas, successes, and failures so far in my attempts at tackling one or more of the above items.

How are you all doing with the project so far? Have you thought about or made your lists–top things to expand or spend more time on, and top things to simplify or decrease? Have you begun yet to put some plans into action?

The Simplicity Project

Though I haven’t delved into this topic yet (been too busy snacking on dark chocolate and watching X-Files and fleeing the country), one of my M.O.s, along with nutrition, saving money, and occasionally regularly indulging in a bit of obsessive-compulsive behavior, is simplicity. I call this site “Healthy Minimalist” because, in my opinion, each of these words by itself tends to call forth quite extreme images –“healthy,” when taken to the extreme, becomes fussy, complicated, expensive; while “minimalism,” taken to its extreme, brings to mind a blank white room with a few pieces of stainless steel furniture, a lack of color, emotion, and the fun good things that make life soulful.

Therefore, I like to soften my otherwise minimalistic lifestyle around the edges by including a few “messy” elements simply because they make me warm and happy, and to simplify my attempts at healthiness with substitutions and, often, deletions when I feel it is necessary to keep sanity and $avings intact. Also, healthyminimalist.wordpress.com wasn’t taken yet and I’d already spent way too much time trying to decide on a name.

With all my simplicity-loving philosophies, I feel there are several areas in my life where I could safely chuck unnecessary items out the window and not look back. There have been moments of, gasp, frazzled rustling around when attempting to locate something lost, and my control-freak self has a difficult time with that.

Living thousands of miles away from home for the next couple of months with only a suitcase full of personal belongings, I suspect the craving for further simplicity will grow, as it has already in my last two weeks abroad. I figure it’s time to ignite a stronger flame of sorts. Plus, it’s a new year and all. These clean-out-the-closet attitudes are inevitable. The fact that I won’t be able to implement many of the simplification strategies I have in mind until my return to the States in spring will hopefully give me time to firm up the plans a bit while getting used to a more minimalist lifestyle here (In Germany, I’m staying in a small one-room apartment with a kitchenette, have no car, and am without most of the products and tools I’ve grown fond of back home–evidenced below).

Lots of pretty plans are in the works, at least in my brain. But perhaps I’ll be able to set certain techniques into motion while still here–we shall certainly see.

So! I’d like to propose a new project for the year–the simplicity project. To cut out items, actions, habits, responsibilities, attitudes, and expenses we feel are unnecessary and that don’t add considerable value/usefulness to our lives. We couldn’t go into this project unprepared, could we? Maybe that’s just me. I told you–control freak. So here’s a rough, tentative plan, which I’m sure will be revised throughout the journey. I invite you to join me if you’re getting that clean-out-the-closet feeling, too.

1. Make a list of 5-10 items (objects, activities, people, etc.) that are most important to you and add the most value to your life.

2. Make another list of items that you know you need to downsize/give away/ignore/delete/spend less time on, and do so.*

3. Each week, find a way to downsize/delete at least one item from the extraneous list, and replace it with more of an item of real value.

4. Think twice before purchasing anything. If it’s not absolutely necessary and doesn’t add considerable value to your life, don’t buy it. If it’s not a necessity but will add considerable value to your life, try getting it for free. Only spend money as a last resort. This is my favorite, since I’m a tightwad.

*Just don’t ask me to spend less time watching X-Files or eating dark chocolate, I’m afraid it won’t do any good.

If you’d like to join in this project with me, drop me a line! You probably have ideas I’ve never even thought of, and I want them. What items add the most value to your life? What areas would you like to simplify? What strategies have worked well for you in the past? Please share.

“Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.”

-Langston Hughes