This is the blog that answers the tough, philosophical questions in life, and we cover all sorts. The answer to this one is around 100% of body-weight for men and 70% for women. That is the minimum, base level. More importantly though is how much you should squat. And the answer starts with 120% for men and 100% for women. This is for minarchist libertarians; no-compromise free market anarchists should add at least 20% to that. Well what about an anarchist communist, you may ask. Well they should lift according to their abilities, obviously, but never forget the so called free weights are oppressive and the gym owners profit from the toil and sweat of the lifter.
So fellow steemians, ask yourselves not if steem is the future of cryptocurency, but ask yourselves do ned and dantheman even lift?
Well, they should. As should all lovers of liberty. Allow me to expand upon that.
The main definition of liberty is lack of external constraints on your actions from other people, as long as you respect the same for them. But there are always natural constraints – gravity and whatnot – that restrict you actions. And this can lead to a wider definition of freedom. There is a difference between liberty as a political concept and degrees of freedom in day to day action – which can depend on many things. So being fit does not in any way increase liberty in the political sense, but can increase the range of actions you can undertake. This can greatly contribute to your quality of life.
There is a former navy seal Internet named Jocko Willink. He was a seal team leader and now is a writer and I assume motivational speaker. What caught my attention first is that his picture and life story look like the very definition of a badass, and I grudgingly respect that. I can’t really say I agree with all he says, but we have a lot in common, old Jocko and me. He is an expert in Brazilian jujitsu; I read the Wikipedia page on jujitsu. He was involved in the toughest battles of the Iraq war; I was a sub-mediocre counter-strike player in high school. The similarities are endless.
Jocko has a concept called discipline is freedom. Now I would not phrase it like that, as a bit of lack of discipline once in awhile does a body good. But he makes an interesting point. The better you organize your life to do the things you must, the more freedom you have to do the things you want.
How does this apply to fitness? Well fitness is kind of one of these must do, being out of shape can create a lot of unpleasantness. It can greatly reduce the range of activities you can do. Reduce your freedom of action. In the modern world more and more people tend to spend long hours sitting on a chair looking at a screen. This has a quite detrimental effect on the body, and can be countered by a good fitness regimen. It may not be apparent in youth, but as you age, it can hit you hard. As life expectancy increased, life quality unfortunately did not always keep pace. A long life is good, but it’s a shame to spend the last 10 years staring out a window.
Anecdote time! My father is an engineer, and while fit in youth, by the time he was 50 a life of chair sitting took its toll and he developed nasty back pains. Now several doctors recommended surgery, but my father was wary of that and instead tried something else. Walking 4 miles a day and exercising. Slowly and with a lot of pain it worked and he fully recovered. At 65 he can do all things he did at 40. Colleagues of his with similar issues took the surgery option and the results were much worse. Now sometimes you need surgery if you have spine problems, but isn’t it better not to develop spine problems? For some it is inevitable, but for many it is quite avoidable with a bit of exercise.
Another anecdote I have is about when I studied for a semester in university in Italy. A bunch of us went to the lovely Cinque Terre area on a short sightseeing trip. There we took a hike between the towns to take in the views, a moderate hike on a steep but not too steep trail. There were healthy 24 year old who got tired enough to quit the hike in an intermediate town before the destination. This deprived them of part of the experience. And where will they be at 50?
Now enough anecdotes. I talked about benching and squats at first because I have become convinced that an optimum fitness regime needs to also include the lifting of weights. This strengthens your muscles and helps in a lot of activities you may struggle with in old age, like needing to lift a heavy bag or a grandchild or two. It can help boost the metabolism, reduce rates of heart disease, cancer and other old age afflictions that impact quality of life. It also makes you look good, which must count for something.
Some of you may be thinking: but I don’t want to get too big or muscly, that being such a huge risk and all. Stop. Really. People who you think are to big put a lot more work in gym and diet then you or I probably will. You will not get too big. So pick up some damn weights. And put them down again. And repeat for the next 1 to 50 years or so. Depending on the breaks.
Oh and put the damn weights back when you are done. No curling in the squat rack. I think that about covers it.