The Physical Culturist

When I ask you whether or not you're a physical culturist how do you respond? Most will respond that they don't really know because they don't know what a physical culturist is. Physical culture is a personal commitment to total health and well being of body, mind and environment. It's a lifestyle that consists of a healthy diet and lots of activity and exercise. It's about understanding how the decisions you make not only affect you, but the environment and those around you. It's about trying to live your life to the fullest and striving to leave a positive impression on everything you touch. It's a state of mind.

Activity and exercise is a major part of being a physical culturist. We lead very active lives. We enjoy biking, hiking, walking, skiing, running, all kinds of recreational and competitive sports. We play! And we do it as much as possible... Physical culturists train their bodies with intense full body functional exercise, working the entire body as a kinetic chain. We don't waste time or effort isolating one muscle apart from the rest of the body because it doesn't result in true and total fitness. We perform mobility exercises to keep the ligaments, tendons and joints strong. We don't waste our time working out on machines because we know that the only "machine" worth working on is the the one we were born with. Look at it this way. Watch a group of 8 year olds play on a playground. They have the flexibility of a rubber band. They have incredible mobility with the ability to generate power from practically any position the body can be manipulated into. They have phenomenal strength to size ratio with the ability to climb back and forth across monkey bars for what seems an eternity. They climb trees, they jump on and over everything, they sprint, they wrestle, they tackle each other at full speed without injury. What makes them any different than you? Is it because they're young and you're not? To a certain degree, this may be the case, obviously we're not going to start up an Over-70 tackle football league :) But the major difference is that most people stopped doing it a long time ago. The reason most people can't do it anymore isn't because they're too old, it's because they stopped. And when they decided to "get back in shape" they were herded into the local chrome and fern palace where they were confronted with a bunch of machines and benches designed to isolate one or two muscles at a time with the goal of looking like Arnold. Do you think Arnold can climb a rope or do a handstand. I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that he can't. Is that fitness? Who's in better shape, the group of 8 year olds or the bodybuilder on steroids with 24 inch biceps that couldn't run a mile if his life depended on it? How ridiculous would it be for me to go to that group of 8 year olds and say "Boys, lets go to the gym and do some bench pressing and biceps curls and get y'all in shape! But first we're going to warm up on those treadmills and watch a little TV. Everybody got their iPods?".... You get the picture. As physical culturists we are active and use exercise as a means to achieve better performance in our real world activities whether it's competitive sports or playing with the grandkids. The physical culturist trains for performance, not aesthetics, so we can function at super high levels in all of our endeavors well into our golden years.

Physical culturists also take care of their bodies with healthy diets. We don't use tobacco or drugs. Most don't use alcohol at all, but if they do, it is used very sparingly. We get our carbs primarily from fruits and vegetables which are loaded with the nutrients the body needs. We limit the amount of processed flours and refined sugars we put in our bodies. We get our proteins from lean meats, fish, or vegan sources. We get our fat from healthy sources like fish, nuts and seeds. We don't eat at McDonald's or other fast food chains. We buy organic as much as possible because organic foods have higher nutritional value and are grown or raised in a manner that doesn't negatively impact the environment.

Due to our active lifestyles and healthy diets we rarely get sick or suffer from the types of diseases brought on from the typical Western diet and lifestyle. Many cancers, type II Diabetes and heart diseases are directly attributed to a sedentary lifestyle with an unhealthy diet loaded with processed carbs, refined sugars and saturated fats. The true physical culturist doesn't have to worry about these things. We don't have to spend time in doctors offices having symptoms treated, we don't require shelves full of medications, we don't catch colds or flu because our immune systems are solid.

TragicallyFit.com is dedicated to Physical Culture. We will bring you information and tips on how to enjoy a lifestyle that encompasses a commitment to total health and well being of body, mind and environment. Join the physical culture movement and enjoy the benefits that this lifestyle brings!