SO MIS-UNDERSTOOD - By Fred Fornicola

Originally posted on NaturalStrength.com on September 1, 1999

Here's one of the conversations I had after a hard workout:

Uninformed Individual: "How many hours a day do you train?"
Me: "Hours? What do you mean? I don't understand the question"

Uniformed Individual: "How do you split up your workouts?"
Me: "I don't, I train my whole body each time."

Uninformed Individual: "So you are in here for a long time"
Me: "Not really, maximum is 45 minutes."

Uniformed Individual: "Do you do a lot of cardio training?"
Me: "No, not really. Thirty minutes at THR three times per week."

And my favorite question of all....

Uninformed Individual: "Do you think it works?"

Let's see, I'm progressively getting stronger, my body weight is 180lbs @ 11% BF (at 5'7") and I'm 38 years old.

Me: "Yeah, I think so"

If I had a dollar for every one of those conversations I'd be writing this article from my vacation home in Maui, by I digress. Too many people, because of popular magazine publications, are misinformed and it's becoming a sad state of affairs. I'm amazed at what a good physique makes people think. "He must do hours of cardio, just look at him". What the hell does that mean, because someone is defined he must be training hard and he obviously knows what he's doing? Not necessarily, I know quite a few people who can eat whatever and train haphazardly and still have a good physique (bastards), but that is in no way an indication that what they are doing is correct. These people obviously have great genetics and because their physiques come naturally, they tend not to train with much intensity. But is this a good thing or bad thing? There are quite a few people who go to the gym and bust their butt with the weights, eat properly and do some cardiovascular training to maintain the old ticker and have an average physique. My hats off to them for going back and persisting, they are the ones who are going to succeed, not just in the weight room, but also in life. Give me the average "Joe" or "Jane" who's going to come in the gym and bust ass through their workout, feel good about themselves and walk out (sometimes crawl) knowing they gave it their all. That person to me is a major WINNER in my book.

Next time you're in the gym or if you're a home trainer (which my wife is one), don't worry about the strange looks you may get when your grunting out your last rep on a leg press or when you're asked how many hours a day you train, just feel comfortable in the fact that what you're doing is putting you on the path to superior fitness. And if you have the patience (and of course after your workout), you may want to help some poor soul who is misunderstood about HIT and talk to them or refer them to http://www.Cyberpump.com or http://www.NaturalStrength.com for a little enlightening on the proper way to train.

Physical Culture Books.com