Road to Greatness

Journey recap and intro

     For the past six weeks, Cameron and I have been researching and testing (MythBusters style) in an effort to create the “Master Bro Plan” that would best suit most people’s needs and desires as well as our own.  Over these weeks, we got out of bed every morning like limp zombies rising from their graves, groaning from the nagging pain of being sore.  In this blog post of Bros and Fitness I will share with you a more detailed narrative of our adventure as we walked the road to greatness and challenged a made up character l like to call the HIIT man (That part will make more since later)…. By the way I will be using lots of brackets in this narrative to give you a better understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the main protagonist of this story (me)… just like that.

Two heroes will rise… to HIIT the gym

     It was a dark and stormy night… (Not really but it pants more of a dramatic picture for your enjoyment.)   Cameron looked my direction. He had just finished reading the e-mail sent from our facilitator. He said nothing (as usual).  “Any ideas” I asked. He still said nothing, but he looked as though he was contemplating… kind of.  It was then that our mother came into the office where we were having our silent discussion.  “What if you both come up with a fitness topic and use your brother as your mentor” she asked expecting our answer to be yes.  Immediately ideas started racing through my mind faster than I could put to speech, words actually came out of Cameron’s mouth for the first time in a long time and right then we both knew what had to be done.  It was perfect.  Cameron and I had been working out for years with our big bro Landon.  He had the knowledge, Cameron had the will, and I had… well… I’ll leave that to your judgment. Together we could accomplish fitness dreams.

     How hard could it be?

Let it begin!

     In our interview with Landon we began discussing what the perfect workout might look like. This workout had to suit most people’s wishes, as well as our own since I announced to my viewers that we would “try them out on our Arnold Schwarzenegger want a be bodies”, which was probably the dumbest idea I ever had, but I said it knowing very well that I wasn’t a tank.  At any rate, he told us that, in his opinion, the best workout would be to combine strength exercises (as discussed in the second blog post) with special kind of workout called HIIT.  (For those of you who are new you now understand the pun in the section heading.)  HIIT is an acronym that stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  Now, I had tried HIIT a few times when it was implemented into our volunteer fire training.  I can describe it in one simple equation.

Average human + HIIT = lots of painful experiences

But in this true story, no matter how much I made fun of myself in this blog, Cameron and I would not let our antagonist (or what I refer to him earlier as the HIIT man) win out. We would succeed. So let it begin!

Pain… so much PAIN

     The pyramid… The HIIT man’s most effective weapon, which could keep any brave sole from ever coming back to the gym to challenge his authority ever again.  The pyramid was a set of exercises that was accomplish kind of like the fallowing with a few changes depending on what the strength workout was targeting that day.

·         10 pushups

·         20 sit-ups

·         30 lunges

·         40 mountain clambers

·         50 jumping jacks

And then back down the other side of the pyramid.

·         50 jumping jacks

·         40 mountain clambers

·         30 lunges

·         20 sit-ups

·         10 pushups

Not to mention doing this after running around the gym several times and doing our strength workout of the day. [Do not try this if you’re new. Please work up to that stage first.] The HIIT man’s terms were simple; surrender and forever not reach “BRO STATUS” test him and there will be pain…so much pain.

     I still fight through the stresses of that pain almost every day.  Yes, it is painful when done correctly.  However, for those of you who are feeling not up to the task, know that the “HIIT man” is only as scary as your mind allows him to be. You must realize that (as much as I dramatize about him and this story… again for your enjoyment) you can overcome him no matter what level of Bro awesomeness you’re currently at.  I honestly think this is a good anecdote about life.  We will all get knocked around in life as well as at the gym and we will all face our own “HIIT man”.  But let me assure you, it’s never about how hard we get hit it’s about getting back up again.  Cameron and I both continued to go back to the gym for more and will continue to face “the HIIT man” for as long as our bodies allow us.  I know some of us a graduating soon and others still have more high school left to finish.  I say to you… never back down.  Always do the hard thing because it’s there to be done…. Let’s find out how our story ends. 

A never ending road

     “Cameron!” I announced panting at every breath and lying on the pavement behind the gym where we work out. “What is it” my brother replied in the exact same position I was in.  “I can’t feel my legs!” I said back to him.  Cameron tried to laugh but failed when he began coughing uncontrollably.  We had just finished the HIIT pyramid, which was the last thing to do before our workout was complete.  As we slowly walked back to the car exhausted, but victorious once again I told Cameron jokingly “This was all for your readers… and for science.”

     Thanks for reading Bros and Fitness! There is one last blog post left. In that post I will show you “The Master Plan”, which should give you an idea of what to do every day if you would like to try it for yourself.  Remember, push yourself but don’t take on more than your body can handle; only you can determine that.  Also, be sure to leave a comment on what you thought of this anecdote/narrative blog post of our never ending, but exciting, journey to greatness… and also if you have any questions. Later yall! :)