I have very distinct memories being around 5 years old and kicking… a basketball. I’m not sure why it wasn’t a football but I remember it was a present (that made me disappointed because I wanted a football), it was too heavy to kick and too large to throw. I also remember I used to wear the oversized adult orange polyester T-shirt – that was easily covering most of my legs and the short sleeve got down close to my wrists – because that was the closest thing to a team shirt so I can pretend to be a football player.
Some other fitness related early memories include swimming at the pool, jumping into lakes (probably causing heart attacks on a regular basis, sorry parents), riding bicycles and hanging off a pair of rings at my granddad’s flat that was hung up in a doorway.
Climbing trees, throwing rocks, trying to carry or just move heavy stuff was also part of my daily activities. Chopping wood, destroying stuff and breaking things were also beloved shenanigans. Doing all these for me has always been natural. No computers, not much TV, loads of free time, freedom and nature around me set the tone.
It happened only later on when I started to look up to people, or at least knowingly started realizing what other people do and I was inspired by them. At the beginning it was more about watching Dragon Ball Z and Xena the Warrior Princess (Hercules too) – but unfortunately I never mastered neither shooting laser beams out of my hands nor the crazy moves to destroy an army on my own. Later during my teenage years I would watch a lot of different sports and started to see shorter clips online, one of which was about a guy who completed a full Ironman of 220km of swimming, cycling, and running all while pushing / pulling / carrying his son. That seemed badass.
I started going to the gym at the age of 13. Back then, magazines were the way to learn the tricks, and I liked the built physiques enough to train hard, but wasn’t too crazy to get to the point where I hurt myself. I continued to play football for the love of it, but eventually the gym took over the first place.
Being strong and having a well-built body sounded good. And more importantly, I enjoyed the process. Eating good food. Learning about nutrition. Experimenting with what feels good to my body. Counting calories. Learning discipline. Spending time with my friends and going to the gym together. Following a training program. Getting results. This taught me even more discipline. And eventually, I started to achieve more and more impressive numbers and features.
Eventually, some niggles started to appear. Cracking knees, rolled ankles, sore lower back, funny shoulders. Probably even more annoyingly, things became a little one-sided. Enduring longer things wasn’t really my thing anymore. My first 10k run and the first half marathon soon after weren’t too comfortable, but it was good enough to change the mindset and push me towards expanding my views about what fitness really is.
This led to a genuine transition towards doing high-intensity fitness classes at the beginning, but later on, around 13 years ago I saw a Crossfit competition on the TV, and that day marked the beginning of the next new – or rather better defined – way of thinking. Without going down the Crossfit rabbit hole, let’s just say that Crossfit is the sport of fitness and their definition of fitness sums me up pretty well.
This is when I realized fitness isn’t one thing. Being strong, fast, enduring, coordinated, powerful, agile, resilient and ready are all part of being fit. You can hit the weights on a Tuesday, play tennis a day later, hike the mountain on a Saturday, swim, paddle, dive and chill on a Sunday. And repeat it all any and every day.
Now, this is what – without knowing it – I was, and I am today. The ever expanding pool of things I have been doing allowed me to look back on that Ironman video 15 years later, and do what I back then couldn’t imagine doing anything remotely close to: sign up to one and complete it myself. And I did.
Call it confidence, delusion, experience, faith – but regular practice and gaining new experiences change what you believe is possible. Then eventually, instead of looking at a challenge and thinking it’s impossible, you start realizing that they may actually be very possible. Better than that, the experiences become more dear than the actual achievement.
This doesn’t only apply to organized fitness events. It’s way more realistic for me to find myself digging a 100 year old tree trunk out of the ground in the garden, play sports the whole day with the kids or being on my feet all weekend than to max out my deadlift, back squat and bench press at the gym.
But the best thing is?! This is all possible. The no niggle, being strong, having a great aerobic capacity, the can do, not giving up attitude and the results to prove it.
When people ask how I train, I often pause and think before I answer, because the reality is that my “training” might be less about a gym program, and more about working on what requires some attention: the body, the soul, or the spirit.
At some point of the year, I probably follow a carefully designed training program that will help me to achieve a particular feat. Most of the year however, I do everything. Run a bit. Cycle a bit. And walk. Stop to look at a tree. Play sports. Lift heavy. Swim. Row. Jump. Climb. Stretch. Flow. Or, simply just sit in peace, breathe and meditate. Learn about fitness, the body, and myself. And even though this may not be physical, it’s equally important for the outcome.
Moving, doing and exploring have always been there for me. The body I’m building today is actually helping me return to things I loved before fitness became “fitness”. Nature. Exploration. Play. Adventure. Capability.