76 JUNE 2017 MENSHEALTH.COM.SG
PT FITNESS
put lit le green stickers over
the places I frequented the
most – my car’s steering wheel,
the bathroom mirror, the
weight rack.
Every time I saw a green
dot, I told myself one reason I
was going to succeed. The very
next fi ght, I won Submission of
the Night.
fUnderstand the Maximus
130-hour Rule Fitness can
seem like a journey with no
end in sight. Here’s a dif erent
take on it: 130 hours. In my
experience, that’s all it takes to
get yourself into shape. Train
hard for an hour a day, fi ve
days a week, and you’re there
in six months.
Step 2:
Dream Big
People often come to me with
goals that are far too easy.
Their ceiling should actually
be their fl oor – the least they
expect to achieve.
For example, if a guy
tells me his goal is to do a
marathon, I tell him about
Terry Fox. In 1977, Terry was
diagnosed with osteosarcoma,
a rare cancer, and doctors
amputated his leg.
Even with one leg, he wanted
to run. To him, that meant
running across Canada from east
to west to raise funds for cancer
research, a trek he started in- He averaged a marathon’s
worth of kilometres every day (on
one real leg and one prosthetic)
until the cancer spread and he
had to stop after 4½ months
and 5,342km. Still think a single
marathon is a worthwhile goal?Step 3:
Kill Your Excuses
Preston Wood, 45, is 1.65m and
weighs 71kg. He works about 60
hours a week and travels at least
a week out of every month. He
has a wife and family that he puts
above all else, and he lives about
45 minutes from our gym, a
90-minute round trip.
Despite all those built-in
excuses, he can hit all the fi tness
standards laid out in Are You
Maximus Fit?– a truly incredible
achievement for anyone.
That’s why I use him as a litmus
test for bullsh*t. When someone
tells me he can’t achieve
something, I can say: “Well,
Preston did it. Why can’t you?”Step 4:
Be Good at Everything
Too many people pursue one
aspect of fitness at the expense
of all others. Lifters won’t docardio because it might limit their
gains, while runners won’t lift
because they fear the extra
muscle might slow them down.
Those concerns may be valid, but
only at the highest levels of sport.
The rest of us can and should
achieve high levels of fi tness in
multiple areas.
Consider Paul Timmons, a
48-year-old gym owner who
varies his trainings. He looks
rather unassuming, and you
wouldn’t feel intimidated if you
ran into him in the street.
That’s why most people are
shocked when I mention that he
is one of the fi t est men to ever
train at Gym Jones. He set a state
powerlifting record and fi nished
the Ironman triathlon in a
blindingly fast 11 hours.Step 5:
Strive for Daily Gains
During a challenging workout,
your brain holds your body back.
To bypass those self-imposed
limitations, you need to
understand the dif erence
between exercising and training.
About a year and a half ago, I
met Mat. He had been working
out four to fi ve days a week
with personal trainers and was
in good shape. But he was only
doing exercise. I showed him how
to train.
I worked with him to create a
plan with big fi tness goals that
he thought were unat ainable.
But he changed his mentality and
focused on performing slightly
bet er each day.
Within just weeks, Mat
showed improvement. After
months, there was signifi cant
physical change.
This incremental approach
works for three reasons. First, it
forces you to train – that is, to
keep specifi c performance goals
in mind.
Second, it allows for steady
improvement, which builds
fi tness and psychological
resilience. Third, and perhaps
most important, it can help you
overpower mental roadblocks
and teach you the feeling of
hard work.ARE YOU MAXIMUS FIT?
If you can at ain all these fi tness
metrics, you’re truly fi t.
Back squat:
Twice your body weight
Deadlift:
2½ times your body weight
Front squat:
1½ times your body weight
Bench press:
Your body weight for 10 reps
Turkish get-up:
Half your body weight
500m row:
1 minute, 30 seconds
60-second fan bike sprint:
Burn 55 calories
2,000m row:
7 minutes
2.4km run:
8 minutes, 45 seconds
10K run:
50 minutes"Always be willing
to place bet on yourself,"
says Maximus.