The Pursuit of Fitness with History and Science

With a growing focus on fitness/health coupled with America’s high obesity rates, it makes sense that all these would catch on, but how did they get started, and what makes them the best workouts?

Starting from the time of hunter-gatherers, nearly everyone exercised, not out of routine, but a necessity. Whether it was to hunt or to move through harsh terrain, exercise and fitness were embedded as vital parts of an early human’s life.

Moving on to the time of Ancient Rome to the end of the Middle Ages, people no longer stayed fit for survival, they exercised for war. This was typically limited to men, unlike during pre-civilization, and the sole purpose was to be ready to invade or to prepare to get invaded.

This foundation was built upon throughout the industrial revolution and the beginning of the modern era, where physical fitness and education began to find it’s way to schools and the general public as a whole.

Exercise machines and tools began their rise to prominence in the twentieth century, and when you fast forward to today, we’re now bombarded with hundreds of “lose fat fast” ab rollers, constraining belts, and balance boards. No matter how unrealistic the claims may sound, people buy this stuff… then store them… and eventually, forget they even bought them until they resurface in the depths of their garages. Not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything.

Moving on, how can we figure out which workouts truly have the best results vs. time graph? One way might be to look at past examples, the more interesting way is to look at the science.

Science through the field of kinesthetics has long proven that exercise can help you reduce your risk of cardiovascular diseases, improve skin health, along with a slew of other health benefits, so there’s not a single doubt of its effectiveness. The next step is to figure out which workouts we can do to optimize for these benefits and weight loss as well.

However, it’s not as straightforward as it may seem. There is no single “magical” workout to help you achieve your goals, but scientists do agree that some workouts are simply better than others. Reasons for this could be that they target a wider range of muscle groups, are more accessible, or help you burn calories more effectively. Another important thing to note is that every exercise has its purpose, and you can’t expect something like running to help with grip strength.

Now that we understand that not all exercises are equal and that different exercises are suited to different goals, let’s try to create the semblances of an “Ultimate Weight Loss Workout Routine” that won’t require any special equipment.

For this article, let’s clarify a few things:

A good place to start with for fat loss is light aerobic exercise, which means that they require free oxygen. Examples include walking or a light jog. You might be wondering why I didn’t suggest a faster run or something intense, and the answer lies in when our body decides to use carbs for fuel, and when it decides to use fat.

For more intense workouts, our body will default to burning carbs, so to lose fat, lighter workouts can be way more efficient compared to heavy running.

That’s not to say there isn’t a place for high-intensity workouts in weight-loss. By implementing interval training, which involves going full pace for a while then switching back to low intensity, you can build up your muscle’s capabilities to burn fat. Your muscles end up having more mitochondria, and they’re responsible for converting all that fat into energy. Sticking with running as an example, a good way to interval train is to mix in short sprints with jogs.

Simple exercises like squats can also increase the mitochondria levels in the muscle cells, and can be another factor of the “Ultimate Weight/Fat Loss Workout”.

Putting everything together, by walking/jogging, doing interval running, and squats a few times a week, you can optimize for fat loss through exercise. While this might not be the guaranteed most efficient method, it’ll help if you use proper technique. If you’re not able to do everything right away, slowly build up to it.

Thank you for reading my article! If you have any feedback, suggestions, comments, or corrections, I’d love to hear from you about your progress working out or your fitness journey, and maybe I can get a few tips too!

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