— Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Pretty much every fitness company, resource, or book (this one included) will encourage you to both talk to a physician or other medical professional before beginning a fitness program, as well as take a close and serious look at your life to see where you’re starting from, and where you want to get to. Unfortunately, when people start a fitness program, they nearly always start based on where they wish they were physically, rather than where they really are.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola begins his Spiritual Exercises by recommending we start every day with an Examen, an examination of our conscience. It forces us to pause a moment, be honest with ourselves as to what our current state of our life is, draw awareness to what sins and imperfections we are fighting, and consciously resolve to improve those that day. He then says that we should do a second examination around midday and a third at night, so that throughout the day we are checking in with ourselves and God to see where we are, and where we need to be.
Saint Ignatius’s call to us to examine our consciences and spiritual lives daily echoes throughout our Catholic tradition. As early as the writing of 1 Corinthians (11:27–31, if you want to get specific) Saint Paul calls for, at minimum, a weekly examination of our lives to discern whether we are in a state of grace sufficient to receive holy Communion. Likewise, a competent spiritual director will help us take an honest inventory of where we are before suggesting where we need to grow and how we might do that.
As far as prayer and the spiritual life go, in this book I’ve tried to incorporate things into the text and the “workouts” that all can benefit from, and yet most of us don’t do. But, in almost no realm of life is there such a thing as a “one-size-fits-all” solution. So, it’s always good to seek the guidance of a competent pastor, spiritual director, deacon, religious brother or sister, or lay minister.
But when it comes to fitness, how can we figure out where we are starting from? When I used to work as a personal trainer, I would always have clients start by telling me about any injuries, surgeries, etc., they had had. In the case of joint replacements, major hospitalizations, or entire muscles being removed or permanently altered, get the help of a professional physical therapist. There are ways to heal our bodies from almost any starting point, but you will need something a little more custom-tailored.
Here I’m going to break down starting points in general fitness, strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility so you can have a working idea of where to begin.
I. General Fitness
How do I feel? This may seem like a silly or woo-woo question, but it’s actually a pretty good starting place. If you’re honest with yourself, do you feel like you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced athlete? Does the word athlete intimidate you, feel good when you try it on for size, or do you scoff at it? (In which case, come on, let’s calm down on the pride front a little bit here.) Again, be honest.
How long has it been since I worked out regularly? If the answer is “never” to “one year ago,” consider yourself a beginner. Every opportunity you have to take pride out of the equation, do it. You can always progress more quickly if beginner stuff feels too easy.
Heart rate. One other important measure to be aware of is your “maximum heart rate.” This can be a great metric in any of your fitness training. There are more precise ways to calculate it, but the simplest is 220 beats per minute (bpm) minus your age. So, if you’re thirty years old, your “maximum heart rate” is 190 bpm.
Your maximum heart rate becomes important because during different kinds of training, you may have a goal of pushing to 80–90% maximum heart rate, 50–60% heart rate, etc., depending on what skills you’re trying to develop.
When you’re training, if you do have a heart-rate goal, you’ll need to check it. To do so, pause what you’re doing and place two fingers on your carotid artery on the right side of your neck. Count how many beats/pulses you feel in 20 seconds, then multiply by 3. You can do a 10-second count and multiply by 6, but 20 seconds is a little easier to be accurate. Obviously the most accurate way is to get a heart-rate monitor that you wear, but you can do that if and when you feel ready for it.
II. Strength
A. The Pull-up/Push-up/Squat test. These three movements serve as a great way to gauge where your strength level is, because together they work pretty much every muscle in your body.
1. Female Beginners:
a) 0–1 pull-ups
b) 0–5 pull-ups
c) Squat < 50% bodyweight for 8 reps
2. Male Beginners:
a) 0–2 pull-ups
b) 0–10 push-ups
c) Squat < 50% bodyweight for 8 reps
3. Female Intermediate
a) 1–5 pull-ups
b) 5–15 push-ups
c) Squat 50–75% bodyweight for 8 reps
4. Male Intermediate
a) 2–10 pull-ups
b) 10–30 push-ups
c) Squat 50–100% bodyweight for 8 reps
5. Female Advanced
a) > 5 pull-ups
b) > 15 push-ups
c) Squat > 75% bodyweight for 8 reps
6. Male Advanced
a) > 10 pull-ups
b) > 30 push-ups
c) Squat > 100% bodyweight for 8 reps
B. As in the general fitness section, you should also factor in frequency of workouts into your calculations.
III. Speed
A. 1-mile time. If we’re talking overall fitness, your 1-mile time is a pretty good measure of the speed component. It doesn’t really take into account your starting/stopping/plyometric speed, but it gives us an idea of how well your body is processing lactic acid buildup (an acid that your body produces when you exert yourself, that makes it more challenging to continue to exert yourself) and your current level of cardiovascular fitness.
1. Female Beginner
a) Can’t complete a mile — 12-minute mile
2. Male Beginner
a) Can’t complete a mile — 10-minute mile
3. Female Intermediate
a) 12-minute mile — 8-minute mile
4. Male Intermediate
a) 10-minute mile — 6-minute mile
5. Female Advanced
a) Sub 8-minute mile
6.
