People around me marvel out how effortless staying in peak shape is for me. Over the years I’ve engaged in countless different forms of training such as running, biking, swimming, fighting, gymnastics, yoga, calisthenics, and crossfit. I’ve also spent years training other people as a personal trainer.

The purpose of this article is to explain my philosophy for fitness (Fitness as Exploration) in the hopes that you can take bits and pieces from it and apply them to your journey.

Misguided Beginnings

When I first started training on my own, I wanted to look just like the movie stars. The Dwayne Johnsons, the Chris Hemsworths, and the Zac Efrons. I scoured the internet for workout plans that would give me results.

This lead me straight into the hands of the prominent fitness influencers, with their products promising to deliver the same look that the Hollywood stars had achieved.

This approach to fitness was completely misguided but it also got me started. However, my approach has since evolved very far from that primitive mindset.

Never Ending Improvement

Knowing what I know now, I have a completely different approach to training. Physical training has become so engrained in my daily existence that I don’t even have an end goal anymore.

I’m constantly working to improve different aspects of my physical performance, whether that be a difficult yoga position, a new calisthenics movement like the handstand pushup, or an improvement in my 500 meter row.

There’s no final look that I’m trying to achieve. I’m simply exploring all of my bodies capabilities in a lifelong process.

Fitness as an Exploration

Now I want to get to the core of my philosophy. Fitness to me is an opportunity to explore my physical capabilities and improve them where I feel necessary.

Some of my training is done with the goal of being able to do something that I think looks cool, and other aspects of it are done with the goal of improving different health metrics like VO2 max (the bodies ability to utilize oxygen efficiently).

I now view great physique and physical appearance as something that comes as a bi-product of engaging with other aspects of fitness. This is a big difference from my old philosophy that put those things at the center.

The Wrong Way

I see people around me approach fitness in an unsuccessful way all the time.

They go in like I did many years ago with the idea that there’s some perfect plan out there that will get them to look just like the people they want to look like.

There’s no such thing. I truly believe that the best approach to fitness is the one that is never ending. It is the one that involves countless years of learning and exploring.

The Write Way

The only way to achieve a fulfilling outcome in fitness is to become the type of person that dives deep, learns, and identifies their particular passions in fitness.

You’re never going to get where you want to be by just copying someone else’s workout routine.

As human beings, we have the propensity to move in so many incredible ways and do so many incredible things. What a waste it would be to limit yourself to a cookie cutter body building plan that promises you a physique like the Rock’s.

Why not explore your unique DNA and see what kind of amazing abilities you can manifest in the physical realm?

I hope the concepts and ideas in this article help you on your unique fitness journey.