In Stoke East Park (near Blackberry Hill, Bristol) there’s a monument called “Lady Elizabeth Somerset’s Obelisk” atop a large hill.
(You can see it from the M32. If you’re headed into Bristol centre, it’s on the right, just before junction two).
I did precisely two “hill sprint” sessions on this hill when I was at University.
The programme I was running at the time called for a few hard cardio workouts per week. And being young and stupid, I decided that something appropriate for my fitness levels – like a gentle mile run – simply wouldn’t do.
No.
My towering ego demanded I do something “hardcore”, which meant finding the steepest, roughest hill I could find and half-running half-clambering my way to the top repeatedly until I hacked my lungs out into a puddle of phlegmy red goo and expired.
OK, perhaps I’m exaggerating a little because neither session ended with me going to my particular judgement – as evidenced by me writing you this email today.
But it was a mightily stupid thing to try, hence why I only managed two sessions before I gave up.
And did I learn my lesson?
Regrettably, I did not.
Rather than man up and accept my poor cardiovascular fitness, I threw a tantrum and (incorrectly) reasoned there was no point in doing cardio unless it was something “cool”.
So although I got plenty strong and built a lot of muscle over the next few years, I was never proud of what I saw in the mirror. (To the point I’d actively avoid doing anything that involved taking my shirt off while other people were around).
I hope what I’m teaching here is obvious, but just in case it isn’t:
Know your limits and train accordingly.
This will probably mean doing the same boring stuff over and over again.
You probably won’t think a lot of it is particularly impressive. Especially if you judge your achievements against juicehead influencers and/or professional athletes instead of the average man (who does little or nothing to improve his health and physique, and performs accordingly).
Something else that’s really rather boring is what I teach subscribers of The Phil Tyreman Letter.
However, everything is built on basics that have been proven to work time and time again for over a century.
So if you’re more interested in getting results than you are in being entertained, a subscription could be right up your street.
All the info is here:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/information
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman