Our Fitness Expert's Rules To Live By

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This three-part article is the culmination of something like 16 years of work, if youcan believe that. Here is part one. Stay tuned for the rest of my tips in the comingdays. When I was 14, I was given an assignment in school to writedown my own 10 Commandments -- rules about things Ithought were important to me personally, and that I would abide by. I wrote them down andhanded them in, but also added them to my journal at the time. A few of the rules fromthis original list have stayed with me though my life.Just about a decadelater, I added a few rules to it, as part of a joke email chain that was being passedaround among my friends. Most of the rules pertaining to sex or fashion came about then,and as did a few fitness rules.Finally, I made some additions over the pastmonth or so. Here’s how this came to be. I had forgotten about this list, not havinglooked at it since I was about 24, but a book reminded me of it. Recently, Iread The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs, which is essentially acollection of articles chronicling Jacobs’ various lifestyle experiments. Theseinclude everything from living a month as a beautiful woman (by controlling hisbabysitter’s online dating profile) to experimenting with radical honestly. All ofthe experiments are interesting, but the one about George Washington is most germane toour conversation, and is, in fact, the inspiration for this post.Chapter sevenof The Guinea Pig Diaries is called “What Would George WashingtonDo?” The premise of the experiment was to behave like GW for a month, in every waypossible. You might be wondering, how does one behave like Washington? Or,more specifically, how does one know how Washington might behave? Very goodquestions, with a single specific answer: You just follow the list. Washington, you see, had a list of 110 rules that governed his behavior, called "Rulesof Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Washington was not theoriginal author of the rules; they were penned by French Jesuits sometime around 1595. Buthe did take the time to painstakingly copy the entire list by hand. (If you’reinterested, you can read the entire list here.)Jacobs’ experiment, then, was tofollow these rules as closely as possible, and, in essence, do what Washington would do,and react as Washington would react.It was a cool chapter, and it gave me abit of inspiration. A number of my friends have similar lists -- Craig Ballantyne has alist called 12 Rules I LiveBy, and Jason Ferruggia has one entitled 39Ways Not To Be Like Everyone Else.Upon reading all of these, I decided topull out my own list of rules, add to it and see where it went. I have been exceptionallypleased with the results. I want to share that list with you, and a bit of whyI think it has value. But first…About My List (Mild Disclaimer)

Before anything else, I should just point out that in order to make the list feel morereal, I have fleshed out a good portion of the rules to give them context and clarify mymeaning.As I mentioned above, some items on the list are quite old, and wereadded when I was a teenager; they’re a bit obvious. Others were added when I was inthe prime of youthful debauchery; these rules are based on the experiences and worldviewof a 24-year old, and so they are a bit over the top. I left in certain rulesfrom both periods that I still believe in. Although many of them do not apply to my lifenow, it’s because I have a different lifestyle, not because I'm a differentperson. This list gives some insight into who I am and a few of thethings that are important to me; however, please consider that I take very few thingsseriously, so some of the items are largely on there for laughs. And while the fitnessstuff is relevant, I don’t know that I could say it’s important in myworldview of personal behavior -- it’s just damn good advice.I know thatsome of the stuff on here might, to some, seem either weird or stupid or vain or petty.That’s fine, because I have at times in my life been all of those things -- just,hopefully, not all at once. Now that we’ve got that cleared up,let’s get into the list. Continue Reading

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