Big? Fat? Other?

You can not swing a skinny person around with clobbering a topic based on big, fat or other.

We have so many experts on being fat, I believe this is why we are the fattest country in the world. I can not begin to list the reaons people are fat, or can I?

The reason someone is fat, is they chose to be that way.

Wait, before you burn my effigy, continue on.

I realize we do not wake up in the morning and decide, "I'm gonna be fat" or "I'm gonna be sick". That is just plain stupid, right?

But how we decide to live, this is what causes are body to change. Using the Olympics as an example, gymnasts, contortionist, swimmers. They all look the same. Swimmers, every one is 6'4" and 190 pounds and cute. Look at Michael Phelps (bastard). And the sprinters, tall and leggy. And don't get me started on Caster Semenya. You go girl, er boy...You just go and getum Killa!!!

My roundabout point is, each event has a specific body type that has advantages. And this specific event, will cause the body to modifiy itself for greatest efficiency.

As an experiment, we can take an epitome of human evolution, body builder, yogi, gymnast, crossfitter, whatever; and place them in a stressful desk job. I mean a job with tight deadlines, erratic schedules, varying hours, something us every day people have. These folk being the top of the healthy food chain would naturally perform better in the beginning, A year from now, they have lost any edge they had in the respective endeavors. Two years, they will have developed a nice layer of protective fat.

Why? The body adapts. The body stores fat for many reasons. The most important is for protection. When there is food, we eat to build up stores of fat for when there is going to be a shortage of food. Fat insulates and keeps us warm. It also protects us from minor illnesses.

Being stressed at a job, we need to protect ourselves. Awkward hours make it difficult to eat right and train. So the body adapts. Has this experiment ever been done? Yes, me. Ten years ago, I was in prime fighting shape at 150 pounds. I decided to get a real job instead of teaching martial arts. I became a CAD designer and sat at a desk. Odd, long hours and the challenge of eating right, but the weight on.

Five years later, I weighed 207 pounds. My iron bones, now tin foil. Reflexes, that of a zombie. Running? maybe for the donut box, before that young dumb whippersnapper got the last apple fritter. I was everything I railed against...and it was my decision.

I then made the decision to go back to my old ways. My first year of training I dropped 42 pounds. And then proceed to gain back 10. Most people watch the scale and stress seeing the weight bounce around. Scales are not as important as the way your clothes fit. This will give you for more feedback. And the best, is how you feel moving through the day.

True that muscle mass weighs more than fat due to the fiber density. (well, fat does not have fiber, more like globules). As a person trains, the body will shed what is not necessary and build up what is.

As you train, you will shed fat and gain muscle. Each level has different demands so the weight may go down for speed and stamina, or may rise for strength and durability. This makes scales unreliable as measuring devices. And the martial artist will develop denser muscles than other athletes. Another example, when you go in for physicals, the techs tell you to stand on the scale. They are masters at guessing a person's weight. I am often told to take off my shoes and empty my pockets. I point at the pile I have already created. Then I have to weight 3 or 4 times to make sure the scale is correct. I weigh 175 pounds but only look 160.

The martial artist is an athlete in a class by themselves. Every other sport is specific and attacts that "perfect" physique. The demands the martial artists places on their body is comprehensive; strength, flexibilty, coordination, stamina, agility, power, toughness, hand/eye coordination and lung capacity.

I have watched great athletes try martial arts to boost their own skills...and fail at it. I have watched martial artists go into other sports and do well. They may not play in the big leagues, but people will notice them.

So do not worry about if those Gi pants make you look fat (They make everyone look fat). Concern yourself with the training. The body will adapt and keep up. It is more about feeling good, than looking good. If your goal is to look good, you'll stress about what you see in the mirror. If you feel good, you can not help to look good.

I use Sammo Hung as model. He is a big boy, and he does kung fu. He is happy, so he looks good. Let us work together to be happier and healthier.

Good training.