What Is A Grad?

I keep seeing articles about health and fitness and for some reason, many of them strike me as being slightly off. There’s something just a little wrong with them or something that doesn’t quite seem right. The odd thing is that these are articles which, three or four years ago, I would have been nodding along with, agreeing with everything they said. What’s changed? Is it the articles or is it me?

That started me thinking about what kind of articles I want to present here on 60 in 3 and the kind of material you all like to read.  Who is my audiance?  What are you all like?  I’ve been thinking for a while that the average 60 in 3 reader isn’t quite the average person and I wanted to quantify that.  What makes us special?  What makes us unique?  This is what I came up with.

The Grads!  That’s us

I’m going to use the term grad or grads to describe you all.  First of all because it’s easier than saying the average 60 in 3 reader over and over but also because it has a couple of other meaning.  Grad means you’ve graduated.  You’ve gotten past all those fad diets, three week exercise programs and two month resolutions.  You’re here for the duration and you know that you want to make fitness part of your life.  Grad also means gradual, because you understand that being fit doesn’t happen over night.

So let’s examine this a bit more.  What does being a grad really mean for me, for you and for 60 in 3?

No Quick Fixes - As I said, being a grad means you no longer believe in quick fixes.  You know that fitness is not about the next two weeks or even about the next year, it’s about the rest of your life.  You won’t see articles on 60 in 3 urging you to try this workout for the next week or this diet tip for the next month.  The only things I’ll talk about are changes to your life that are realistic and can be maintained forever.  It’s what you expect and it’s what I intend to deliver.

Why As Well As How - Being a grad means you’re interested in learning more about your body and your health.  You’re not interested in just being told “do this!”  You want to know why and how this will help.  You don’t care to be told “eat more veggies”, you want to know why this helps because this information will help you adapt these tips to your everyday life.

Detail Oriented - Related to the why, you want to know details.  It’s great to know that eating less calories will mean losing weight, but where are the details?  How many less calories?  How many calories in a lb?  How do I calculate my calorie intake?  I see too many articles out there with simple tips like “eat less calories”.  Well that’s great, but what does that really mean?  I’ll try to provide those details on 60 in 3.

Big Picture View - This may seem at odds with the details point I just mentioned, but I think it can work well.  You see, too many sites and magazines have too narrow a focus.  How often have you see a site dedicated to just running?  Or just a raw food diet?  Or just ripped abs?  These things are fine but they need to be part of a big picture.  Being fit is about all of these things.  It’s about diet and exercise and motivation and a whole lot of other things.  I’ll try to deliver that big picture overview that you expect because I think it’s vital.  Without it, we get too focused on one area or another and miss the big picture.

Enjoy - Too many articles focus on fitness as a hardship, something to be endured rather than enjoyed.  I disagree completely and I think you grads do as well.  Fitness and health is a wonderful part of life.  There are so many fun and fit activities like hiking, dancing, sports, horseback riding and so on.  I just fail to understand how people can see health as a chore.  Even going to the gym can be fun if you do it right.

I think the reason many people fail at their attempts to become more healthy is because they think of these attempts as work rather than pleasure.  They start with the hard stuff like gym workouts and strict diets, without enjoying the easy stuff first.  Well, that’s not me and I don’t believe it’s you either.  So I’m going to focus some articles on the more fun aspects of fitness.

Proud and Personal - Last but not least, you’re proud of what you’ve accomplished and what you’re still working on.  You’re not ashamed to admit you still have goals.  Yes, you still want to lose a bit more weight, you still want to improve your running speed or get better at dancing and that’s perfectly fine.  Health is a very personal thing and it’s also something to be very proud of.  You know what you’ve accomplished and you’re not afraid to share that with others.  That’s part of the reason why I enjoy sharing personal stories here on 60 in 3, because I realize fitness isn’t all about cold hard facts.  Sometimes it’s nice to hear of other people facing the same obstacles and struggling with the same difficulties.  We can share our experiences with them and learn from their mistakes.

So here’s to you 60 in 3 grads.  Thank you for making this website a joy and a pleasure to run.  I hope we spend many more days, weeks, months and years together.

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And thank you to those of you who share these articles on sites like Digg, Stumbleupon and others.  I appreciate the faith in me and in 60 in 3.

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