The Armory

One of my favorite parts of role playing games is the actual character creation. There are some many options. What class do I choose? What race? Should my character be stronger than normal, or smarter? Short or tall? But once you get a lot of the basics figured out. then comes one of the most fun parts: choosing the gear. A Paladin can't go into battle naked after all! Iron Man can't fight Captain America without his suit! Gear is an important choice. Generally, as stated in my alluded to in a prior post, my characters were generally of the leather or cloth armor (t-shirt) clad type. But then the crucial decisions between short sword and long sword had to be made, between one or two daggers, or maybe even a crossbow. Well, fitness is no different. And walking into an armory (fitness supply store) can as intimidating as staring down Tiamat himself, though I can never say I have ever had the pleasure. So I'll give you a breakdown of what my equipment choices look like.

Armor:

Armor is everything. If your armor isn't suited for the task at hand, then your life is going to be a whole lot more difficult. Pictured here is my running shirt and shorts of both the compression and running type. The idea behind the running shirt is very simple: no nipple chaffing. Honestly, this is worth the investment. It prevents your nipples from feeling like fire ants are having a picnic on them. Also, they tend to be cut in a flattering matter. The compression shorts also have a very straightforward function: they keep your junk on lock. That's an idiom that I've managed to pick up from today's youth. Now that only applies if your a guy. Its more gender friendly benefits are that it also prevents chaffing and rashes as well as promoting circulation. Promoting circulation will in turn help prevent stiffness and muscles soreness which can help increase performance and help in recovery. The running shorts are just made of a light material that helps conceal my form fitting compression under-roos. 3

Tools:

No adventurer is complete without having some tools of the trade. Thieves have lock picks, clerics have religious symbols, and wizards have freaky imp familiars. Pictured above are my tools. Most prominently you'll see the kettlebell. Now, I primarily rely on body-weight exercises. Calisthenics are great for muscle growth, weight loss, body awareness, and just overall looking impressive. Most of all, they're free. You can do them anytime and just about anywhere, although I don't recommend doing burpees on an elevator. But a kettlebell is a great addition to your repertoire. Supplementing body-weight exercises with weighted ones is a great way to isolate particular muscles and overload them, thereby stimulating growth. And a lot of kettlebell exercises are compound movements that require a lot of body awareness that can only be obtained through body-weight exercises. For the best example of this, I recommend checking out the "Turkish get-up." You can pick up  a kettlebell on the cheap these days. The one in the picture is 20 lbs and cost about $19.95 on Amazon. You can find cooler, albeit pricier, ones at Onnit. And the internet is replete with workouts with a single or double kettlebells. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. A water-bottle is a must have. Running shoes, also a must have (see previous post). Now, if you're perceptive. You'll see my Fitbit Flex. Honestly, that is really not a necessity. But any kind of pedometer (I hear that the Nintendo DS has one) is a great way to just keep track of fitness goals. My phone and ear buds are for fitness apps and listening to sweet tunes during runs and workouts. 

Weapons:

Now, I don't actually own any weapons. But weapons can be great things to train with. Bokken, Bo staves, clubs, maces, etc. can have a transformative effect on your workouts. I've worked out with bokken before, and they are a lot of fun. They work pretty much the entire body. Any one of the pictured weapons will carry with it a different weight distribution that will force your body to adapt. So get out there, find a weapon that suits you/ Have fun with it. Just be careful. Don't put anyone's eye out. 

In summation, gear is very important. When I put on my Avengers running shirt and compression shorts, it transforms me. I'm bigger than myself, capable of achieving far more than I ever could in my regular life. With each explosive kettlebell swing, I am knocking hordes of monsters away. I am a super hero in my uniform, and adventurer properly equipped to take on any foe. I am so much more. 

Favorite Class

Through my life of playing Dungeons and Dragons, Neverwinter Nights, Diablo, Pathfinder,  Assassin's Creed etc., there has been one characteristic that has remained a constant. I love playing a very specific type of character. He's a loner, not necessarily bad looking but probably covered in lots of scars, has a lithe and sinewy build, but primarily he's equipped with a very specific set of skills.  He can run, jump, climb, flip, or sneak his way in or out of any situation.  Not one for words,  if he's backed into a corner, he let's his hands do the talking.  

Basicallly, the characters I love playing when given the opportunity to build a person from scratch are.... the complete opposite of myself. When gaze is cast upon me, the words lithe and sinewy are as far from lips as would be emaciated and anorexic. While not abounding in elephantine stature, I definitely have a few extra pounds to shed. Sneaking is definitely out of the question. Along with the aforementioned issue of stature, grace is one of those qualities I have yet to adequately develop. Climbing I have some experience with, primarily with trees, but since I can yet do a pull up, some of the more impressive stuff is out of the question. And hand to hand combat? Unlike my fantasy counter-parts, I am a man of many words and revel in their use. I love violence as much as I love getting punched in the face. I can't speak for you, but getting punched in the face is on day "to don't" list. Does this make me enjoy playing those characters any less? Absolutely not. It's great to get out of your own mind for a while and live a life completely foreign to your own. So I figure, why not apply that same philosophy to fitness? When I'm running, why not pretend that I'm running along a castle wall? Or running amidst a horde of orcs, dodging and twirling around arrows, swords, and enemies all heading towards you? One of my favorite scenarios is actually to put myself in the mind of a shaolin like monk. My running is part of my kung fu training and each run brings me closer to being a kung fu master so I can go out into the world and fight evil, avenge me father, or protect my village. I'd love to take credit for this idea of applying fantasy role playing to the realm of fitness. I take a lot of my cues in this regard from Darebee and they're wealth of resources. They are dedicated to providing free fitness resources for geeks like me and, presumably, you. For example, they just posted a wonderful article entitled "RPG Fitness." 

It's a great read an I recommend it to everyone who love fantasy role playing and is interested in getting involved in fitness. They also recently launched an actual fitness role playing game called "Age of Pandora." I give it 5/5 stars, 2 thumbs and two pinkies up in a shaka salute. You take the role of someone who awakes in a completely foreign and hostile world. You don't know who you are and what's going on. So you have to go on quests, collect pieces to puzzle together your identity, and fight to survive. There are decisions that affect the flow of the game and, consequently, the development of your physique. In fight or flight situations, choosing to fight will develop your lats, obliques, and arms while fleeing will develop your legs and give you a very healthy cardiovascular system.

That's actually from another one of their "Choose your Story" workouts called Hero's journey. They also help provide you with wonderful advice on how to achieve your goals. If you want to bulk up, they have workouts designed for strengthening and toning your body. If you're looking to slim down (get lithe and sinewy), they have high burn workouts that are going to be more your speed. They even have specific regimens based off of different role playing tropes. The assassin's week long regimen includes a lot of those high burn, high speed, high intensity work outs (otherwise known as HIIT). Personally, I went with the fighter regimen. That's why today's workout is another Bruce Lee tribute. 

Can you tell I love kung fu movies? So if you're like me, I think you'll really like these workouts. Or even if you don't like them, if you're like me then you already have plenty of experience role playing. And role playing can be applied to many areas of life other than just games. And hopefully, as I get closer and closer to my fitness goals, the gulf of separation between me and my characters will close. At least the physical bits. Well, I have to run (literally). Wish me luck.