After nearly 3 years as host of Get-Fit Guy, Kevin distills everything he’s learned into one powerful message—and opens up about what’s next in his journey.
After nearly 3 years as host of Get-Fit Guy, Kevin distills everything he’s learned into one powerful message—and opens up about what’s next in his journey.
Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hello listeners, I hope everyone is doing well this week. As regular listeners will know, this is my last ever episode in my guise of the ‘get fit guy’. For new listeners, the great news is there is a 2 year and 8 month backlog of my yapping for you to catch up on and several more years before that of different get fit guys. We are like Doctor Who, every few years we respawn.
So now the end is near and together, we face the final curtain…what would my last words to you all be? I haven’t really thought about it, because I prefer to be genuine and off the cuff, so I am just freestyle tapping this out on my MacBook.
I think first of all, its to say that look: the one malady with which we are all afflicted is mortality. Since none of us know what is on the other side of that, then its normal and natural for us to want to extend the time we spend here, on this side of the veil. The best way we have to do that is by improving our fitness and this impacts longevity. There are mountains of data on the benefits of strength training and the benefits of aerobic training on the body. These training interventions decrease all cause mortality rates, of that there is no doubt. That is the first premise.
The second premise is that all life on earth that is currently existing is because it was best suited for survival on the planet. Those species that were less well suited died out. That is the meaning of ‘survival of the fittest’. Fittest in the biological sense really being you could resist the dangers of the world long enough to reproduce and continue your species. Being well suited for life on earth was an adaptation across time. There was an environmental stressor that occured, an organism adapted to the stressor. We know this is how things work because its how we acquire all new skills. If you want to play the piano, then actually practising on a piano is a necessary condition. More practise also normal results in a faster adaptation and more complex practise results in a higher skill level.
So the conclusion from these premises is entirely deductive: that is that the conclusion has to follow and is never in doubt. To summarise this neatly:
Premise 1: Training will increase longevity
Premise 2: Training is an adaptation brought about by practise and increased effort skill challenge
Conclusion: To increase longevity, practise at increasing levels of effort and skill
There you have it. The last 2 years and 8 months in a logical syllogism. You now dont ever need to read a fitness article again or attempt another crazy diet or training plan. What does that argument look like in terms of training? Well, you go to the gym or go out for a walk or run or play a sport and afterwards, you rest and recover and a few days later, you go do it again with a slightly harder effort level and/ or complexity level. If you find you cant do it slightly harder, you didn’t rest enough and if you can, then great, congratulations, you have made an adaptation. Enjoy.
There is no secret sauce here. The human body works the same way for all humans. Rest-Recover-Adaptation. The thing about this model is that is kinda governed by biological laws. Its not something that can be monetised with the influencers favourite word…’method’. Seriously how many methods are there out there for a single species? So, since biological laws cant really be monetised, charlatans, sorry, I mean influencers have to drop a bunch of mumbo jumbo and pseudoscience on you. Because that I can sell. 5G is killing you, buy my 5G wave deflecting sticker for your phone, if you drink this detox tea, you’ll lose 10lbs in a week. No, you wont and if you do I can assure you that was not anything healthy that happened.
So my final message to you about fitness is simple. Go train, rest, increase difficulty and repeat. Done. Don’t buy into top 5 secrets to…or the workout that whatever actor did to get in shape to play whatever role. It all there to sell a product its not there to help you. Everyone is in a rush these days, the real success and real joy is in the process of anything. No one values things handed to them on a plate, we value what we earn. Buying a tea that makes you spend a week on the toilet isn’t an achievement. Learning to eat the rainbow, being kind to yourself and others and going to the gym even when its more cosy to stay in bed and doing that for months and years is where you get value and achievement.
On the topic of fitness, I don’t have much else to say, in fact, I have nothing to say. I want to now talk a bit about something important to me (no, not philosophy). That is neurodiversity. We are at a moment in time where there is a perfect intercept point of medical diagnosis and societal awareness. This has meant many more people are being diagnosed with a neurodiversity. In my case, its aspergers, for others it may be ADHD or another neurodiversity. It is generally accepted that there are not ‘more’ neurodiverse people, but that diagnostic criteria are better and more available and that in some way, more people feel more comfortable telling others. There isn’t something in the water or air that is making people autistic.
But also, I would encourage people as far as possible to be more kind. There is a philosophy paper (sorry, I had to do it!) called ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ Basically, the point of that paper is about unique conscious experience and necessity. No matter how much we learn about bat anatomy, bat brains and bat behaviour, there is no way we can ever know what is it like to be a bat. We cant ever have a conscious experience of being one. There is a necessary quality of ‘batness’ which only a bat has. So, no matter how many shows like ‘love on the spectrum’ or the very unkindly named UK show ‘the undateables’ you watch, you can’t ever have an idea of ‘whats is it like to be autistic?’
For many, myself included there is an odd bifurcation. That its a challenge to be part of things but also a deep yearning for that connection. For many, definitely for me, the way we feel connected is by sharing our special interests. Usually we are super experts on a certain topic (or several topics) and sharing that with others is our way of saying to come closer. It is not a way to bore you, its a way to try and connect. This past week, I had commented on a LinkedIn post about something and used my philosophical training to answer something and a very unkind person wrote: Kevin Don, I bet you’re fun at cocktail parties. Well, no. I’m not, clearly. First of all, although I would love to get dressed up nice and go to a cocktail party, my extreme social anxiety means I can’t do that. I also haven’t been to the cinema in years, out for drinks and can’t attend most of the events I really want to at university or take a vacation because the airport is too much. But secondly, because when I share my special interest, that is most often the response. I’m autistic not stupid. I can see the eye rolls and watch in upset and panic as I see people start fidgeting, looking for a way out of the conversation. Then they leave the chat and I am left upset at myself for yet again ruining things by oversharing on my special interest. But no matter what happens, I can’t seem to stop that happening. Am I supposed to smile and talk about the latest celebrity gossip or spend 30 minutes talking about the weather? I literally dont know. But I guess what I am taking the opportunity to say here to a large number of people is firstly: please try to be patient when people are going on about what they are passionate about, they may have a hidden neurodiversity and are just trying to connect as best they can. Secondly, I guess Im sorry too for talking about philosophy, my special interest for so many minutes in the past year or so. I really wanted to share it with everyone and I have definitely received some absolute roastings on email about this, so I know it wasn’t for everyone. But also, hey, its a large audience and thats gonna happen, but I’m still sorry for making you all listen about virtue, eudaemonia and value capture when you came to learn how to look good naked and get huge biceps. If you want to know the secret to that, go re listen to the first half of this episode.
I would also like to thank the people at Quick and Dirty tips past and present, especially Adam, who was the first director of podcasts I had, also Davina, Holly for listening to my breakdowns and Brannan, who in spite of taking 2 weeks to reply to only 20% of what I said in my emails, is a good guy and has also been patient and supportive. As a person who does have aspergers challenges, I must be very difficult to work with and they have all been great at supporting my quirks and my meltdowns. 10/10 people.
So, this is it, I would usually say that if you want to reach out to me, send me an email at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com but I wont be checking those emails anymore, so if you want to follow me and what I am doing next, its a YouTube channel on my special interest! The channel name is kevinnndon and I am going to make weekly short form philosophy videos. Please come and subscribe to my channel and interact with me there. Although I haven’t met the thousands of you that listen, I know you are there and I also want to thank you too, there have been times that I have been struggling with sadness and loneliness and feelings of abandonment and talking to you all has been cathartic and made me feel I wasn’t alone. If you wanted to email me, MY email is coach@kevindon.com or please follow my YouTube Channel. Thank you everyone and goodbye.
Get-Fit Guy is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to the team at Quick and Dirty Tips Morgan Christianson, Holly Hutchings, and the director of podcasts Brannan Goetschius. I’ve been your host, Kevin Don.