Welcome


Thoughts on fitness, health, good nutrition ... and running.


Welcome to Bald Man Running, a blog launched by Frank Murphy on January 1, 2015.

In March, 2013 I was selected as a contestant for the sixth season of Fort Wayne's Smallest Winner. Through this amazing program, I learned about good nutrition, sound exercise and accountability. By October, I would lose over 88 pounds (almost 37% of my original weight)! One of the many things I acquired through FWSW was a love for running. You can retrace my weight loss journey and discover how I became a runner by reading those entries labeled "fwsw" ...

Note: Many of the blog entries on this website predate 1/1/2015. Prior to launching BMR, I had written articles for various projects, and I have imported many of them into this blog (labeled "retro").

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Willpower and Knowledge

Here's a quote from an article by Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert). While I often disagree with what he says, I found this one statement to be quite insightful:

"... replace willpower with knowledge."

A lot of people try to take control over their health and fitness by using good ol' fashioned willpower (such as making a new year resolution to go to the gym every day). While you need to be determined and a resolution can be helpful, you've got to address the underlying problem.

From my limited experience, I believe one of the biggest problems is ignorance. People want to make changes, but they're not sure what those changes should be, so they kind of flail around a bit trying what they think will work, and while they're looking for their footing, their willpower dwindles until nothing is left.

Fort Wayne's Smallest Winner (FWSW) was a great way for me to lose weight and reclaim my health. I want to make sure you understand why it worked so well for me. My success was not due to physically demanding workouts. More important than the exercise was the excellent nutrition course that was designed to eradicate my nutritional ignorance. FWSW taught me to change the way I think about fuel (See what I did there? I called it "fuel" instead of "food.").

I would like to amend Scott's statement to "... focus willpower with knowledge." FWSW equipped me with the knowledge I needed to make good choices, and that magnified my willpower. As I became more informed, I became exponentially more capable.

If you live in the Fort Wayne area, have considered applying to this upcoming season of FWSW, but are still "on the fence" about applying, ask yourself why you haven't applied yet. If your indecisiveness is tied to being afraid of the workouts, trust me when I say that you can absolutely do the workouts. FWSW meets each contestant right where they are at and you'll be fine. Don't worry about the workouts. They're not easy, but they're not overwhelmingly difficult either.

Instead of focusing on exercise, remember that the battle is fought in the kitchen and not in the gym. Because of my significant success in the kitchen, I am capable of pushing myself to attempt intense physical challenges.

Note: a rough draft of this blog entry was posted to my Facebook wall on 2/1/2016.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing about FWSW. We truly appreciate all you wrote. You are such a huge role model to FWSW. You not only won FWSW SEASON 6 BUT have continued your journey all these years. You have pushed to so many remarkable things you never thought attainable. Proving you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. Thank you for believing in FWSW and continuing your journey!! HUGE blessings! Rick and Tina FWSW

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