Physical 100 - 7 Lessons from a Health Coach
Have you been bingeing on the Netflix series Physical 100? The latest Korean reality TV show is the physical version of Squid Game, beginning with 100 participants from various experts in their field with gradual elimination until we are left with one winner who walks away with 300 million Korean won which is equivalent to ~$230,000 USD or ~ $310,000 SGD. The difference is they don’t die when they get eliminated. Their quest to find the best human physique based on various physical tests. Spoiler alert! - if you have not finished watching the series, please do so before reading this article as there are spoilers throughout this article. Here are some lessons I've learnt from the show.
It is important to be able to carry your own body weight.
Lesson number one comes from the first quest where participants have to hang from a bar. Lose your grip and you fall into water. It doesn’t matter how much you can lift if you can’t carry your own body weight while hanging. Participants who had higher strength to bodyweight ratio lasted the longest. Kim Min-cheol, ice climber and Korea National Park mountain rescue ranger may not be the most buffed but he was able to hang the longest in his group. Naturally, he did well for the quest - Wings of Icarus having to climb up a continually lowered rope. Being able to carry your own body weight is a vital competency. We can assess this by performing the following test - hanging from a bar, pull ups, rope climbs and muscle ups.
2. Technique is important
For most of the quests, there would be the best technique to deploy to gain the most advantage. For the hanging quest, participants who hung on their hands lost grip quickly and failed compared to those that hung from their armpits and elbows. In the Punishment of Atlas, where they had to balance an atlas stone of ~50kg on their shoulders, Kim Kang-min, the bodybuilder had the stone in a suboptimal position and hence wasn’t able to hold the stone as long as Kim Sak and Jo Jin-hyeong who had almost identical posture holding the atlas stones. It is only with a good technique they can last 2 hours. In the Revival Challenge, participants have to hold up their equivalent in weight which is suspended from the ceiling by a rope. The last 5 who can hold on to the rope advanced to the next level. Even fellow participants were shocked to see the seemingly small framed Shim Eu-ddeum (pink hair youtuber) advanced. Looking at her technique, she used her body weight and leaned at an angle that wouldn't burn out her grip unlike many other fellow contestants, a testament to how technique is important. In Quest 2- Moving Sand which they had to first build the bridge, Kim Da-young ( Stuntwoman) built the most stable bridge securing the velcros allowing her teammates to run safely and quickly across securing the win. Her bridge was the only one that did not need touch up nor collapse throughout the game. Technique is hence very important. Deploy the right technique in your activities of daily function and life can be easier. There is a technique to lift heavy objects, a technique to run, a technique to climb stairs.
3. Age is but a number
The Sexyama - Choo Sung-hoon at 48 years of age, advanced to the top 20 beating many contestants younger than him. He puts many younger contestants to shame and is a testament to the saying age is but a number. Participants above 40 years old that reached the top 20 include Jo Jin-hyeong (Car Dealer) , Dustin Nippert (Baseball player) and Ma Sun Ho (Bodybuilder). This shows that we can still be strong as we get older, or even perhaps “The best is yet to be”. We need to denounce the notion that 30 years of age is our peak and it's downhill from there. If we keep active, we can still be strong and healthy. Let these guys be an inspiration to you.
4. No man is an island
3 of the 14 Games were team events. It didn’t matter if you were the fittest or the strongest, you are only as strong as your weakest link. Those who were in poorer performing teams were eliminated from the game. This teaches us the importance of community and how important everyone’s role is. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. It is important that you have positive influence from the 5 closest to you. Be around healthy people and you would be influenced to be healthy too. If you are around negative people, the converse would happen. Also more unwarranted stress would be added to your life, a totally unnecessary situation. There are exercise groups and strong communities out there which you can be part of. Can you imagine moving a 1.5 tonne boat alone? Totally impossible, but even the weakest team is able to do so together.
5. Strong is the new HOT - even for girls
The common impression of most of society is that strength training makes you bulky. This puts off some girls from joining gyms and lifting weights. In this series, contestants who displayed strength and who are not massively bulky include Hwang Bit-yeoul (Crossfitter), Kim Da-young (Stuntwoman/ bridge builder extraordinaire),Shim Eu-ddeum( Youtuber), Kim Eun-ji ( Bodybuilder), Lee Miho (Fitness trainer) and the list continues. Also, the perception of what is hot is also changing as a result of the show. Male fans of Jang Eun-sil (National wrestler) think her physique is hot. This is a positive step in the right direction as it would remove the stigma of strength training for girls from an aesthetic point of view as strong can be hot too. Strength training is associated with a lower risk of all-cause and CVD mortality according to a study published in the British Medical Journal of Sports Medicine in 2022, hence everyone should be performing strength training in some form or another. The Health Promotion Board of Singapore also recommends at least 2x of strengthening exercises per week.
6. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Looking at the contestants, their physiques were not built in a day. Their skill and physical performance level took years to master. What we see on TV is the result of commitment, determination and lots of hard work. You have to put in the effort to be strong, to be fit, to be healthy. Do you think they would be selected for the show if they were snacking all the time, missing exercise sessions, sleeping late and drinking alcohol every night? If you want to be like them you have to live like them, train like them, eat like them. There might be a lot to change if you examine your current lifestyle, but what you can do is to just take the next step towards better health. It could be cutting back on junk food, taking the stairs instead of the lift, and limiting screen time at night. Every step you take in the right direction towards health will take you closer to better health.
7. Aesthetics does NOT beat function
If you were asked to select the most aesthetically pleasing participants. The leanest, the most well defined and the most shredded among the lot of 100, I bet the top 5 contestants would not be in your list. Kim Min-cheol (Mountain rescuer) did not have the biggest muscles and the rest of the 4 did not have single digit body fat percentages. But what they possessed was real world practical strength and function that is useful for a variety of scenarios. This goes to show that at the end of the day, function beats aesthetics. To be fit, doesn't necessarily mean you need to have 6-packs abs or look like a supermodel. Train for function instead of chasing a certain look because fitness is more than just looking good. Looking good should be a side effect of being fit rather than a goal we chase.
Where do we go from here if you are inspired?
Join a gym to train strength
Learn the right lifting techniques through a coach
Get healthier
Be part of a community
Need more inspiration - watch the upcoming 2023 Crossfit Games https://games.crossfit.com/article/2023-crossfit-games-season-updates/games
Concluding thoughts
There can only be one winner in Physical 100 and we all can’t be that one winner. We don’t need to be the best, but we can be the best version of ourselves.
Click CONTACT ME for The Next Step Health Coach if you need more guidance!
References
1.Gorzelitz J, Trabert B, Katki HA, et alIndependent and joint associations of weightlifting and aerobic activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening TrialBritish Journal of Sports Medicine 2022;56:1277-1283.
2.https://www.hpb.gov.sg/newsroom/article/health-promotion-board-launches-national-physical-activity-guidelines#:~:text=To%20achieve%20substantial%20health%20benefits,intensity%20physical%20activity%20a%20week.
3. https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81587446
