What Speed-Running Sonic The Hedgehog Taught Me About Fitness
Yuji-Naka when speed running the first level of Mario and trying to score personal bests came up with a new gaming concept; a platform game where the aim was to beat the level as fast as possible. This was then materialised in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog who was given the title of ‘the fastest thing alive’ with a gameplay mechanic that rewarded speed.
Because of this the 2D Sonic games have a fundamental speed-running element and throughout my years I have spent an unhealthy amount of my spare time trying to complete Emerald Hill Zone Act 1 as fast as possible and beating my record each time (current record: 25.01 seconds fyi). I LOVED Sonic as a kid, and it was easy to lose hours playing as the blue guy.
Now that I'm older I've carried that same process over to fitness. I game-ify the process by trying to beat my previous records each time. I keep a log book of all my lifts and I aim to add a little more weight or a rep each time I go into the gym, I keep a record of my fastest 5K run time and try to beat it by a second every time I do it, if I lasted 60 seconds on the bag last time I'll try 61 seconds this time etc. I try to get 1% better every single time I train!
It’s somewhat ironic that sitting on my arse playing Sega games taught me something fundamental about fitness but honestly without keeping track or trying to beat PRs I have no idea how I’d even find the motivation to train, I think it’s a critical training principle that should not go ignored. From playing Sonic The Hedgehog of all things!
If you would like to begin your fitness journey or just try a new program check out my training manual 'The Super Saiyan Six' here, it's totally free and only costs an e-mail
That's all right now my friends, Be More Shonen
Because of this the 2D Sonic games have a fundamental speed-running element and throughout my years I have spent an unhealthy amount of my spare time trying to complete Emerald Hill Zone Act 1 as fast as possible and beating my record each time (current record: 25.01 seconds fyi). I LOVED Sonic as a kid, and it was easy to lose hours playing as the blue guy.
Now that I'm older I've carried that same process over to fitness. I game-ify the process by trying to beat my previous records each time. I keep a log book of all my lifts and I aim to add a little more weight or a rep each time I go into the gym, I keep a record of my fastest 5K run time and try to beat it by a second every time I do it, if I lasted 60 seconds on the bag last time I'll try 61 seconds this time etc. I try to get 1% better every single time I train!
It’s somewhat ironic that sitting on my arse playing Sega games taught me something fundamental about fitness but honestly without keeping track or trying to beat PRs I have no idea how I’d even find the motivation to train, I think it’s a critical training principle that should not go ignored. From playing Sonic The Hedgehog of all things!
If you would like to begin your fitness journey or just try a new program check out my training manual 'The Super Saiyan Six' here, it's totally free and only costs an e-mail
That's all right now my friends, Be More Shonen