Many believe that fitness and working out is just about getting ripped so you can look good and impress others. But it is so much more than that.
Fitness:
• Makes us feel good about ourselves because it relieves stress and tension from our everyday lives.
• Keeps us young and energetic so that we can keep up with our friends and family.
• For those with kids, it allows them to get more involved with their children because they’re not “too tired” from their daily lives.
• Gives us the extra energy we need to work harder at our jobs so that we can make extra money.
• Keeps our muscles and joints strong so that we delay the aging process.
• Keeps our hearts and lungs functioning at optimal levels to prevent the onset of chronic illnesses.
• Helps with depression and anxiety BIG TIME.
• Improves cognitive function.
• Improves immune function.
• Improves sleeping patterns.
• Helps you manage arthritis.
• Helps keep your mobility as you age so that you don’t become dependent and can continue to live freely well into old age.
• Improves our self-esteem.
• Improves our relationships with other as a result of an improved self-esteem.
• Allows to eat more of the foods we love guilt free once we reach our desired maintenance phase.
• Makes everyday tasks a lot easier.
• Makes working at physically demanding jobs easier.
• Prevents a high spike in blood pressure for those working in physically demanding jobs who also suffer from hypertension.
The list goes on and on.
However, most people find fitness to be very boring. The reason for this is that they view exercise as just walking into a gym, lifting weights, counting sets and reps or just running on the treadmill in the same spot for an hour or two. But fitness consists of many different types and styles of exercising such as: traditional bodybuilding, crossfit, parkour, powerlifting, strongman, cycling, running, sprinting, swimming, soccer, football, tennis … basically anything that involves challenging movements. Find your preferred style and “run” with it.
Another problem is that when people think about working out, they picture Arnold Schwarzenegger and assume that is the result (or the only result worth the time) of working out. Therefore, they get discouraged, either because they think they’ll end up looking like Arnold (which is one reason some women are reluctant to lift weights – a huge misconception) and they don’t want to, or they want to look like Arnold but think that they can’t. To be fair, not many people can achieve the physique that Arnold achieved, that’s why he’s a legend. But most people can achieve a physique that is a lot better than the one they currently feel unhappy with. Also, if you don’t want to look like Arnold, trust me, YOU WON’T. It takes a tremendous amount of dedication to build large muscles, so don’t be afraid to lift weights.
Probably the worst problem is that some people begin their fitness journeys without a concrete goal or reason, or they have a goal or reason and don’t want to think about it because it makes them feel bad. To begin with, those who don’t have concrete goals won’t last long before they give up. It’s usually one or two workouts and their journeys end there. You must have a measurable goal in order to succeed. The goals of “I just want to tone up” or “I just want to be healthy” or “I just want to lose some weight” won’t cut it.
I understand that some people may not want to set goals because they’ve set goals in the past which haven’t been achieved, and they fear that they will not achieve them again, which as a result will make them feel like a failure. Obviously feeling like a failure is a negative feeling that no one enjoys. But making a change is all about stepping out of your comfort zone.
Just imagine the awesome feeling you’ll have when you fit back into that old dress from when you were younger, or when you can take off your shirt with confidence at the beach and don’t feel like you’re missing out on all the fun just because you are uncomfortable with your body. Just think to yourself of a goal that you want to achieve and how awesome the feeling will be once you achieve it. But to do so, you must start with a concrete goal and a reason why you want to achieve this goal. Whenever you get discouraged, just refer back to those two things to help keep you going.
So as examples, replace “I just want to tone up” with “I want to lose 2 inches off my arms and legs, and 3 inches off my waist.” Replace “I just want to be healthy” with “I want to change my lifestyle habits so that I can lower my blood pressure by 10 points back down to the normal range.” Replace “I just want to lose some weight” with “I want to lose 10 pounds of fat (fat, not weight) and preserve or add a little bit of muscle.”