The Irony of Health and Fitness

Why is it that undoubtedly the most valuable thing in the world to us all is more often than not, met with so much hesitation? I can even go so far as to say that we are even afraid of it in a lot of ways. We make every excuse in the book to justify why we can’t and don’t want to do it, and as a personal trainer and fitness professional I can say with confidence that this statement is not an exaggeration. We accept very excuse and every opportunity that enables us not to go to the gym, or not to get on that treadmill, and not to physically exert ourselves to work hard knowing full well that this is what needs to be done to maintain and improve our health and well being. So, why in the world are we so eager to avoid what we know is and will always be THE single most important thing in our lives? The answer in just one simple word is competitiveness.
That single most important thing in our lives is fitness and we are just flat out unwilling to COMPETE for it. We do it fairly easily for most other aspects of our lives, so why don’t we want to do it for our own health? We grow from being small children aware of the fact that if we want to get through school we need to listen, understand what we need to learn, and of course work as hard as we can to accomplish it. The same is true by the time we have to decide what’s best in terms of supporting ourselves as adults. We seek out and understand what has to be done to get the right job that will provide us with enough money so we can live up to the standards that we set for ourselves. And again, most of us are generally very willing to work hard enough at the necessary tasks to accomplish our goals. Sound familiar? Goals. Tasks. Hard work. These things are just as appropriate when talking about health and fitness! Just as they are with creating that good life with that great education, great job, comfortable lifestyle, and great social life, they are the foundation for building and maintaining what is supposed to be second to none on our priority list. Our health. All those other things are great and can definitely make our lives wonderful. But, our fitness IS our life whether we think so or not! I ask again why it is that we won’t compete the same way towards our fitness goals. The answer is in the difference between fitness and the other situations in which we are much more capable of self motivating. Fitness involves and requires PHYSICAL effort to a much larger degree than any of those other aspects of our lives. This is the key to it all. Other than that there are no differences. Any goal in life, no matter what it is, requires its own appropriate path of actions put together in a way necessary to achieve its end result. We have to know WHAT to do and HOW to do it, and if done correctly, the WHAT leads to success. This is the exact same principle necessary to achieve success in the world of fitness but we have nowhere near the same DRIVE to succeed as we do with so many other areas of our lives! We can’t afford to be so intimidated by a little bit of physical effort. That’s the only thing standing in our way! When I say COMPETE I don’t mean anything other than being more tough on yourself! Don’t think you have to be the most athletic, most fit, strongest, or anything like that. The beautiful thing about health and fitness is that it has nothing to do with ability or how you compare with anyone else. All it is is how you feel about challenging YOURSELF! And at YOUR own pace and ability level! As a personal trainer and strength coach with Posh Fitness, it is my passion to inspire any and everybody looking to improve, feel great about themselves, and be healthy because we ALL should want that for ourselves! Fitness should not be a chore and definitely should never be intimidating. It’s a challenge no different than the ones you’ve already been accepting. Reach to be great in whatever it means to YOU!

by: Jason Spencer

jspencer@poshfitness.com
Celebrity In Home Personal Training