“I want my body to look like _______________.” Feel free to fill in the blank to match whatever physical change that you would like to see in your body. Also, while you are doing it make sure to attach to that what accomplishing this will make you feel like as that is a huge motivator for many people who embark on a health and fitness journey. Is it wrong?…NOPE, Is it right?…NOPE! It is just how you choose to determine your health and fitness success.
To me, the physical changes that we see/feel are merely the side effects of doing the right things consistently well. I, on the other hand, choose to focus on getting and staying as strong as I can while in the gym and being as healthy as I can outside of the gym. There will always be more than one way to get where you want to go.
In the Gym
No, you don’t have to crush every workout or feel like you may not make it to your car every time that you finish a training session. Yes, you can push yourself from time to time while training but there is no medal waiting for you to tell you how awesome you were. There is something to be said for performing a workout with great form while putting forth a good effort and walking out of the gym simply feeling better than you did when you walked in. You’ve done something great for your mind/body and did not get injured while doing it and that should be enough most of the time and should be celebrated.
Outside of the Gym
You have many more times to stay active in the real world than the number of times that you go to the gym. Plus, you get the chance to do some pretty exciting and fun things all over this great world that we live in. The key is to have some sort of plan that you stick to at least 80% of the time. That leaves you 20% of the time that you can go off of the plan and enjoy life a little and who knows…get some rest. Think 20% is not enough?…compare that with the average American only getting 10 days of paid time off per year (3%).
Just like you don’t focus on how pretty your tires are on your car but are more concerned that those tires get you from point A to point B you should look at your health and fitness the same way. The more important things to take into consideration are the things “under your hood”…your heart, lungs and other vital organs and their operation. Take care of these things and the rest will take care of itself!
