Looking around the fitness industry at shows like the Biggest Loser, Instagram fitness models, and workout programs called Insanity, it’s easy to believe the only way to get healthy and fit is to kill yourself in the gym, and dedicate every waking minute to exercise and dieting.
When did being healthy and fit, your god given right as a human animal, become so unobtainable, so extreme, and so insane?
Sadly many people believe being healthy and fit means spending hours in the gym every day, performing grueling workouts (sometimes twice a day)! That every calorie must be counted, every step tracked. That meals consist of nothing but plain skinless chicken breast, raw broccoli, egg whites, and oatmeal. That morning’s must start with long, boring, bouts on the treadmill. That the only way to be healthy and fit is to become a fitness addict, whose entire identity is wrapped up in exercise and nutrition.
The truth is, getting healthy and fit is NOT as hard or involved as you have been lead to believe.
You don’t have to become a fitness addict to see amazing results. We’ve forgotten that exercise and nutrition are meant to enhance our lives, not take over our lives.
As a fitness coach, I don’t give a shit if you EVER become a marathoner who travels from city to city racing with 26.2 tattooed on your calf. I don’t give a shit if you turn into a Crossfit junkie who never shuts up about your WOD (workout of the day) and spends every free minute at your local box (gym)!
I don’t care if you become a triathlete constantly held together by Kinesio-Tape. I don’t care if you turn into a Yogi who is somehow convinced Lululemon yoga tights are appropriate for any occasion. I don’t care if you tweet everyday about how you “crushed,” “smashed,” or “destroyed” your workout. Or if you get to the point where your Instagram feed is full of awkward locker-room ab selfies, and pictures of your entire weeks meals, prepped in tiny individual containers. I don’t care if you ever commit to a two a day workout split and dye yourself orange as you prep to take the stage for your 10th bikini competition!
I care that you don’t die from type two diabetes when you’re forty-five. That you’re around to walk your daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. I care that you have the confidence to take your shirt off at the pool to go swimming with your son. I care that you don’t miss out on the joy of hiking Machu- Picchu or the Eiffel tower because you suffer from “bad knees” and low back pain (two things quality strength training and mobility work can help prevent). I care that you wake up with the added energy and zest for life that every person who exercises experiences.
I care that you don’t suffer the side effects of taking drugs for preventable lifestyle diseases. I care that you have a powerful outlet like exercise to combat the anxiety of your stressful job. I care that you aren’t depressed from endless attempts and failures at unsustainable diets and fitness programs. I care that you have a positive self-image and self-esteem, that you’re comfortable in your own skin, and proud of your body. I care that your glory days aren’t high school basketball, but that you still enjoy playing pickup games in the park.
Now I understand the hypocrisy in this article is thick. Health and fitness is my life. It’s my passion, my income, my schooling, my way to contribute and help others, and a source of fun. My health first, and fitness second, is a guiding compass for many of my life decisions. I truly enjoy working out, I enjoy sprinting until I feel like I can sprint no more, and workouts that leave me dead on the floor, “crushed” as us addicts say.
I enjoy listening to podcasts about nutrition, and dork-out reading about cholesterol, saturated fat, and resistance starch. I enjoy studying about biomechanics, and things like posture, and hip-dysfunction. My mentors are active-release specialists, nutritionists, and doctors of chiropractic. I plan on taking a cadaver dissection class at my local community college to deepen my understanding of human anatomy. You wouldn’t have to go to far in my Instagram feed to find pictures of food, and a shirtless selfie or two.
But just because health and fitness is my passion, doesn’t mean it needs to be yours to reap its benefits!
It’s no different than the car nut who can tell you every detail about every car on the road. They read about the latest and greatest cam shafts, spark plugs, and exhaust systems on the market. They go to car shows, and subscribe to automotive magazines. They can rip their car apart and re-build it form the ground up.
Personally I don’t give a shit about cars, I just want to know how to drive one.
If rebuilding my own engine, traveling to car shows, and obsessing over my car was required to drive it, I wouldn’t do it! It wouldn’t be worth my time and energy, I’d just assume ride a damn bike.
So I don’t blame you for not wanting to adopt the health and fitness lifestyle when I look at how that lifestyle is presented by the fitness industry. Sadly, it’s been overcomplicated, much of it is unnecessary, and many people approach it backwards.
You don’t need to run a marathon to get fit, you need to get fit to run a marathon.
You don’t start power-lifting to get strong, you need to get strong so you can power-lift.
You don’t starve yourself, to lose weight to get healthy. You focus on eating healthy to lose weight.
You don’t need to get crushed by extreme workouts to get fit. You need to get fit so you can crush extreme workouts!
Exercise doesn’t need to become your life. Exercise is meant to improve your life!
In the end, maybe you become a workout junkie yourself, someone who lives and breathes exercise, one of the “insane!” That’s great if you do, welcome to the club, we’re happy to have you. Maybe you will discover the beauty and growth found through extremely challenging workouts. Send me your favorite healthy recipes, discount codes for Lululemon, and latest fitness podcast, I’m all ears.
But don’t let the idea that fitness must become your life stop you from starting. It does not have to be!
Thousands of busy moms, dads, lawyers, engineers, teachers, and everyday people are losing weight, getting fit, improving their health and physiques every day. They’re building their confidence, increasing their energy, and feeling better than ever! They’re doing it without obsessing, without the extreme, without the selfies, by simply integrating sustainable fitness and nutritional strategies into their busy lives, and they’re reaping amazing benefits for doing so.
Exercise is TRANSFORMING their lives, not taking it over.
It is truly incredible the impact that two or three (yes even just two), short, intense, quality workouts each week can have on your life when coupled with consistent daily movement, and quality nutrition.
My greatest fear is that you don’t start, that you don’t experience the amazing benefits of being healthy and fit, because “what it takes” has been so drastically skewed by the fitness industry, by the people who’ve been bit by the “fitness bug,” the fitness “junkies,” the “addicts.”
Getting healthy and fit may not be easy, and it’s certainly not found in some bullshit quick-fix workout plan, miracle pill, or fitness gadget. But I promise you this, it’s not as hard as you think either, and it certainly doesn’t have to take over your life!
In the words of Les Brown, “Develop a health plan, a plan that you will follow, because this is the only vehicle you have to take you through this experience called life.”I