Is Your Health and Fitness Optional?
It’s that time of the year when people start the new year motivated and on a mission. It becomes mid to late January and then…. Some have already quit. Some are about to quit or are thinking about quitting. Some are still going strong. Some didn’t start recently and are still on a break from a long time ago. Some have never even attempted to start. Chances are, you are at one of those stages. Hopefully the still going strong stage. But if not, there is still hope and no matter where you are, it’s not too late!
This is the time of year (well, really all year) people quit. For every great success story out there, I see 9 others who quit. While yes, some just give up, most are due to life getting in the way. Some valid reasons, some not. But the end result is the same - throw in the towel and lose any results or momentum you had. The one thing I can say without a doubt though is that the one out of ten that I see who stick with it, ALWAYS gets results. No matter what. If you keep moving forward and stick with it you will get results. You can’t do the right thing and get the wrong results. It really is simple math and logic.
But the majority still quits. Why does this happen? It is exercise warfare. The exercise devil is going to give you every reason not to continue with your diet and exercise. In your faith journey, you will have spiritual warfare. Satan will do everything he can to keep you from living the life God calls you to live. The same with exercise. He will do everything to keep you from exercising. Because he knows it’s good for you. And often times we listen to him and justify quitting.
I see so many reasons for people quitting. Such as illness, injury, work issues, schedule changes, finances, kids activities, travel, lack of motivation, lost interest, burnout, laziness, and so on. These are all real things, and happen to everyone, myself included. And the ones that are valid excuses make it very easy for us to justify quitting. “It’s not our fault”
But remember - EXCUSES DON’T BURN CALORIES. Valid or not, any excuse or reason not to exercise still ends in not exercising….
The key is the priority shift. How are you going to let events like these effect you? Exercise shouldn’t be optional. There are things in your life that aren’t optional, like your faith, your spouse, your kids, and your work. None of which work well if you are not healthy. Your body and your health is a constant moving product. It is either moving towards a better place, or moving to a worse place. Rarely does it stay the same. If you exercise and eat good most of the time, your body and health will move forward. If you do not exercise and you eat junk all the time, your body and health will go backwards.
You have to prioritize things. I have 4 kids, I am a business owner, I coach multiple youth sports, work 10-12 hours per day, sleep only about 5-6 hours per night, etc. Life gets in the way. Trust me I get it. But….I don’t let it keep me from taking care of myself. When life gets in the way, I adjust. Not exercising is not an option for me. It is going to happen regularly, regardless of what life throws at me. Some times may be tougher than others, but quitting is never an option. I may miss a day or two here and there when life throws me a curve ball, but I never completely quit and miss weeks and months at a time. When life is difficult, my relationship with God, my marriage, my parenting, my work, and my health and fitness continue on. Other things may get put to the side or put on hold, but those things continue on. Especially my exercise, because the other top priority things in my life are effected by my health and fitness.
The theme this year is consistency. Be standing at the end of the year. Regardless of what life throws at you! Life may knock you down a time or two. You may miss exercise days here and there and mess up on your diet. But get back at it. Never totally give up.
When you get sick or travel or take off work for any reason, when those missed work days are over, you don’t just quit work because life got in the way, you go back to work when the event is over. But for some reason when we miss our exercise or mess up on our diet, we quit totally or let one day turn into a week or one week turn into a month or even several months. The exercise devil says to us, “well you were doing good, but now you totally blew it, so what’s the point? Just quit.” And we listen to him and quit. Fight the good fight! Don’t give up. Get back at it.
Remember, it’s never to late to do the right thing. This can apply to everything in life. Especially your diet and exercise. Have you missed workouts lately? No problem, just get back at it. The longer you wait, the further from your goals you will be. There is no better time than now to start. And when life gets in the way, and it absolutely will, work through it and don’t quit. Think about the top 3 or 4 things that you spend the most time and money on? This will tell you what your top priorities are. Is your health one of them? Do you think it should be? Invest in a better future for yourself by making exercise and eating better part of your life from this day forward.
To easily get started and lay the groundwork for your routine, message me about our 60 Day Total Body Transformation - which can be done in person at Hoover Fitness or remotely if you do not live in the area.
Jason Cerniglia, CPT, CSN, owner Hoover Fitness, Author, Speaker, Fitness Professional
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