Part 1 – Why take on a fitness lifestyle?
Diving into the world of fitness can be an overwhelming experience. Nowadays we are bombarded by all sorts of fitness information whether it’s books, magazines, commercials, social media feeds, gyms promoting their trainers, trainers promoting themselves, and the list goes on. Before you know it, you’re breathing heavily and have managed to spike up your own heart rate without even picking up a single weight or jogging a single mile. Minutes later you’re mentally exhausted ready to call it quits yet you haven’t even started your journey into the world of fitness. The point I’m trying to make is it’s so easy to be intimidated by everything you see and hear about fitness that you forget to ask yourself why you wanted to be fit in the first place. Having a better understanding of why becoming more fit is important to you will help pave a clearer path to a healthier lifestyle down the road.
So why exactly do you want to be fit? Is it purely for looks - perhaps to boost your sense of self confidence? Are you looking to be an athlete or least tying to be more athletic? And with that in mind, are you training for some sort of competitive event? Do you just want to feel healthier? Or to a greater extent, are you at some sort of health risk that being healthier is an absolute must? Whatever the reason may be, it’s important to ask yourself WHY so you can better understand WHAT you need to do to achieve your goals.
I mentioned at the beginning of this post that the fitness world bombards us a plethora of information. I certainly don’t want to be part of that statistic but I’d like to share with everyone my journey into the world of fitness. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet yet informative and non-imposing (something I feel most fitness tips/advice fail to do).
You’d be surprised to know that I got into the fitness scene because of all the reasons I’ve mentioned above – looks, athleticism, competitiveness, and health. My journey started off with just one reason, and that was to ‘look better’ but overtime it evolved into something greater that encompassed the full spectrum of WHY I wanted to be fit. I originally started working out because I wanted to impress a girl I was dating back in high school. I then realized that working to look fit felt great. I felt alive, energized, and motivated for something of a greater purpose. I later took on sports like basketball and track which led me to take on martial arts in college. This further evolved into lifting, obstacle course racing, and cycling all of which I still today. I then realized how beneficial all of this was to my health because my family has history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. In addition to that, both my parents had their thyroids removed due to potentially life threatening tumors.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is though I now maintain a fitness lifestyle for multiple reasons, it all started with one. And really that’s all it takes to get started. By homing in on exactly WHY you want become fit, no matter how simple or even silly it may sound, you need to start somewhere. Don’t be overwhelmed and ultimately discouraged by the bombardment of information that’s out there. Tune out all that background noise and listen to yourself. With time it may even evolve into something more like the way it did for me.
So what are your reasons for wanting to be fit or be more fit? Have you ever struggled to find your starting point or struggled to maintain the lifestyle? Please share your experiences! I'm all ears and I'm more than willing to help.