Take Heart

If you're going to go to the gym, and you are at some point, admit it, then you might as well make good use of it.  Frankly, you can get a fantastic workout at home, depending on your goals.  Because some people will take what I say to extremes, I need to be sure to clarify that last blog.  Oh, and I like to skip around in line of thought, so keep up.  I know that people sometimes think that if they sit in a chair and lift up a body limb that they're doing something productive.  Well, if you're a hundred and two, then maybe that's an effective form of... something.  However, if all you ever want to do is "sit and be fit," then there are some problems that will quickly arise.  Mainly, the amount of calories that you're burning will have to outweigh the amount of calories that you're taking in.  Now, I'm no math guru... but I'm pretty sure that sitting down while raising your hands or feet up into the air isn't going to add up to any significant amount of anything.  Unless, of course, you're trying to do that at 80 to 90 miles per hour for at least 30 mins! :-)  If it's "fitness," in general, that you're looking for then what you want is to get your heart rate and breathing rate up to a significant level for a decent amount of time.  In other words, if you aren't breathing heavy then you probably aren't really impacting your health or fitness level much.  Think of it like the difference between looking for dollars or "big bills" and saving them up or looking for one penny at a time and trying to save those up while you're spending much more!  Fitness is an investment, after all.  It just doesn't happen over night.  It's a lifestyle choice.

So, when you hit the gym or home gym... or your living room floor.  Do your best to make it count.  Never compare yourself to what others have accomplished and always remember that it's not about where you are.  That's insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  It's about how far you've come and where you're going!

Don't think you have to kill yourself in the gym

Just a few minutes a day can have a dramatic impact on your health.  Many people get stuck into a kind of mode of thinking where they decide that if they don't do a certain amount for a certain number of days, then they are wasting their time.  This is such a big mistake in thinking.  That's like running a business and saying that if you don't work for 10 hours per day, 7 days per week then you might as well not be working.  It's just not true.  What happens with that line of thinking is that the person will inevitably either get discouraged or tired of trying and slack off terribly or they go back to never working out at all.  If we, and trainers, get into placing legalistic rules on every person for what they MUST do in order to get fit, then most will fall into this trap of discouragement and apathy.  The right way to train is to determine how much time you, personally, would like to spend each day and how many days per week you are willing to commit for a life time!  This is at least a great start.  There is always room for improvement later.  But, for more than 2/3rds of Americans, doing something each day would be a dramatic improvement in their lifestyle!

I've always said, "Doing something is better than doing nothing at all."

Exercise, Eating Right and Spirituality

In the U.S., more than 2/3rds of the population is suffering from a chronic weight problem and is heading for a disastrous health problem within a matter of years or months.  According to one article that I read, only a measly 3 percent of the U.S. population actually meets the criteria for living the lifestyle of a healthy person.  Most people don't even seem to care; at least, not enough to do anything about it until serious health issues do arrive.  It's all about awareness and, as odd as it is, most people still aren't truly aware that they are in a serious predicament.  We've simply got to wake up in the U.S.  Drugs can't just "fix things" when "things" gets broken.  Recently, I spoke with a surgeon who stated point blank to a patient that while he could certainly perform an operation, that exercise, eating right and spirituality would probably do more for them than he could!  Wow, who woulda thunk?  There is every reason in the world to start taking control of your health today.