Fighting Resistance

Welcome to afitnewyou!  Today I would like to start by asking you a question…what is holding you back from reaching your fitness goals?  You might have an answer right away, but I want you to ask yourself that same question again, but this time think about it before coming up with an answer.  What did you come up with?  How many did you come up with?  While it’s true everyone has different abilities and opportunities to live a healthier lifestyle, many people have come up with at least one reason or another that they are not reaching their fitness goals.  But here is the thing; no matter how valid your reason (or excuse) may be that you are not reaching your goal, the truth is, there is probably a way for you to overcome that reason.  All it really takes is the effort to do so.  Reasons that come up which keep us from reaching our top potential are forms of resistance.   And the best way to overcome any of these reasons/resistance is to make the changes you need and make a habit out of doing what is healthy.

I have written here before that a simple way to put you on the correct path to meeting your fitness goals is by making them habitual, like brushing your teeth.  But for some it might take a little more effort.  Because in order to start that habit, you have to overcome the resistance that has you not doing it in the first place.  What makes it so hard to start is that it’s a bit of an actual battle.  In my Jr. High Health Ed. classes, I teach the kids that once we learn what a healthy behavior is, there is still sometimes a divide between what we know we should do, and what we actually wind up doing.  I teach them that by gaining the content knowledge and developing life skills help making crossing that divide much simpler.

But no matter what age you are, or what fitness level you are currently at, you still probably know that you could be at an even higher level of fitness.  So, what is stopping you?  Think about it…what is it?  I have identified in an earlier post that we all have some limiting factor that we can overcome.  And in the same way, this persistent resistance that we all face can be overcome as well.  Sometimes the resistance is small things, like deciding to check your email before going on the treadmill, or taking care of a small chore that really could have waited instead of going for a quick walk after dinner.  These reasons pop up in our subconscious (and sometimes purposefully) and keep us from reaching our highest potential.  Take a moment and think about all of the times today and/or in the last 24 hours that a situation like this came up, where you wanted to make a healthy choice, but some small reason came along that made you resist doing the healthy thing.

It’s a battle that we face all of the time; trying to overcome the resistance to being in the best shape that we can be.  But as I have said before, the best way of overcoming this resistance is by starting healthy habits.  Maybe start out by making them rules.  For example, you can make it a rule for yourself that every time you are going to sit at your computer you must do 20 body squats first.  Or, every time you are going to turn the T.V. on you must do a set of push ups.  When you open your refrigerator, you need to do a set of back lunges.  Eventually these rules will become habits.  But more important than that, the fact that you are thinking about them before you do the other activity, you are focused on the healthy movement, and that combats the resistive one.

These small physical activities will take less than a minute’s worth of time to do.  But, by training your brain to think about them, that you have to do them, allows you to develop habits that lead to a healthier you.  Yes those extra calories burned will add up, but it’s more the intention that you had to do them in the first place that fights the resistance to be the unhealthier version of yourself.  I know it’s a struggle.  We all face it.  But just as people who are very successful in the business world adhere to daily rituals that help them get there, fighting the unhealthy resistance with health forming habits will get you to a fit new you!