Welcome to afitnewyou! This week I want to give you another reason
to work at achieving your fitness goals.
While last week I said that you are there for you, which is still true
in terms of who benefits directly from your physical activity and diet, this
week I want to motivate you to move by having you dedicate what you do for
someone else. Again, I am not trying to
contradict what I previously said; what you eat and how much you move will
affect you first and foremost. But
sometimes we need an extra incentive to work harder and stay the course. Sometimes people go to the gym because they
have a friend, a training partner that will be there and they don’t want to let
them down. Other times, people make
healthy changes while thinking about spouses, children or grandchildren. Heck, just think about how many “runs” are in
honor of someone or to support a larger cause.
It takes dedication to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But sometimes if we dedicate what we are doing to someone else, it may give that extra
incentive to put in some more effort.
Although I was a three sport
athlete in high school I will be the first to admit that I am not a
“runner.” Without trying to offend
anyone, I also often profess my belief that long distance running is not the
greatest physical activity for the body.
Although I always say that any activity is better than no activity, I
believe that long distance running is too harsh on the joints (think knees) and
will not lead to the body change that most people seek as it will not build
lean muscle…but it is great for the heart.
Having said that, I myself have run in a couple of sanctioned shorter
running events. The reason why I ran at
these events was because they were held as fund raisers for greater causes, one
for women’s health and breast cancer awareness, and the other for a fallen
soldier’s fund. With each of these, the
only reason I was there to run was to participate in the event itself. My physical activity was dedicated to the
causes they represented.
I have also crossed paths with many
people who had made healthy changes in their lives with someone else in
mind. Someone very close to me gave up
drinking alcohol when his son was born.
His sobriety was a sign of his devotion to his newborn child. And I know more than a few people who for a
similar reason had given up cigarette smoking when there were new additions to
their families. In these examples, the
change to a healthy lifestyle was a dedication to those they love.
A healthy lifestyle is one that
should be followed every day. And you
shouldn’t need an event to get you on it.
If you need the extra motivation, you can dedicate what you do and eat
each and everyday to someone else. The
reason why you go to the gym may be because your friend is and you don’t want
to let them down because you know they need the motivation as well. Or maybe you go out and shoot some hoops with
your kids, or go out for a bike ride with your child simply because those are
activities that should be cherished and enjoyed. I’ll admit that when my daughter asks me to
go for a bike ride, sometimes I am too tired to jump right up and go. But when I think about how much it would mean
to her, there is nothing else that holds me back and I go with a huge smile on
my face.
Living a life of fitness means
making healthy choices every day. And
although your choices directly affect you before anyone else, sometimes
thinking about someone else will motivate you to do something healthy. Whether it is participating at an event,
doing something on a daily basis, or even on a set by set or rep by rep basis,
if you devote that activity to someone else in mind, you just might work a
little harder. Sometimes the people we
are least generous with are ourselves.
You need to be dedicated to reach your fitness goals. But dedicating what you are doing is an
extremely generous and devoted way to reach a fit new you!
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