Fitness Ninja

6/5/09

So it’s Friday, and Friday’s at StaYoung Fitness are what I like to call “FUN FRIDAY.”  It’s really no different than any other day because we ALWAYS have fun here.  (Although my definition of fun in relation to others may differ slightly, but I’ll get to that in a minute)  There is something about Fridays that makes people a little more at ease, a little more relaxed, and a little more willing to push themselves in the gym.  The weekend can do that for people, even though many people I know work on the weekends too, so the week never really “ends.” 

But I digress…do you have FUN during your workouts?  And not the “fake it till you make it” fun, but the real, genuine, “love to be alive and healthy” fun.  Do you truly enjoy working out and appreciate the process of getting (and staying) in shape.  CLICHÉ ALERT!! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t built in 30 days either.  Did you know that 80% of people who begin a new fitness regime stop within 6 weeks?  And 90% stop within 6 months.  So I think the problem lies in expectations of what is really going to happen when embarking on a new workout routine.  If someone’s goal is to lose weight, let’s say 70lbs, and they’ve had that extra 70lbs for a decade, why would they expect it to come off in 6 weeks?  Or 12 weeks?  And when it doesn’t fly off like it did on Biggest Loser, why do they quit so quickly?  If someone is consistent in making healthy, positive changes, there is always progress, even if the scale doesn’t always reflect it. 

If you are setting out to truly change your life, to LIVE a healthy lifestyle, then I think you HAVE to have fun.  You have to be able to take pride in the small accomplishments along the journey:  the first “real” pushup, the first jog with no knee pain, the first time you do something that you told yourself “I’ll never be able to do that.”  Those are the great things about getting a healthy body, and it SHOULD be fun.

I tell my clients this: EVERYTHING is fun, there are just different levels of fun.  So specific exercises can either be high on the fun scale, or low on the fun scale, but it’s ALL funJ  (I may have some opposing client views on that one, but they learn quickly to just agree and move on) 

Anyway…my point of all this incessant rambling is this, HAVE SOME FUN!!!  Whatever you are doing for fitness, keep it interesting.  Switch up your routine.  Do something you LIKE to do instead of just going through the motions.  Bring a friend with you.  (Because who doesn’t like to see a good friend suffering…um…I mean having FUN right beside them)  Enjoy what you are doing, and think about the great sense of accomplishment in just being healthy.

Have a great weekend folks, and enjoy my closing quote…

“It doesn’t have to be fun, to be fun”…go figure that one out

Fitness Ninja