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Before I go in too deep, let me say something. Cell phones, man.
Now, cell phones obviously aren’t a subject on this podcast much because they don’t really fit in a health discussion. Well, on the other hand, perhaps they do since they give off high frequency waves that might be something to consider since such waves can damage DNA sometimes and cause cancers and such. Consider that and consider that our kids have their own cell phones that they keep around them – in their back pockets and under their pillows – and they are therefore being constantly exposed to these potentially damaging waves. I’m gonna leave that alone because it’s out of the context of what I’m talking about right now.
What I want to say about cell phones is, we gotta chill out, man. Every single day, I see us driving with our heads down like it doesn’t take much to operate a 2 ton vehicle. We are so, so bound by our cell phones – and I’m including myself – that we let them pull our attention off of the roads, endangering our lives and the lives of others.
We’re so bound by our cell phones and the apps on them that we don’t talk to each other anymore. I go to the auto repair shop to get our family vehicles worked on, and everybody has their head down looking at a screen. The ironic thing about it is that they might be on social media communicating with someone else, but they’re not even engaging in real human interactions with the real humans around them. I really feel like, even though the effect is not as discernible, cell phones are having a significant effect on not only how we live our lives, but on the quality of our lives. We’re meant to be social, and social media is not the same as being social in person with folks. Social media also encourages us to live outside of reality, promoting ourselves in ways that don’t reflect who we really are, and when we see folks on social media whom we think are perfect, we start feeling bad about ourselves because we’re not like those people, even though they are not who they portray themselves to be. This affects our mental health, man!
I’m about to get into this topic, but the point I am driving is this: We must lose our attachments to our phones and to social media. Helpful tools? Yes, they are. Hands down. But I really feel like we all need to be sure that we can put those things down sometimes. We need to be able to put those things away when we drive because it’s safe. I mean, I didn’t grow up with my parents using cell phones in the car for half my childhood!
We need to be able to turn off our phones and talk to our family members or to the humans around us who might be dealing with something, and we would never know it if we remain glued to these devices. Life is far beyond a handheld device, you know? Alright, enough of that…for now.
I thought about today’s topic just within the past couple of days. My heart goes out to folks wanting to reach their physical fitness goals without having reached them yet. One thing I realize though is that, we need to really make sure that we hold ourselves accountable. In other words, check yourself out and see if you are doing everything you’re supposed to do on your end to change your situation.
So check this out. I believe it is safe to say that most of us recognize that being physically active is a must for health. However, chances are that many of us – perhaps listening to or reading this right now – still fail to be physically active on a regular basis. We know that being active protects us from a whole host of ailments, including Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertension, but we still aren’t moving.
Now, there are some perfectly legitimate reasons why some are not physically active, including medical reasons. I am not talking about those of you who fit such categories. I am referring to you who are physically able but just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
If this describes you, let’s together examine a couple of reasons that I have heard people give for their lack of physical activity. I want you to see if any of these reasons matches your own.
Reason #1: You don’t have time – We are arguably busier than any humans before us have ever been. We all multitask and address issues of all kinds every day, all day, even with the presence of cell phones in our lives which were supposed to simplify life and give us more time for ourselves. Yeah, right!
Anyhow, in the midst of all of our hustling, we simply cannot find the time to get active. There is too much to do, too many places to be, too many other important things to take care of, etc…
Do you see it yet?
As I said, we have too many other important things to take care of, but is the maintenance of our health not important? Yes, you have a job, and yes, you have to cook and take care of the kids, but how much of this can you do without your health?
We make time for what is truly important to us, so what it comes down to is this: You do have time to exercise in some way; you just have not made the time to do it yet. And the reason that you have not made the time could be because you do not yet see it as important enough.
I am not saying that you won’t have to be creative. Your physical activity could be fitting in a fitness class, walking your dog, taking 5 minute walk breaks during your work day or doing yardwork. You might even have to get up a little earlier, go to bed slightly later, or move something else out of your schedule. Whatever you have to do to get physical activity in is what you must do, because it is indisputably important enough for you to make time for it.
Reason #2: You’re waiting…on…something – I often come across individuals who are waiting for that “thing,” that magical spark that’s going to supercharge their motivation and catapult them into their best, healthiest lives that they’ve always imagined.
Let me put it colloquially like this: It don’t work that way, man.
There is nothing that you need to wait on to start moving your body. There is nothing that should keep you from living your healthiest life now. Some wait for that perfect workout plan. Some wait for the perfect relationships to motivate them. A lot of folks don’t even know what they’re waiting on!
My point is, stop waiting to get active and just do it! Your life and health are precious assets that require nurturing no matter what your current life circumstances are. Your body deserves to not wait.
Reason #3: You think you have to go to the gym – So, you read the magazines, you look at the websites and the instagrams and all of that, and you see folks taking pictures of their fit selves in gyms with fancy equipment and large weight stacks, and you count yourself out 1) because you don’t have time to go to the gym, or 2) you don’t have money to go to the gym, or 3) you don’t like the gym.
But see, check this out. In case you didn’t know already, you don’t have to go to the gym to get fit. You don’t need the gym!
Now, I like to work out myself. I like going to the gym when I can, and I am interested in having a high level of fitness for my job and for athletic events. But the average person who is just trying to take care of themselves doesn’t need access to all of that fancy stuff. You know? Yes, you might see Michael B. Jordan or Taraji Henson getting it in in the gym, but if getting in decent shape is all you need to do, you might just need to start walking in your neighborhood everyday. You might just need to stop outsourcing your physical chores like your gardening, housework and lawn work, so that you can do it yourself.
It makes me think about the beauty of body weight exercises. Push-ups, sit-ups, dips…all of these require no equipment and no gym, and can get you in as good of shape as weights can. Don’t believe me? Ask football greats Herschel Walker or Bo Jackson. Ask Hannibal for King or the Barstarzz or the Bartendaz, who get it in in city playgrounds around the nation and are some of the most fit folks around. So even if you want to achieve a high level of fitness, YOU DON’T NEED A GYM!
All you need is to get active in a way that makes sense for you, and you might also need a plan to help you do stuff at home or at the park or whatever. If you want a bodyweight fitness plan, by the way, e-mail me and I’ll be glad to help. But honestly, saying you need a gym ends up being another excuse man.
And plus, there are so many folks who have gym memberships and still don’t even go. Nah, man.
Reason #4: You don’t feel like it – A lot of folks are still not physically active because they simply don’t feel like being physically active.
Hey, first of all, I feel you. I really do. When I get home from my day job, I’m exhausted. I don’t feel like doing much except for sitting down somewhere, or going to sleep. I feel bad sometimes because I have a young child who has a lot of energy all of the time, and watching her sometimes makes me even more tired.
But anyhow, it comes back to doing stuff because you should do it, even if you don’t want to do it. My child tells my wife and I sometimes “I don’t wanna do it” if we ask her to do certain things. We tell her that it’s time to end playtime and go to bed, and she says “but I don’t wanna go to bed yet.” But what we have to explain to her is, this goes beyond what you want to do right now. You may not want to get ready for bed now, but you have to because it is imperative that you get enough sleep for your body to be ready for the next day. We’re training her to get past feelings so that she can do what she needs to do.
And the same goes for us, man. As adults, we just don’t feel like it sometimes. And that’s real. But if you not feeling like exercising is always holding you back from doing what you need to do to maintain that body, you really have to examine yourself. If you really want to live your healthiest life and even perhaps reach some personal fitness goals like getting to a certain body weight or looking a certain way, you already know that you have to do something to get what you desire. If you’re letting your feelings constantly keep you away from that, you may or may not agree with me on this, but I think that you don’t want it bad enough yet.
As a trainer, I find that the person who successfully masters their body is the person who gets beyond their feelings. It’s the person who already knows that they’re not going to want to exercise or do something physically active, so what they do is get themselves ready for the fight that they are going to have to endure in their minds to get that exercise in. If you want to be healthy, you have to prepare yourself so that when your mind starts protesting, you’ve already put something in place that mandates that you still exercise when it is time. That’s the plain and simple of it. It isn’t easy, but then again, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it, and I wouldn’t be able to record a podcast about it.
So I hear you…you don’t want to do it. But if you really want it, whether or not you feel like doing it isn’t going to matter.
There are probably several other reasons that you might not be regularly exercising yet, but ask yourself this question. Are you making excuses? Also ask yourself, do you really want to get in shape? I seriously want you to question yourself. You know why? Because your answer might be no. If it is, that’s fine, as long as you set some minimum amount of physical activity that you have to perform. We all are meant to move around to some degree. All of us don’t need to be athletes. All of us don’t need to be super toned or anything like that. But if we’re going to do right with these God-given bodies of ours, we need to work with the fact that all of our bodies are meant to move around.
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The post YHATC030: Four Reasons You’re Still Not Physically Active appeared first on Your Health At The Crossroads.