What IS your goal?

WHAT’S YOUR GOAL?
No, really, what is your goal? Why do you exercise? I guess another term for “goal” could be “motivation”. I think they are interchangeable. What is your motivation? What brought you to the front door of our club (or any club) in the first place? Why did you buy that home exercise machine (and by the way, there is not a “one machine for the whole body”. But that’s another blog.)

We are all motivated by something different, yet incredibly similar. I, for instance, am motivated by competition. I love to compete. Win or lose, as long as I gave it my best shot, I will usually have a great time. Of course winning makes it even nicer. So I exercise as a means to an end; the end being a sport of some sort. A year and a half ago I crossed a pretty big threshold- I turned 40. It opened up a new opportunity for me, the “Over 40 Men’s Basketball League”. WOW!! A whole new reason to keep exercising. I thought to myself “There is no way I am going to look like one of those pot bellied old men running down the court. I may absolutely stink at basketball, but by golly I will look good, and I won’t want to cough up a lung before half time.” I’ll keep you posted on our team.

Research indicates that only about 2-5% of the human population exercises for the sake of exercising, or merely because they like it (sickos). The rest of us do it as a means to an end. So what is your end? Did you just see the Dr. and he told you to shed a few dozen pounds or you will be dead in less than 2 years? That’s motivating. Is your cholesterol high? Is your blood pressure reaching astronomical heights? Do you want to improve your golf game? Are you recovering from a knee or hip surgery? Or are you, as the cliché goes, sick and tired of being sick and tired? What is your desired end result?

There is one caveat, do not choose weight loss. You are guaranteed to become frustrated and stop exercising. Weight loss is a by-product of exercise and leading a healthy lifestyle. Think of it this way: let’s say your goal is to run a marathon. Don’t say I can’t because I’m too fat. Rather say to yourself “I’ll start with ¼ mile run/walk” and go from there. Then as you increase your mileage, your pounds will start to come off. And then you go farther and more weight comes off. You will probably change your eating habits so you can lose even more weight. See the cycle? If you just said “I want to lose weight” you would still be on the couch.

So let’s get a conversation going. Let me know what your goal/motivation/end is. Give me your story. How is the battle going? What triumphs have you had? What has been the most successful type of exercise for you? Believe it or not, what you say could and will help several people. It may also help you to understand that many people are having the same struggles as you.

And lastly, we will have information, critiques and opinions about what is being said about health and fitness and nutrition in the media. So if you see an interesting story, please forward it to me and we will discuss it.

Healthfully Yours,
Greg