Fitness is More than A Lean Bod. It’s Your Best Investment.
Recently, I had a conversation with a co-worker about making time for the gym. He insisted he didn’t have time, and honestly, his schedule is undeniably hectic. This is true for many folks. It may seem that time for exercising is a luxury, but the truth is, making time to care for your body is arguably your most essential responsibility. Your body is the only thing guaranteed to be with you for every second of every day of your life. You’re stuck with it, and that beautiful meat-mobile is what carries you through all the important stuff. Let’s take a look at what ‘fitness’ really means, and why making some small sacrifices to squeeze more movement into your days is such a worthy investment of your time.
But first, we need a definition: how does one pin down a concept so broad as “fitness”? Put simply, your fitness level is your ability to meet life’s demands. Can your body keep up with the mental and physical stress that daily life brings? Can you confidently lift that heavy box, bike up that hill, or tackle a few flights of stairs without huffing and puffing?
Fitness looks different for everybody. One person’s fitness goals may include running a marathon or competing in a sport, but another person may just want to lower their cholesterol numbers. Maybe you’re perfectly able to sit at a desk and do what your job asks of you all day, but you’re feeling the slow creep of fatigue, weight gain, sleep issues, and chronic illness. Is that truly meeting life’s demands and living a full and vibrant life, or is your body just barely getting by? If you’re not investing consistent time and effort into your fitness, chances are it’s the latter.
Fitness measures many other components of health, such as blood pressure, cholesterol numbers, bone density, flexibility, muscle mass, and more. Each of these measurements creates a constellation of markers that put us somewhere on the spectrum of “sick” to “fit”. The more fit you are, the more easily you’ll bounce back from illness or injury (which will inevitably happen to all of us at some point). If you’re already on the lower end of that spectrum, it’s dangerously easy to fall permanently into the “sick” category.
Imagine you’re 70 years old and are laying in a hospital bed. You’ve broken your leg, and will need surgery to repair it, plus weeks of therapy to regain your strength. If you’ve been sedentary your whole life, you won’t be as strong, and your endurance and healing will be poor. Learning to walk again will be far more challenging; you might even end up relying on a wheelchair or walker from now on. If you’ve spent your life staying active and eating well, you’ll have better muscle mass and endurance levels, and your recovery will go more smoothly. Your chances of a full recovery to wellness are much better.
Most of us don’t go through our days making decisions based on what might happen when we’re 70. But what about your ability to keep up with your kids at 35 years old? What about that hiking trip you skipped out on at 22, when you were certain your college buddies would be way ahead of you, so you stayed home? Fitness is the key to living a full life. It’s our physical insurance against the inevitable challenges and mishaps that life brings.
Many measurements go into quantifying our fitness level. Staying on the “fit” end of the spectrum to the best of our ability means we’re physically more resilient after an injury or illness.
“But isn’t exercise such a drag?”, you might think to yourself. “Who wants to get all sweaty and tired? Besides, I’m in such terrible shape, I’d probably hurt myself, or at least be embarrassed in front of everyone at the gym. I don’t even have time to work out!”.
The short answer? NOPE. Exercise is one of the most indispensable investments you can make. A regular fitness routine pays dividends toward your quality of life. Ditch the excuses and give it a try! It doesn’t have to be much to start paying off. The CDC recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. That’s just three brisk, 10 minute walks sprinkled throughout each work day.
A regular, well-rounded exercise routine combines strength, flexibility, and endurance training. Getting after workouts on a consistent basis provides so much for our bodies and minds:
Strength training helps to maintain muscle mass as we age, which protects from injury and keeps our bones stronger. More muscle mass also helps us look better, keeps our metabolism higher (yay, more food!!), and means we’re able to tackle life’s most demanding challenges.
Working on flexibility, agility, and balance prevents injuries, both at the gym and in daily life.
Cardio training (endurance and speed), helps our bodies feel more energetic, which means we have more energy for the fun stuff in life.
No time for a trip to the gym? Get creative at home- can you do lunges while vacuuming the house? Squats while you wait for dinner to cook? Push-ups during commercial breaks on TV? Walk laps around the field at your kid’s soccer practice?
Working out with friends builds strong social relationships and gives us friends to fall back on when things get tough. Plus, exercising with a friend can help to give you that extra push. Try taking a class or joining an online fitness community to make some workout buddies.
Exercise improves mood and can bolster your mental health, which is another important piece of all-around fitness. It gives you a sense of challenge and accomplishment that has nothing to do with work, school, or family. That’s a valuable boost to your ego!
Finding a workout that you love provides a mode for fun and self-expression. We all need a little bright spot in our day-to-day. Make your time at the gym something you truly look forward to! Bust a move in a dance class, or blast your favorite songs as you lift.
Getting enough exercise and eating a balanced diet is the closest thing we have to a magic bullet with it comes to managing and preventing chronic disease. Eat your veggies, do your squats, and go to bed early. Your chances of staying healthy for life will be much higher.
Whether you’re a regular gym rat or haven’t touched those sneakers in years, try adding a little more movement into your days. If your schedule truly is packed, look for small ways to sneak in some small improvement. Even those tiny efforts are a step in the right direction! Take a walk, do some stretching, or bust out a few pushups between phone calls at work.
Take care of your body and mind with good food, good friends, and good sleep. The more you move, the better you’ll feel. The better you eat, the better you’ll feel. The more you build important relationships, the better you’ll feel. The more you allow time for sleep and rest, the better you’ll feel. See a theme? How you take care of your body is the number one most important investment you’ll make in life, because without that fitness, life simply can’t be lived to the fullest.
Remember, fitness is a spectrum- you can increase it by tiny degrees. Don’t expect to go from no exercise to 5 days a week at the gym overnight, or from subsisting on frozen dinners to cooking all your own organic meals by next week. Many people may never be able to get there because of life circumstances they can’t control, and that’s okay. But everyone, no matter how busy, can make some small improvements. Carry a water bottle to stay hydrated, throw some frozen veggies into your microwaved meal, march in place while on a phone call, journal for 3 minutes, take 5 deep breaths- any small step toward building a healthier lifestyle counts.
Taking care of your body is the foundation of living a full life. Telling yourself that anything and everything else is more important is simply neglecting your own needs, to your eventual detriment. There is a reason the flight attendants tell you to put on your own oxygen mask first before helping others- you can’t be your best for the people you love and the important responsibilities you carry without taking good care of yourself.
Is saying “no” to yet another commitment so that you can take a quick 30 minute online fitness class a few times per week going to make you a worse employee or parent? Absolutely not- if anything, you’ll be mentally and physically better for it, so that you can show up in those important roles all the more ready to perform. Make a point of putting your health first, because without good health, you simply can’t be your best in any other area of life.
If you find yourself saying “I don’t have time for fitness” ask yourself: what could possibly be more important? Take some small steps now, and soon you’ll find yourself feeling stronger than ever.
