STOP USING EXERCISE AS A PUNISHMENT

“20 more minutes on the treadmill means one more drink you can have!”

“Do you know how many minutes of cardio you need to do to burn off those fries you just ate?”

“January is coming time to work off all those extra pounds you gained during the holidays!”

No wonder why people hate exercise so damned much.

The more ads I see the more annoyed I become at the way exercise is presented to people…you are literally being brainwashed that just because you had a good weekend with family and friends it’s time to pay the piper and kill yourself as to not be overweight or out of shape.

What absolute nonsense…and the exact opposite of what exercise and moving your body should be about.

Maybe this is also why people hate Mondays so much: the mindset of karma biting them in the ass for having a good time over the weekend looms over them like the pizza they consumed the day before…and now not only will there be a stressful day at work but now there’s the anticipation of grueling cardio do “undo” the damage you created by having a good time.

So…let’s try and change that, shall we?

“Once you are exercising regularly, the hardest thing is to stop it.” – Erin Gray

Spoiler alert: No weekend splurge needs to be regretted by thinking you undid all of your hard work.

Sure, if you do this long enough and with reckless abandon of course you will undo some of the hard work you put in to get yourself feeling better…but by and large you can recover a weekend by just going back to your normal way of eating and exercising…without punishment.

So why is this route taken by influencers and commercials??

Simple: FEAR SELLS.

Scare someone enough to join their gym to become the “NEW YOU” or buy their vitamins or pills or shakes…and well, you have yourself some profits.

The problem is that in scaring people they are also demonizing the very thing they are trying to promote: being healthy.

But who cares when the money is pouring in? It becomes a lot less about your long term success and more about their short term profitability.

Now that we have identified the source, let’s shift the mindset.

The Solution: Shift Your Perception

• Exercise is not a punishment. Say it with me: EXERCISE IS NOT A PUNISHMENT. Nor is it some miracle cure for your eating habits…it is simply an avenue for you to become stronger, healthier, more confident, and ensure that you can play with your kids and grandchildren longer than you would if you didn’t move your body.
• Exercise is not a quick fix. Hell, you will burn more calories during the day sitting than you will working out for an hour. What exercise does is release feel good endorphins that, let’s face it, we could all use. It challenges us…and anything that challenges us is teaching us how to be a little better than what we were before.
• There is no such thing as the “New You”, there is just YOU. You are enough already, and in the course of life there are many ways to improve yourself, learn, and grow…but you are BUILDING on the foundation that is already YOU…not creating some new and improved clone. Start your journey knowing that the step of being more active is just to improve your way of life and feel better about yourself as opposed to being someone new.
• There is no right or wrong way of where to start, the idea is just to start doing what you enjoy first, the rest comes later. I was helping a friend start their journey to becoming more fit and the first question I asked was a simple one: “What do you enjoy doing?”. If you love to walk…WALK MORE. If you enjoy running, RUN MORE. If you love to lift weights, we can come up with a plan to get you stronger and more educated. The bottom line is its about just STARTING and BUILDING off of what you enjoy first, then adding more challenging things you may not like as we go along. It could be adding a mile to your run, or that extra 5 lbs on a lift…regardless of what it is we are looking for progress not stagnation. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing first, there is little chance you will continue, because motivation by and large will only take you so far.
• There is no finish line. Start because you want to feel better. Start because you want to be healthier for your family. Whatever your motivation is, understand that when you reach the self imposed “finish line” of losing 20 lbs, or running a 5K…it will only be your beginning of greater heights if you allow it to be. It’s never about the result…it’s about the journey and what you learn along the way!
• YOU CAN. What is difficult for you today will be your warm up tomorrow. Get can’t out of the equation, what stands in front of you is just another challenge to overcome.

“Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” -Sean Patrick Flanery