Four Amazing Things About Fitness You May Not Realize
Fitness is a pretty amazing thing, and like most amazing things, a lot of the amazing thing-ness comes from the fact that some of the amazing things it offers are amazing things you may not expect or realize.
Here are 4 of them.
Fitness is for everybody. A few years ago, in preparation for a project, I talked to many of my clients about their impressions of "fitness" before joining our gym. The responses were enlightening. Most of our clients are in their 50s and older and felt like fitness just wasn't for them. All the representations of fitness they ever saw were 20-something fitness models. That's a shame because fitness is for everyone. No matter your age or condition, there is always something you can do to feel better, move better, and improve your mobility and overall health. Fitness is not just about looking like a cover model; for 99.9% of us, that's a useless and harmful goal.
Fitness is versatile and ever-changing. One of the best things about fitness is how it can change as you change. As much as we'd like to it to be stable, life is always moving and evolving. We have to evolve with it and fitness can do that with you. Is work getting a little nuts? Let's dial back the intensity a little. Want to try an obstacle race? Let's go for it! How does a 5k sound? Maybe a powerlifting meet? Have some family issues you have to attend to? You can always change your emphasis to deal with whatever you have going on.
Fitness is empowering when you least expect it to be. There's nothing more empowering than finding you can do something you couldn't do before. That can be lifting a Costco-sized bag of dog kibble or your grandchild, walking up some stairs without breathing heavily, realizing you didn't think to worry about making it through a tough hike, or anything else.
Fitness teaches you to value yourself. Many of my clients are moms. That means many of my clients put themselves last just about all the time because that's what moms do. Fitness gives them something that allows them to be first, even if it's only for an hour or two a few times per week. If you don't think that's incredibly valuable, I've got some news for you.
There’s so much more to fitness than you may think, and what people find amazing can vary from person to person. The important thing is how some real benefits can make your life more amazing!
