We live in a time of great change. Each of us is going through it. We can all feel it each day. Things are not the same.
So far, we have been utilizing certain tools of transformation to aid us in our ability to handle change in a more efficient, productive and healthy manner. The possibilities of change include both our inner and outer worlds.
Inner world change may occur through some sort of professional intervention, (i.e. mental health professional or counselors) through spiritual means, or through self-help seminars and groups.
Outer world change may occur through a new haircut, new wardrobe, new house, new mate, new career or a new body. There are also many professionals specializing in these areas.
I believe true powerful and long-lasting change begins within and extends without.
Currently, there are many people working out in gyms trying desperately to change their bodies from the outside in. While there are many success stories, there are also many more failures.
Besides, can a bench press; squat or running on a treadmill really improve your life?
The question I have is what do people want from their lives?
I believe people want more of life.
They want to experience their life in new and exciting ways.
The challenge is how do we create this life for ourselves?
Is going to the gym every other day and lifting weights and running on treadmills going to help? To a degree… better body performance = better mind performance.
Everyday each of us is being programmed. Every ad, every commercial, every magazine, every newspaper, every motive, want and desire is being guided, shifted, and influenced by our advertising machine. This programming is carried out by:
There is tremendous pressure placed upon all of us to look good and be fit. However, the true ideal of health and well-being has become corrupted. Walk by any newsstand and you will see a large variety of fitness magazines and fashion publications. A closer examination reveals female models gracing these covers are ultra-slim, <10% body fat, and represent less than 1% of real women’s body type. The air brushed, fashion model has become our ideal of fitness. This is not only unfair – it is ridiculous.
We are setting ourselves up for trouble when we attempt to look like someone who does not exist. To make matters worse, most of us know this but still, we buy the magazines anyway, sending the message that we still support this illusionary ideology of fitness. My solution? Stop buying these magazines. Don’t worry - in a very short time the powers behind the magazines will realize what you/we want and will change to accommodate us.
The hidden cost of this fact (besides the billions we spend each year) is we are forever struggling with the fact that most likely, we will never be fit. To reach the ideal of being as thin as a fashion model, whether male of female, most of us would have to quit our jobs and focus all our energy, time and money to a strict (and probably unhealthy) regiment of exercise and diet.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, through a tremendously powerful and focused personality made bodybuilding a great deal more attractive and alluring to us all. However, the job of becoming a bodybuilder is full time. Bodybuilders spend most of their time working out (at least twice a day), eating a very controlled diet (sometimes unhealthy diets) all designed to produce massive muscles and decreasing levels of body fat. For any of you who have gone to the gym and worked out really, really hard and for those of you who have not, imagine, what it would be like to push yourself to your nth degree of effort where every muscle is straining and striving for more. Now imagine reaching even further. Do you have it? Now realize this does not even approach the effort these people put into each workout. Your toughest workouts, as tough as they are and as tough as you are, are still only a drop in the bucket compared to them. Think about it. Their full-time job is to become bigger. They spend hours in the gym. They think about the gym when they’re not in the gym. They live in the gym and in their bodies. There is no quitting. No giving up. They continually reach for more and bigger. The end result is quite beautiful and definitely inspiring.
The question here is, is this what you want for yourself? If the answer is yes, then go to Venice Beach and get to work! If you are like most people, what you are interested in is being healthy, but not at the cost of your job, your way of life and what you eat.
So, if our goals are not to be bodybuilders, than why do we hold them as the ideal of fitness? Yes, its true… they do represent an extreme of what fit could be, but let’s face it, most of us will not look like that, nor do we want to.
The bodybuilding physique, while attractive is not a good poster child for practical fitness goals for the average person.
If our fitness goals are not to be bodybuilders or models, where does that leave us?
It leaves you with the following questions to answer:
Too much power has been given over to the modern science and the professionals of fitness to inform you as to what you need. The time has come for you to become informed about this wonderful companion and tool you have. Please don’t get me wrong; I am one of those professionals. We have our uses but the ultimate goal of physical training and exercise has become lost in our society.
My point is, exercise has become an obsession and another stress in our already stressful lives.
I am offering you a new way to use your body to improve how you think and feel each day. The power of fitness is not in the latest fad, class or program, but in the way you use fitness to improve yourself.
If you enter any health club, you maybe dazzled (and possibly intimidated) by the myriad numbers of seemingly sophisticated workout machines littering the gym. Now these machines have their uses, but the question is why are you using them?
The current fitness techniques of today originated from bodybuilding protocols of yesterday. The sole purpose and intentions of bodybuilding techniques is to increase the mass and size of every individual muscle on the human body. As the fitness industry has grown, many of the movements and machines created are still utilized for the same purpose. The makers of these machines have just improved their craft and have created what they believe is a useful tool to help their consumers reach their fitness goals and make some money. (Nothing wrong with that!)
Currently, our aging population has required fitness to adapt to the limitations imposed by the affects of aging. Limited ranges of motion, decreased cardiovascular responses and diminishing lean muscle tissue have helped to create shifts in our exercise prescription to improve quality of movement, prevent injury and promote health. The industry’s response has been to include physical therapy protocols with body strength techniques to yield the Functional Exercise. The intention here is to strengthen those movements which correlate to activities of daily living providing a foundation of strength and movement and therefore improve function.
As the needs of our clients continue to evolve and grow in complexity, the needs of qualified and educated professionals have also grown.
However, this structure of fitness information and evolution, while effective and complex in its understanding is only appreciated by the fitness professional. The average person is more interested not in how we get there but, “When are we going to get there?” and “How am I going to look?”
Let’s examine the current gym-goer’s experience of what is happening behind the scenes.
Going to the gym – I have heard it all:
“I am afraid of looking stupid.”
“I am afraid of doing it wrong.”
”I need to lose weight before I join the gym.”
“What am I going to wear?”
“I am just plain scared.”
Just being in the gym causes stress because of:
Behind the scenes – We all are under the influence of:
Exercise (lifting weights, running on treadmills, taking exercise classes) is stress on the body. Exercise is a controlled stress that forces our bodies to adapt. Strength, endurance and fitness results are the results of this adaptation. Every machine, every exercise class and every method of fitness is based on our bodies adapting to the stress exercise imposes. It’s that simple.
If the goal is adaptation through stress, we can consciously create and choose to impose this stress utilizing any system of movement. Traditional strength training is just one expression of how to impose adaptation/exercise.
However, since most of us are spending our days being significantly more mental than physical there is increasing amount of muscular tension accumulating within your body. When you do go to the gym and begin using weights, you are increasing the amount of tension in an already overstressed system. Imagine loading a chain that already is overloaded with more weight… eventually something has to give.
My solution is to start with what you have and allow for personal progression.
Each of us has our own way of learning and our own way of moving forward. Some of us can handle the extra resistance weights offer us but if your goal is to use your body better with more awareness than the rule of thumb is less is more. There is no need to be overtaxing your already overtaxed body with additional stress and tension. Your body weight used with focus and intent can provide a great deal more than just bigger muscles. It all depends upon what you are looking to create. My path is one of having not only a stronger body but also a whole slew of inner life improvements.
Do people actually like working out?
I believe the answer is yes and no.
Some people enjoy the linear repetitive motions bodybuilding has provided us. They enjoy the feel of their bodies working along with the power and the look it provides. These people are usually fairly independent in their exercise programming only requiring small amounts of advice from a professional.
This style of exercise however, bores most people. Maybe you see the value in it or maybe not. Maybe you have health problems you are trying to transcend or maybe you are trying to avoid one all together. Most people today have highly developed and complex thoughts but when it comes to their bodies this level of sophistication drops drastically.
The words “exercise” and “enjoyment” rarely go hand in hand. Instead, for most, exercise is a chore and to complete twenty minutes on a treadmill is sheer torture for some.
The goal is to create a new way of exercising that feels good mentally, physically and emotionally.