... That was the title of a "news article" I recently read on "theOnion." For those who don't know, "theOnion" is a pseudo news website that posts funny, fake news articles.
The story started with Lazar, a newly hired front desk receptionist at her local health club. She started this job so she could save money to reduce her debt. After a while she became bored and discontent. "'It's just the same mindless motions over and over,' Lazar said. 'I can do this stuff at home without having to drive 25 minutes out of my way.'"
To make a medium-length story short, Lazar quit when she wasn't seeing her bank account explode after doing the "same mindless motions over and over."
See the full story HERE.
Lazar's story is an analogous to our fitness journey. Her debt is our fat stores. Her job is our gym membership and hopefully our use of said membership. The mundane tasks she does at work are our exercises. Her story of growing debt over years of carefree living followed by struggle to rid herself of said debt is our decades of building poor habits that lead to years of gaining fat followed by our expecting to rid ourselves of the habits and fat in a few months or even a year.
The reality is, much the same as ridding ourselves of debt and building wealth taking years and even decades, it takes months to lay a fitness foundation followed by years of follow through to see massive change that lasts, right?
This is omitting the year-long transformations where someone loses over 100 pounds and completely changes their life. The reality is, those transformations come from a profound challenge of thinking leading to a 180 degree shift in behavior and an all-in mentality which is then followed by the 100 pound lose of excess weight. But is that the norm? Is that what it takes?
Not necessarily. While that is what we see from the fitness industry because that is the marketing that gets people moving, or so we think, it is not the norm for actual change in someone's life. In reality, I see and help people, more often than not, start with just 30 minutes a day of exercise be it walking, lifting weights, stretching, etcetera. After a few weeks of getting used to the exercise, we start adding little changes in nutrition like eating a fist of vegetables at each meal. Then we add a palm of lean protein, sleeping at least 8 hours a night, and so on.
The norm is first doing a few weeks of work where you feel accomplished and sore but don't notice much change in your body. This is followed by months of gradually dropping fat and gaining strength that leads to firmer muscles, more energy, and often less aches and pains. This is followed by blood marker improvements such as lower blood sugar, a rise in HDL and a drop in LDL, and so on. This is followed by years of exploring new fitness ventures while continuing basic strength training and cardio. After a while, people start asking what you've been doing. You have now lost 30, 40, 50, even 100 pounds over the years but you don't feel like you really changed all that much until you look in retrospect to see that you have. The thing is, it happened over time and now it's just what you do.
That is real fitness change. Not that transformations don't happen rapidly and that some don't stick. There are people who do very well with those transformations but in my years of being a trainer and being in the fitness world, I can say with confidence that that is NOT the norm. In fact, it often leads to frustration for those who try to chase that dream.
What God has been showing me over the years is that change happens just like the tortoise, slow and steady. Wealth is built over years and decades. Our spiritual growth happens over years of exploring and learning from God's word while discussing and sharing our faith with others. We get fit over years of progressively getting stronger while building better habits in nutrition, sleep, and exercise.
The Gist
Take your time, enjoy the ride, and results will come in fitness and in your walk with God. There will be times when exercise is mundane and boring. Sometimes we need to just keep on keeping on and other times freshen in up. If you've been doing sets of 12 reps, drop to sets of 8 and add weight. If you've been doing then same squat for months, pick a new squat (check out The Essential 7 Exercises for guidance on exercise selection). Much like they said in the article on theOnion, the secret to success is just showing up.
To Do
1.) Work up to eating like this 3-4 times per day:
1-2 fist of veggies
1-2 palm of lean protein
1-2 cupped hand of carbs (whole grain or fruit)
1-2 thumb of fat
A low calorie drink
Eating until 80% full or content
2.) Do some exercise 30 minutes every day. A week might look like this:
Monday - Weight lifting circuit of squats, bench press, and rows
Tuesday - A 30 minute walk/jog with a friend
Wednesday - 30 minutes of frisbee, stretching, zumba, something fun!
Thursday - Weight lifting circuit of deadlifts or lunges, shoulder presses, and lat pulldowns
Friday - A 30 minute swim with a friend
Saturday - 30 minutes of play!
Sunday - Another 30 minutes of play or stretching and big belly breaths
3.) Most importantly, explore God's word and discuss your faith daily! Notice, I did NOT say READ. If you are simply reading the Bible just to put a check mark saying that you did it, you will probably be disappointed with how close you are or are not to God. View it as exploration! Much like when you were first dating or you just discovered a new passion/hobby, explore and learn! Pray! Invite friends to church! Find a Christian group to meet with and discuss! Have fun and love God!
Educate. Encourage.
- Chris Finley
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