Today marks the beginning of my future in fitness. I have begun a road of change in my life and one of the changes that I will achieve is a true fitness, both physically and mentally. I will be strong in body and sound in the mind, with no question as to whether or not I should keep going. Notice that I say "will" in every statement.
As many of us do today, I began exploring fitness with my peers in high school and has some great success with it. I put on muscle, gained strength, and was noticed more and more by the female persuasion. It was never enough to keep me pushing weights and I regret every single day that I decided to lay out of the gym. One day led to two and then three. Before I realized it, I had given up the gym completely and I didn't set foot in a weight room for the next 3 years. After I joined the navy, I decided that I would try my hand at it once more. With the help of some truly amazing lifters that were also my shipmates, I once again made gains and got large. I put on over 25 pounds of solid muscle and was in the best shape of my life. It took almost 2 years for lethargy to kick in once again and until now, I didn't understand why I let go of something that I had worked so hard each and every day to build. It was will power.
Will power is the driving force in our lives. It is that little voice in the back of your mind that screams out "wimp! Pussy! Punk!" when you start to slack off on the things that you want the most in your life. See, I set my goals in the gym and I busted every single one of them. Lifting came easy and I became overconfident. I knew I could sling iron with the best of them and it wasn't the lifting that I quit. I had quit setting goals for myself. Without even a slight hint of realization, I forgot to set goals and because of that, I had no will power to continue. I began to question my purpose in the gym. "Why am I doing this?" soon became "there's a good movie coming out today. Don't worry about the gym. I can catch up later." The cascade continued and now here I am almost 30 years old, about 15 pounds overweight and completely out of shape. I'm tired of it and I made my choice to put an end to it. I know read my goal statement once in the morning when I wake, and once at night before I sleep.
"I will achieve a life long fitness to maintain my youth and to assist others in following my path. I will not be the father that gets left behind by his kids because of health issues associated with overweight or a sedentary lifestyle because I do not what my kids to follow in those foot steps for theirs. I will reach my goals by never missing one single day of my planned workout routine or my planned diet because life is too short to miss out."
Many will read this and think "this guy won't last." I promise you I will. I have discovered the secret to will power it is The Power of Thought. Just this small routine of reading my statement twice a day will push me to achieve a true long term goal by breaking through the smaller milestones that lead into it.
While it may seem bold or broad, my goal statement and it is emblazoned in my mind. The road ahead will be long and bumpy but I will stick by this statement for the rest of my life. Several milestones are taking place at once to reach these goals. One is today's first workout and a second is my Personal Trainer Certification. The first creates the building blocks for a secondary career in the second. This tie between goals is another method of motivation to push me forward. No one in their right mind wants a trainer that is more out of shape than the client. Hence, the chain of events has began.
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