The Fountain of Youth
Ch 6 Being Friends with the Friendlies
In the last chapter we talked a lot about the people who are adverse to fitness. They make up a hypothetical fifteen percent of a company.
These adverse people are the way they are for numerous reasons--some which go back to childhood, some which are much more contemporary. In this chapter, we need to look that the remaining eighty five percent, focusing on the lion's share who are open to becoming more into fitness than they currently are.
On the whole, the greater portion of the eighty-five percent (not the few who are always in training for marathons and the like) know what to do, but find it difficult, if not impossible, to do it. The difference between these folks and those who are adverse to doing anything is that the larger number would be into fitness if only they could find a way. Finding a way is what this book is all about, largely because it is now more important than ever. Why?
These adverse people are the way they are for numerous reasons--some which go back to childhood, some which are much more contemporary. In this chapter, we need to look that the remaining eighty five percent, focusing on the lion's share who are open to becoming more into fitness than they currently are.
On the whole, the greater portion of the eighty-five percent (not the few who are always in training for marathons and the like) know what to do, but find it difficult, if not impossible, to do it. The difference between these folks and those who are adverse to doing anything is that the larger number would be into fitness if only they could find a way. Finding a way is what this book is all about, largely because it is now more important than ever. Why?
Here are some statistics from the Surgeon General and Journal of American Medical Association that are meant to alarm you and get moving, hopefully:
They report, "that poor diet and physical inactivity could soon
overtake tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S."
Obesity is now recognized alongside heart disease, cancer, AIDS and drug
abuse as among the nation's most expensive public health problems. Over
132 billion dollars will be spent this year on treating afflictions
related to obesity.
http://www.military.com/beginning a fitness lifestyle change
Hopefully, that's enough to get some of the open-minded others moving if they happen to still be sitting. Hopefully, it's enough to keep all of the new people into a fitness lifestyle. What does this really mean?
A fitness lifestyle has to do with the following : 1.) proper diet; 2.) supplementation; and 3.) daily workouts. Only doing one of the three won't get you looking good for the beach by summer. Doing two of three is not good enough either. But doing all three will most probably (if you use your head, and start from not too far in the hole) get you into shape for the beach this coming summer, assuming you start in November. Granted, all of that is purely hypothetical, not taking into consideration the possible, but highly unlikely, interference of bad genes. But it should be an acceptable starting point for those who are open-minded about fitness.
If that is acceptable, why do so many believe that it is?
It is tempting to say that many people "just know" that diet, exercise and supplements are a good thing. It is as if they were born that way, predisposed to believing the truth about fitness. That is, they feel they have always known that taking proper care of themselves would in fact make anyone, or nearly anyone, as vital, as healthy as one could be, and as youthful as one could remain (a concern which emerges around forty.) This is felt even by those raised in homes where everyone ate the wrong foods, never worked out and thought supplements were a waste of money.
The people on the greater portion of the bell curve believe this, thinking it is little more than obvious or self-evident. Perhaps this is true, but modern day thinking demands plausible reasons. So, how did so many get so open minded?
1.)Some have had parents who lived fitness lifestyles. This is not a very significant portion of America but there may be a few. Either mom or dad, in a very few instances both, were into fitness, always working out, always eating right, always supplementing. And, the results were dramatic. Even the other kids who would come over could see it. Mom and/or dad looked great, were fun to be with, and came across as doing well at what they did. Fitness-wise, they were great parents by example.
2.)Others have had brothers or sisters who were good at athletics. They were an inspiration to a younger sibling, sometimes even an older one. Seeing a brother or sister win a trophy or even just a letter can have been a significant motivator. The adult-advantage here is that this person knows first hand what it took to win--what kinds of things were done or not done, making the demands of a fitness lifestyle thoroughly understandable.
Of course, there supposedly were instances of star athletes who could eat whatever they want, only occasionally go to practice, never use supplements, and still do well. These were referred to as "natural athletes." But the number of these individuals, who never never had to make any of the necessary sacrifices, were extremely minimal. And, perhaps, all of the stories about them should now be skeptically questioned in stead of taken at face value.
3.) Still others had at least one good coach back in high school. The temptation here is to include the teachers of the phy ed classes, which were part of America's post war fitness program, but these never had the same impact as a favorite coach of a favorite sport. Unfortunately, being out for sports was mostly a guy-thing, with a much smaller number of the girls being relegated to the cheerleader squad. But some had the advantage of being part of Junior Miss competitions where there was a swim suit competition. Looking good for that required dedication to diet, proper nutrients and exercise. Everyone knew this. But for the most part, the girls were on their own. Perhaps they had mothers who "just knew" what to advise or had Jane Fonda as a heroine.
The best coaches made sure that the guys got strong and recommended supplements to endure the intense training. That happened even as far back as the sixties, when weight lifting was not as popular and when there were relatively few and vitamin shops But they were not alone. There were also a few very influential people such as Jack Lalanne, Bob Hoffman, and Bob Richards who made it their national mission to push fitness as the only way to go. They reinforced everything that the high school coaches said.
4.)The point is that virtually everyone, whether actually out for a sport or not, was exposed to a high school sports lifestyle. There was the glory of homecoming, and regular sporting matches and games. Granted, some refused to ever be part of them, but everyone knew that being out for sports meant living in certain type of way, which was admirable For the smokers,drug users and those into graffiti this meant being a square, but the norm of what was good and right still prevailed. Consequently, when we all became adults, there was never any question of what they would have to do to be in shape. "All" we had to do was to pay the price.
We knew what we had to do back then, and what we have to to do now to make things work.. Whether we had actually done it or not before is almost immaterial. It is the knowledge of the right which is most important. That is why in today's day and age so much of the prevalent thinking about fitness makes sense. It is really nothing new. It's been around for as long as we all can remember and some of us have had some great experiences with it, some probably wishing that it was never given it up.
But we were expected to out grow it. That is the problem. Going from high school to college meant going from good grades, extra-curricular activities and SAT tests to even more serious events in preparation for real adult living. All of that took more time and energy, making college sports only for marginal scholars--ones who could only pray to be recruited by a major team. In other words, the really serious students were expected to outgrow the team memberships and the fun aura of high school youthfulness. That was the mature thing to do.
Again, the main reason we now know what to do, so it seems, is that virtually all of us had an exposure to a fitness lifestyle for an extremely significant four year portion of our lives. As a result, we have a more than vague idea of what to do to be in shape, and, in many cases, what we have to do to win. We have either done it all before or we know of people who have. So, why is it that there are still so many of us who are not doing the right things?
If fitness is good, why are there so many who are still not into it?
1) Time is a major factor. With long commutes and demanding jobs, there is little time left over after the day for much other than relaxing at home, probably being parents. Thinking about getting up two hours early, the best practice for reaping the full benefits of a fitness lifestyle, means going to bed earlier, thereby missing out on family and personal recreational activities. Those are the standard sacrifices which most of us are afraid to make. While it can be argued that quality time with the family at the health club is superior to time spent at home in front of the TV, this is not yet an accepted way of spending time off during the work week.
2.) MDs are not pro-fitness. Saying this may raise eyebrows, but doctors do not have enough hours in the day either. They must make early morning hospital rounds, see patients during the afternoon and perform operations, which do not always keep their schedules on course. They are overworked the same as business people, and, therefore, do not have the needed time to workout regularly. Therefore, when they advise exercise it is generally only to lose weight for the avoidance of diabetes or heart trouble. Once out of the danger zone, their patients often feel they can go back to their old ways.
If there were more doctors working out, living a complete fitness lifestyle, there would be more people following suit. Doctors have incredible social power in this country. Many people want to be as respected, as wealthy, and presumably as healthy. But it is questionable how anyone living an intensely demanding eighty hour work week with no workouts, and no supplements can really maintain a healthy edge. Granted, MDs do well at what they do. But perhaps this says more about good diet than anything else. After all, MDs, for the most part, practice what they preach, which keeps them going and keeps them from becoming obese or sick. Therefore, we should all take note. But how many MDs do we really want to look like?
The point here is that the doctors' respected lifestyle is one that does not have sufficient room for fitness. Consequently, few of us are positively influenced relative to fitness by those who are so powerful in our society. From the standpoint of preventative health care this is extremely unfortunate.
3.)Food is important not only for energy and bodily repair, but also for social reasons. Few, if any of us, eat alone. Not only are table manners important, but so is the food we eat. No one can eat hard boiled eggs when everyone else at the table is eating burgers and fries. It is just not cool. Technically, one can do anything, but not without paying a social price. Eating the wrong foods, meaning those unlike the ones that other people are eating, creates social unrest. That results in ostracism, or at least getting laughed at.
Few of us have friends who are into the healthiest possible eating, meaning gluten-free, glucose-free, low-fat foods. Consequently, when we are with others, we are stuck with the socially acceptable foods and drinks--what makes up the standard American diet. That has got to change. When it does, in the next five years, perhaps, today's normal people will be laughed at for still wasting their money on the gut bombs and Mountain Dew.
4.) Pain is a big factor. Some of us just have knee problems, back aches, stiff necks and the like. Therefore, the mere thought of working out is painful. Of course, one of the contentions in all of these chapters is that exercise makes minor aches and pains go away. Those are the types of things that our parents complain about and are most often associated with old age. Fitness turns back the clock, making those things disappear. Some of us know this intuitively, but still do nothing about it because we think we are too old.
Nevertheless, if we're baby boomers, we secretly would still like to look like our favorite movie stars, who are staying better and better looking through their senior years. Surely none of them have joint pains, morning back aches and neck tension, or so we believe. If only we had their money! But are their good looks and great health just due to that? After all, don't they all workout regularly, eat right and take supplements?
5.)But it still is true that some people have more serious troubles than just the lack of flexibility which seems to creep in after forty. Some even have fibromyalgia, which has no known cure, or knee problems, which theoretically demand surgery. Why is it that some get afflicted with these while others do not? Rest and relaxation are allegedly the best treatment as seemingly every MD says. But might not a fitness lifestyle, started very slowly, do a better job over time? When will there ever be any studies on this? When we have the courage to try, presumably. Hopefully that's sometime soon.
6.) Then too there are just are some of us who have bad habits. Everybody has them-- friendlies and enemies alike. Its just that the friendlies know that they they're doing something wrong and should change. The enemies refuse to talk about this, or demand acceptance for what they say cannot be changed. Consequently, there is hope only for the former group; and that is true even if they have a rather pesky habit, which can be very difficult to kick. This may be anything from "social smoking" to a couple of buds (every night) after a long day, or regular snack routine of pop tarts. But are these so bad, really?
The problem here is that many of us believe these "minor" indiscretions are not only not harmful, but in fact beneficial, within the context of long commutes and a demanding job. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's just that taking it easy on ourselves is supposedly the way to be. Too, the assumption is that our MD is probably like this (after hours, unwinding only,) so why not us? Same may go for our favorite newscasters--another group of idols for the hardworking adult.
5.) Finally, there are the ones who were encouraged only to be good at their school work, and, of course, did only that, preferring a spot on the debate team to one on the football team. Granted, they may have been exposed to the more athletic types or the cheerleaders and junior misses, but for the most part they missed out on ever being out for high school athletics. Today they may see this as an error, which make them open to fitness. The only thing that's a little problematic for them is that now they're afraid of it.
What these people need is basic coaching-- being shown how to use the machines, being helped to find an optimal pace on the stationary bike, etc. They already know fitness is good and right, but they just don't know the specifics of how it works for them. Therefore, they respond beautifully to personal trainer-type coaching, requiring only three months or less to start seeing significant changes. It's just that they will have anxiety attacks over doing what is experienced by them as brand new. All that's necessary is to help them find their groove.
Wrapping it up
So much for the the friendlies. They all have a pretty good idea of what to do, but have some very grown up, very understandable, reasons for not doing them. In other words, they have good reasons for not doing good things. The encouraging thing is that they would get into fitness if only they could figure out how. For them, group discussions with others going through the same problems work the best. Knowing that others are hung up in the same way catalyzes thought of how to resolve the difficulties. Same goes for reading fitness articles, perusing helpful tips, and sharing them with others.
The big opportunity for the present is that what made sense for the high school athlete makes sense for the adult today. Granted, that was not as true twenty years ago, but fitness has recently become more viable due to so much positive press on the internet. Too, some very new, under thirty-five physicians, are far more supportive of it than are their over thirty-five counterparts. Thus, if younger people are open to giving up their dollar burgers and starting with an early concern for their health, the country's spiraling poor health may begin correcting itself in the next ten years.
But this does not address the here and now. For that to happen, there must be a continued positive spin on fitness in the workplace with ongoing interaction between all persons. That will, little by little, facilitate a complete change from today's' mediocre American OK-ness to excellent fitness living. There is no better way to insure a healthy future for the country than by driving up the fitness levels of each and every person in a company. That can and will happen as each and every employee to say nothing of upper management begins to embrace a fitness lifestyle as their new and far superior mode of normality.
For further thought on getting into a fitness lifestyle order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Being Friends With the Enemy
How do you as corporate fitness director make friends with the adversarial fifteen percent? Is that even possible? In the interest of personal integrity, is it even desirable? After all, anyone with no enemies is really only someone without an argument--without a credible position.
Use of the word adversarial sends the message that being on the same side of the table is impossible. Adversaries are enemies, antagonists, foes, opponents people who may do more than just wish you would sell your hand warmers in Antarctica instead of their home state of Alaska. The reason for this is that they know they need what you are selling (fitness), but they do not want to buy it. That can mean anything from they do not care to be bothered right now to they don't want to buy it from you.
These people may actually say to a new corporate fitness director, You are nuts. Of course, it would be helpful to know if that meant deluded about the goodness of fitness, or just deluded in general. Whichever, that is a much stronger put down than being called a health nut. a friendly jest between people trying to get into a fitness lifestyle. That is the common way of talking within a standard (normal) American sedentary, high fat, high sugar, vitamin-less context.
What these adversarial folks are saying is that fitness will not work for anyone, or, if it does, perhaps it is for people who just need to blow off steam or act younger than their age. These are generally thought of as immature people, or at least not very serious adults. This objection is typical of many people. It is the same as may be found in open-minded people as well; but with those dead-set against any changes right now, and possibly forever, it is far stronger.
The temptation is to say to them But fitness will take years off your life to say nothing of cutting down on your time off for illness and the like. Of course, as a good fitness director, you look younger than what your driver's license says, and you justifiably believe your ways of thinking, feeling, and doing are positively impacted by your superior health. You may also have a friend in HR who can help put together figures which could prove that the unfit other people cost the company money. So, your arguments may be air-tight. But none of them will work on the fifteen percent.
In fact, any attempt to present them will give the adversarial folks an excuse for openly berating you, or simply avoiding you when they see you coming. It may even result in them talking negatively with their friends about you--something you really don't want, especially if some of their friends happen to be in the open-minded group (the folks a fitness director should be all about reaching out to.)
There is only one way to deal with these adversarial people and that is to simply say OK, no problem, which is the same as You have a right to refuse even hearing what I have to say. That means you must completely keep off the subjects of anything and everything that have to do with the good news of gluten free eating, regular exercise and the effectiveness of supplements. Of course, you can say something if asked, but if this person is on the opt-out list, you have got to be very careful.
The best place to start saying OK, no problem is with an opt-out on the very first introductory corporate email a week prior to verbal communication in the form of a group presentation sent from the director's desk. The best place to continue it is with every communication between the director and anyone in the company. People simply need to know that it is OK to not be part of the new workout facility (which cost a fortune,) and to not listen to an overpaid personal trainer lecture them on what their mothers and doctors know to be best for everyone. That is how the fitness director will be seen. Therefore, you should be content with being seen but not heard by these folks.
For anyone enthusiastic about fitness, this type of restraint, necessary as it is, is nearly impossible. One of the things about feeling good yourself is to simply tell everyone you meet about it. That means, even the disgruntled person who's always negative, the ones who have failed after only one try in the past, and the chronic smokers and over-eaters. The message, There is a better way and all you have to do is do it to see how great it is will never win any of these folks as friends.
In fact, it will have the complete opposite effect. That is even if you are able to convince them intellectually via some well put together facts or academic studies. The adversarial folks do not want to be convinced. In the words of Ben Franklin, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." What's worse is that they may have enough social clout to label you as a meddler or Pollyanna. That may make it much more difficult to get on with the open-minded people.
This is a particularly knotty problem as the adversarial folks may actually be causing the greatest amount of insurance policy expense or require the greatest amount of recuperative time-off. In the case of smokers, there is always the multiple break factor, which negatively impacts productivity. The same may go for the overweight person who always has to have their pop tarts. In some cases, both groups may even be the reason that the corporate fitness director was brought in in the first place---to correct this very real, historically verifiable, threat to the company's bottom line. And, yes, a fitness program most likely will correct these problems.
Some upper echelon people are into this type of thinking long before day one. They know that fitness is the right policy to enforce. The problem is that they often think the anti-fitness people should be the prime focus of a new program. Why? Because they are the actual threat to not only the bottom line but to the workforce in general. Therefore, something must be done about them. That is much the same saying A few bad apples are spoiling the barrel. The decision then is to "shape them up or ship them out"(unless, of course, the corporate fitness director can make them over.)
Nothing could be more counterproductive. The company must know this on the front end. Being like this is no different than being a parent telling a child that if they do not do a certain thing (or stop doing another) they will no longer get their allowance. That type of coercion was prevalent a few decades ago, but went out the window with much of the very effective psycho-therapy of the seventies and eighties. Besides, it can't be enforced in a straight forward way.
Legally, it is impossible to fire these people for not taking advantage of a fitness program, or to fire them for negatively influencing the open-minded others (free speech.) There are no laws against them being anti-fitness, meaning that there could never be a corporate policy, which requires them to be as healthy as they can be, or to keep from negatively influencing the open-minded. About all that can happen is to implement a company policy similar to smoking, which in essence says This is how it is here.
There are smoke-free environment signs for most companies nowadays, but their influence doesn't extend beyond the predominant physical premises. There still are places outside where one can smoke. Of course, one cannot be fired for smoking, though it may be more difficult for obvious smokers to be hired in the first place. The same may someday go for those not into working out, but that is decades down the road. What all of this means is that simply providing healthy fitness options is about as good as it can get.
In a like manner, the company cafeteria and vending machines can all be restocked with healthier foods sending the message This is what we offer here.But someone's brown bag from home or right to go down the street to McDonald's must always still be there. Moreover, the thought of firing someone for drinking Mountain Dew as if it were as problematic as liquor, while on the clock, is absurd. Same goes for eating McDonald's burgers, though there have been incidents of high school coaches buying the bag from star swimmer and then throwing it away in front of the rest of the team. Such practices will not work in the business world, no matter how effective they might be expected to be.
The point is that the company cannot expect a complete fitness makeover on anyone, no matter how certain they are that fitness is a good thing for everyone. For example, even prolonged disparaging glances at the sedentary individual who eats pop tarts hourly cannot be part of the any supervisor's agenda. Similarly, changing others who do not want to be changed cannot be part of the expectations for the corporate fitness director. The job of shaping up the worst ones is the adversarial people's own immense job-- not the directors, not the company's.
That means the fifteen percent themselves are the only ones who should decide to get into fitness. And, this must be for their own highest well-being, not to protect themselves from being fired for some minor corporate infraction-- something far too common in the business world (like the recently too many tines late salesperson owed the big commission.)
Thus, the only right approach to everyone is what we are all about as Americans--respect of the right of the individual. In this context, that means the right to be sedentary, obsessed with the wrong kinds of foods, and completely adverse to vitamins. In other words, there can be no unwanted influence, no matter how subtle, including no persuasive tactics on the part of the virtual undercover makeover artist in the form of a corporate fitness director. In other words, no strings, no innuendos. Everything fitness must be wholly optional and straight forward.
Moreover, if no one chooses to use the brand new 250K gym, that has got to be OK. Same goes for not saying anything beyond Hello to the fitness director, and not taking advantage of the new additions to the cafeteria and break rooms. Saying no to all of this must be acceptable, without recourse. That means, pure and simple, Water can be provided for horses, but they cannot be made to drink.
Of course, the best way to head off a catastrophe such as no one being interested is to send out an inquiry poll, long before even interviewing for a corporate fitness director or implementing any type of change. Questions such as Would you consider using a corporate fitness facility along with Would you be interested in more healthy cafeteria break room options should be asked outright.That will give an indication relative to the degree of openness to new fitness options. In today's day and age, that should be rather strong number.
Initially focusing on these open-minded people will insure the overall success of the program, eventually impacting the fifteen percent. If a new workout area can be used effectively by a significant portion of the workforce, if new vending machine options can indeed replace other more standard ones, if the new meals in the company cafeteria can in fact be considered pleasing, there will be healthy changes to everyone over time. People will start looking feeling and acting healthier--more fit. But it will not come over night. Lifestyle changes take effort even for those who want them to occur.
Nevertheless, the expectation that no one initially will get with the program is unrealistic. A considerable number of people nowadays are open to the newer ways of thinking about health, and significant strides have been made to make the newest options available to them. As a result, there will be a large number who will appreciate a brand new gym, healthier onsite food and a for-free personal trainer (the salaried fitness director.) It is these people that the company must concern itself with, ie. not the adversarial fifteen percent.
Doing so will have the greatest chance for eventual success with the problem people. But to upper management, this may sound like If it ain't broke why are we fixing it? In other words, We are business people, not social workers. Therefore, go after the smokers and the overweight. This is where our real problems are and we have numbers to show just how much we lose every year by reason of these people's unhealthy lifestyles. Furthermore, if we are paying a lot of upfront money we have to see a return on our investment, such as first year cost savings in reduced insurance expense and lessened missed time due to smoking and eating disorder related problems. A fitness program should be addressing these issues. That is why we considered implementing it in the first place!
If that really is the company's final position they should be advised to have a Jenny Craig and Nicotine Anonymous on site. This would be far less costly than investing a gym, a fitness director and considerable number of alternative food vendors. But that really does not have a chance of working even with a part-time Jillian Michaels personal trainer type recommending them to likely candidates. In fact, doing so will have the exact opposite effect. If the fifteen percent had been thinking about joining either of these groups prior to this point they now will be strongly adverse to it. That is because they are now being lured into what is actually a mandatory part of their job expectation. In other words, they will see right through it and not want to be part of either of these programs. That is even if they are offered by the company at a significantly reduced price; or if "the patch" were significantly subsidized for the smokers.
The only real job for the corporate fitness director is to simply be there with great advice and encouragement relative to the new workout space, new ideas off the internet, healthy food and beverage options-- now and then wisely reaching out to those who seem curious about fitness. Continuing to do both, over time, will, very gradually, enable the fifteen percent to be exposed to what is being offered to everyone, enabling them to take advantage of it when and if they want.
That should be the goal, or explicit agenda for what is really going on.--being there and being personable for everyone, of course, but first for those going from standard health habits to ones of a fitness nature. These folks will be open to newsletters, to free personal training, to green tea instead of coffee, to the gluten-free wraps and the hard-boiled eggs. They already know something is right with all of this, and they will want to experience as much of it as they can. Helping to get these new things in place of what they are currently doing is what the director should be all about.
But how do we know that all of this is getting us, the company anywhere?
Little by little there will be changes-- rpms on the stationary bikes will go up, waistlines will become trim, dress sizes will reduce, overall appearances will change. And, as that happens, there will be an increasingly greater interest felt by those who were dead set against any and all of the new health options. All people simply want all of what fitness has to offer to them, but not all people will want to get into doing what it takes, at least not right now.
Expecting immediate results is simply problematic if not completely counterproductive. Firing, threatening, bribing or subtly trying to influence the anti-fitness people is doomed to failure from the outset. Again, the adversarial fifteen percent will only become more resistant. However, seeing another worker make a significant change, for instance lose some weight or look more healthy, may actually get them to seek their own help in addition to taking advantage of some of the new corporate options. That really will work; it really will happen. But it must happen on its own. It cannot be contrived or set up in any fashion.
In short, the only way to befriend the enemy is to allow the enemy to be the enemy. That means don't even think about making them over. If it is any help, that may in some cases be the first time in their lives that anyone has actually been that way in relation to them, namely willing to leave them alone, accepting them as they are. To a company faced with bottom line issues, knowing that behavioral changes could in fact make a significant difference, that may seem completely ineffective.
Nevertheless that is the contention of this chapter : Let the enemy be the enemy so that time can be wisely invested making friends with the open-minded friendlies. Then the others may eventually come over to our side. That may not promise an immediate impact on the bottom line, but that is the best way of treating everyone--the way that we all would like. What better chance is there for ultimate success?
For further thought on motivating the unmotivated order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit.:
Use of the word adversarial sends the message that being on the same side of the table is impossible. Adversaries are enemies, antagonists, foes, opponents people who may do more than just wish you would sell your hand warmers in Antarctica instead of their home state of Alaska. The reason for this is that they know they need what you are selling (fitness), but they do not want to buy it. That can mean anything from they do not care to be bothered right now to they don't want to buy it from you.
These people may actually say to a new corporate fitness director, You are nuts. Of course, it would be helpful to know if that meant deluded about the goodness of fitness, or just deluded in general. Whichever, that is a much stronger put down than being called a health nut. a friendly jest between people trying to get into a fitness lifestyle. That is the common way of talking within a standard (normal) American sedentary, high fat, high sugar, vitamin-less context.
What these adversarial folks are saying is that fitness will not work for anyone, or, if it does, perhaps it is for people who just need to blow off steam or act younger than their age. These are generally thought of as immature people, or at least not very serious adults. This objection is typical of many people. It is the same as may be found in open-minded people as well; but with those dead-set against any changes right now, and possibly forever, it is far stronger.
The temptation is to say to them But fitness will take years off your life to say nothing of cutting down on your time off for illness and the like. Of course, as a good fitness director, you look younger than what your driver's license says, and you justifiably believe your ways of thinking, feeling, and doing are positively impacted by your superior health. You may also have a friend in HR who can help put together figures which could prove that the unfit other people cost the company money. So, your arguments may be air-tight. But none of them will work on the fifteen percent.
In fact, any attempt to present them will give the adversarial folks an excuse for openly berating you, or simply avoiding you when they see you coming. It may even result in them talking negatively with their friends about you--something you really don't want, especially if some of their friends happen to be in the open-minded group (the folks a fitness director should be all about reaching out to.)
There is only one way to deal with these adversarial people and that is to simply say OK, no problem, which is the same as You have a right to refuse even hearing what I have to say. That means you must completely keep off the subjects of anything and everything that have to do with the good news of gluten free eating, regular exercise and the effectiveness of supplements. Of course, you can say something if asked, but if this person is on the opt-out list, you have got to be very careful.
The best place to start saying OK, no problem is with an opt-out on the very first introductory corporate email a week prior to verbal communication in the form of a group presentation sent from the director's desk. The best place to continue it is with every communication between the director and anyone in the company. People simply need to know that it is OK to not be part of the new workout facility (which cost a fortune,) and to not listen to an overpaid personal trainer lecture them on what their mothers and doctors know to be best for everyone. That is how the fitness director will be seen. Therefore, you should be content with being seen but not heard by these folks.
For anyone enthusiastic about fitness, this type of restraint, necessary as it is, is nearly impossible. One of the things about feeling good yourself is to simply tell everyone you meet about it. That means, even the disgruntled person who's always negative, the ones who have failed after only one try in the past, and the chronic smokers and over-eaters. The message, There is a better way and all you have to do is do it to see how great it is will never win any of these folks as friends.
In fact, it will have the complete opposite effect. That is even if you are able to convince them intellectually via some well put together facts or academic studies. The adversarial folks do not want to be convinced. In the words of Ben Franklin, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." What's worse is that they may have enough social clout to label you as a meddler or Pollyanna. That may make it much more difficult to get on with the open-minded people.
This is a particularly knotty problem as the adversarial folks may actually be causing the greatest amount of insurance policy expense or require the greatest amount of recuperative time-off. In the case of smokers, there is always the multiple break factor, which negatively impacts productivity. The same may go for the overweight person who always has to have their pop tarts. In some cases, both groups may even be the reason that the corporate fitness director was brought in in the first place---to correct this very real, historically verifiable, threat to the company's bottom line. And, yes, a fitness program most likely will correct these problems.
Some upper echelon people are into this type of thinking long before day one. They know that fitness is the right policy to enforce. The problem is that they often think the anti-fitness people should be the prime focus of a new program. Why? Because they are the actual threat to not only the bottom line but to the workforce in general. Therefore, something must be done about them. That is much the same saying A few bad apples are spoiling the barrel. The decision then is to "shape them up or ship them out"(unless, of course, the corporate fitness director can make them over.)
Nothing could be more counterproductive. The company must know this on the front end. Being like this is no different than being a parent telling a child that if they do not do a certain thing (or stop doing another) they will no longer get their allowance. That type of coercion was prevalent a few decades ago, but went out the window with much of the very effective psycho-therapy of the seventies and eighties. Besides, it can't be enforced in a straight forward way.
Legally, it is impossible to fire these people for not taking advantage of a fitness program, or to fire them for negatively influencing the open-minded others (free speech.) There are no laws against them being anti-fitness, meaning that there could never be a corporate policy, which requires them to be as healthy as they can be, or to keep from negatively influencing the open-minded. About all that can happen is to implement a company policy similar to smoking, which in essence says This is how it is here.
There are smoke-free environment signs for most companies nowadays, but their influence doesn't extend beyond the predominant physical premises. There still are places outside where one can smoke. Of course, one cannot be fired for smoking, though it may be more difficult for obvious smokers to be hired in the first place. The same may someday go for those not into working out, but that is decades down the road. What all of this means is that simply providing healthy fitness options is about as good as it can get.
In a like manner, the company cafeteria and vending machines can all be restocked with healthier foods sending the message This is what we offer here.But someone's brown bag from home or right to go down the street to McDonald's must always still be there. Moreover, the thought of firing someone for drinking Mountain Dew as if it were as problematic as liquor, while on the clock, is absurd. Same goes for eating McDonald's burgers, though there have been incidents of high school coaches buying the bag from star swimmer and then throwing it away in front of the rest of the team. Such practices will not work in the business world, no matter how effective they might be expected to be.
The point is that the company cannot expect a complete fitness makeover on anyone, no matter how certain they are that fitness is a good thing for everyone. For example, even prolonged disparaging glances at the sedentary individual who eats pop tarts hourly cannot be part of the any supervisor's agenda. Similarly, changing others who do not want to be changed cannot be part of the expectations for the corporate fitness director. The job of shaping up the worst ones is the adversarial people's own immense job-- not the directors, not the company's.
That means the fifteen percent themselves are the only ones who should decide to get into fitness. And, this must be for their own highest well-being, not to protect themselves from being fired for some minor corporate infraction-- something far too common in the business world (like the recently too many tines late salesperson owed the big commission.)
Thus, the only right approach to everyone is what we are all about as Americans--respect of the right of the individual. In this context, that means the right to be sedentary, obsessed with the wrong kinds of foods, and completely adverse to vitamins. In other words, there can be no unwanted influence, no matter how subtle, including no persuasive tactics on the part of the virtual undercover makeover artist in the form of a corporate fitness director. In other words, no strings, no innuendos. Everything fitness must be wholly optional and straight forward.
Moreover, if no one chooses to use the brand new 250K gym, that has got to be OK. Same goes for not saying anything beyond Hello to the fitness director, and not taking advantage of the new additions to the cafeteria and break rooms. Saying no to all of this must be acceptable, without recourse. That means, pure and simple, Water can be provided for horses, but they cannot be made to drink.
Of course, the best way to head off a catastrophe such as no one being interested is to send out an inquiry poll, long before even interviewing for a corporate fitness director or implementing any type of change. Questions such as Would you consider using a corporate fitness facility along with Would you be interested in more healthy cafeteria break room options should be asked outright.That will give an indication relative to the degree of openness to new fitness options. In today's day and age, that should be rather strong number.
Initially focusing on these open-minded people will insure the overall success of the program, eventually impacting the fifteen percent. If a new workout area can be used effectively by a significant portion of the workforce, if new vending machine options can indeed replace other more standard ones, if the new meals in the company cafeteria can in fact be considered pleasing, there will be healthy changes to everyone over time. People will start looking feeling and acting healthier--more fit. But it will not come over night. Lifestyle changes take effort even for those who want them to occur.
Nevertheless, the expectation that no one initially will get with the program is unrealistic. A considerable number of people nowadays are open to the newer ways of thinking about health, and significant strides have been made to make the newest options available to them. As a result, there will be a large number who will appreciate a brand new gym, healthier onsite food and a for-free personal trainer (the salaried fitness director.) It is these people that the company must concern itself with, ie. not the adversarial fifteen percent.
Doing so will have the greatest chance for eventual success with the problem people. But to upper management, this may sound like If it ain't broke why are we fixing it? In other words, We are business people, not social workers. Therefore, go after the smokers and the overweight. This is where our real problems are and we have numbers to show just how much we lose every year by reason of these people's unhealthy lifestyles. Furthermore, if we are paying a lot of upfront money we have to see a return on our investment, such as first year cost savings in reduced insurance expense and lessened missed time due to smoking and eating disorder related problems. A fitness program should be addressing these issues. That is why we considered implementing it in the first place!
If that really is the company's final position they should be advised to have a Jenny Craig and Nicotine Anonymous on site. This would be far less costly than investing a gym, a fitness director and considerable number of alternative food vendors. But that really does not have a chance of working even with a part-time Jillian Michaels personal trainer type recommending them to likely candidates. In fact, doing so will have the exact opposite effect. If the fifteen percent had been thinking about joining either of these groups prior to this point they now will be strongly adverse to it. That is because they are now being lured into what is actually a mandatory part of their job expectation. In other words, they will see right through it and not want to be part of either of these programs. That is even if they are offered by the company at a significantly reduced price; or if "the patch" were significantly subsidized for the smokers.
The only real job for the corporate fitness director is to simply be there with great advice and encouragement relative to the new workout space, new ideas off the internet, healthy food and beverage options-- now and then wisely reaching out to those who seem curious about fitness. Continuing to do both, over time, will, very gradually, enable the fifteen percent to be exposed to what is being offered to everyone, enabling them to take advantage of it when and if they want.
That should be the goal, or explicit agenda for what is really going on.--being there and being personable for everyone, of course, but first for those going from standard health habits to ones of a fitness nature. These folks will be open to newsletters, to free personal training, to green tea instead of coffee, to the gluten-free wraps and the hard-boiled eggs. They already know something is right with all of this, and they will want to experience as much of it as they can. Helping to get these new things in place of what they are currently doing is what the director should be all about.
But how do we know that all of this is getting us, the company anywhere?
Little by little there will be changes-- rpms on the stationary bikes will go up, waistlines will become trim, dress sizes will reduce, overall appearances will change. And, as that happens, there will be an increasingly greater interest felt by those who were dead set against any and all of the new health options. All people simply want all of what fitness has to offer to them, but not all people will want to get into doing what it takes, at least not right now.
Expecting immediate results is simply problematic if not completely counterproductive. Firing, threatening, bribing or subtly trying to influence the anti-fitness people is doomed to failure from the outset. Again, the adversarial fifteen percent will only become more resistant. However, seeing another worker make a significant change, for instance lose some weight or look more healthy, may actually get them to seek their own help in addition to taking advantage of some of the new corporate options. That really will work; it really will happen. But it must happen on its own. It cannot be contrived or set up in any fashion.
In short, the only way to befriend the enemy is to allow the enemy to be the enemy. That means don't even think about making them over. If it is any help, that may in some cases be the first time in their lives that anyone has actually been that way in relation to them, namely willing to leave them alone, accepting them as they are. To a company faced with bottom line issues, knowing that behavioral changes could in fact make a significant difference, that may seem completely ineffective.
Nevertheless that is the contention of this chapter : Let the enemy be the enemy so that time can be wisely invested making friends with the open-minded friendlies. Then the others may eventually come over to our side. That may not promise an immediate impact on the bottom line, but that is the best way of treating everyone--the way that we all would like. What better chance is there for ultimate success?
For further thought on motivating the unmotivated order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit.:
Ch 4 The Adversarial 15%
In Chapter Three, we considered the likelihood of fifteen percent of a workforce being against a company's attempt to implement a fitness program. Certainly this figure could be much higher. That could be true in many rural areas or in some parts of the country which may be thought of as less than progressive. Even if fitness has been around at least since Jack Lalanne starting in the thirties, it is still a new thing for many people.
What's in place of it? The standard American lifestyle. To be sure that is OK, but its not as good as you can get. The normal American lifestyle consists of a forty hour work week, time off off on the weekends a vacation to recharge burned out mental batteries, eight hours of sleep per night,ideally sixty four ounces of water daily, and at least an annual check up to make sure everything is going well. All other things being equal this is supposed to get you through to a ripe old age, presumably twenty-five years after your retirement party.
If you're comfortable with that, you'll will probably say Where is the need for more? The answer is There may not be anyone at all unless you think so. The truth is that there is an ever-increasing number of examples of people who are looking far younger than their years, working longer and harder than ever before, participating in senior competitions and the list goes on. Too, there is the baby boomer desire to look like all of those people they still love watching in the movies. Most will never admit this, but this is where they're at. People who are adverse to fitness (the fifteen percent) do not care about any of these things.
The intent of this chapter is to understand the fifteen percent not to change them. If they want to be different there will be ample opportunity for that down the road. Things do happen which cause openness in people. But these can never be forced or expected. Nor can they be indirectly provided as in any way no matter how innocent. That is ii was only trying let you know about something you might never have even known was available. No one needs to do any of this. We all hve access to the internet, there is a lot of good press on CNN, the evening news, GMA, etc. and new health food stores and clubs spring up everywhere everyday.
While it is true that fitness takes off years, lightens up attitudes, makes people sharper, instills enthusiasm, makes co-worker interaction more fun, some people really may never want this for themselves. They will simply prefer being the fine employees they are. For this theoretical fifteen percent, a fitness lifestyle is, at best, Peter Pan in business casuals and it is the fitness director's responsibility to grin and bear it.
But where are they coming from? There are at least three starting points : 1.)those who have an aversion to any new benefit within the company itself; 2.) those who believe that fitness is just not for them; 3.)those who are habitually challenged.
Some people will be adverse to anything new in a company if they have had a bad experience. As stated in Chapter Three, ,"things just have happened. Not all history is good. Insults, slights, and promotion mistakes occur. On top of that, there is always the long, exhausting commute, the necessary extra hours without extra pay, the negative evaluation when everything warrants a bonus. All of this occurs. It is just part of corporate life, and it can cause a negative attitude toward fitness--something which does take some extra-effort until its been done for a while."
In other words, some folks just need time to heal. They feel that they have not gotten treated fairly in he past and therefore resent being expected to do more.One more change to the workplace with the expectation that is is good for everyone, including them, is simply angering. These folks may know they should work out, but having a plushy facility right there with the expectation that its all for them may be just too much.
Too there are the vending machine changes which are sure to cause trouble. Most companies have a a break room with the standard coffee, pastries sandwiches, popcorn and the like. These really need to be replaced with green tea, fruit, vegetables lean meat gluten free wraps and other healthy foods. Granted, not all corporations will do this extreme makeover of their lunch room and cafeterias, but some will. For those who do, there will be trouble. It is likely that an unhappy employee will not take kindly to having a favorite treat replaced by something thought of as health food; and this will be another cause for hostility.
Of course, anyone can stop off at Starbucks on the way to work, or they can bring their own food with them to the office. But the inconvenience and the seeming lack of regard for someone who has worked so hard and for so many years, in some instances, will be aggravating. Too, there is the fear that Peter Pan will soon be running the company. This means simply that basic attitudes of determination, grueling hard work and disdain for the competition may seem to be interchanged that is levity, youthfulness and joy. While there may eventually be studies showing that this increases productivity, the veteran employee may seriously start worrying over what is happening to the world they thought they knew.
Some may see these hard core people as a dying breed and refuse to be cordial to them. That, however, is a mistake. Bad things happen in corporate life and some folks take them harder than others for different reasons. Granted, they do get bitter but they also do put out. That is, they produce and therefore do deserve their anticipated rewards. If only they would have gotten a big extra check prior to 250K workout facility, which is right now being installed on the first floor. Well... they haven't; and that is the way it is, unfortunate as that may be. As a result, these veterans are not going to be happy with what could have been part of their bonus going toward facilities, changes and supposed betterment for everyone other than them.
So much for where these folks are at right now. They are not prime candidates for a fitness lifestyle right now or perhaps ever. Therefore selling them on it right now is not only a waste of time, but potentially dangerous.
Some people will be adverse to fitness just because fitness is supposed to be a good thing. What these folks are really saying is that everyone but them sees diet, supplementation and exercise as what you should be into. In other words they don't, but they're not angry about it. Its just not for them. To some degree this can be nothing more than a kindly variation of the disgruntled employee above. These people feel they are already doing enough, that are just fine the way they are and that there is nothing wrong with them Furthermore their doctor say they're fine and their doctor doesn't get into all of this untested stuff. With these folks there is an unwillingness to be supportive because of past injustices, its just that they don't see what all the fuss is about. From their perspective, getting to work performing their duties adhering to corporate policies is enough, and they get a paycheck to prove it.
No one can really argue with a position like this, but no one should even try getting them to become the first or second thousandth members of a corporate health facility. Too, they should not be expected or even asked to specify fitness goals for the next year. That is simply asking for trouble. The position this person is that are OK as they are right now and they are. That is why everyone should be appreciative of what they're all about. This actually shouldn't be all that difficult as they more than likely always do what they must, on time, and with minimal complaining. But the temptation is for the corporate fitness person to try selling them on something better. That must never be done.
In a day of more and more health clubs springing up all over, the same for vitamin shops no more than ten miles apart and countless articles stressing low fat low sugar gluten free eating, how can anyone not wonder what they are missing? This question is not meant to be rhetorical, though a fitness person may think so. Rather, it is an attempt to understand where this person is coming from. Thus it demands an answer.
Often times the disinterested person is coming from a high school background which had an emphasis on sports for the boys and cheerleader activities for the girls. While there is nothing better than this (unless its training for the Olympics starting at age six), it can have had a negative effect on some people. Many parents have pushed their kids into these activities, thinking they were doing nothing other than what any good parent might be expected to do. Some of these same kids went along with it and became miserable. Others defiantly refused and spent all of their school hours in forensics or debate for instance. With their defiance came the resolve to never again be bothered by any such absurd expectations from anyone.
A variation of this is the person who tried getting into shape, probably in college, but failed. This happens for numerous reasons, the most typical being the acquisition of an injury within the first week. Most likely this came from trying to do too much too fast. As most people know, a pulled muscle takes a while to heal. The pain lasts for much longer than you would think it should. That can put a significant damper on any fitness fire and result in soul searching. Why does this type of thing always happen to me(and no one else, it seems) is what they ponder
Thoughtful people often get into trouble when things like injuries happen to them but never to others. This can give rise to a period of introspection after which they may become resolved to the supposed fact that they are not genetically cut out for an athletic lifestyle. It is difficult to not smile when hearing this but, a poker face is the corporate fitness directors ONLY recourse. That is so even if he or she has lived through the seventies when the conclusion would have been I guess that I'm not a fitness type person.
Of course the director's position is that fitness is for everyone and everyone has to use their head when getting into it. If they don't they will be out of it by the next day when its time to do their next workout. But this is not the time to act like Vince Lombardi the famous coach, or even kindly Papa Vince, saying Why not just rest up and give it another try next week.
This person has decided that fitness is not for them because of their constitution and no one is going to tell them otherwise. Therefore, no one should try.
The trouble is these folks will not be open to anything which the company is trying to put it place. Yet, they won't have anything negative to say either ; they are inclined to never rock the boat. So where is the problem? Their only threat is that they may say to a co-worker That's great for you but it never worked for me. Some of the open-minded people may find this daunting, never putting the other person's failure failure into the proper context.
Some people are habitually challenged. That is to say some folks have habits which they may know are bad, but which they refuse to do anything about. This is typical of those who smoke, and over eat. Typically, they will say Yes Ii know shouldn't, but I'm not going to stop for you or anyone else, so deal with it! And, deal with it everyone must, as there is no law against being overweight or smoking cigarettes. After all, neither are drug abuse.
Either of these people will probably view a new corporate fitness program as an attempt to shape them up, which they will resent. The company's efforts will come across possibly as a ploy similar to what a parent might do to break a child of a bad habit. Examples might include bribing a child to eat healthy foods instead of preferred sweets, or pushing swimming lessons when it seems as if the pounds are beginning to creep on. Of course, these may be thought of as good ideas--ones which parents should come up with if simple demands such as Stay away from that poison or get on your bike to keep from getting ugly are considered to draconian. But they don't work on children and they are resented by adults. Why?
Smoking and eating are pleasant activities. They're often personal rewards for good behavior at what one does. Complete the morning reports and you can have a smoke. Or, make it through the full workday and you can enjoy a good dinner, which may unfortunately be of the two hour binge variety.
People who are into either off these, are into them unconsciously. They do not say I'm uptight about what happened at home so I'm going to have a smoke. Or I have done everything and more today so I really deserve eating my fill in front of the TV. Rather, they feel that they need a smoke or some food and just go about doing what they do to feel right. Unfortunately what's needed for the desired effect tends to increase over time.
If smoking and over-eating are not rewards, they can be diversions from emotional unpleasantness. For instance smoking can have tension relieving effect. As a result, it can help a person to do a better job by making bad feelings go away. Of course, the underlying problem will most likely persist, but its negative impact will be lessened during working hours. Thus it is a way of enhancing productivity.
The same goes for overeating. It too relieves stress, enhancing focused behavior. It is pleasant and an unfortunate necessary behavior in some people. It actually makes them a better employee than they might be without it.
Both of these problems have psychological roots which a fitness director is not qualified to go into. Certainly it is true that a fitness lifestyle cann decrease if not completely eliminate the urges to overeat and smoke but that is not until the behavior has been stopped.altogether. In many cases, this is extremely difficult and thus requires expert help. A suggested help for these persons is a partial subsidy of a treatment program, but this never be more than mentioned in passing. For certain, fitness ought never to be sold as cure for these disorders. (Though it can be seen as a preventative once they are corrected.)That will only prolong their presence.
In summary, there are three groups of people who make up the adversarial fifteen percent. These are the disgruntled employee, the person for whom fitness is just not right, and the people who have more serious health challenges such as tobacco or food compulsions. None of these persons will be receptive to any attempt, no matter how good, to implement a fitness program. While they may not openly antagonistic toward it, they will be a source for an undertow which may be problematic for the more open-minded seventy-five percent.
That is because many of these people will have significant influence over other workers. For example the disgruntled person can easily have considerable seniority and be extremely good at what they do. Or, the apathetic type may be a model employee, never missing a days work, always attending to the task at hand. Or the compulsive can have a stroke of genius about them, making their habit seem like part of the territory for a creative individual. In short, those who are neutral to mildly against a new company benefit may well have a considerable well-deserved clout.
The temptation is to try converting these people immediately. Nothing could be worse for the success of a new fitness program. That could come from the fitness director, the open-minded seventy-five percent, the already committed ten percent or even upper management. The worst would be requiring these persons to do anything, even something as passive as receiving monthly fitness news letters. In short, there should always be an opt-out on everything from the directors email account. Influence of this nature (spam) is never right and almost always counter-productive.
No matter what precautions are taken, there will still is the well-intentioned threat from co-workers. These people though perhaps never out for a sport in their lives, may believe that the best thing in the world for the fifteen percent is for them to be involved in a fitness program. In theory, they are right; in practice they are wrong. The only time that anyone should be involved with fitness program, no matter how good, or how good is when the person themselves, on their own, decides to give it a whirl. In other words the well meaning I was only trying to help good old Fred cut down on his smoking because the patch just never seems to work for him must be discouraged from day one. That may not be enough to stop it, but it should at least make known that fitness has to be a fundamentally free choice for everybody.
For further thou
What's in place of it? The standard American lifestyle. To be sure that is OK, but its not as good as you can get. The normal American lifestyle consists of a forty hour work week, time off off on the weekends a vacation to recharge burned out mental batteries, eight hours of sleep per night,ideally sixty four ounces of water daily, and at least an annual check up to make sure everything is going well. All other things being equal this is supposed to get you through to a ripe old age, presumably twenty-five years after your retirement party.
If you're comfortable with that, you'll will probably say Where is the need for more? The answer is There may not be anyone at all unless you think so. The truth is that there is an ever-increasing number of examples of people who are looking far younger than their years, working longer and harder than ever before, participating in senior competitions and the list goes on. Too, there is the baby boomer desire to look like all of those people they still love watching in the movies. Most will never admit this, but this is where they're at. People who are adverse to fitness (the fifteen percent) do not care about any of these things.
The intent of this chapter is to understand the fifteen percent not to change them. If they want to be different there will be ample opportunity for that down the road. Things do happen which cause openness in people. But these can never be forced or expected. Nor can they be indirectly provided as in any way no matter how innocent. That is ii was only trying let you know about something you might never have even known was available. No one needs to do any of this. We all hve access to the internet, there is a lot of good press on CNN, the evening news, GMA, etc. and new health food stores and clubs spring up everywhere everyday.
While it is true that fitness takes off years, lightens up attitudes, makes people sharper, instills enthusiasm, makes co-worker interaction more fun, some people really may never want this for themselves. They will simply prefer being the fine employees they are. For this theoretical fifteen percent, a fitness lifestyle is, at best, Peter Pan in business casuals and it is the fitness director's responsibility to grin and bear it.
But where are they coming from? There are at least three starting points : 1.)those who have an aversion to any new benefit within the company itself; 2.) those who believe that fitness is just not for them; 3.)those who are habitually challenged.
Some people will be adverse to anything new in a company if they have had a bad experience. As stated in Chapter Three, ,"things just have happened. Not all history is good. Insults, slights, and promotion mistakes occur. On top of that, there is always the long, exhausting commute, the necessary extra hours without extra pay, the negative evaluation when everything warrants a bonus. All of this occurs. It is just part of corporate life, and it can cause a negative attitude toward fitness--something which does take some extra-effort until its been done for a while."
In other words, some folks just need time to heal. They feel that they have not gotten treated fairly in he past and therefore resent being expected to do more.One more change to the workplace with the expectation that is is good for everyone, including them, is simply angering. These folks may know they should work out, but having a plushy facility right there with the expectation that its all for them may be just too much.
Too there are the vending machine changes which are sure to cause trouble. Most companies have a a break room with the standard coffee, pastries sandwiches, popcorn and the like. These really need to be replaced with green tea, fruit, vegetables lean meat gluten free wraps and other healthy foods. Granted, not all corporations will do this extreme makeover of their lunch room and cafeterias, but some will. For those who do, there will be trouble. It is likely that an unhappy employee will not take kindly to having a favorite treat replaced by something thought of as health food; and this will be another cause for hostility.
Of course, anyone can stop off at Starbucks on the way to work, or they can bring their own food with them to the office. But the inconvenience and the seeming lack of regard for someone who has worked so hard and for so many years, in some instances, will be aggravating. Too, there is the fear that Peter Pan will soon be running the company. This means simply that basic attitudes of determination, grueling hard work and disdain for the competition may seem to be interchanged that is levity, youthfulness and joy. While there may eventually be studies showing that this increases productivity, the veteran employee may seriously start worrying over what is happening to the world they thought they knew.
Some may see these hard core people as a dying breed and refuse to be cordial to them. That, however, is a mistake. Bad things happen in corporate life and some folks take them harder than others for different reasons. Granted, they do get bitter but they also do put out. That is, they produce and therefore do deserve their anticipated rewards. If only they would have gotten a big extra check prior to 250K workout facility, which is right now being installed on the first floor. Well... they haven't; and that is the way it is, unfortunate as that may be. As a result, these veterans are not going to be happy with what could have been part of their bonus going toward facilities, changes and supposed betterment for everyone other than them.
So much for where these folks are at right now. They are not prime candidates for a fitness lifestyle right now or perhaps ever. Therefore selling them on it right now is not only a waste of time, but potentially dangerous.
Some people will be adverse to fitness just because fitness is supposed to be a good thing. What these folks are really saying is that everyone but them sees diet, supplementation and exercise as what you should be into. In other words they don't, but they're not angry about it. Its just not for them. To some degree this can be nothing more than a kindly variation of the disgruntled employee above. These people feel they are already doing enough, that are just fine the way they are and that there is nothing wrong with them Furthermore their doctor say they're fine and their doctor doesn't get into all of this untested stuff. With these folks there is an unwillingness to be supportive because of past injustices, its just that they don't see what all the fuss is about. From their perspective, getting to work performing their duties adhering to corporate policies is enough, and they get a paycheck to prove it.
No one can really argue with a position like this, but no one should even try getting them to become the first or second thousandth members of a corporate health facility. Too, they should not be expected or even asked to specify fitness goals for the next year. That is simply asking for trouble. The position this person is that are OK as they are right now and they are. That is why everyone should be appreciative of what they're all about. This actually shouldn't be all that difficult as they more than likely always do what they must, on time, and with minimal complaining. But the temptation is for the corporate fitness person to try selling them on something better. That must never be done.
In a day of more and more health clubs springing up all over, the same for vitamin shops no more than ten miles apart and countless articles stressing low fat low sugar gluten free eating, how can anyone not wonder what they are missing? This question is not meant to be rhetorical, though a fitness person may think so. Rather, it is an attempt to understand where this person is coming from. Thus it demands an answer.
Often times the disinterested person is coming from a high school background which had an emphasis on sports for the boys and cheerleader activities for the girls. While there is nothing better than this (unless its training for the Olympics starting at age six), it can have had a negative effect on some people. Many parents have pushed their kids into these activities, thinking they were doing nothing other than what any good parent might be expected to do. Some of these same kids went along with it and became miserable. Others defiantly refused and spent all of their school hours in forensics or debate for instance. With their defiance came the resolve to never again be bothered by any such absurd expectations from anyone.
A variation of this is the person who tried getting into shape, probably in college, but failed. This happens for numerous reasons, the most typical being the acquisition of an injury within the first week. Most likely this came from trying to do too much too fast. As most people know, a pulled muscle takes a while to heal. The pain lasts for much longer than you would think it should. That can put a significant damper on any fitness fire and result in soul searching. Why does this type of thing always happen to me(and no one else, it seems) is what they ponder
Thoughtful people often get into trouble when things like injuries happen to them but never to others. This can give rise to a period of introspection after which they may become resolved to the supposed fact that they are not genetically cut out for an athletic lifestyle. It is difficult to not smile when hearing this but, a poker face is the corporate fitness directors ONLY recourse. That is so even if he or she has lived through the seventies when the conclusion would have been I guess that I'm not a fitness type person.
Of course the director's position is that fitness is for everyone and everyone has to use their head when getting into it. If they don't they will be out of it by the next day when its time to do their next workout. But this is not the time to act like Vince Lombardi the famous coach, or even kindly Papa Vince, saying Why not just rest up and give it another try next week.
This person has decided that fitness is not for them because of their constitution and no one is going to tell them otherwise. Therefore, no one should try.
The trouble is these folks will not be open to anything which the company is trying to put it place. Yet, they won't have anything negative to say either ; they are inclined to never rock the boat. So where is the problem? Their only threat is that they may say to a co-worker That's great for you but it never worked for me. Some of the open-minded people may find this daunting, never putting the other person's failure failure into the proper context.
Some people are habitually challenged. That is to say some folks have habits which they may know are bad, but which they refuse to do anything about. This is typical of those who smoke, and over eat. Typically, they will say Yes Ii know shouldn't, but I'm not going to stop for you or anyone else, so deal with it! And, deal with it everyone must, as there is no law against being overweight or smoking cigarettes. After all, neither are drug abuse.
Either of these people will probably view a new corporate fitness program as an attempt to shape them up, which they will resent. The company's efforts will come across possibly as a ploy similar to what a parent might do to break a child of a bad habit. Examples might include bribing a child to eat healthy foods instead of preferred sweets, or pushing swimming lessons when it seems as if the pounds are beginning to creep on. Of course, these may be thought of as good ideas--ones which parents should come up with if simple demands such as Stay away from that poison or get on your bike to keep from getting ugly are considered to draconian. But they don't work on children and they are resented by adults. Why?
Smoking and eating are pleasant activities. They're often personal rewards for good behavior at what one does. Complete the morning reports and you can have a smoke. Or, make it through the full workday and you can enjoy a good dinner, which may unfortunately be of the two hour binge variety.
People who are into either off these, are into them unconsciously. They do not say I'm uptight about what happened at home so I'm going to have a smoke. Or I have done everything and more today so I really deserve eating my fill in front of the TV. Rather, they feel that they need a smoke or some food and just go about doing what they do to feel right. Unfortunately what's needed for the desired effect tends to increase over time.
If smoking and over-eating are not rewards, they can be diversions from emotional unpleasantness. For instance smoking can have tension relieving effect. As a result, it can help a person to do a better job by making bad feelings go away. Of course, the underlying problem will most likely persist, but its negative impact will be lessened during working hours. Thus it is a way of enhancing productivity.
The same goes for overeating. It too relieves stress, enhancing focused behavior. It is pleasant and an unfortunate necessary behavior in some people. It actually makes them a better employee than they might be without it.
Both of these problems have psychological roots which a fitness director is not qualified to go into. Certainly it is true that a fitness lifestyle cann decrease if not completely eliminate the urges to overeat and smoke but that is not until the behavior has been stopped.altogether. In many cases, this is extremely difficult and thus requires expert help. A suggested help for these persons is a partial subsidy of a treatment program, but this never be more than mentioned in passing. For certain, fitness ought never to be sold as cure for these disorders. (Though it can be seen as a preventative once they are corrected.)That will only prolong their presence.
In summary, there are three groups of people who make up the adversarial fifteen percent. These are the disgruntled employee, the person for whom fitness is just not right, and the people who have more serious health challenges such as tobacco or food compulsions. None of these persons will be receptive to any attempt, no matter how good, to implement a fitness program. While they may not openly antagonistic toward it, they will be a source for an undertow which may be problematic for the more open-minded seventy-five percent.
That is because many of these people will have significant influence over other workers. For example the disgruntled person can easily have considerable seniority and be extremely good at what they do. Or, the apathetic type may be a model employee, never missing a days work, always attending to the task at hand. Or the compulsive can have a stroke of genius about them, making their habit seem like part of the territory for a creative individual. In short, those who are neutral to mildly against a new company benefit may well have a considerable well-deserved clout.
The temptation is to try converting these people immediately. Nothing could be worse for the success of a new fitness program. That could come from the fitness director, the open-minded seventy-five percent, the already committed ten percent or even upper management. The worst would be requiring these persons to do anything, even something as passive as receiving monthly fitness news letters. In short, there should always be an opt-out on everything from the directors email account. Influence of this nature (spam) is never right and almost always counter-productive.
No matter what precautions are taken, there will still is the well-intentioned threat from co-workers. These people though perhaps never out for a sport in their lives, may believe that the best thing in the world for the fifteen percent is for them to be involved in a fitness program. In theory, they are right; in practice they are wrong. The only time that anyone should be involved with fitness program, no matter how good, or how good is when the person themselves, on their own, decides to give it a whirl. In other words the well meaning I was only trying to help good old Fred cut down on his smoking because the patch just never seems to work for him must be discouraged from day one. That may not be enough to stop it, but it should at least make known that fitness has to be a fundamentally free choice for everybody.
For further thou
Chapter 3 After the Initial Presentation
Who will be interested in a brand new corporate fitness program? Considering the expense and forethought, how about Everybody? Or, at least everybody should be. If only that might true, a company would become an entirely different place in a virtual first quarter. There would be fewer colds, less flu, less employee absenteeism, less stress related illness, less boredom at work, less contention between fellow workers, less problems with management. On the other hand, there would be greater enthusiasm, greater cheerfulness, far more positive regard and camaraderie, more enjoyment of even the simplest routine daily tasks, more drive to make everything better. In short everything would be better because everyone would be happier and healthier. Who wouldn't want all of that?
One might be inclined to say No one, but, unfortunately, some people really will not. They will simply be adverse to any attempt to get a fitness community off the ground. There are some people who really don't want good and healthy changes to their workplace in specific or to their lives in general. Why? In part, because things just have happened. Not all history is good. Insults, slights, and promotion mistakes occur. On top of that, there is always the long, exhausting commute, the necessary extra hours without extra pay, the negative evaluation when everything warrants a bonus. All of this occurs. It is just part of corporate life, and it can cause a negative attitude toward fitness--something which does take some extra-effort until its been done for a while.
History often impacts the present, and, no matter how well-intentioned a company may be, its efforts to get a fitness program off the ground can be misinterpreted. That is, the addition of a 4000 square foot workout area, a corporate fitness director and a the establishment of fitness conscious-raising groups along with a room full of brand new vending machines filled with apples, oranges, green tea, gluten free carbohydrates, raisins, dates and all natural vegetable or fruit juices can be seen as nothing more than a ploy to get more out of an already over-burdened work force. This is a sad occurrence, but it can happen.
For those who are adverse to anything new, no matter how good, there is little that can initially be done.The talk in the last chapter (see presentation to a Charlotte, NC based company in the second half of Chapter 2) will not be well-received by them. Going around from desk to desk with the intent promoting fitness will not help. Sending emails with the latest in fitness insight will result only in their deletion at best. Sometimes they get an angry response (even when there's an opt-out link.) What can only be hoped for is that time will heal old wounds and that these same persons will not lapse into self-destructive behavior, such as smoking or over-eating. That can, of course occur. Yet, with the corporate fitness director as a new target for their hostility, things may not get as bad as they could.
No company wants to lose a good worker just because of a temporary bad attitude, and no employee wants to lose a needed paycheck just because of a bad couple of preceding quarters. Thus, even if the disgruntled employee can say nothing good about a whole new fitness program, they can be indirectly helped just by having a fitness program and director around. The same can go for those about to take up a bad habit--a behavior symptomatic of a psychological wound received either on the job or at home.
The point is that there will be a relatively small percentage (let's say fifteen percent) of people who simply will not be receptive to a new corporate fitness program. Granted, they may also have other reasons for their objections, such as the simple aversion to lifestyle change, or even childhood ones that have little to do with the present.(Dad was always on my back to go out for football, even though I really preferred being debater.)But these are relatively few in comparison to those who will be mild to passionate about having a brand new fitness program up and running.
As a guess, these open-minded persons may account for seventy five percent of the workforce, not to mention a number of upper level persons. But more than half (seventy five percent of the seventy five )of this group will only be open to new fitness ideas and practices, unwilling to do anything about them at present. The timing will just not be right. Still, the openness will be present. This is largely because there has been so much in the last five years about fitness in the news and on the internet. That makes people more and more eager to hear about what might be in it for them.
However, the resistance continues on. Partly this is due to the attitudes of the medical profession. Unfortunately, doctors are still too much on the fitness back burner. This is largely because they themselves neither supplement nor workout. Nevertheless, they do tend to eat sensibly.That is a major plus. Further, they are interested in ongoing healthiness. After all, they are doctors and do care about their patients. As a result, they preach appropriate weight levels, recommend diets for the avoidance of diabetes, strokes, heart trouble and may even advise a nightly walk after dinner.
All of that is good, but all is almost always associated with the grocery store food, rest and relaxation from too much work. The sad part is that doctors are under pressures just like corporate individuals and could therefore stand a daily workout--one that really gets their heart rate up and puts some strain on their muscles. Same goes for supplementation. Six hour surgical operations with non-stop attention to the task at hand exhaust vitamin reserves. (So does getting the taxes done two minutes before the cut-off, by the way) If only these professionals would find the time and passion to get into a fitness lifestyle! If they did, there would far more of their clients interested in finding their own right time to also do so, like right now.
Of the group of open-minded people, probably none, or very few, have had the benefit of being out for a sport in high school. This is unfortunate as there are many fine coaches throughout the country. Their jobs are to make sure that all of their team players live in such a way that they are ready for action on the playing field, in the pool or wherever. Having had the benefit of being out for at least one sport under of these people is invaluable. There are aspects of this experience which are simply not available in any other way. Of course, being out for sports the year round is even better.
For the majority who have not had any of this experience, fitness is a brand new thing. As a result, they cannot see how it can make then a winner, which is so important in the business world. If they did, they would already be into it somewhat like Rocky in Chapter One. Instead, their interest comes via the media, which promises fewer illnesses, reduced susceptibility to cancer and a longer life. If only were enough to get them going, but its not.
One of the r reason that the media does not have greater impact is that fitness has a serious competitor. This is the American good life-- one of great looking but microwaved dishes, a little bicycling with the kids or grand kids now and then, rest and relaxation as much as possible,trips to Florida, etc.--all safeguarded by MDs. Further, there are a seeming endless number of commercials about what drug you need when exercise and diet aren't enough. That is the national trigger for a trip to the doctor so that you can ask if the latest new pill is right for you. Surely such talk sounds grown-up, but it sends a message that diet and exercise are not all that the fitness people crack them up to be.
Nevertheless, the open-minded people still have an interest in hearing what is new. And why not? Often the evening news, CNN or GMA has an person on it who has done an exceptional job athletically, generally in spite of their age (such as a sixty year old woman swimming sixty miles, a 75 year old grandmother who regularly pumps iron, a past his prime athlete with a prosthesis who out does everyone.) Thus, if the media is this much in back of fitness, there must be something good to consider. So the thinking goes. Of course there is, but with no prior experience, it is difficult to know how to incorporate it into your life. This is a perfect opportunity for a corporate fitness director.
Open-minded people actually can appreciate the corporate equivalent of a good high school coach, which is what a fitness director should be. But this assumes he or she does not expect too much too fast. This is the whole secret to working with people in business. Change is hard on everyone, but it is hardest on these folks because most of them do not really know what they are getting into. Granted, there is media support to some degree, and there is the prevalence of health clubs, vitamin stores, magazines and the like; but everything having to do with fitness is still, to a great degree, new and untested. Therefore, anxieties abound. What will happen to me if I dive into it head first? (After all I don't know how to swim.) Further, I can't see what good this will do for me with my genetic make-up even if there are an ever-increasing number of authorities who are saying that this is the way to go.
All of this is understandable with no high school athletics in the background. These people simply do not know how good being in-shape really is. For instance, they do not know the difference between the healthy tired which follows a comprehensive workout within a normal work day in comparison to crashing after finishing a major corporate presentation or report. Further, they do not know how daily training can make goal attainment easier and more enjoyable. Both of these, and more, are part of fitness, but they are not intelligible from the evening news when the person of the week has their air time. All that you see is the end result-- never the minor creature comfort victories leading up to the end product.
A corporate fitness director needs to sell these life-style pluses. These are the day to day benefits of living a fitness lifestyle, which include, but are not limited to, greater ease in getting a day's work done, feeling more relaxed with greater energy, sleeping far more soundly, naturally unwinding after finishing a major or presentation, more enthusiasm in front of groups and better overall feelings in relation to individuals. Those things, and more, come from daily workouts, good diet, and adequate supplementation. They are all part of the package, and that is the what the corporate fitness director sells.
How does that happen? Simple : its just like any sale. The fitness director must find the hot button, which every effective salesperson knows to be more important than the mere benefits of the product. The hot button is what tuns people on. Typically, everybody has one, but it is generally little different than a label from what's seen on a new fat burner formula or a Bowflex commercial. While these may be attractive, they are never attainable in a short enough period of time. That makes them worthless, if not outright harmful. Therefore, they need to be replaced with a more realistic image. That should be a personal image actually do-able within a two month period of time (for instance one belt notch less or one dress size smaller.)
Results is everything for the person starting out, especially when people do not have that crucial high school athletic history. These folks will really have a hard time believing that the alleged austerity of a fitness lifestyle will in fact really help them. Therefore, it is imperative that they see a change--the sooner the better. Getting this to happen is largely their effort, but its also the director's responsibility.
The best thing about these open-minded people is that they are the most appreciative for fitness options right where they spend a considerable amount of time each week. That is, they're right there where they work and they're inexpensive, virtually free, or close to it. Ideally, this includes a gym, a sauna, monthly awareness groups, and bi-monthly newsletters with fitness info. Having all of that right at one's fingertips, where they work, is huge. There is no travel time to a club away fro the office; there is no surfing about for what might be helpful. There are no unanswered questions as there is a fitness director who can be consulted to make everything work just for them.
The duty of the fitness director is to reach out to these folks. That is the same as sowing good seeds in fertile soil, allowing the crop to grow at its own pace. It is completely counter to the boot camp scenario where all of the new recruits are worked to death by a well-meaning drill sergeant type personal trainer. That is the too much too fast scenario which causes injury and failure. These drill sergeant types believe they will make cause extreme makeovers within an absurdly short period of time. Perhaps this works in the military where a recruit has six months of basic training, and is 24/7 into becoming a soldier, but corporate people have jobs and families. That is the difference. The switch to a fitness lifestyle puts these at risk. Therefore it must be taken slowly.
So much for the greater portion of the company-- the group of the antagonistic people plus the open-minded ones--ones who will actually will appreciative of a corporate fitness program, assuming there is conscientious follow-through. This makes up ninety percent of the company. The remaining people--five to ten percent-- are already into fitness. Possibly they were out for sports in high school or possibly they just got into it to maximize their chances on E-Harmony. For different reasons some just have not had any trouble doing what is right for them.
The temptation is to think that these people do not need the same amount of concern as the others. To a degree this is true. They already have health club memberships, and they will continue to workout whether there is a corporate program or not. They will continue to select the right foods without having to check for the latest new diet. They will keep on their vitamins even when their MD erroneously tells them they are a waste of money. Nothing will stop them. In a way they are like Rocky from Chapter One. Yet, these people, interestingly, are actually happy to have a fitness director to bounce ideas off of, to get a little encouragement (which they really don't need), or to take advantage of an onsite gym, which they may join even though their membership is still active at a club off-campus.
These people have typically been at fitness for in excess of five years and, therefore, have no question about how good it can be for them or anyone else. They know that a fitness lifestyle is the best, and they wouldn't live any differently. Some may philosophize over how others can still be so sedentary. Some may even feel sorry for those who are still hooked on the wrong foods and have trouble swallowing a few helpful multivitamins when prescription drugs seem to be no problem. The fit people know that different is better and that is why they are the way they are.
These people are valuable to the fitness director because they are examples of what a fitness lifestyle can mean for a person. Too, they can offer advice, which may be better received than from some with a corporate title. That is why they should be invited to be part of awareness groups whether they need them or not. They already have answers to the problems which the new person faces. The only difficulty is that they may have taken care of these problems so long ago that they forget how difficult things were back then. Nevertheless, having them as examples of what fitness can be is a significant help.
In summary, some will be adverse to anything having to do with fitness; a considerable majority will see a positive benefit and having so much available to them; a relatively small percentage will see a new corporate fitness program as a way of significantly enhancing their already existing fitness lifestyle. With enough time (about a year), and keeping lines of communication open, the adverse ones may eventually come around, the new people will start living in healthier ways, and the already adept will not only excel at what they are already doing, but will find new self-esteem by being positive examples to the others.
Getting the ball rolling and then maintaining an atmosphere in which lifestyle change can happen is the corporate fitness director's responsibility. It is his or her job to open the door and keep it open so that everybody can walk in at their own pace.
For further thought on fitness in the workplace order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Ch 2 The Start of a Fitness Group
Assuming that a company believes in fitness for all of its members, it makes sense to implement as much as is possible. According to recent figures, 62% of the companies in the field do in fact have something fitness-wise in place. The amount varies from company to company. Some have their own club-like facilities with as many as 4000 square feet devoted to cardio-trainers, weight machines, showers saunas and the like. Others subsidize memberships at local health clubs. Still others have programs for those with eating or smoking disorders. A few have all of this and more. By-in-large, there is a significant degree of awareness that fitness is a good thing. But what is it good for?
To the person who works out, supplements and diets as a way of life, this question raises only a smile and a "Try it, and you'll see." But this is not helpful to a rather large number of people. These persons are still living under the old medical mandates of rest, relaxation, eat three meals a day, don't overdo at anything, and get enough sleep at night. In short, they are afraid of breaking out of the tried and true. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with this. It is now getting people to their nineties. But it is likely a greater emphasis on supplements, daily workouts and proper diet will have far more dramatic effects. For instance it just may make us look a lot better in our last years, largely because they will have enabled us to stay younger for longer. Those are results which can be appreciated by employer and employee alike. At least, that is the contention of this book.
Not many people work out daily, supplement regularly and eat properly. That is true.despite the last 80 years of promotion by the late Jack Lalanne, or the last 50 of Jane Fonda. And, that is even true with the numerous health club chains, the supplement stores and the wealth of information on the internet. All of these realities are just not enough to convince the vast majority of the country to : 1.)drop the sedentary habits; 2.) drop the anti-vitamin prejudices; and 3.) drop the unconscious selection of high fat fructose-laden food that still far too many call real food.
If there were more who did, there would be far fewer incidences of diabetes, heart disease, strokes and numerous other problems driving our country's health care numbers through the ceiling. (That is another basic contention of this book.) Even most doctors agree that best way to prevent these problems is to maintain a healthy weight. For a definition of what that means they have numerous charts and tables that most people are completely aware of. But how necessary they are anymore is questionable. Some people just look and feel better ten pounds more or less than the doctors' charts say. Therefore, it would seem only reasonable to look into the mirror and observe one's own degree of healthiness, or fitness level. One either looks fit or one does not. We ourselves are the best judge. In short the mirror is the best critic.
Of course, there are numerous schools of self-acceptance out there which attempt to convince people that they are OK the way they are. The problem is that this can be interpreted to mean forty pounds over the doctors tables, and having trouble making it up two flights of stairs. Did the self-acceptance people ever intend this ? Probably not. Rather they were more interested in taking a stand against obligatory model or magazine beauty. Clearly, not everyone can look like a fashion model or Olympic diver largely because they just don't have that type of bone structure and musculature. Therefore, one ought not to feel bad because they don't. Yet, everyone can look fit in their own way and that is something which should be reflected back in the mirror.
But why should anyone care? Clearly there must be some reason to get fit and stay that way which is good for everybody. Unfortunately not everyone thinks so. Largely this is because it is just plain hard to get into it without disrupting a responsible life. Change is hard on people, pure and simple. But it is also due to not really knowing what will work if given enough time and effort. Granted, some know what it felt like to be out for sports in high school with coaches to insist on all sorts of good and healthy habits. But not everyone has this in their back ground. Consequently, they do not know how it feels to live in this manner. A partial approximation is boot camp for the military, but this is a far shorter period than the standard four years of a high school education. And, that covers only a few more people, meaning that there are still far too many who don't have clue.
That's why only having corporate health clubs, wellness programs and the like is really not enough. It is, of course, better than nothing. It does send the message that a company is interested in the highest well-being of its members. But it does not really do enough to get them into a lifestyle change. That is because it leaves employees virtually on their own, which is good only in a few instances (such as the hard core Rocky-types.) Most people nowadays still need to be helped with what works and to have encouragement in making it happen. Perhaps all of that will be different fifty years from now, but given the relatively small number of successes after eighty years of Lalanne and fifty of Fonda, it is doubtful. Something more hands-on must be in place for that fantastic corporate 4000 square foot workout space to really start paying off.
Why was the super corporate health club put in place to begin with? One reason is that at least one decision-maker in the company knew that a more fit organization would be a more productive one. At least one higher-up just knew this to be the truth. Possibly they were high school or college athletes with high grade points and other honors. As a result, they didn't need a number of studies from reputable universities trying to prove something like over a twelve month period those who who were involved with a daily fitness lifestyle were clinically judged to be better able to complete reports, close sales, make better managerial decisions, stay more focused for greater numbers of hours during the day, etc. That was fortunate because there just are not that many of those types of studies.
Perhaps there will be studies like this in the next fifty years, as fitness becomes a more important part of the American life style, but right now there aren't all that many. Possibly the only thing we have are some wise executives who know that everything will be better with a higher level of fitness in their organization. If so, they can hold their heads high, being part of the ranks of the leaders of Sixth Century BC (Golden Age) Athens, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and a handful of others who have believed in fitness for more than the physical well-being of the country they governed and served. They all thought it paved the way for more effective citizenship and therefore it was good for everybody.
However, doing a better job is not the only reason that fitness makes good sense for business.Another is that time off for illness imply decreases as fitness levels are increased and general morale is boosted by having a healthy work force. That is true throughout the entire organization from top to bottom. Healthier people just need less time off to recover (if they even have to miss work in the first place), and they do an overall better a job. Further, they are more enjoyable to be around. By positively effecting others, that in itself brings in more money. Every body does better at what they do, the company saves money and everybody is more cheerful.
To make this possible, the company should have an onsite corporate fitness director--one who actually does affect the highest well-being of the work force. This is someone who not only is available for advice encouragement and insight, but reaches out to make it known not only that there is a better way, but that the company is trying to make it an overall reality. In other words, together everyone achieves more. Making that happen requires yet another important aspect.
A large part of the director's responsibility is to facilitate a community spirit. This is crucial. There must be a shared world view, a community. This is essential for everyone. It entails a sharing of experiences, new ideas, frustrations, accomplishments. It also entails making people aware of where we're all coming from and where we are going (or can go)--each as a distinct individuals. Being a part of a community like this not only dignifies fitness, but keeps people from feeling like a health nuts, a term so casually used that those being called one don't realize they are being insulted. In other words, doing the right thing must become the new normality of healthiness, most easily referred to as fitness.
What is the best way to get this all started?
Getting all of this off the ground could probably be best done via a corporate email with the longevity script below, after which a voluntary teleconference could be attempted. That should be enough to generate a half percent corporate interest, which can be followed up with the formation of a core fitness group. The expectation is that with considerable resultant effective dialogue, along with observable fitness results, this group will grow steadily throughout the year.
What may strike the reader as odd is that the focus of he talk is on longevity, when everything heretofore has been about productivity. But this should not be alarming. The tacit assumption of most American corporations and of the people in them is that someone younger, more enthusiastic, optimistic and the like is most often the best person for the job, or, in the worst case scenario, for their job. As Westerners, we have more faith in youth than Easterners, such as the Chinese, who believe more in age. Whichever may be best ultimately and philosophically, fitness de-ages. That means, it causes people to look, act, and therefore produce in ways that are most often found in the supposed ideal new person just starting out. That is why it is valuable to the corporation as a whole and to each of its individual members.
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A Talk for a Charlotte, NC based corporation
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My name is Mark Clemens. As a few of you know I am from MN But what none of you know is how bewildered I am that I could have waited for all this time to move here. NC is great-- people wise and climate wise.
What I am all about is fitness. I have been at it for 49 years, not wanting to go to high school as a fat kid. I was state champion powerlifter in 1978 and I am currently able to do far more at 63 than when I was out for the swim team in high school. Furthermore, I have three check-ups a year and all have continued to be good.
I have a BA in the History of Religious Lit and an M.Div from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. What I am trying to say is that I do not have a PhD from any university which might be concerned with fitness as it relates to aging. But, then again, it doesn't appear that that's being offered anywhere as of yet. Therefore, what I have to say is anecdotal, but may be considered cutting edge. ( Nevertheless, there may a few studies from Tufts, some work from Cambridge, all of the work of the late Jack Lalanne, a few good women's fitness publications and 190 articles on my website.)
I am an author. I write fitness articles, which, each week, get accepted all over the country. Further, I have published a 190 pp book called "Think and Grow Fit"(I_Universe/Amazon, B& N, summary included in handouts) It covers the basics for North Americans (Brits, canadians and Aussies too) interested in longer, more fulfilling, fun-based lives. Access to it can be found on my website called "ForeverFitness" and my blog "The Fountain of Youth."
My first book "Think and Grow Fit" is based on 40 plus years of experience with fitness and approximately 10 years of thinking about it. It promotes a lifestyle of diet, supplementation and exercise while also saying that the standard American lifestyle is making people unfit--which means aging long before we have to. In other words, what most of us are currently doing is slowing us down, making us fat, and robbing us of the energy which is needed for being optimistic, enthusiastic or simply being"with it." Those are the very factors which people commonly associate with "getting older." They may also have something to do with the latest scourge--Alzheimers.
We live in a world of : 1.) commercials which glorify leisure activities; 2.) pharmaceutics for everything; 3.) fast food,; 4.)MDs who do not believe in supplements; 5.) long commutes for sedentary but demanding jobs; 6.) grocery store food that is loaded with sugar and fat; 7.) the belief that frequent treats are not only OK but actually necessary; 8.) the feeling that being out for a sport like when you were in high school is only for people who are currently in high school. All of these things are dragging us down; yet all are considered to be part of what most of us call "normal."
People need to break away from this if they want to look, feel and act younger for longer, and stay healthier for the long haul. Recent studies show that the single most important factor in increasing lifespan is reduced calorie consumption. Even MDs agree that keeping weight at the appropriate levels is the single most important factor in staying clear of diabetes, heart disease, strokes and possibly Alzheimers. But the media and most MDs actively promote rest and relaxation as the supposed cure all for everything. Furthermore, MDs think that supplements are not necessary if you're eating you three square meals a day from the four food groups; and, they tend to associate the word "diet" only with the need to lose weight. All of that might be Ok, but it's not "as good as you can get."
What's better is a fitness lifestyle based on supplements, daily workouts and an low-fat/ low-sugar diet. That is what Jack Lalanne spent 80 years promoting. That's what I do. In my judgment, it should be what you hear from your MD and it may be what you are hearing from some who are very much younger. But, for the most part, that type of thinking is not commonplace as it tends to suggest that "normal people" become "health nuts." This means becoming unusual--something which in itself is problematic. But, "being unusual" is not the only trouble. It is also that a lot of industries would be affected if everyone turned into a "health nut." The fast food places from McDonalds to Kentucky Fried chicken would go out of business. The snack food industry would go under. So too would the soft-drink industry along with everything that you can microwave, including pizza with pepperoni. Wheat products would be replaced by those which were gluten-free. And, last but not least, the red meat industry would suffer right alongside the dairy industry. To put it mildly, Bloom would become drastically different place than it is today, assuming it stayed around.
Besides the food we eat, we've all gotten accustomed to thinking that because we work hard all week, we deserve a break on the weekends (and of course every evening after too long of a day.) That means TV every night with golf on Satrurday at best, but more than likely, just kicking back at the beach. And, as if that's not enough, we've been brain washed into believing that we all already get enough from a balanced diet, meaning that excess vitamins do nothing other than just get eliminated from the system. In other words, they are a waste of money. That's what is commonly preached by MDs, who think that the only pills of real value are the new pharmaceutics for real problems. Pills to make problems never occur in the first place are for people like Peter Pan.
Of course, I do not believe in any of that. I believe in diet, supplements and exercise. That means :1.) choosing wisely from Bloom, like really reading the labels; 2.) using the supplements you need (there is an excellent book written by MD and his RN wife to help with this); and never missing your daily workout, whatever it happens to be (anything from 3 laps around the block after dinner to a mile swim every morning before breakfast.)
Most people know intellectually that this will work but still stay with the "tried and true." Why? I think because it sounds like no fun and because it might be too rigorous for people past a certain age. Then too there is always the concern that it might not work for me as a person, possibly for some genetic reason. All I can say is that those things become less problematic with time (6 months to a year.) Lalanne did it for 80 years, I've done it for 49, and the internet has a few examples of people who have been at it for at least 10 years. Maybe you yourselves have been following some of the newer thinking, or you know of someone who has.
There is nothing wrong with the American lifestyle--the way that most of us live. Its just that this is not as "good as it can get," In other words, the quality of life can be better if only there is a switch to a fitness lifestyle. That's because it--the standard American lifestyle- (not the mere passage of birthdays) makes us age right on schedule. The fitness lifestyle turns back the clock and enables us to keep it there for...well we don't really know how long. Lalanee was still doing 2 hour heavy weight workouts at 96. Furthermore, if you get into it, your MD will start wondering what you are doing because you not only look so healthy, but all of your tests will prove that you really are. At least that's how my three check-ups a year go. And, that can be the same for you within six months, whether you start at 40 or 65.
In case you are interested in actually starting a fitness lifestyle, or augmenting one that you are currently into, I have included what I do everyday of the week. (See handouts.) Granted its taken years to work up to that, but it is just part of how I live : its "No Big Deal." Emotionally its no different than brushing my teeth. A variation of that--something you can routinely do is what I would help you get together if you are interested in "following suit." If any of you are interested in getting in on any of this, or more thoroughly going through everything in the handouts, I will gladly host a group with lesson plans, articles and the like. But the most important feature of it will be that there will also be others like you trying to break away from the alleged American "good life"--something which will be nearly impossible on your own. Being part of a group, sharing experiences to say nothing of some brand new article that you got off the net can make things actually work.
So... let me know if there's an interest. Thanks for listening.
For further thought on the importance of being part of a fitness group order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
To the person who works out, supplements and diets as a way of life, this question raises only a smile and a "Try it, and you'll see." But this is not helpful to a rather large number of people. These persons are still living under the old medical mandates of rest, relaxation, eat three meals a day, don't overdo at anything, and get enough sleep at night. In short, they are afraid of breaking out of the tried and true. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with this. It is now getting people to their nineties. But it is likely a greater emphasis on supplements, daily workouts and proper diet will have far more dramatic effects. For instance it just may make us look a lot better in our last years, largely because they will have enabled us to stay younger for longer. Those are results which can be appreciated by employer and employee alike. At least, that is the contention of this book.
Not many people work out daily, supplement regularly and eat properly. That is true.despite the last 80 years of promotion by the late Jack Lalanne, or the last 50 of Jane Fonda. And, that is even true with the numerous health club chains, the supplement stores and the wealth of information on the internet. All of these realities are just not enough to convince the vast majority of the country to : 1.)drop the sedentary habits; 2.) drop the anti-vitamin prejudices; and 3.) drop the unconscious selection of high fat fructose-laden food that still far too many call real food.
If there were more who did, there would be far fewer incidences of diabetes, heart disease, strokes and numerous other problems driving our country's health care numbers through the ceiling. (That is another basic contention of this book.) Even most doctors agree that best way to prevent these problems is to maintain a healthy weight. For a definition of what that means they have numerous charts and tables that most people are completely aware of. But how necessary they are anymore is questionable. Some people just look and feel better ten pounds more or less than the doctors' charts say. Therefore, it would seem only reasonable to look into the mirror and observe one's own degree of healthiness, or fitness level. One either looks fit or one does not. We ourselves are the best judge. In short the mirror is the best critic.
Of course, there are numerous schools of self-acceptance out there which attempt to convince people that they are OK the way they are. The problem is that this can be interpreted to mean forty pounds over the doctors tables, and having trouble making it up two flights of stairs. Did the self-acceptance people ever intend this ? Probably not. Rather they were more interested in taking a stand against obligatory model or magazine beauty. Clearly, not everyone can look like a fashion model or Olympic diver largely because they just don't have that type of bone structure and musculature. Therefore, one ought not to feel bad because they don't. Yet, everyone can look fit in their own way and that is something which should be reflected back in the mirror.
But why should anyone care? Clearly there must be some reason to get fit and stay that way which is good for everybody. Unfortunately not everyone thinks so. Largely this is because it is just plain hard to get into it without disrupting a responsible life. Change is hard on people, pure and simple. But it is also due to not really knowing what will work if given enough time and effort. Granted, some know what it felt like to be out for sports in high school with coaches to insist on all sorts of good and healthy habits. But not everyone has this in their back ground. Consequently, they do not know how it feels to live in this manner. A partial approximation is boot camp for the military, but this is a far shorter period than the standard four years of a high school education. And, that covers only a few more people, meaning that there are still far too many who don't have clue.
That's why only having corporate health clubs, wellness programs and the like is really not enough. It is, of course, better than nothing. It does send the message that a company is interested in the highest well-being of its members. But it does not really do enough to get them into a lifestyle change. That is because it leaves employees virtually on their own, which is good only in a few instances (such as the hard core Rocky-types.) Most people nowadays still need to be helped with what works and to have encouragement in making it happen. Perhaps all of that will be different fifty years from now, but given the relatively small number of successes after eighty years of Lalanne and fifty of Fonda, it is doubtful. Something more hands-on must be in place for that fantastic corporate 4000 square foot workout space to really start paying off.
Why was the super corporate health club put in place to begin with? One reason is that at least one decision-maker in the company knew that a more fit organization would be a more productive one. At least one higher-up just knew this to be the truth. Possibly they were high school or college athletes with high grade points and other honors. As a result, they didn't need a number of studies from reputable universities trying to prove something like over a twelve month period those who who were involved with a daily fitness lifestyle were clinically judged to be better able to complete reports, close sales, make better managerial decisions, stay more focused for greater numbers of hours during the day, etc. That was fortunate because there just are not that many of those types of studies.
Perhaps there will be studies like this in the next fifty years, as fitness becomes a more important part of the American life style, but right now there aren't all that many. Possibly the only thing we have are some wise executives who know that everything will be better with a higher level of fitness in their organization. If so, they can hold their heads high, being part of the ranks of the leaders of Sixth Century BC (Golden Age) Athens, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and a handful of others who have believed in fitness for more than the physical well-being of the country they governed and served. They all thought it paved the way for more effective citizenship and therefore it was good for everybody.
However, doing a better job is not the only reason that fitness makes good sense for business.Another is that time off for illness imply decreases as fitness levels are increased and general morale is boosted by having a healthy work force. That is true throughout the entire organization from top to bottom. Healthier people just need less time off to recover (if they even have to miss work in the first place), and they do an overall better a job. Further, they are more enjoyable to be around. By positively effecting others, that in itself brings in more money. Every body does better at what they do, the company saves money and everybody is more cheerful.
To make this possible, the company should have an onsite corporate fitness director--one who actually does affect the highest well-being of the work force. This is someone who not only is available for advice encouragement and insight, but reaches out to make it known not only that there is a better way, but that the company is trying to make it an overall reality. In other words, together everyone achieves more. Making that happen requires yet another important aspect.
A large part of the director's responsibility is to facilitate a community spirit. This is crucial. There must be a shared world view, a community. This is essential for everyone. It entails a sharing of experiences, new ideas, frustrations, accomplishments. It also entails making people aware of where we're all coming from and where we are going (or can go)--each as a distinct individuals. Being a part of a community like this not only dignifies fitness, but keeps people from feeling like a health nuts, a term so casually used that those being called one don't realize they are being insulted. In other words, doing the right thing must become the new normality of healthiness, most easily referred to as fitness.
What is the best way to get this all started?
Getting all of this off the ground could probably be best done via a corporate email with the longevity script below, after which a voluntary teleconference could be attempted. That should be enough to generate a half percent corporate interest, which can be followed up with the formation of a core fitness group. The expectation is that with considerable resultant effective dialogue, along with observable fitness results, this group will grow steadily throughout the year.
What may strike the reader as odd is that the focus of he talk is on longevity, when everything heretofore has been about productivity. But this should not be alarming. The tacit assumption of most American corporations and of the people in them is that someone younger, more enthusiastic, optimistic and the like is most often the best person for the job, or, in the worst case scenario, for their job. As Westerners, we have more faith in youth than Easterners, such as the Chinese, who believe more in age. Whichever may be best ultimately and philosophically, fitness de-ages. That means, it causes people to look, act, and therefore produce in ways that are most often found in the supposed ideal new person just starting out. That is why it is valuable to the corporation as a whole and to each of its individual members.
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A Talk for a Charlotte, NC based corporation
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My name is Mark Clemens. As a few of you know I am from MN But what none of you know is how bewildered I am that I could have waited for all this time to move here. NC is great-- people wise and climate wise.
What I am all about is fitness. I have been at it for 49 years, not wanting to go to high school as a fat kid. I was state champion powerlifter in 1978 and I am currently able to do far more at 63 than when I was out for the swim team in high school. Furthermore, I have three check-ups a year and all have continued to be good.
I have a BA in the History of Religious Lit and an M.Div from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. What I am trying to say is that I do not have a PhD from any university which might be concerned with fitness as it relates to aging. But, then again, it doesn't appear that that's being offered anywhere as of yet. Therefore, what I have to say is anecdotal, but may be considered cutting edge. ( Nevertheless, there may a few studies from Tufts, some work from Cambridge, all of the work of the late Jack Lalanne, a few good women's fitness publications and 190 articles on my website.)
I am an author. I write fitness articles, which, each week, get accepted all over the country. Further, I have published a 190 pp book called "Think and Grow Fit"(I_Universe/Amazon, B& N, summary included in handouts) It covers the basics for North Americans (Brits, canadians and Aussies too) interested in longer, more fulfilling, fun-based lives. Access to it can be found on my website called "ForeverFitness" and my blog "The Fountain of Youth."
My first book "Think and Grow Fit" is based on 40 plus years of experience with fitness and approximately 10 years of thinking about it. It promotes a lifestyle of diet, supplementation and exercise while also saying that the standard American lifestyle is making people unfit--which means aging long before we have to. In other words, what most of us are currently doing is slowing us down, making us fat, and robbing us of the energy which is needed for being optimistic, enthusiastic or simply being"with it." Those are the very factors which people commonly associate with "getting older." They may also have something to do with the latest scourge--Alzheimers.
We live in a world of : 1.) commercials which glorify leisure activities; 2.) pharmaceutics for everything; 3.) fast food,; 4.)MDs who do not believe in supplements; 5.) long commutes for sedentary but demanding jobs; 6.) grocery store food that is loaded with sugar and fat; 7.) the belief that frequent treats are not only OK but actually necessary; 8.) the feeling that being out for a sport like when you were in high school is only for people who are currently in high school. All of these things are dragging us down; yet all are considered to be part of what most of us call "normal."
People need to break away from this if they want to look, feel and act younger for longer, and stay healthier for the long haul. Recent studies show that the single most important factor in increasing lifespan is reduced calorie consumption. Even MDs agree that keeping weight at the appropriate levels is the single most important factor in staying clear of diabetes, heart disease, strokes and possibly Alzheimers. But the media and most MDs actively promote rest and relaxation as the supposed cure all for everything. Furthermore, MDs think that supplements are not necessary if you're eating you three square meals a day from the four food groups; and, they tend to associate the word "diet" only with the need to lose weight. All of that might be Ok, but it's not "as good as you can get."
What's better is a fitness lifestyle based on supplements, daily workouts and an low-fat/ low-sugar diet. That is what Jack Lalanne spent 80 years promoting. That's what I do. In my judgment, it should be what you hear from your MD and it may be what you are hearing from some who are very much younger. But, for the most part, that type of thinking is not commonplace as it tends to suggest that "normal people" become "health nuts." This means becoming unusual--something which in itself is problematic. But, "being unusual" is not the only trouble. It is also that a lot of industries would be affected if everyone turned into a "health nut." The fast food places from McDonalds to Kentucky Fried chicken would go out of business. The snack food industry would go under. So too would the soft-drink industry along with everything that you can microwave, including pizza with pepperoni. Wheat products would be replaced by those which were gluten-free. And, last but not least, the red meat industry would suffer right alongside the dairy industry. To put it mildly, Bloom would become drastically different place than it is today, assuming it stayed around.
Besides the food we eat, we've all gotten accustomed to thinking that because we work hard all week, we deserve a break on the weekends (and of course every evening after too long of a day.) That means TV every night with golf on Satrurday at best, but more than likely, just kicking back at the beach. And, as if that's not enough, we've been brain washed into believing that we all already get enough from a balanced diet, meaning that excess vitamins do nothing other than just get eliminated from the system. In other words, they are a waste of money. That's what is commonly preached by MDs, who think that the only pills of real value are the new pharmaceutics for real problems. Pills to make problems never occur in the first place are for people like Peter Pan.
Of course, I do not believe in any of that. I believe in diet, supplements and exercise. That means :1.) choosing wisely from Bloom, like really reading the labels; 2.) using the supplements you need (there is an excellent book written by MD and his RN wife to help with this); and never missing your daily workout, whatever it happens to be (anything from 3 laps around the block after dinner to a mile swim every morning before breakfast.)
Most people know intellectually that this will work but still stay with the "tried and true." Why? I think because it sounds like no fun and because it might be too rigorous for people past a certain age. Then too there is always the concern that it might not work for me as a person, possibly for some genetic reason. All I can say is that those things become less problematic with time (6 months to a year.) Lalanne did it for 80 years, I've done it for 49, and the internet has a few examples of people who have been at it for at least 10 years. Maybe you yourselves have been following some of the newer thinking, or you know of someone who has.
There is nothing wrong with the American lifestyle--the way that most of us live. Its just that this is not as "good as it can get," In other words, the quality of life can be better if only there is a switch to a fitness lifestyle. That's because it--the standard American lifestyle- (not the mere passage of birthdays) makes us age right on schedule. The fitness lifestyle turns back the clock and enables us to keep it there for...well we don't really know how long. Lalanee was still doing 2 hour heavy weight workouts at 96. Furthermore, if you get into it, your MD will start wondering what you are doing because you not only look so healthy, but all of your tests will prove that you really are. At least that's how my three check-ups a year go. And, that can be the same for you within six months, whether you start at 40 or 65.
In case you are interested in actually starting a fitness lifestyle, or augmenting one that you are currently into, I have included what I do everyday of the week. (See handouts.) Granted its taken years to work up to that, but it is just part of how I live : its "No Big Deal." Emotionally its no different than brushing my teeth. A variation of that--something you can routinely do is what I would help you get together if you are interested in "following suit." If any of you are interested in getting in on any of this, or more thoroughly going through everything in the handouts, I will gladly host a group with lesson plans, articles and the like. But the most important feature of it will be that there will also be others like you trying to break away from the alleged American "good life"--something which will be nearly impossible on your own. Being part of a group, sharing experiences to say nothing of some brand new article that you got off the net can make things actually work.
So... let me know if there's an interest. Thanks for listening.
For further thought on the importance of being part of a fitness group order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Chapter 1-- TEAM / Together Everyone Achieves More
Most people have seen at least the first of the Rocky movies. This is where a nobody becomes a somebody by sheer determination. Granted, he had a break along the way, namely his opponent wanting to give a no name a chance at the title. But Rocky still had to be Rocky in order for him to have a chance at winning. For all intents and purposes, this guy on the streets got to do what he wanted : he got to go the distance with the world heavyweight champ.
This is the American Dream. Anyone is free to go from nobody to somebody. That is different than other parts of the globe, where the opportunities are sometimes completely non-existent for the larger part of the population. Numerous constitutional safeguards insure this. What this really means is that anyone has the right to become whomever or whatever he or she wants to become. That is the law of our land . It is what has made us great and what will continue to do so. Yet, there are other things which still hold us back.
Mostly the things which hold us back are psychological in nature. They have to do with hang-ups, things which hold us back from attaining our goals, realizing our full potential. Generally these are hidden to everyone, including ourselves. A good friend may suspect them and say something to lessen their power, but the full nature of these are hidden deep within our personalities. In other words, they can only be guessed at, like a doctor might at an underlying illness that has a pesky symptom. They can be suspected when we say I'm too old to I've tried it all before with no success or the doctor says I'm fine, so where's the problem? If we really believed any of these, watching Rocky I would have no effect whatsoever.
1.) Change is hard on us as individuals. Granted, some of us are on low fat low sugar gluten free diets, but some is not all. In fact it's not very many. Same goes for working out. We all know we should, and there are some MDs who are beginning to actually support this. But rest and relaxation still wins the day. For instance, has your MD ever said you need to run a five mile every day just like me? Further, we work hard all day, so we think we deserve a break at night. Then too, there's supplements. Our doctors don't get excited over them, so where's the encouragement? A penny saved is a penny earned, or so we think; and so they lead us to believe. Developing the appropriate attitudes in relation to all of this will not be easy.
2.) Change is hard on our families. They expect us to be up at a certain time, home at a certain time, doing or not doing at other times. Say that you will be hitting the club every morning or evening and see what happens. Start talking about low fat low sugar gluten-free eating and see how far you get. Unless you have a spouse who wants to be trophy wife or if you are the one who is doing the cooking, you are going to run up against difficulty. Almost always, you will be coming up against the good "normal" life which everyone knows nobody can live without. Then there is the vitamin charge on the credit card. With the price of gas as bad as it is how can this be an acceptable brand new line item?
This is the American Dream. Anyone is free to go from nobody to somebody. That is different than other parts of the globe, where the opportunities are sometimes completely non-existent for the larger part of the population. Numerous constitutional safeguards insure this. What this really means is that anyone has the right to become whomever or whatever he or she wants to become. That is the law of our land . It is what has made us great and what will continue to do so. Yet, there are other things which still hold us back.
Mostly the things which hold us back are psychological in nature. They have to do with hang-ups, things which hold us back from attaining our goals, realizing our full potential. Generally these are hidden to everyone, including ourselves. A good friend may suspect them and say something to lessen their power, but the full nature of these are hidden deep within our personalities. In other words, they can only be guessed at, like a doctor might at an underlying illness that has a pesky symptom. They can be suspected when we say I'm too old to I've tried it all before with no success or the doctor says I'm fine, so where's the problem? If we really believed any of these, watching Rocky I would have no effect whatsoever.
A few of us initially believe that these ostensible excuses are the real cause of us doing nothing when it comes to fitness. This is proved wrong when experiencing Stallone in his famous role. Suddenly, if only for a few hours, we become no longer too old or just fine the way we are. Still, there are those who are not moved, nor ever will be moved in this way. They continue to adamantly insist Yes but I still think I'm too old or that I am OK enough. Perhaps, for them, there is no need to read further. But for those who secretly know that they are mouthing cliches, there is a need to continue on. These are the people who know there is a champion within them.
Getting back to Rocky Balboa, he got up early in the morning (early to bed, early to rise,) ate raw eggs (you need protein to build muscle), and ran through the streets of New York (so he could go the distance with the champ.) Of course, in real life, his training would have had to have gone on far longer than it did in the movie, but the idea is there. He was tough, so much so that he preferred pounding a side of beef to the standard leather bag. Further, he could take advantage of an opportunity, and nothing was going to stand in his way. No one, or no thing, was going to hold him back.
Many of us watch a movie like this and get excited. We could do all of that, or so we think. It doesn't really require anything other than simply getting up to get going, throwing a few raw eggs in the blender, and then pounding a side of beef --whatever that may translate to in our personal lives. Those things we can do. The only trouble is that almost none of us ever does. Why?
Most of us can identify with Rocky but will never make the necessary lifestyle changes to become like him. For a responsible adult it would be simply impossible, or so we think. Besides, no one would be comfortable with us if did. It's just counter to common sense, or so we have been lead to believe. After all, most of us have friends and relatives who caution against overdoing it, or acting in ways that simply are beyond our capabilities. Such is the role of the people we rely on. Keeping us safe is what they're all about. The same as it is for us in relation to them.
But these are not the only people who look out for us. As we get older we rely more on professionals to advise us. When it comes to health (including fitness), these are our doctors. Their job is supposedly to fix us up and keep us out of trouble. That is very much like what we expected from our parents--chicken soup to make the cold go away and good advice to keep us from getting sicker the next time.
The trouble (for anyone wanting to become a Rocky for more than just a little while) is in all of this goodness. It is good to be sure, but it tends to make us sensible adults instead of audacious world champ wannabes. That is, it makes us want to be more our everyday selves than to be like Rocky. That is even after watching Rocky I for the third time in the same weekend! Why? Because it's respectable. Its being grown-up, living within our means, acting our age, being ourselves a instead of what or whom we're not. That is the real us not the fictional Rocky, or so we think, not that long after the thrill of the movie fades into the background. Come Monday morning, we're back to living in the real world. Give us the pat on the back that we so richly deserve! Welcome back to the real world.
This is disastrous when it comes to fitness. Fitness takes guts. Just like Rocky getting ready to go the distance with Apollo Creed, it takes guts to do what he did every morning. And it takes guts to go the rounds with swollen bloody eyes. How many times did Rocky wonder if he could keep on going? In the movie, never. But what about for us in a similar set of circumstances in real life? But we need to hang in there jsut like he did. So how do we get like Rocky?
Being part of a group is best for people starting out. Even if it seems like we have to be the the lone wolf, being around others who have the same passion can work wonders. Those people also have the same problems and therefore can become our friends. Being around them can help us make the necessary lifestyle changes without seriously rocking the boat. Meetings with them to talk about all of this really can help us make the necessary changes to get on and stay on track. Just realizing that someone else has a similar problem is extremely helpful. Finding a bright idea that could work in a particular situation is better yet.
Some will think of this as little more than the numerous support groups which used to abound in the late seventies and early eighties. Perhaps that is not so far off. But perhaps that's not so bad. After all, with fitness, there is a twist. Getting into fitness is not so much of a bad problem (such as alcohol addiction) that it cannot be talked about. One needn't worry that the membership roll remains anonymous. Granted, some of the personal reservations, which are sure to emerge, can be a little unnerving when talked about, but the basic being a good family member in search of a few more hours for a good thing is not something which any of us needs to hide. It just says that we are responsible adults, good family people, who know that things must be different for our highest well-being. Of course, that all can also rub off onto our families, but that is a subject to be left for later.
For those of us who are just starting out, there may be many fears about our ability to keep at it once we commit to starting. We know that we won't be able to find time for the gym. There is always someone who needs our time. We know don't have money for one more line item in the checkbook. So how do we buy the vitamin C and the multi-vitamins? We have a spouse who expects to share breakfast and dinner of real food with us. How do we get them to run with low fat low sugar eating to say nothing of gluten free? All of those are our equivalents of Rocky's morning run, his raw eggs and the pounding of the side of beef. We all know what we have to do Its just we can't see how we can really do any of it.
Again the group is the answer. Talking about all of this even it's to do no more than to defiantly say It's impossible, is a good thing. That at least raises up the goodness of fitness. Some people actually need to hear themselves say there is no way before anything good happens. That often times gets a laugh from someone else who feels exactly the same but knows they need not continue on in the same way. All too many have said something similar only to find ways of making things work the next morning. Moreover, if we really believed that all was really impossible we never would have showed up at the group meeting in the first place.
Many of us watch a movie like this and get excited. We could do all of that, or so we think. It doesn't really require anything other than simply getting up to get going, throwing a few raw eggs in the blender, and then pounding a side of beef --whatever that may translate to in our personal lives. Those things we can do. The only trouble is that almost none of us ever does. Why?
Most of us can identify with Rocky but will never make the necessary lifestyle changes to become like him. For a responsible adult it would be simply impossible, or so we think. Besides, no one would be comfortable with us if did. It's just counter to common sense, or so we have been lead to believe. After all, most of us have friends and relatives who caution against overdoing it, or acting in ways that simply are beyond our capabilities. Such is the role of the people we rely on. Keeping us safe is what they're all about. The same as it is for us in relation to them.
But these are not the only people who look out for us. As we get older we rely more on professionals to advise us. When it comes to health (including fitness), these are our doctors. Their job is supposedly to fix us up and keep us out of trouble. That is very much like what we expected from our parents--chicken soup to make the cold go away and good advice to keep us from getting sicker the next time.
The trouble (for anyone wanting to become a Rocky for more than just a little while) is in all of this goodness. It is good to be sure, but it tends to make us sensible adults instead of audacious world champ wannabes. That is, it makes us want to be more our everyday selves than to be like Rocky. That is even after watching Rocky I for the third time in the same weekend! Why? Because it's respectable. Its being grown-up, living within our means, acting our age, being ourselves a instead of what or whom we're not. That is the real us not the fictional Rocky, or so we think, not that long after the thrill of the movie fades into the background. Come Monday morning, we're back to living in the real world. Give us the pat on the back that we so richly deserve! Welcome back to the real world.
This is disastrous when it comes to fitness. Fitness takes guts. Just like Rocky getting ready to go the distance with Apollo Creed, it takes guts to do what he did every morning. And it takes guts to go the rounds with swollen bloody eyes. How many times did Rocky wonder if he could keep on going? In the movie, never. But what about for us in a similar set of circumstances in real life? But we need to hang in there jsut like he did. So how do we get like Rocky?
Being part of a group is best for people starting out. Even if it seems like we have to be the the lone wolf, being around others who have the same passion can work wonders. Those people also have the same problems and therefore can become our friends. Being around them can help us make the necessary lifestyle changes without seriously rocking the boat. Meetings with them to talk about all of this really can help us make the necessary changes to get on and stay on track. Just realizing that someone else has a similar problem is extremely helpful. Finding a bright idea that could work in a particular situation is better yet.
Some will think of this as little more than the numerous support groups which used to abound in the late seventies and early eighties. Perhaps that is not so far off. But perhaps that's not so bad. After all, with fitness, there is a twist. Getting into fitness is not so much of a bad problem (such as alcohol addiction) that it cannot be talked about. One needn't worry that the membership roll remains anonymous. Granted, some of the personal reservations, which are sure to emerge, can be a little unnerving when talked about, but the basic being a good family member in search of a few more hours for a good thing is not something which any of us needs to hide. It just says that we are responsible adults, good family people, who know that things must be different for our highest well-being. Of course, that all can also rub off onto our families, but that is a subject to be left for later.
For those of us who are just starting out, there may be many fears about our ability to keep at it once we commit to starting. We know that we won't be able to find time for the gym. There is always someone who needs our time. We know don't have money for one more line item in the checkbook. So how do we buy the vitamin C and the multi-vitamins? We have a spouse who expects to share breakfast and dinner of real food with us. How do we get them to run with low fat low sugar eating to say nothing of gluten free? All of those are our equivalents of Rocky's morning run, his raw eggs and the pounding of the side of beef. We all know what we have to do Its just we can't see how we can really do any of it.
Again the group is the answer. Talking about all of this even it's to do no more than to defiantly say It's impossible, is a good thing. That at least raises up the goodness of fitness. Some people actually need to hear themselves say there is no way before anything good happens. That often times gets a laugh from someone else who feels exactly the same but knows they need not continue on in the same way. All too many have said something similar only to find ways of making things work the next morning. Moreover, if we really believed that all was really impossible we never would have showed up at the group meeting in the first place.
What is the real problem? What is really going on when nothing seems to be happening? It is the fear of Change, little other.Going from the standard American lifestyle to a fitness lifestyle is a huge change. Therefore it is not easy. There is a sociology professor from Northwestern University, Bernard Mack, who said this about everything in general back in the late sixties. Do any of us really need to ask him if he still believes it, assuming he is still around? We are creatures of habit and therefore we all know that change is no paid vacation. It is hard, and we avoid it like we would someone who can't stop coughing because they just caught a cold. So, what is so problematic about the c-word?
1.) Change is hard on us as individuals. Granted, some of us are on low fat low sugar gluten free diets, but some is not all. In fact it's not very many. Same goes for working out. We all know we should, and there are some MDs who are beginning to actually support this. But rest and relaxation still wins the day. For instance, has your MD ever said you need to run a five mile every day just like me? Further, we work hard all day, so we think we deserve a break at night. Then too, there's supplements. Our doctors don't get excited over them, so where's the encouragement? A penny saved is a penny earned, or so we think; and so they lead us to believe. Developing the appropriate attitudes in relation to all of this will not be easy.
2.) Change is hard on our families. They expect us to be up at a certain time, home at a certain time, doing or not doing at other times. Say that you will be hitting the club every morning or evening and see what happens. Start talking about low fat low sugar gluten-free eating and see how far you get. Unless you have a spouse who wants to be trophy wife or if you are the one who is doing the cooking, you are going to run up against difficulty. Almost always, you will be coming up against the good "normal" life which everyone knows nobody can live without. Then there is the vitamin charge on the credit card. With the price of gas as bad as it is how can this be an acceptable brand new line item?
3.) Change is hard on the workplace. We've got our people whom we always have coffee with. But that can be upset drastically by us getting into green tea (a cheaper more long lasting high than coffee, saying nothing about its anti-oxidant capabilities.) Then too there is lunch. What if we brought an apple two carrots, a few gluten-free crackers and a boiled egg? Perhaps this would be OK, but if you're laughing right now, it wouldn't. Real food is for real people and that's not real food. Then what about the supplements? Can you take yours in front of your co-workers? Probably not. For sure you can't offer them one. That would at best get a polite refusal. Of course, you'd probably be thinking that that is precisely what they need because they're always dragging at about two in the afternoon. But this is not a cause you can champion. In fact, being even the least vocal about this could get you into trouble with the boss in some places.
Then too there is you twenty pounds less. If you were fifty over by a doctor's standard, twenty will win you friends. If you were already Ok, not overweight, just average, you are headed for trouble. Twenty pounds less on most frames starts to spell looking good. That could mean upwardly mobile (like you are the one who is going to get the promotion) in some instances. In others, it could just mean that others will be inclined to treat you differently. Some new people may even start getting interested in you--ones that don't resonate with your old friends. In short, circumstances become different when we become different; this is change, and this is hard on people. Only by extreme luck does the workday world not get interrupted by differences such as these..
Clearly Rocky didn't have all of these problems. He lived alone, frequented the gym, and had a crush on Adrian--Talia Shire, who was supportive of his boxing efforts. Thus, in a way, he had it easy--or easier than almost all, if not all, of us. Besides there wasn't anything really holding him back such as I'm too old or I'm OK the way that I am. The only thing of real imposrtance was him as a nobody who had the burning desire and the opportunity to be a somebody.
Clearly Rocky didn't have all of these problems. He lived alone, frequented the gym, and had a crush on Adrian--Talia Shire, who was supportive of his boxing efforts. Thus, in a way, he had it easy--or easier than almost all, if not all, of us. Besides there wasn't anything really holding him back such as I'm too old or I'm OK the way that I am. The only thing of real imposrtance was him as a nobody who had the burning desire and the opportunity to be a somebody.
We are all different than Rocky because we have all of our normal, adult-like, grown-up, mature sensible problems; and they are tough ones to deal with. Granted, we can simply put our foot down and say we're getting into fitness today : this is the way that its going to be; take it or leave it. That might be workable in our imaginations but is it really so in everyday life? Probably not.
What can be done about all of this? The quick and dirty answer is this : get into a group of like minded individuals so that some answers to these not so pleasant questions can be found. Doing so has a far better chance of realistically making some major changes--changes which will not only last, but which may actually become enjoyable. That is, it hands down beats the draconian out of the blue setting of the alarm clock for four am, downing your equivalent of the six raw eggs, running a ten mile and pumping iron just prior to kissing your Adrian ( or Rocky) good bye before commuting to the office.
What can be done about all of this? The quick and dirty answer is this : get into a group of like minded individuals so that some answers to these not so pleasant questions can be found. Doing so has a far better chance of realistically making some major changes--changes which will not only last, but which may actually become enjoyable. That is, it hands down beats the draconian out of the blue setting of the alarm clock for four am, downing your equivalent of the six raw eggs, running a ten mile and pumping iron just prior to kissing your Adrian ( or Rocky) good bye before commuting to the office.
That is what goes behind the title Together We All Achieve More. Talking about the need to implement change and then doing something sensible, responsible and kind about it. Having that something be a plan that will actually work without upsetting things. That implies knowing what to do, how to talk about it, what to suggest, what to insist upon. None of that is easy. All of that requires sensitivity, finesse, political strategy.
Sharing concerns such as these with others who are going through the same things is highly beneficial. As mentioned earlier, just knowing that someone else has experienced, or is experiencing, the same difficulties can be, and almost always is, helpful. That provides a framework wherein we can come up with our own answers to the same difficulty.
To sum up, all of us live with other people. That is one of the big differences between us and Rocky. Rocky lived alone, so it was easier for him to strike out and just plain do it. Almost all of us have spouses and children. They expect things of us, and we don't mind that they do. We pride ourselves on being good spouses and parents. Of course, that's a twenty-four seven proposition, everyday of the week. And, who's complaining? After all, that is what makes us happiest. The trouble is that some significant sacrifices have to be made if we do in fact expect to become and stay fit.
The rest of this book is about pulling that off with the least amount of damage.
For further talk about Rocky visit my website ForeverFitness.info
To sum up, all of us live with other people. That is one of the big differences between us and Rocky. Rocky lived alone, so it was easier for him to strike out and just plain do it. Almost all of us have spouses and children. They expect things of us, and we don't mind that they do. We pride ourselves on being good spouses and parents. Of course, that's a twenty-four seven proposition, everyday of the week. And, who's complaining? After all, that is what makes us happiest. The trouble is that some significant sacrifices have to be made if we do in fact expect to become and stay fit.
The rest of this book is about pulling that off with the least amount of damage.
For further talk about Rocky visit my website ForeverFitness.info
Every Day in Every Way
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must forge yourself into one. Henry David Thoreau
Fitness is all about habits. It is what we do everyday regardless of how we feel, what we have to do, what we think. It is just a basic part of our lives, like the brushing of our teeth.
We all do our basic habits no matter what. We would even do some of them if we knew that today were the last day of our lives. In fact, that might even make them more necessary because we would want to make the best of our last hours. That may not be true of everything we do, but it certainly is for the brushing our teeth.
Unfortunately, not all of us really feel this way about fitness. To many of us, it is still an unwelcome extra burden-- something we have to do because it is expected of us by others. This is particularly the case if we have been told to lose weight in order to avoid diabetes, or if our spouse has threatened us with divorce. It may also be true if we are trying to get a job and feel that our excess weight is the primary cause for rejection.
If this is where we are at, it will be difficult to focus on the fun aspects of fitness--how it makes us feel and look. These are like the clean-feeling after using an electric toothbrush for the full two minute cycle or seeing that dazzling whiteness in the mirror. Most of us would never dream of not experiencing these at least once if not twice a day. None of us would dream of missing that on the last day of our life or, worse, subjecting anyone to being close without having done it.
We were not born that way; nor did not we get that way overnight. Moreover, we did not get that way because we started a regular oral routine on the last January First. Rather, we have been brushing our teeth from little on. Our parents got us into it, and then we decided to continue upgrading. That is why we have gone from standard toothpaste to one with a whitener, or from a regular toothbrush to a battery-operated, etc. In most cases, we have all gone beyond our parents, and are proud that we have.
Unfortunately, none of us had this same type of experience when it comes to fitness. That is because we were raised by sedentary, three square meal per day, supplement-deprecating good people who knew very little other than a good day's work followed by a good night's rest. Consequently, today we know very little about modern day gluten-free eating, effective supplementing and daily aerobic/resistance-based working out. Those things were just not around when we were little. If they had been, and if our parents took them seriously, we would be entirely different individuals.
But, it is not helpful to dwell on what might have been. That is like dreaming about utopia-- a whole other world--which exists nowhere except in our imaginations. Idealistic and good as that may be, alone, it can never have enough of an effect on us. What we really need more than anything is a considerable amount of our own concerted effort--a forging of ourselves like a piece of iron on life's anvil.
All of us are filled with hopes, good intentions and dreams. But few of us have rigorous follow through. That is to say, we have not made fitness as much a part of us as we should have. Consequently, it does not carry as much weight as the brushing of our teeth, if indeed it carries even a tenth. That is, we do not feel horrified by the thought of missing our workouts, forgetting our supplements or substituting what we call real food for the low fat low sugar variety. Missing or forgetting these fitness essentials is just part of being human, or so we say. On the other hand, missing our morning date with our toothbrush is virtually inconceivable.
How can we get from where we are with brushing of our teeth to where we should be with fitness? Thoreau said that we have to do more than dream. He said that we have to forge our character, much like a piece of iron being pounded by a hammer. That is what he did to himself. As an ardent thinker, he was everyday, every season, every year walking, meditating, reflecting, and philosophizing. In other words, he was relentlessly doing the things that he was all about; and it is doubtful that he would have ever even have been tempted to do otherwise. After many decades, this resulted in one of our civilization's greatest thinkers.
Whatever prompted this man to say what he did in the quote above? After all, it is an alarmingly direct, if not an outright critical statement from the mild man of Walden Pond. Probably he observed far too many people saying they wanted to be a certain way, but never doing the right things to become so. We have all experienced this. And, like Thoreau, we want to simply tell all of them Just do it and do it again until you have forged yourself into the person you want to be.
That is the way that we ourselves have to be when it comes to fitness. We simply have to consistently diet properly, supplement wisely and exercise regularly until it becomes so much a part of us that we can say that it is us. That is how we were made by our parents when it came to the brushing of our teeth. That is how we must now make ourselves when it comes to fitness.
Perhaps all of this raises feelings of impossibility or futility. But that is only because we are starting today after too many years of doing nothing. That is entirely different than starting with a clean slate back when we were in kindergarten or before. Nevertheless, extremely hard is not impossible. We still can make ourselves over, if only we will.
For further thought on making a fitness lifestyle your basic way of being order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Fitness is all about habits. It is what we do everyday regardless of how we feel, what we have to do, what we think. It is just a basic part of our lives, like the brushing of our teeth.
We all do our basic habits no matter what. We would even do some of them if we knew that today were the last day of our lives. In fact, that might even make them more necessary because we would want to make the best of our last hours. That may not be true of everything we do, but it certainly is for the brushing our teeth.
Unfortunately, not all of us really feel this way about fitness. To many of us, it is still an unwelcome extra burden-- something we have to do because it is expected of us by others. This is particularly the case if we have been told to lose weight in order to avoid diabetes, or if our spouse has threatened us with divorce. It may also be true if we are trying to get a job and feel that our excess weight is the primary cause for rejection.
If this is where we are at, it will be difficult to focus on the fun aspects of fitness--how it makes us feel and look. These are like the clean-feeling after using an electric toothbrush for the full two minute cycle or seeing that dazzling whiteness in the mirror. Most of us would never dream of not experiencing these at least once if not twice a day. None of us would dream of missing that on the last day of our life or, worse, subjecting anyone to being close without having done it.
We were not born that way; nor did not we get that way overnight. Moreover, we did not get that way because we started a regular oral routine on the last January First. Rather, we have been brushing our teeth from little on. Our parents got us into it, and then we decided to continue upgrading. That is why we have gone from standard toothpaste to one with a whitener, or from a regular toothbrush to a battery-operated, etc. In most cases, we have all gone beyond our parents, and are proud that we have.
Unfortunately, none of us had this same type of experience when it comes to fitness. That is because we were raised by sedentary, three square meal per day, supplement-deprecating good people who knew very little other than a good day's work followed by a good night's rest. Consequently, today we know very little about modern day gluten-free eating, effective supplementing and daily aerobic/resistance-based working out. Those things were just not around when we were little. If they had been, and if our parents took them seriously, we would be entirely different individuals.
But, it is not helpful to dwell on what might have been. That is like dreaming about utopia-- a whole other world--which exists nowhere except in our imaginations. Idealistic and good as that may be, alone, it can never have enough of an effect on us. What we really need more than anything is a considerable amount of our own concerted effort--a forging of ourselves like a piece of iron on life's anvil.
All of us are filled with hopes, good intentions and dreams. But few of us have rigorous follow through. That is to say, we have not made fitness as much a part of us as we should have. Consequently, it does not carry as much weight as the brushing of our teeth, if indeed it carries even a tenth. That is, we do not feel horrified by the thought of missing our workouts, forgetting our supplements or substituting what we call real food for the low fat low sugar variety. Missing or forgetting these fitness essentials is just part of being human, or so we say. On the other hand, missing our morning date with our toothbrush is virtually inconceivable.
How can we get from where we are with brushing of our teeth to where we should be with fitness? Thoreau said that we have to do more than dream. He said that we have to forge our character, much like a piece of iron being pounded by a hammer. That is what he did to himself. As an ardent thinker, he was everyday, every season, every year walking, meditating, reflecting, and philosophizing. In other words, he was relentlessly doing the things that he was all about; and it is doubtful that he would have ever even have been tempted to do otherwise. After many decades, this resulted in one of our civilization's greatest thinkers.
Whatever prompted this man to say what he did in the quote above? After all, it is an alarmingly direct, if not an outright critical statement from the mild man of Walden Pond. Probably he observed far too many people saying they wanted to be a certain way, but never doing the right things to become so. We have all experienced this. And, like Thoreau, we want to simply tell all of them Just do it and do it again until you have forged yourself into the person you want to be.
That is the way that we ourselves have to be when it comes to fitness. We simply have to consistently diet properly, supplement wisely and exercise regularly until it becomes so much a part of us that we can say that it is us. That is how we were made by our parents when it came to the brushing of our teeth. That is how we must now make ourselves when it comes to fitness.
Perhaps all of this raises feelings of impossibility or futility. But that is only because we are starting today after too many years of doing nothing. That is entirely different than starting with a clean slate back when we were in kindergarten or before. Nevertheless, extremely hard is not impossible. We still can make ourselves over, if only we will.
For further thought on making a fitness lifestyle your basic way of being order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Fitness Failure
Edison failed 10,000 times before he made the first electric light bulb. Don't be afraid if you fail a few times as well. Napoleon Hill
None of us want to feel like a failure. More to the point, none of us want to be a failure. That is someone who commits to doing something but then does not follow through. For most of us this is the height of immaturity and the biggest reason to be down on ourselves when we evaluate our whole human worth.
Some may say that those words are all too strong. By this they mean that there are things far worse, such as the committing of a serious crime, or the continual repetition of some obnoxious behavior. But really those things can be thought of as a failure to live up to to the commitment to simply be a good person. In other words, they suggest a violation of a contract with oneself and society to be all that we can be for ourselves and our significant others.
The point of all of this is that being a failure is serious. It is not just a minor human inadequacy. Rather, it is a major one--one that we cannot forgive it in ourselves or in others. Even with the somewhat permissive wisdom of the past decade, none of us can really let ourselves off the hook for not following through on something which is important.
For law-abiding, hard-working people, one of the biggest arenas for failure is in weight loss or fitness. We all know of the too common phenomenon of starting out on January first only to quit again by March fifteenth. We have all done it before, and we hate ourselves because of it.
Today's quote is Napoleon Hill's of Thomas Edison, a man who made more than just a few attempts to build an electric light bulb. Apparently, there were even more than a few thousand, or so Hill would like us to believe. He wants us to see Edison as the epitome of the person who kept trying in spite of the fact that nothing ever seemed to work. How fortunate we all are that he kept on doing just that. How much we should strive on to be like him.
However, weight loss and fitness are a little different. That is because we all know that quitting is always our fault. This is different than with Edison who probably did not blame himself as much after each of his ten thousand failures. When we start out in January (as many of us will again do in not too many days) we will have a plan that we desperately hope will keep us at it this time, no matter what. We feel that we cannot have one more failure, or we will start to wonder what is fundamentally wrong with us. What is the one not so little flaw which might effect every other aspect of our lives?
If this is true of us, and if Edison really did not feel anything similar when trying to make the first light bulb work, we can see that there is actually a greater difficulty with us than there is with him. That he would have thought of himself as a bad person for not having made a successful invention is highly unlikely. That we might think we are significantly defective for quitting again is very much likely.
When it comes to our appearance and our health (as some of us may have been told that we must lose the weight to avoid diabetes) it truly is different. Other people seem to have succeeded, but, for some reason, we have not. That alone is different than Edison. There was no one else back then for his competition, at least no one who ever made it into the history books. If there were, Edison might have felt less intelligent or resourceful than another scientist who was getting closer to success. That could have held him back.
Nevertheless, the point of the Edison story is to say that we should not give up for any reason. That is largely because the next attempt might just be the one which works. This is true when it comes to fitness. Therefore, we should simply hang in there until our fitness lifestyle of dieting, supplementing and exercising become as much a part of us as the brushing of our teeth. But is this possible for everyone?
In a day and age of genetic theory we can be seduced into thinking that fitness success may not be possible for some of us. It could be that we are flawed from birth by reason of bad genes. Thus, all effort is futile.That type of thinking may make us give up after one what may seem to be one too many failures,but which are really not enough for us as distinct individuals.
Gene theory came about long after Edison's time. If it were around when he was, he might have wondered about himself after the five thousandth failure. Perhaps he was not cut out to be an inventor? But, Edison did not know any better. Therefore, he just never gave up. As a result, he finally found the way to create the first electric light bulb.
We have got to be like this when it comes to fitness. We have got to try again even if we are going on the tenth first of the year failure. Perhaps the best way to make that easier is to simply refuse wondering what it is that might make us quit. That is counter to the often times helpful activity of soul searching in an attempt to find our one tragic flaw with the intent of correcting it. The truth is that even if we paid for good help we may be searching for years before finding the answer and cure.
The better option, perhaps, is to simply say Yes, I may not make it again this year, but I am going to try regardless of what one more failure says about me. Doing that can give us a profound sense of pride for getting back on our feet after yet another bad attempt has knocked us down. That sense of pride just might be enough to make for another go around right now in stead of waiting until the first of next year. If nothing else, it is in keeping with the spirit of the great Thomas Edison.
For further thought on staying at it in spite of fitness failure order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
None of us want to feel like a failure. More to the point, none of us want to be a failure. That is someone who commits to doing something but then does not follow through. For most of us this is the height of immaturity and the biggest reason to be down on ourselves when we evaluate our whole human worth.
Some may say that those words are all too strong. By this they mean that there are things far worse, such as the committing of a serious crime, or the continual repetition of some obnoxious behavior. But really those things can be thought of as a failure to live up to to the commitment to simply be a good person. In other words, they suggest a violation of a contract with oneself and society to be all that we can be for ourselves and our significant others.
The point of all of this is that being a failure is serious. It is not just a minor human inadequacy. Rather, it is a major one--one that we cannot forgive it in ourselves or in others. Even with the somewhat permissive wisdom of the past decade, none of us can really let ourselves off the hook for not following through on something which is important.
For law-abiding, hard-working people, one of the biggest arenas for failure is in weight loss or fitness. We all know of the too common phenomenon of starting out on January first only to quit again by March fifteenth. We have all done it before, and we hate ourselves because of it.
Today's quote is Napoleon Hill's of Thomas Edison, a man who made more than just a few attempts to build an electric light bulb. Apparently, there were even more than a few thousand, or so Hill would like us to believe. He wants us to see Edison as the epitome of the person who kept trying in spite of the fact that nothing ever seemed to work. How fortunate we all are that he kept on doing just that. How much we should strive on to be like him.
However, weight loss and fitness are a little different. That is because we all know that quitting is always our fault. This is different than with Edison who probably did not blame himself as much after each of his ten thousand failures. When we start out in January (as many of us will again do in not too many days) we will have a plan that we desperately hope will keep us at it this time, no matter what. We feel that we cannot have one more failure, or we will start to wonder what is fundamentally wrong with us. What is the one not so little flaw which might effect every other aspect of our lives?
If this is true of us, and if Edison really did not feel anything similar when trying to make the first light bulb work, we can see that there is actually a greater difficulty with us than there is with him. That he would have thought of himself as a bad person for not having made a successful invention is highly unlikely. That we might think we are significantly defective for quitting again is very much likely.
When it comes to our appearance and our health (as some of us may have been told that we must lose the weight to avoid diabetes) it truly is different. Other people seem to have succeeded, but, for some reason, we have not. That alone is different than Edison. There was no one else back then for his competition, at least no one who ever made it into the history books. If there were, Edison might have felt less intelligent or resourceful than another scientist who was getting closer to success. That could have held him back.
Nevertheless, the point of the Edison story is to say that we should not give up for any reason. That is largely because the next attempt might just be the one which works. This is true when it comes to fitness. Therefore, we should simply hang in there until our fitness lifestyle of dieting, supplementing and exercising become as much a part of us as the brushing of our teeth. But is this possible for everyone?
In a day and age of genetic theory we can be seduced into thinking that fitness success may not be possible for some of us. It could be that we are flawed from birth by reason of bad genes. Thus, all effort is futile.That type of thinking may make us give up after one what may seem to be one too many failures,but which are really not enough for us as distinct individuals.
Gene theory came about long after Edison's time. If it were around when he was, he might have wondered about himself after the five thousandth failure. Perhaps he was not cut out to be an inventor? But, Edison did not know any better. Therefore, he just never gave up. As a result, he finally found the way to create the first electric light bulb.
We have got to be like this when it comes to fitness. We have got to try again even if we are going on the tenth first of the year failure. Perhaps the best way to make that easier is to simply refuse wondering what it is that might make us quit. That is counter to the often times helpful activity of soul searching in an attempt to find our one tragic flaw with the intent of correcting it. The truth is that even if we paid for good help we may be searching for years before finding the answer and cure.
The better option, perhaps, is to simply say Yes, I may not make it again this year, but I am going to try regardless of what one more failure says about me. Doing that can give us a profound sense of pride for getting back on our feet after yet another bad attempt has knocked us down. That sense of pride just might be enough to make for another go around right now in stead of waiting until the first of next year. If nothing else, it is in keeping with the spirit of the great Thomas Edison.
For further thought on staying at it in spite of fitness failure order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Fitness Desire
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. Vince Lombardi
As many know, Lombardi is best remembered as head coach of the Green Bay Packers back in the sixties. But he was also a bit of a philosopher and got quoted often for his sayings that really could be applied to anything requiring growth. So, it is only appropriate to call on his wisdom when it comes to fitness.
Getting into fitness is simple. All it requires is a decision to eat right, supplement and workout out daily. But this is not easy for almost everyone. There seems to be one reason after another for making us quit, go back to old ways or erroneously deciding that we are just. not somehow cut out for a healthy lifestyle (genetic predisposition.) Nevertheless, some of us really do continue to try getting into it.
For those who do, Lombardi's words are most applicable. He stresses the primary importance of will. All of us have that : it is what gets us into action and then keeps us going afterward. Unless we are very ill or depressed, none of us are any different.
That is not as universally true when it comes knowledge and strength. Knowing all of the various ways to workout, or being up on all of the supplements and dietary in and outs are not as much a part of everyone. The same may be true for strength. It simply seems to not be there, especially if we are just now starting out for the first time ever. But we all do have will--will enough to be as involved in fitness as we are right now.
To Lombardi will was everything. That would hardly have been an easy thing for him to say as a champion football coach. Intelligence and strength are both important in first rate players. Champion teams can have no players who are lacking in either. Knowing what to do when is always important, and strength is necessary to not only get the ball across the goal line but also to keep up a winning intensity for the entire game.
Nevertheless, Vince stresses will. Why? Because it got his team going and keeps us going when everything else seems to say just take it easy or quit. Will is what gets us off of square one to try out that one more gluten-free recipe, cycle that extra mile, experiment with that new supplement. It is what drives onto those ends which every now and then we can see in our daydreams--that trim physique, that vibrant overall healthiness. Those are the things we want; and will is what makes us do what we must to attain them.
Knowledge is important as well, but it can be acquired as we go. Fitness is hardly rocket science. Granted, there may be a lot more nuances to it nowadays--ones made apparent because of the internet, but there still are only a few basics. The rest is merely a matter of fine-tuning the right things for us as particular individuals.That may take a considerable amount of trial and error, but it hardly requires a PhD. What it does require is persistence, which is just another way of saying will.
When it comes to strength, some is helpful; but power lifter-class is not. Fitness requires ongoing daily activity. The most common is jogging or running (something we can do even without a club membership) though the standard health club has a great assortment of weight machines along with bicycles and treadmills. These were for the most part all originally designed for people recovering from surgery. Therefore, being all-pro to start using them is hardly necessary. All that really needs to be done is to use them at a comfortable level every day without fail. That is a function of will and is sure to build strength over time.
Even though this all may be no more than common sense, many of us will still insist that we cannot get into a fitness lifestyle because of either a lack of strength or know how. That may seem unlikely in a day and age of handicapped Olympics and seemingly endless wellness options via internet access, but it still is true. We simply contrive endless excuses for not doing what we know we should. These are just part of the mental arsenal we let remain active against us.
In part we do this because of the numerous changes needed to make the switch from sedentary grocery store food normality to a fitness lifestyle. However, it is also be because we just do not want to be fit badly enough. That may be offensive to some, and with good reason. The standard American lifestyle is getting people into their nineties and that number seems to creep up a little every year. So maybe normal is not all that bad.
True, perhaps. But for those to look good by the time they get into their nineties , there should be some talk about desire. We need to know what will really get us going with a refusal to stop for anything or anyone. All of us know we have passions within us for some things, but far too many of us know that this is not there when it comes to gluten-free eating, supplement dosing and daily workouts. How can that be less so only when it comes to fitness?
The answer is different for each person, That is why we must all first look within to find out. That means turning off the cell phone, radio, TV and computer while being alone--like very early in the morning or late at night. Then all we have left is the voices in our heads. Seldom do these ever say anything very supportive, which is why we prefer all of the other noises in our environment.. But they have to be listened to in order that we can find a way of either ignoring them or satisfying their demands. Then and only then are we in a position to experience a greater desire for what we really want. Then and only then can we do something about it.
For further thought on fitness desire order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
As many know, Lombardi is best remembered as head coach of the Green Bay Packers back in the sixties. But he was also a bit of a philosopher and got quoted often for his sayings that really could be applied to anything requiring growth. So, it is only appropriate to call on his wisdom when it comes to fitness.
Getting into fitness is simple. All it requires is a decision to eat right, supplement and workout out daily. But this is not easy for almost everyone. There seems to be one reason after another for making us quit, go back to old ways or erroneously deciding that we are just. not somehow cut out for a healthy lifestyle (genetic predisposition.) Nevertheless, some of us really do continue to try getting into it.
For those who do, Lombardi's words are most applicable. He stresses the primary importance of will. All of us have that : it is what gets us into action and then keeps us going afterward. Unless we are very ill or depressed, none of us are any different.
That is not as universally true when it comes knowledge and strength. Knowing all of the various ways to workout, or being up on all of the supplements and dietary in and outs are not as much a part of everyone. The same may be true for strength. It simply seems to not be there, especially if we are just now starting out for the first time ever. But we all do have will--will enough to be as involved in fitness as we are right now.
To Lombardi will was everything. That would hardly have been an easy thing for him to say as a champion football coach. Intelligence and strength are both important in first rate players. Champion teams can have no players who are lacking in either. Knowing what to do when is always important, and strength is necessary to not only get the ball across the goal line but also to keep up a winning intensity for the entire game.
Nevertheless, Vince stresses will. Why? Because it got his team going and keeps us going when everything else seems to say just take it easy or quit. Will is what gets us off of square one to try out that one more gluten-free recipe, cycle that extra mile, experiment with that new supplement. It is what drives onto those ends which every now and then we can see in our daydreams--that trim physique, that vibrant overall healthiness. Those are the things we want; and will is what makes us do what we must to attain them.
Knowledge is important as well, but it can be acquired as we go. Fitness is hardly rocket science. Granted, there may be a lot more nuances to it nowadays--ones made apparent because of the internet, but there still are only a few basics. The rest is merely a matter of fine-tuning the right things for us as particular individuals.That may take a considerable amount of trial and error, but it hardly requires a PhD. What it does require is persistence, which is just another way of saying will.
When it comes to strength, some is helpful; but power lifter-class is not. Fitness requires ongoing daily activity. The most common is jogging or running (something we can do even without a club membership) though the standard health club has a great assortment of weight machines along with bicycles and treadmills. These were for the most part all originally designed for people recovering from surgery. Therefore, being all-pro to start using them is hardly necessary. All that really needs to be done is to use them at a comfortable level every day without fail. That is a function of will and is sure to build strength over time.
Even though this all may be no more than common sense, many of us will still insist that we cannot get into a fitness lifestyle because of either a lack of strength or know how. That may seem unlikely in a day and age of handicapped Olympics and seemingly endless wellness options via internet access, but it still is true. We simply contrive endless excuses for not doing what we know we should. These are just part of the mental arsenal we let remain active against us.
In part we do this because of the numerous changes needed to make the switch from sedentary grocery store food normality to a fitness lifestyle. However, it is also be because we just do not want to be fit badly enough. That may be offensive to some, and with good reason. The standard American lifestyle is getting people into their nineties and that number seems to creep up a little every year. So maybe normal is not all that bad.
True, perhaps. But for those to look good by the time they get into their nineties , there should be some talk about desire. We need to know what will really get us going with a refusal to stop for anything or anyone. All of us know we have passions within us for some things, but far too many of us know that this is not there when it comes to gluten-free eating, supplement dosing and daily workouts. How can that be less so only when it comes to fitness?
The answer is different for each person, That is why we must all first look within to find out. That means turning off the cell phone, radio, TV and computer while being alone--like very early in the morning or late at night. Then all we have left is the voices in our heads. Seldom do these ever say anything very supportive, which is why we prefer all of the other noises in our environment.. But they have to be listened to in order that we can find a way of either ignoring them or satisfying their demands. Then and only then are we in a position to experience a greater desire for what we really want. Then and only then can we do something about it.
For further thought on fitness desire order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Fitness Not a Quick Fix
Be
not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing
still.
Chinese Proverb
We all expect immediate results. That is just part of the age we live in. Communication is fast. Food is immediately available. Ideas are at our finger tips. New drugs are always getting approved. Whatever we need can be taken care of with an email, a doctor visit or a drive through the check out lane at McDonald's, or just waiting for tomorrow's new advancement.
The same is true when it comes to our bodies. There is always the possibility of liposuction. There are the extreme make-over people who can turn us into magazine attractive as if over night. There is the possibility that an electric device can cause the equivalent of a thousand abdominal contractions just by plugging it in. And, maybe tomorrow, there just may be a way of altering the fat gene.
Moreover, for those who have had good experiences with athletics in high school, there is the memory of the physical transformation which came by the end of a summer of serious weight-lifting. In light of all this, how can anyone dare to insist that fitness will take at least six months--maybe longer-- to just get off the ground?
The truth is that unless we are sixteen we are no longer of high school age. Too, unless we are financially well-off, we probably cannot afford an extreme makeover. That is typically not covered by insurance. Nor could we take off sixty days to go through all of the procedures. Also, as of the present date, there is not an effective fat burner which will shed twenty pounds by the next morning. Even if there were, there is not another which would keep the weight from returning by the end of the month. And, as of yet, there is not a fat gene-altering drug. Nor is there the hope that it will be affordable if, or when, it gets approved.
Thus, the supposed easy answers will not work. They do not even exist. All there really is for any of us is time and good old fashioned hard work. That means daily effort over at least six months without any deviations. In other words, what is required is six months of daily exercise, adequate supplementation and a commitment to a low fat low sugar, preferably gluten-free diet.
Those are the factors needed to make gradual changes. And, it is these gradual changes that we should really care about. Why? Because they have the strong likelihood of actually lasting. Much faster dramatic changes (in under a month, for instance) are simply too hard on the whole system and characteristically backfire with a vengeance (yo-yo phenomenon.) It is as if a part of us does not want to be any different than we are. Even if we insist that we want to be entirely different, that we do not like what we see in the mirror, this other part of us is comfortable, complacent, adequately functioning, and adamant that everybody else should like us just the way we are. That is us at an unconscious level.
At a more conscious level today, we are enslaved to new time tables. As stated before, these are the product of the age we live in. They are referred to as instant gratifications--means whereby we really can get what we want very quickly. Their prevalence influences our senses of how long we give something before we say that it is not working.
Thirty years ago, it never was that way. There was no internet; there were far fewer fast food places; letters and phone calls were the best way to stay in touch; medicine was only dimly aware of radical physique and figure altering procedures; new drugs were far less prevalent. Back then we knew we had to simply allow for some time before physical changes would happen. Everyone knew that. But today, it is different.
This is the reason that many of us fear committing ourselves to fitness. Today, we believe that it will simply take too long--a reality that should not be. On this, we are sure that everyone would agree. That means us, our families, our friends and even the person on the street. We all know this. Therefore, we avoid getting into anything that takes more than a short period--something which causes us to do what we fear the most-- simply quitting, probably for the third or worse time.
What should we do in light of all of this? We should face our fear. That is the only answer. Saying that it does not exist or will not exist is a waste of energy. Hoping that it will not ever be there is dreaming. It will be; and it will be largely because of the age we live in. Refusing to recognize this is the same as living in denial--something our present age has deemed not only absurd, but potentially harmful.
Therefore, what we must do is simply say I am afraid of things taking too long and therefore I will refuse to even try at anything which might make some significant changes over time. The effect of such an assertion usually is one of laughter. How could we ever be so unrealistic? But that is how we think; and that is why the internal rhetoric just may be enough to make us simply bite the bullet and stay with a fitness routine for at least six months, if not six years.
The proverb above supports all that : we should never fear going slowly, only standing still. How timely, even if dating from the sixth century BC. How much this says about us as human beings. We have always been afraid of gradual change. It is just that today this is even more so because things are so much better!
Fear not gradual change; fear only standing still. So says the ancient proverb. Yet, perhaps, the saying is not all that helpful. Therefore a better better aphorism might be Fear whatever you like; just refuse to let it hold you back.
For further thought on staying at it in spite of everything order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Chinese Proverb
We all expect immediate results. That is just part of the age we live in. Communication is fast. Food is immediately available. Ideas are at our finger tips. New drugs are always getting approved. Whatever we need can be taken care of with an email, a doctor visit or a drive through the check out lane at McDonald's, or just waiting for tomorrow's new advancement.
The same is true when it comes to our bodies. There is always the possibility of liposuction. There are the extreme make-over people who can turn us into magazine attractive as if over night. There is the possibility that an electric device can cause the equivalent of a thousand abdominal contractions just by plugging it in. And, maybe tomorrow, there just may be a way of altering the fat gene.
Moreover, for those who have had good experiences with athletics in high school, there is the memory of the physical transformation which came by the end of a summer of serious weight-lifting. In light of all this, how can anyone dare to insist that fitness will take at least six months--maybe longer-- to just get off the ground?
The truth is that unless we are sixteen we are no longer of high school age. Too, unless we are financially well-off, we probably cannot afford an extreme makeover. That is typically not covered by insurance. Nor could we take off sixty days to go through all of the procedures. Also, as of the present date, there is not an effective fat burner which will shed twenty pounds by the next morning. Even if there were, there is not another which would keep the weight from returning by the end of the month. And, as of yet, there is not a fat gene-altering drug. Nor is there the hope that it will be affordable if, or when, it gets approved.
Thus, the supposed easy answers will not work. They do not even exist. All there really is for any of us is time and good old fashioned hard work. That means daily effort over at least six months without any deviations. In other words, what is required is six months of daily exercise, adequate supplementation and a commitment to a low fat low sugar, preferably gluten-free diet.
Those are the factors needed to make gradual changes. And, it is these gradual changes that we should really care about. Why? Because they have the strong likelihood of actually lasting. Much faster dramatic changes (in under a month, for instance) are simply too hard on the whole system and characteristically backfire with a vengeance (yo-yo phenomenon.) It is as if a part of us does not want to be any different than we are. Even if we insist that we want to be entirely different, that we do not like what we see in the mirror, this other part of us is comfortable, complacent, adequately functioning, and adamant that everybody else should like us just the way we are. That is us at an unconscious level.
At a more conscious level today, we are enslaved to new time tables. As stated before, these are the product of the age we live in. They are referred to as instant gratifications--means whereby we really can get what we want very quickly. Their prevalence influences our senses of how long we give something before we say that it is not working.
Thirty years ago, it never was that way. There was no internet; there were far fewer fast food places; letters and phone calls were the best way to stay in touch; medicine was only dimly aware of radical physique and figure altering procedures; new drugs were far less prevalent. Back then we knew we had to simply allow for some time before physical changes would happen. Everyone knew that. But today, it is different.
This is the reason that many of us fear committing ourselves to fitness. Today, we believe that it will simply take too long--a reality that should not be. On this, we are sure that everyone would agree. That means us, our families, our friends and even the person on the street. We all know this. Therefore, we avoid getting into anything that takes more than a short period--something which causes us to do what we fear the most-- simply quitting, probably for the third or worse time.
What should we do in light of all of this? We should face our fear. That is the only answer. Saying that it does not exist or will not exist is a waste of energy. Hoping that it will not ever be there is dreaming. It will be; and it will be largely because of the age we live in. Refusing to recognize this is the same as living in denial--something our present age has deemed not only absurd, but potentially harmful.
Therefore, what we must do is simply say I am afraid of things taking too long and therefore I will refuse to even try at anything which might make some significant changes over time. The effect of such an assertion usually is one of laughter. How could we ever be so unrealistic? But that is how we think; and that is why the internal rhetoric just may be enough to make us simply bite the bullet and stay with a fitness routine for at least six months, if not six years.
The proverb above supports all that : we should never fear going slowly, only standing still. How timely, even if dating from the sixth century BC. How much this says about us as human beings. We have always been afraid of gradual change. It is just that today this is even more so because things are so much better!
Fear not gradual change; fear only standing still. So says the ancient proverb. Yet, perhaps, the saying is not all that helpful. Therefore a better better aphorism might be Fear whatever you like; just refuse to let it hold you back.
For further thought on staying at it in spite of everything order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
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