Why bother to get fit?

Seems like a dumb question really, but let’s face it, we all quite like a quiet life and getting fit can be such hard work. Hard and sweaty 🙁  … It probably seems easier and better to just coast along, not bothering about fitness. Hmm … yeah, nice …

The thing is though, fitness is central to life. Because it’s central to health. If you’re unfit, you’re not healthy, almost by definition. And we get unfit not by making a decision, generally speaking, but by not making a decision. We just don’t see fitness as important enough to really spend time on, or think about in any great depth. If we did, we’d probably do something about it!

Overcoming inertia

If you’ve been considering the question of getting fit, and coming up with the answer that it just seems way too painful to contemplate, you might need to do something to overcome the inertia that’s stopping you making a move. Because that’s what it is – a question of inertia. You feel it’s too hard, or too painful, or too much trouble, and it feels really hard, like you’re trying to push a car uphill and you’ve left the handbrake on.

So how would you change things? Could start by changing the way you look at the situation. Don’t see it as a mountain to climb, more a stairway … and all you have to do is take the first step. Or don’t see it as having to do a workout every day, think of it in terms of two or three times a week. Or, if the thought of press ups or pull ups  or crunches makes you come out in a cold sweat, imagine spending just a minute or so doing a watered down version of any of the exercises that you find a bit scary.

Make a start

Probably the best way to overcome inertia, in this or anything else, is to take the bull by the horns and just make a start. I thought about starting a blog years ago, and again from time to time, but the thought of it always scared me a bit. I didn’t know how to create a blog. I didn’t know what to write about. I didn’t know if anybody would want to read it. In the end, I was fed up with thinking what might go wrong and I thought I’d just give it a go.

I buckled down and learnt enough about WordPress to put a blog together, not at all expertly, but hopefully adequately. I kept aditing the first few pages to try to make them look better, and to make the content read better. Whether I succeeded, I don’t know, but I’m giving it a shot.

Turns out I’ve got something to say after all! Again, whether it’s something anyone gives a damn about, that’s not really in my control, all I can do is put it out there. I’ve got ideas about fitness and health, and learning things, and being more organised and more successful. I’ve got ideas about being more prosperous too, specially since I’ve been interested in starting some kind of business for years and never really been successful at making a go of it. So, yes, there are a few things I can write about, and maybe some of them will be of interest to people who find this blog. Either way, I’ll keep writing, for a while anyway. Because I’ve made a start!

Start … to get fit

You can do the same with fitness, if you want. Just make a start. If you’ve never trained in your life, just do the simplest things you can think of. For example, you could spend a minute or so doing some deep breathing. And while you’re doing it, raise your arms up till you’re pointing directly up over your head, and then, as you breathe out, bring them slowly down to your sides, describing a semi-circle with each hand. Do that five or ten times, with your breathing, and you’ll feel the benefit right away.

You don’t need to force the breath in and out strongly, in fact that’s probably not a good idea, specially if you’ve never really exercised. Just do it a relaxed way. And feel the benefit. It’s not just a physical thing, you can actually feel your mind calming as you do this. And it’s so easy, anyone can do it. You don’t have to be an athlete to do it, or a gym rat, or a teenager. Anyone can do it.

Start small, then move on … if you want to

You could so something like this, and repeat it each morning for a week or so, and see how it goes. If you like how it feels, maybe think about adding something to your mini ‘workout’. You could try a few press ups (don’t panic!). If you want to give it a go, start by doing them with your hands on a table, or on a stool, or on the third or fourth stair up, anything to make it easier. Or you could do them on the floor, but on your knees, so you’re only supporting part of your bodyweight.

Doing a few this way can take the sting out of it, and be a gentle introduction to exercise. Who knows, you might even get to like it? 😉

If you’ve been kicking the idea of getting fit around for a while, but not getting anywhere with it, this might be the way to at least release the handbrake. You’ll still have to push the car, but you’ll have overcome that initial inertia. And that’s the thing that can be so hard to do. It could be what’s stopping you moving forward.

If you’ve never really exercised before, or if you’re coping with a physical problem, this could make all the difference. I don’t mean to urge you to try to get yourself superfit, but it would be nice to hear from someone who’s taken this onboard and made a start (with fitness, or with anything else).