What does fitness mean to you? Wikipedia says it’s a general state of good health, usually as a result of exercise and nutrition. Fitness can mean a variety of things to different populations. For me, fitness means feeling good in my skin, being able to do anything I physically want to do, and feel great when I do it. Looking in the mirror naked and liking what I see is important to me. It can be scary at first, but you should try it! Fit does not necessarily mean skinny.
I have trained lots of people over the last 38 years, this includes men, women, kids, ages 10-25, and seniors over 90. Fitness can mean being able to go up stairs without using the railing to finally being able to do a body weight pull-up. Both of these feats for some people can take months to accomplish, yet both feel just as awesome when the goal has been met.
It’s important to know what fitness means to you. You don’t have to be training for a triathlon, a marathon, or be a body builder to feel fit or have fitness goals.
Over the years I have had different fitness expectations of myself. One of my first goals in college was to not gain my “freshman 15.” I thought, “There is no way I will walk to class everyday up this huge hill to my dorm and still gain weight.” WRONG! I gained fifteen pounds and more. Poor eating and sleeping habits, drinking, and partying took me over the top! One of my next goals down the line was to train for the Gate River Run 15k road race. The goal was just to finish. Once I completed the training and the race, I realized running wasn’t for me. So, I moved on to other types of fitness and now I am hooked on tennis.
You can have so many different types of fitness goals.
I am a personal trainer. I should be “skinny” and muscular. Not everyone fits into the same mold. Not everyone is blessed with great genetics. Not everyone wants to eat perfectly clean all the time and not drink any alcohol to have the “perfect” or “ideal” body. What matters is that you take the best possible care of your body that you can. You only have one body for the rest of your life.
Do you feel great? Are you able to do most of the activities that you want to do in life? Do something physical everyday. Look in the mirror naked and if you aren’t quite sure if you like what you see, do something everyday to better your body or change the way you feel about yourself in a more positive light. Be good to yourself. Be what fitness means to you.