Just Do It
In the fields of body building and fitness, just do it generally refers to simply doing a workout. It is a sometimes necessary comment from a personal trainer to a client who may be wondering if he or she is really in need of a workout today. That is true when negative thoughts seem to be all-pervasive.These might be over anything from over-sleeping to wondering if they will ever see a difference in the mirror.
The most important thing for fitness or athletic success is consistency. That means doing it everyday of the week, not just every other day or when you feel like it or when you are strong enough to keep from quitting early.Just do it is the best thing to hear when the voices of hesitation become too loud and clear..
Just do it can extend to diet and supplementation as well. Just stop at the second helping; just buy the bottle of multi-vitamins, just take the green tea capsules; and just do what a future medalist would do are the phrases which should drown out all of the other whispers of fitness doubt.
Surely one does not need a PhD in athletics to know that a person who never misses at his or routine will be in better shape after a year's training than will be the one who comes up with one excuse after another. Does this really require further thought or a graduate school study? Granted, any or all of the reasons for not doing the right thing seem all-pressing and right at the time. But they never prove to have been the best counsel in the long run. Who would ever believe that a Michael Phelps or a Dara Torres would work out only when he or she felt like it, splurged on Big Macs to celebrate a victory, or cut back on their supplements because they were getting low on cash?
Intuitively, we all know that champions are machine-like in their doing of the same right things over and over again.That is ultimately what makes them exceptional. But they were not necessarily that way when first starting out. What is seldom talked about, for example, is that some of them were as erratic and slovenly as far too many of us still are.The peerless Jack Lalanne is the best example. He confesses to having been a very out of shape sugar addict over eighty years ago.
What should the average person do when he or she feels too tired to workout today, too broke to buy the vitamins or too much of in need of a splurge to stay away from the Golden Arches? The average person should just do his or her fitness routine regardless of how she or he thinks or feels. There is no other magic other than knowing that the siren call of your mind (the voices in your head) will shipwreck your program just as sure as it would have shipwrecked Ulysses in Homer's Odyssey.
Everyone knows this. The only trouble is that this dangerous siren call is beautiful, attractive,compelling. It is not repulsive,ugly or even unreasonable.That is why you, like Homer's hero, must be tied to the mast to keep from diving overboard. Then and only then will you stay on course.
The good news is that once you are far enough away from the sirens' voices you can be made just as happy with the sound of the waves hitting against your hull. That's what accompanies the second wind while working out or the morning after a splurge, when you are the only one who said no to the Big Macs. The same is true when your jeans again look the way they ought, or, even better, when you need smaller ones.
For more thought on the enjoyment of fitness dedication order my book Think and Grow Fit.
About the Author
Obese 45 years ago; state champion power lifter 1978; in better shape today at 62 than when on swim team in high school
http://blog.foreverfitness.info (subscribe for weekly fitness updates)
Author of "Think and Grow Fit" the no hype guide to getting fit and staying that way forever
http://www.foreverfitness.info (6.00 ebook or 15.95 softcover from publisher I_Universe, Amazon or Barnes and Noble)
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