Nothing is impossible, if you try. When you were a few months old, walking was impossible; you watched your parents walk around on two feet, and you thought, “Wow, I’ll never be able to do that.” You also stared at the ceiling fan for hours and thought shaking a rattle was the greatest music ever, so you had lower standards. If you’re able bodied, you don’t give walking a second thought, and you just put one foot in front of the other. It’s that simple.
We’re older now; we set our standards higher. With all aspects of life, we want to do as well as possible. That includes straight A’s, president of school clubs, helpful in the community, find a great job; don’t settle for average, be the best. If you’re working hard to succeed academically, financially, socially, then why settle for average physically? Settling doesn’t make sense, but 64% of Americans are overweight or obese, so it’s obvious that below average is acceptable. Some people are so out of shape, so far gone, that they think being healthy is impossible. They’ve decided that it’s impossible to be healthy, and the physical exertion won’t make a bit of difference. Ironically, it has nothing to do with physical exertion, but instead mental effort. Effort seems to a garbage term in todays physical society, and we’re content sitting on our asses the entire day, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and calling it exercise. Of the minority of people who do exercise, many of them decide that walking the treadmill, running through a machine circuit, and and sitting in the sauna is a great investment of time. Sure, you’re doing great things for your body, but you need to set the bar higher.
You should leave the gym sweating, shaking, out of breath, and feeling a little nauseous. It sounds sadistic, and while it might not be entirely necessary, it helps you set the bar higher. There are people who watch the P90X infomercial 10 times before they decide to pick up the phone and order the DVD’s. When they start, they think it’s hard, but when they finish, they say to themselves, ‘Wow, that was easy.’ Hopefully they continue on to a legitimate strength-training program, which begins to feel hard. Reflecting back on P90X, they realize it’s child’s play. They understand that what they have done is easy, but never forget that at the time it was difficult. They stop wearing gloves to the gym, and start wearing chalk. They forget about if their shoes match the shirt, and start pulling in their socks. They stop wiping down machines, and start dripping sweat in the squat rack. They look back at where they came from, and can laugh about where they were compared to where they are now.
Take a moment and think about how you exercise. Maybe you don’t do anything at all, and maybe you bust your ass when you get to the gym. That’s not what I’m interested in. What I care about is you making a change, and doing something better. I came across the video below last night, right as I was getting ready for bed. After watching it once, all I wanted to do was go to the gym; so I watched it again. It’s motivating as hell, and I find that it will help inspire people to push their limits, and prove the impossible.
Harold Gibbons 