The Greatest Wealth is Health (Virgil)

As we enter the new year we all tend to make resolutions, or commitments.  As we know, the gyms become super crowded for a few months, and then the crowds start to thin out by the end of February. Let’s not be one of those quitters!

As the quote above says, the best gift of wealth you can give yourself is health.   We don’t need to be super thin, or super cut, or super strong.  We just need to be healthy. We can’t give up in February because we don’t look like the other guy.  We have to think about the good we are doing for ourselves and our insides.  Even if we look a little flabby, the benefit of exercise on your heart, your bones, and your emotions is well documented.  The key to good health is exercise.  It wards off all kinds of diseases, illness, and even depression.   Exercise not only changes your body, but also changes your mood and your attitude.  So we can’t quit.

When you start your new routine in January, set a goal.   This goal can be weight loss, or  increasing the amount of weight you can lift, or how many days per week you will go to the gym.  It can be lowering your blood pressure,  improving your heart rate, or dropping a clothing size.  It can be whatever YOU want it to be.   When you reach your goal, don’t quit – keep going!   You either can set another goal to reach, or work to maintain the goal you have reached.  And don’t be discouraged if it takes some time to reach your goal.  This is where many people give up.  Don’t have unrealistic expectations about the time to reach your goal.  Just work one day at a time towards the goal, and you will get there.  Will it be easy?  No!   You have work for what you want to achieve.  But the end results are worth it!  Do it for yourself, and your body (and mind) will thank you!

Sometimes it helps to share your resolutions which will make you more likely to stick to it.  Tell a friend or relative.   Or feel free to let me know by your comments – I will promise to nag you year-round to stick to it!

Hoping you all have a wonderful and safe New Year!

 

 

Pleasure or Pain?

Exercise can be such a pain, literally.   Sometimes I wonder why I do it.   Then after I do it, I remember why – it is a pleasure to feel the pain.   Not pain that really hurts, but the pain of your muscles as they grow.  The pain you feel when you stretch the day after a good workout and you feel your muscles ache.  The pain in your glutes when you walk up the stairs after a series of lunges or squats.   Those pains bring me pleasure, because I know that I am doing something good for myself.  

I have recently joined a new gym.  The median age of this gym population is probably 55.   There are many children, but there are many more seniors.   There are three pools, so it is popular with both age groups.  Not so popular is the actual gym.   They offer a variety of classes, but the instructors are all 30 something and super fit.  The workouts that they offer, whether in cycling or strength training, are very difficult.   They are especially difficult for the older generation.

But week after week we all show up and we struggle through the class.  Yesterday I did a strength training class that was more like Cross Fit.  I was so tired by the time I finished, and honestly was a little nauseous.  But I smiled all the way home, with a true sense of pleasure at my accomplishment.  And today, I can feel every muscle in my body protesting as I move around.   But I am headed back to the gym for a nice long swim to stretch out my muscles.

 

There is sincere truth to the adage “No Pain, No Gain”.   I truly feel pleasure in the pain because I know that I am doing something for my health.  I am staying strong and fighting off diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and all the other joys that come with age.    I embrace the pain so that I can feel the pleasure.

Remember, it will hurt.   It will take time and dedication.  It will take time and sacrifice. But the end result is so worth it so don’t give up!
Pleasure