Last week I had the pleasure of going on the road with my friend and ex-business partner Dimitri. The occasion was work in the Florida Keys - and yes, we do actually work down there. We call on many of the same customers, so we've become accustomed to carpooling to save a few bucks and enjoy each other's company.
While driving south on the turnpike, west of Miami, Dimitri expressed his discontent with his growing mid-section. As you can see from some pictures below, he's still in good shape. However, he's aware of a trend that has begun, namely adding a pound or two a year mostly around the middle. Recently turning 40, he'd prefer to be 20 lbs lighter. He and I have had this discussion before.
"How do I get myself back in shape?" he asks. I used to suggest he try some running, cycling, and weightlifting. He doesn't like those things. You see, Dimitri's a board sport guy. He loves to surf, kite board, and occasionally snowboard. And he's very good at these things. But because he doesn't have large amounts of time to pursue these activities, combined with the fickleness of mother nature, it's challenging for a hardworking dad (he and Iske have a 22 month old girl) to maintain fitness on these activities. Fortunately, he mostly follows a very healthy Greek/Mediterranean diet (not from any book but from upbringing). But it's pretty hard, impossible actually, to maintain your fighting weight if there's no training in the picture.
Which brings me to point #1. The absolute best way to gain fitness and maintain your ideal weight is through exercise. Check that - the only way to gain fitness and maintain your ideal weight is through exercise. Yes diet is important, but diet alone won't get you there. As a sub point, the only way (ONLY WAY) to change your metabolism is through exercise. Ridiculously simple points, or laws if you will, but I find it amazing how many of us expect results while ignoring these truths.
So what's a guy like Dimitri to do? Well at least when he's with me in Key West, he has the opportunity to do the "10:10 Anywhere Workout". I've mentioned before this calisthenics routine I created in response to some of my hotel stays. But rather than exercising in a boring hotel room, we take it to Smathers Beach on the east side of the island.
I parked at the beach access point where a small pavilion awaits us. Do you notice something unusual about the parking meter here? This kinda stuff happens to me all the time. Seriously.
At the pavilion we start exercising from the bottom up in complimentary movements. Toe raise/calf raise. Squat/lunge. All the way up to push-up/pull-up.
Here's our view from the pavilion. Notice the "campers"?
Here we improvise with a coconut tree.
As I've said, it's a great workout, and someday I'll create a mini-book on it. But it's not my point. The point is I have a very athletic fit friend who doesn't like exercise. And because he's well into a career and family, it's starting to show. And he doesn't like it.
Tony Robbins tells us that we're all motivated by the pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of pain. Has Dimitri reached a point where the pain of knowing he's not in his best shape outweighs his pleasure of not exercising?
I have no clue. I hate to say it, but I'm not encouraged by his prospects until he finds some kind of physical activity that he'll do and enjoy and that's not controlled by wind and waves.. He has a friend named George who's a personal trainer. He called him on our way back and George is gonna come by and hopefully get Dimitri going on a program he'll follow.
If he's unable to find an exercise routine, like many, he'll eventually get fed up and go on a deprivation diet to lose the 20 lbs. Then he'll go back to the old routine of eating and not exercising and adding 1 or 2 pounds (of fat) each year. Certainly, there are worse things than the dieting yo-yo that can happen to a person - but this is clearly not what I'd call 10:10 abundance.
I have a neighbor who experienced the pain of not being in shape - he had a heart attack. Thankfully, as heart attacks go, it was minor, and he didn't experience any significant heart muscle damage. But it sure woke him up. This scare made the pain of avoiding certain unhealthy foods and activities (smoking) quite easy. As much as I tried to get him on a regular exercise routine before the heart attack, he still hasn't made any new fitness habits after this episode.
Dimitri, my neighbor, you, and I all live in a world of laws. Like the law of gravity that says you're gonna look like a pear after adding too much blubber. Or the law of attraction that says those cookies you've been craving will end up in your belly. The most elemental of those is the law of cause and effect. Exercise and good eating (cause) result in abundant energy and health (effect). Who are we to think we can ignore this law? But we do don't we?
If we complain that we're overweight, get sick all the time, are lacking in energy, etc. but don't exercise and eat well, aren't we ignoring one of nature's greatest laws? The degree to which we choose to ignore this law as it pertains to our health will determine our lack of good health. Garbage in - garbage out as the saying goes. Here's another preaching point: everything counts and it's all cumulative. Remember that the next time you're presented with a decision of health and wellness.
"Dude, are you lecturing me?" you ask. I'm lecturing you and me. And I'm trying to address, as frankly as possible, the dilemma many of us face.
I have good news though. It's another law. This one comes from Sir Isaac Newton and his laws of motion. It's called the law of inertia and it has two parts. The first part says "a body that is not moving will not move until a net force acts upon it". Kinda speaks to the dilemma thing doesn't it?
The second part says "a body in motion tends to remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force". That's the good news! Once you get your body moving, it'll stay moving. We just have to avoid all those outside forces that would create excess friction to slow us down.
So the answer to our dilemma is to find a "net force" that will get your body moving. Preferably that force would come in the form of a workout partner, a trainer, or me vs. your doctor. Together you (we) will get your body in motion. Then you can begin to enjoy the fruits of that first law I mentioned - cause and effect.
So simple, yet so hard.
Here's my last point. You have to be the cause. You have to make the phone call, send the email, or reply to the blog. You have to join the gym, join the club, or sign up for the race. You have to say no to the poor food choices and yes to the good ones. Start putting the laws of the universe to work for you, not against you.
