“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” – Art Turock.
I meet people all of the time that show an 'interest' in fitness & health, very few actually commit themselves to it. How many people have you met that start training for a while, go on a new diet for a while, only then to “take a break”; for a while...
These people will never see real results.
In the first few weeks they feel and see a change within themselves, which is quite motivating. As the weeks progress, they begin to realise that to attain whatever their goals are will take much longer (and more effort) than they first anticipated, and their motivation wanes, and they “take a break”. Thinking they need to re-assess, to be able to come back with renewed vigour. More often than not, the break lasts much longer than planned, and if they do manage to return, they have to start at the beginning again.
These people are part of the quick-fix society we live in nowadays. No longer are people prepared to wait for anything. They want it now. Credit enables people to have whatever they want now, and pay for it 'later'. That sort of mentality crosses over into every other aspect of their lives, including health & fitness. They want immediate results. The problem is there are many charlatans out there who promise quick-fix results in health and fitness – body transformations, weight-loss clubs, etc. People do experience results with these methods, which is what makes them popular. But how many people do you know who use these transformation or weight-loss clubs over and over again? Yo-yo training and dieting is bad for you! I am not a fan of body transformations, or weight-loss clubs, because the results are so often temporary. If you have to join these clubs or transformation programs more than once – it didn't work! Eating right & training for a while, only to then undo all of the hard work by returning to unhealthy habits, or even worse – binging – is bad for you.
Health, fitness, strength, mobility... these things are a lifestyle choice. If you keep bouncing back and forth from health & fitness to being unhealthy & unfit – stop kidding yourselves. You ARE unhealthy & unfit. If you only smoke cigarettes on the weekends, are you a smoker or a non-smoker? You would be a smoker of course. The only way to be a non-smoker is never to smoke again.
Quality of life is not determined by doughnuts. If your quality of life hinges on being able to consume unhealthy junk and lobotomising yourself in front of the television, your problems are bigger than you realise.
I have made the choice to be fit, strong, mobile & healthy. My quality of life is better for it. I am committed. It isn't always easy, but it is worthwhile. You need to decide for yourself if you are committed – or not. My training, my diet, is constant. I do not train and eat healthy for 2 or 3 months, then take 2 or 3 months off. I stay in shape and I stay healthy all of the time.
As Vince Lombardi said: “Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”
So are you 'interested' in being fit & healthy, or are you 'committed'?
Challenge everything, especially yourself.
Alex Kay Grimmer.
