From Nothing to Fit
You should be aware that I’m always on the hunt for informative fitness info. Proper fitness is something we should strive for everyday. Today, I discovered a great article concerning fitness in a interesting way. Definitely be sure to check out this content and let me know how you feel about it. This article is called From Nothing To Fit and you will see the full article published below for your convenience:
Editors Note: This is a contribution from Jake O’Callaghan of Slow Change and Zenteen.
Before my injury I was a pretty fit guy. I could knock out pushups and pull-ups and run a few miles with ease.
Developing fitness wasn’t hard for me, so I thought people who weren’t fit were simply lazy. When I became injured I became sedentary. I went from working out everyday to laying in bed. It was weeks before I could even walk. Months past before I could run again.
So I was starting out with Zero Fitness. My leg had no muscle and I had lost my endurance. It was like I was a couch potato who wanted to start building fitness. Coming back was incredibly hard. As I mentioned before, I thought people that weren’t fit were lazy. Not true. In fact, they probably are just as disciplined as I am.
Because starting is freaking hard. I know now why people fail again and again at becoming fit – it’s too hard to make fitness a habit. Before my injury, I was in shape and fitness was an ingrained habit, so it was easier.
So if becoming fit is hard, how does one make it a habit? I came up with a solution. Start slowly.
Walking
First I started walking. For week after week I walked everywhere I could. I walked around and around my neighborhood, up steps, and to places a short distance away. At first I hated walking. It quickly grew monotonous and I even stopped doing it for a few days. But I knew that walking was a very necessary first step to developing fitness.
So I made it fun. I focused on enjoying the moment, the breeze, the climate, being out in open air. My walks then became enjoyable, and I walked longer and longer as I built up endurance.
So the first step to fitness is walking. It’s easy on your body, and it can be a good workout. Start walking small distances and slowly increase. Walk everyday. Learn to enjoy walking.
Strength
My body had grown weak from surgery and laying in bed. I needed to strengthen it but I was discouraged. My leg had almost no muscle and my upper body had been reduced in strength.
So I started with the basics. I did pushups, squats, lunges, dips. I went as close as I could to the bar when doing a pull-up (eventually completing one). Only when I felt confident doing bodyweight exercises did I move on to weights.
Working out everyday quickly grew boring. I again wanted to quit. So I made things easier. Did it hurt my workout? Yes, but it allowed me to continue working out consistently which is what truly matters.
I slowly worked my way up, and as of today am over twice as strong with my surgical leg and upper body than before surgery.
Running
Running was painful. And it was discouraging to run two miles and feel like I was going to pass out. I knew that if I kept pushing myself I wouldn’t run consistently.
So I went slowly. I ran till I felt tired than stopped. Next day I would run a little further and so on. In only a few months I was in better shape than I was before. The reason was I ran consistently. Starting slowly and gradually building allowed me to be motivated to run everyday.
The Key
So the key to starting fitness is to go slowly. It doesn’t matter how slow or for how little distance you run. It doesn’t matter how little you lift. If you slowly build, you will workout consistently. And you will get much better over time.
Developing lifetime fitness doesn’t happen overnight. If you start to fast, you will probably fail. Start slow, be consistent, and you too can become fitter than you’ve been in your entire life.
Jake O’Callaghan is passionate about teaching and helping people change. Slowchange is his blog on making simple, lasting change. zenteen is a blog he created to help teens simplify and deal with the crazy teenage life.
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