There’s a tendency to believe that everything comes easy to fitness professionals. After all, the advertising shots for personal trainers and fitness models usually show us with giant smiles, full makeup, and our hair perfectly in place. We are the ones who motivate others, so we need to look like we’re at least enjoying ourselves.
And we do. I adore all the benefits that exercise gives me and wouldn’t want to live without it. Moreover, hearing that I’ve inspired someone else to exercise or clearing up questions or concerns for those who want to get started makes me giddy. I would give away free fitness advice all day long. (Shhhh…I do still need to make a living!)
But thinking that fitness professionals are automatically blessed with a never-ending supply of motivation and boundless energy would be a lie. We aren’t genetically predispositioned with more mojo than the rest of the world. It’s not always easy. We simply choose to work hard.
Personal confession: Today’s training run really tested my limits. I rose at 4 a.m. in order to get as many miles in as possible before the summer heat of Phoenix made training impossible or dangerous at the very least. The first couple miles were what they are every single time–klunky and awkward. Thank goodness I’m seasoned enough now to know that I always, always feel better after I’ve warmed up for a couple miles. And I did. In fact, I felt great for several miles and really proud of the conditioning I’ve built up over the past several weeks. But when the sun had risen and I was finishing the last hour in 90-degree heat, it was just tough. Really tough. I choose my commitments carefully, and because of that I take my goals very seriously. As in, once I set a goal, I don’t quit. Ever. And I’m proud to say I didn’t quit today. But boy, did I want to.
There is a certain degree to which motivation and positive self-talk can make a difficult physical goal less painful, particularly with shorter bouts of intensity. But the real maturity comes when you can no longer mask the difficulty and choose to continue anyway. When we commit, we commit to doing something whether it’s easy or not. For the last sixty minutes, I’d been telling myself things like, “You’ve got this. You’re almost there. You’ve come so far.” But, in fact, I wasn’t almost there. True, I had already logged a lot of miles, but I still had a long way to go. It was taking more mental energy that I didn’t have to try to convince myself that it was easy. For the last quarter I simply acknowledged the heat, the difficulty, the magnitude of my task, and told myself, “You’re going to be so glad you didn’t quit.” And then I ran. And ran. And ran some more. Somehow, I finished. I stumbled towards my car with wobbly legs and waited until I was stable enough to drive home and begin my recovery process.
Last week on the Facebook page I quoted Beverly Hills who shared on the blog rUnladylike,
“There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.”
And it’s true. Most valuable things in life–marriage, relationships, meaningful work–are at times both stabilizing and disruptive, strengthening and challenging, comforting and consuming, elating and daunting. The same is true for fitness, and the lessons and strength of character that it teaches are perhaps what I love most about it.
As a personal trainer, I hear excuses all day long. Reasons why people are too busy to work out, too important to make time, too lacking in motivation as though motivation was something you’re intrinsically born with–like the color of your eyes or the shape of your nose. I have heard many times, “I wish I had your willpower.” What these people fail to acknowledge is that willpower isn’t given to people. It’s earned.
While I certainly understand the challenges and stresses that everyday, fast-paced life presents in getting and staying fit, I am not somehow immune to them myself. I moved cross-country three times in three years to follow a spouse’s job market during the recession. I worked a full-time desk job, often including nights and weekends, for the first full year I started my company. We fostered and/or adopted three dogs with lots of needs over the past couple years. We bought a home. Volunteered. Tried to make time for family and friends.
I don’t say these things to show off, but to demonstrate that willpower is a conscious choice. Being fit holds more value to me than not being fit, so I consistently make choices to support that end. For the busy professional, being fit isn’t easy, but it is most definitely possible. Moreover, it’s simply a better way to live.
There are a precious few who are born with a special genetic ability to perform—your Kenyan runners, for example, some of the world-class athletes perhaps. There are those who are quite simply made of different stuff. (I am not one of them, regrettably.) We may have different starting points, but the effort expended is the same. Maybe simply running 26.2 miles or more could be easy for those folks, so they push themselves harder to win record times. It’s never easy for anyone.
And that’s the main point I want to make. Most of the people I work with on an everyday basis are business professionals or retirees looking to improve their general health—not to win any competitions. I think that’s great! I would never recommend a marathon or other extreme form of commitment to anyone who didn’t already have that desire—my number one goal is simply for people to be healthy and live better and longer. But it’s the same type of willpower required for all of us. We may possibly differ in our base levels because I’ve built up my fitness over a number of years. But for you, getting up early three times a week to go for a hike may take every bit as much willpower as my 18 miles did today. We all look different, but inside we feel the same. Sometime it requires sacrifices. Sometimes it’s not easy. But it is most definitely possible. And it is always worth it.
