(BlackFitness101.com) The hardest rep in life for most people is to move beyond their excuse-ridden attitudes and experience the fit and fabulous life that is theirs. As a coach, I believe that we have been divinely wired for a prosperous and long life. We have our part to play, though. We must make better nutrition choices; we must become more physically active. Before that happens, though, an attitude adjustment must take place.
In order to achieve a fit and fabulous lifestyle, we must move past the embedded attitudes that keep us grounded with poor health.
Here are the top five attitudes that keep people from becoming fit and fabulous.
Attitude#1
Fitness is Not for Me
Even before I became a fit pro in August of 2009, being fit was in my
blood. I had always been struck with a belief that fitness does a body, mind and spirit good. The notion that fitness just isn’t for you likely comes from the misguided belief that only people who want rock-hard bodies’ exercise. Nothing can be further from the truth! President John F. Kennedy launched the President’s Advisory Council on Physical Fitness in 1960; he noted that fitness is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
Being fit goes well beyond the physical, it also translates into a more robust mental and spiritual outlook, as well. We were designed for continuous physical activity; that’s why our ancestors roamed the plains in an eternal quest for food. The fact is fitness is for everyone; it’s just the way were wired!
Attitude#2
I Don’t Have Time
This attitude is probably the most often-cited. The ‘I-don’t-have-time’ excuse is as old as Methuselah. It’s not that you don’t have time; it’s that you don’t have will-power; you lack discipline and control and you mistake that for not having time. Better yet, it may be that you aren’t using the time you have wisely when it comes to pushing your body.
Here’s a question I always pose to those who claim not to have time: How much time do you spend watching television? The answer varies according to one’s favorite show. But let’s suppose you take one sixty-minute program and do one set of pushups or planks for each commercial break. This is using your time effectively and efficiently.
A wise person once said, if you don’t have time for your body now, your body won’t have time for you later.
Attitude#3
I Don’t Have the Money
The payoff of getting fit should never be measured in dollars and cents alone. Statistics show that most people walk away from their beginning of the year gym investment within five months. Why? The most common response cited is the cost. Yet what’s conveniently forgotten is the admonition of Dennis Waitley, Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted. Really it doesn’t cost you a cent to do pushups and squats or to walk the track a couple of times per week. The bigger payoff is pounds dropped, inches lost and, most importantly, the unbridled good feels one achieves from reaching one’s fitness goals.
Attitude#4
I Have an Injury
The injury attitude is just as pervasive as the money attitude. Let’s get real though. While there are certainly some exercises (most to the neck and lower back areas) that may exacerbate a present injury, the fact is our bodies are divinely wired to develop out of most of the commonly associated injuries that we suspect may be keep us trapped in idleness. The Greek philosopher Socrates may have been lamenting this attitude when he remarked, It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which is body is capable.
In other words, as your body strength increases, nagging injuries become a thing of the past. A strong body sheds both pounds and pesky injuries. In fact, a lot of the injuries people have sustained have come as a result of weak and poorly conditioned bodies. Get your body strong and watch how it moves past injury.
Attitude#5
If it’s My Time it’s My Time
Take care of your body, Jim Rohn once said. It’s the only place you have to live. I saved this nihilistic attitude for last because it is woven into the very fabric of how we see ourselves spiritually. This attitude is one of the worst casualties of negative conditioning in our community.
Why is the black community racked with heart disease, cancers and other metabolic-related syndromes? Largely because we believe that we have been ordained to this lot. We believe, quite nonsensically, that some unapproving enemy has stolen our health when in fact we have simply not practiced good health habits for most of our years on this earth. This ‘take-back-what-the-Devil-stole’ sentiment is one of the biggest purveyors of poor health in our community and it needs to be checked at once!
We must move past embedded attitudes that keep us from realizing good health.
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitefitnesscoaching.com.