Do you have the will to lift?

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Of the many magnificent purposes served by including weight training in your life, one great aspect of that decision often goes man with dumbbelluncelebrated. Some of you who have been “lifting” for a while have not completely understood it in the past, and others who are hesitant to begin a strengthening regime today do not fully grasp it now. But I have spoken of it to you repeatedly and emphatically. It is the grand truth that of all the wonderful benefits that may come to pass by spending time “pumping iron”, none is as important to you as is the objective of injury prevention. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” – Benjamin Franklin

Good health is such a wondrous blessing. You know that it is not by mere chance that one experiences what you know as good health. No longer can one define such a condition as simply living disease free. Chronic aches and pains in the body, anywhere from head to toe, do nothing to contribute to a happy, healthy lifestyle. Limited flexibility and range of motion at various joints generally do not promote a smile on your face as well. You know that being tired, sore, and stiff on a consistent basis is not an enjoyable state of existence. I know many of you who regularly pop pills for occasional back flare ups or even daily discomfort. I understand that some of you receive injections in your knees to quell the raging fire you feel. Others will try anything advertised on their computer or TV screens which promises relief. You do not have to accept this as part of the aging process of life. I am not offering you a panacea, but a reasonable alternative to pills, needles, and chiropractors and other temporary fixes. Think of all the money you have thrown away and you’re still complaining about your body hurting.

I am mystified that far too many suffer from a distressing misconception regarding strength training. “Oh, it’s not my thing.” “It’s far too intimidating.” “I’m too old for that.” “I’ll only hurt myself worse if I try that.” “That’s just for athletes.” “I can’t afford to do that.” “It causes too much pain.” “I’m too overweight.” “I don’t want to look like one of those body builders.” This in spite of the fact, that your own primary physicians and friends or family members have recommended you engage in it. This in spite of the fact, that many of you have even gone through rehabilitation for an injury, not caused in the gym by the way. You utilized some form of weight training during the course of your time with a physical therapist. Was it easy? Of course it was not. That is one of the major reasons why medical professionals, who I train, tell me that people quit their rehab sessions. You don’t like pain of any type, do you? Well, choose to give up, and invariably, due to the ensuing frustration you eventually end up back in the doc’s office. You have to work hard! “It is better to try to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened.” – old Proverb

So, what is to be done? Resistance is futile. Your reluctance to apply a resistance to your muscles will over time result in further deterioration of what strength you do possess while increasing your vulnerability. Your unfounded fears will not add years of increased physical productivity to your life but rather detract from them. Your rationalization will never lead to the realization of your desire to become more than a couch potato when you get home from work. Do you have the will to lift yourself off your rear end and put an end to all of the whining? There are far too many ways in which you can hurt yourself during the course of a day for me to consider listing them all. However, perhaps you strained your rotator cuff while painting a ceiling recently, or felt something akin to an uncomfortable twinge in your lower back when you lifted up your child. Maybe you pulled a muscle extricating your golf bag from the trunk of your vehicle before you even moved a muscle on the course, or maybe you are wishing you had a full-time gardener because your hands and knees are saying they’ve had enough. It could be that carrying those grocery bags up the steps triggered a painful reaction somewhere, or you’ve simply been on your feet all day at work and your entire body is screaming at you. The pain in your neck and upper back might not be due to an annoying, stressful situation in your life involving your significant other, but rather due to the significant amount of time you situate yourself in front of the computer typing away your stress. While fighting pain, you tie your shoes, or wash your hair, or scratch your back, or fold the laundry. “Calgon, take me away!” Although a good soak may feel wonderful for a moment, the truth is, your body requires more than a short hiatus from some activities. Your life does not often afford you the luxury of slowing down or even a day off. Unfortunately, a relaxing bubble bath every night is never going to happen. While absolutely necessary, even the marvelously restorative power of sleep is not sufficient for you.

“Pain is weakness leaving the body.” – Marine Corps General Lewis B. Puller The self-inflicted pain of working out is absolutely nothing compared to the pain from neglect of your body or from injury. If you choose to do nothing, than absolutely nothing will change! Through weight training, your weak areas can become strong. The “pain” in training is only momentary. Without the appropriate attention, the agony of your weakened back or shoulder may become permanent. Prevention is the key to avoiding last minute intervention.

The type of prevention I am referring to does require a commitment, but not so much as to be overwhelming. With a minimum of two days per week of some form of training, you can begin the process of fortifying yourself against the agents of injury which often attack the weak points in your body’s structure. Ideally, I would love to see you performing a strengthening routine on three non-consecutive days each week. I promise you that if you receive proper instruction, and pay heed to that, you will not hurt yourself when weight training. I would be thrilled if you were less reliant on the pills and needles. I know that you will enjoy becoming active again without having to be overly cautious due to fear of the unknown. “There is only one ultimate and effectual preventative for the maladies to which the flesh is heir, and that is death.” – Harvey Williams Cushing While you are yet still alive and hope to be kicking, I exhort you, “Don’t be a “dumbbell”! Start strength training today and prevent tomorrows’ woos!

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HOPE can CHANGE Your Direction

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“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and often writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is, with what he hoped to make it.”-J.M Barrie

Dead end, no outlet

Have you been intending to create a “new” you for some time, but just cannot seem to find the time or the motivation to do something about it? I’m sure you are familiar with the old saying about the road of good intentions. Throughout the course of your journey, that is one road you can’t afford to venture down. There is a flashing neon sign located at its starting point which does its best to deter you. For this way is the path littered in abundance with the fearful, the procrastinators, and the broken down. Many travelers with the best of intentions figure this detour might be a temporary rest stop. Some may not even realize at first that they have made a wrong turn. But this trip is headed down a one-way street to nowhere, hurling its unsuspecting visitors onto a fast track to getting off track. Though returning is always an option, most who end up here find a quick U-turn almost impossible to navigate.

Recently, a participant in a health and wellness seminar I was privileged to conduct, questioned his ability to bring to pass lasting changes in his life, or in a sense, re-write his personal story. Given his family’s history of serious health problems for several generations, his ongoing struggles to overcome his own, and the confusing and quite often contradicting information concerning the best method to produce a much desired change, he simply asked if he was beyond hope. “Where there is no hope there can be no endeavor.”-Samuel Johnson

As I looked around the room, my mind opened and showed me the faces of countless people who had expressed the very same sentiments to me over the years. In those brief seconds, my heart swelled with compassion. I knew that I must do everything that I could to lift up this downtrodden individual. I desired to rekindle the hope within him, to enlarge his vision of his personal potential in order that he might feel an increase in the courage needed to continue his journey. I realized in that moment of reflection all who were gathered had heard the same clarion call, the call to learn to change, to grow, and to progress. Each of them wished to find a degree of happiness they’d never known before by coming unto a simpler, healthier, optimistic way of living.

There is not one whose physical being is ever completely beyond repair; not a single one whose past destructive habits cannot be cast away; not one who has been touched with sorrow or grief or frustration who can’t soon feel some degree of relief, joy, and jubilation.

I shared with the assembly a creed which I had committed to memory. “I Choose…to live by choice, not by chance, to be motivated, not manipulated, to be useful, not used, to make changes, not excuses, to excel, not compete. I choose self-esteem, not self-pity. I choose to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinions of others.”-unknown author It is a very serious responsibility to look within yourself and assess the depths of your convictions and the truth of your conduct. For what grand purpose are you desiring a transformation of your physical appearance? Do you believe in yourself, even just a little? Do you believe in the infinite power of hope? You’ve done some things over and over again and yet have not been able to produce a different result. You are not insane. But are you afraid of trying something brand new, something completely different, something more challenging and uncomfortable? Can you clearly identify the pattern of your mistakes? Can you forgive yourself ? Are you willing to accept the reality that all things will not be within your power to control? Will you embrace your personal duty to do your absolute best? Are you sufficiently humble to understand that you can in no way proceed without assistance? Are you ready to make your changes visible to the world? Do you know that it will be impossible to hide the “better way” of life that you may choose? Do you know that others may hurl obstacles taking the form of hatred, jealousy, and temptation your way as your conversion to a newness of life begins? Are you willing to do this even with the foreknowledge that your physical transformation will not be lasting? I encourage you to honestly search and ponder for the answers to these questions. To the gentleman at the seminar and to you, I promise that no one is a hopeless case. You can become a new man or woman, full of good health and enriched with hope.

“Those who stand in the threshold of life, always waiting for the right time to change are like the man who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so he can cross on dry land. Today is the day of decision.”-Joseph B. Wirthlin

So, the warning is obvious. If you choose to indulge in further procrastination, you will most assuredly come to a crossroad, even the “road of good intentions”. It matters not whether your choice to delay was born of sheer fatigue with your journey, mere laziness, fear of failure, or clear complacency. You run the risk of condemning yourself to this awful state: you cannot do the thing you most desire for you have run out of time. Don’t let this happen to you. Set your alarm clock for now. Give thanks that you have this very moment to decide that hope can propel you to change.

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Are We There Yet?

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Congratulations!
With a helping hand, you have just stepped up the intensity of your workouts. I must say that I am truly kids in a carimpressed!  This portion of the journey may lead you to previously untraveled territory in your quest for improving both your physical and mental state of being. Yes, this is certainly new. Yes, this is definitely difficult. Yes, the bar has been set high, but your expectations are that nothing short of your desired goal will be acceptable. You are, even now, making great strides as you tackle the tough incline on the treadmill or the increased resistance on the elliptical trainer. I see you progressing workout by workout. Those cute, little pink and green dumbbells stay in their place. You no longer pay any attention to them, because your weight training requires a greater, less colorful challenge. You do magnificently as you huff and puff and sweat and lift your way through each grueling session. I think you have finally realized that transformation is not a cheap experience. You must pay the steep price of sacrificing both your will and your body.

 

I do have a question for you, though. Please don’t misinterpret my inquiry. Are you sitting down? No, of course, you are not. You’re exercising. Nevertheless, I do desire to know why you keep asking me when you will arrive at your destination? Hey, look over, I am not behind the steering wheel. You are. And don’t forget, this is a journey and I am merely your humble tour guide for a very small portion of it. I am not screaming at you telling you that you are in the wrong lane. I am not shattering your ear drums with bellowing commands to turn right here and then left there. I am only that still, small voice in your head saying you are on the straight and narrow path. Just keep going. I am that one clear voice whispering to you truths which you have always known. I will never lead you astray. But, remember this, I cannot do the driving for you. Never. It is not part of the plan. I am in charge of my own journey. Just because you perceive that I can drive with no hands on the wheel, which, by the way, could not be further from reality, does not mean I’m going to grab your controls. Even if I wanted to do so to help you even more, I am not permitted. I would be sited for the most egregious violation. I would be depriving you from making the choices that you must make for yourself.

 

So, let me be completely honest. I am not belittling you when I offer the following analogy in order that you might more clearly see what precisely you are projecting by your constant questioning. Imagine yourself as a child again. Your dad and mom are taking you and your siblings to your favorite park, or restaurant, or to grandpa and grandma’s house. You are excited beyond measure. Your parents are so happy that you are along for the ride. No sooner than your parent’s car has pulled out of the driveway from your house, you begin asking that wonderful question, which is music to mom and dad’s ears, “Are we there yet?” Dad laughs, “No, my precious, little ones, we have only just begun the journey.” Only a short time has elapsed, and now from the back seats comes the same hopeful pleading.  “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” “No, no, we are not there my children, but, soon,” Dad responds. This is not exactly the first trip you’ve taken.  Never before had you not arrived safely. Maybe you had gotten lost once or twice with dad driving, though only momentarily, but you trusted your parents had not forgotten the way. Mom probably quotedMandy Hale, “You will get there when you are meant to get there and not one moment sooner. So, relax, breathe, and be patient.” Both mom and dad sounded reassuring. Yet, in your childhood enthusiasm to enjoy yourselves somewhere other than where you were stuck, in the vehicle, you couldn’t help but cry out, “Are we there yet?” Does this sound all too familiar? Of course, it does. How does it relate to you, today?

 

Well, here are a few things you need to take away from the analogy. First of all, be grateful for your parents. They were the absolute best individual teachers and personal trainers you will ever have. They loved you like no other person you will ever encounter could. Second, the lessons learned through your family training sessions in your youth are still very much applicable today. In your childhood, you had this idea that after you were all loaded up in the family car, you should be immediately transported to another place . So, quite frequently, due to impatience, you didn’t enjoy the journey. As a mature, intelligent adult, one might think that things have changed considerably. The problem remains the same. Instead of piling into the car, today you are hopping on the piece of cardio equipment. You still expect an instantaneous solution to your challenge.  There is no portal to some point in your future when you have pre-determined that you will find the happiness which seems to elude you in the present.

 

“The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.”-Henri Nouwen  You are on the cusp of something great. Learn to trust once again. You did as a child. You can do so now. I ask you to stop listening to the many discordant voices beckoning you from every direction. You will only become lost if you choose to make this journey more confusing than it has to be. It is natural to experience times when we doubt that we can make the journey’s end. It is completely appropriate to ask questions in order that you might acquire knowledge. It is not productive anymore to ask, “Am I there yet?”.  You are here now. Enjoy it. In fact, love it. You will find the answer to your four word question.  I might not be around when that occurs.  I wish you all the best in the process of discovering it.  For now, remember when your dad finally lost his cool on the way to your grandparent’s house. He said something to the effect of “Be quiet and stop hitting your brother!”  Along a similar train of thought, Alexander Dumas once said, “All human wisdom is summed up in two words-wait and hope.” I know you’ll understand my final thought to you this day. Be still and keep moving!

 

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