I was running at the gym this past weekend, and thinking about how much it sucked to be at the gym. Especially the weekend right after Thanksgiving, where I had just spent the three prior nights eating large amounts of savory and indulgent food. Running on a treadmill and then hitting the weights was about the last thing I really wanted to do, when I could be trying to sleep more, loaf more, or ostensibly be eating more savory and indulgent leftovers.
But it wasn’t a really a question to why I was at the gym, because it’s simply what I do. I exercise regularly, and I have been exercising regularly for quite literally ten years now. Giving that fact some additional thought, I can say that the longest gap I’ve ever had between at least running, has been two weeks, and that was just a few weeks ago when I was on an extended vacation. Save for that instance, I’ve been running regularly for an entire decade, and been hitting weights slightly less regularly within that span.
Honestly? It sucks sometimes, too. There are plenty of times in which I really don’t want to go to the gym, or go running, or do pull-ups, squats or shrugs. But I do them anyways, because I’m OCD like that, and I don’t want to break my chain of regularly working out. And that if I completely stop working out, then I will without question, balloon up to 427 lbs., and be on my way towards ending up on My 600 lb. Life on TLC.
I support anyone who makes the decision to get into exercising, whether it’s weight training, running, bicycling, or any and everything above, as long as the end goal is to improve physical fitness and well-being. However, I’m not necessarily the type to go all rah-rah and exude gushing words of encouragement to just anyone who makes this choice, because frankly I’m skeptical of 90% of people who wish to make a commitment towards exercising, that they’ll talk big, but never actually do anything nor actually stick to it long enough to make any progress.
One thing I notice that when a lot of people delve into the world of exercise is that often times, they have a goal. Sometimes, the goal is a weight number that they want to get down to, sometimes it’s lesser things, like wanting to get into a particular pair of jeans. There are broad goals like generally wanting to improve one’s health entirely. And then there are very specific goals, like wanting to train for a registered run, of varying lengths, be it a 5K or a half or full marathon.
However, one thing I’ve noticed throughout the last decade are that the people who stick with exercise long enough to achieve goals, often times wane and eventually stop exercising once their goals are achieved. On a long enough timeline, everyone throws in the towel, or so it seems. At least more people do this than not, that I observe.
They manage to get down to their target weight. Fit into those pants. Achieved their ability to complete a 5K. Successfully trained to be capable of lasting an entire marathon. And then they stop. Taking a break. Relaxing the guidelines. Will get back to it after some rest. A few days becomes a week. A week becomes a month. By a month, a body becomes lazy again, and a lazy body inevitably goes soft. Once soft, getting back into it becomes difficult, and after enough months, it’ll almost be like the previous training never happened.
I asked myself “what am I training for?” or rather, why I’m so stringent on maintaining such an endless streak of working out. There’s no major run on the horizon for me. Sure, I could stand to lose some weight, but I’m not completely unhappy with the way I look. I’m not training for any sort of power-lifting competition, but I’m still hitting weights regularly.
Ultimately, every possible answer simply could be simplified by saying that I was just training for life, in general. I see zero drawbacks to always being in a physical state that’s a decided step above every single person that doesn’t work out regularly.
I’ll always be capable of running a mile on a moment’s notice without worrying about looking incapable. If people want to have a pick-up game of basketball, play catch, or any sort of athletic activity, I’m at a state where I have the confidence that I can participate and not have anxiety of needing to decline because I don’t want my physical incapabilities to be exploited. If my car ever breaks down, or I get lost in a city, I know that I can walk for hours without being incapacitated, if necessary.
There is never “need to get back on the horse,” because a decade has now passed and I have never gotten off of it. Sure, I can ramp up certain aspects and scale back on others, when it comes to introduce additional goals in which to train for, but when those come off the table, then my default state of living is decidedly still more physically active than just about everyone I know.
And I think that gives me great comfort, in knowing that by simply training for life, my life is physically more prepared than most other people. Sure, I sometimes hate it and think that there’s better ways to utilize my time, but I think that that’s a better place to be than those who have more physical limitations.
