Since recorded history, great athletes have been the physical perfectionists to emulate. The classic Olympians, the sprinters, decathletes, football and hockey players and fighters; they were our legitimate fitness heroes. Not only were they physically great, but their sports gave them other strengths for us to emulate: stamina, courage, confidence, and the will to win among other positive characteristics. Other activities apply equally – great dancers, figure skaters, swimmers, skiers, divers, Olympic weight lifters, etc.
It is only in recent decades that exercising in gyms has taken over in society’s consciousness as the dominant method to “get in shape”. Marketing and manipulation have replaced common sense and passion. For these great athletes, the gym has its place, but only as a tool for improving their performance in their respective sport.
Consider the amateur or professional athletes who are in superior shape having trained specifically within a sport they love. Whether it is gymnastics, a martial art, ice hockey or bicycle racing, their hours of training have been spent almost entirely practicing or playing their respective sports. The same emotional and confidence building rewards are present – acclaim, championships, fans, even money and love. This love and endearment comes from their families, contemporaries, crowds of fans and sometimes from an entire nation. Of course they will train. Not only that, but they love their chosen activity – aside from all the other social, emotional and monetary benefits. For these athletes the benefits are synonymous with the smell of the fresh grass on their playing fields, the feeling of gliding across the ice or racing through the water.
Given all of these wonderfully positive benefits, the ideas of will-power, discipline and sacrifice must be looked upon and measured in an entirely different light with respect to these athletes. These people definitely possess discipline. I submit to you though, that it is not quite the same type that we experience dragging ourselves through another boring workout at the local gym. From their unique perspectives, how much will power and discipline have they really needed?
This is how your brain becomes your most powerful tool in getting you to improve physically. You simply need to understand and duplicate this fantastic process with your own activity of choice. This activity will then begin to give you small doses of the same benefits. They will in turn feed more activity and create greater and greater rewards. A self-perpetuating positive feedback loop is created with infinite possibilities. The pragmatic cause and effect relationship is then fully experienced, understood and acted upon. Physical activity will become irresistible.
One of the best examples of how flawed the current popular choices for fitness have become is “boot camp”. The very name conveys sacrifice and suffering. Boot Camp is where recruits in the military go to endure forced physical and mental hardship in preparation for combat. It is short term; a few months or less and is undertaken only once. Its purpose is immensely important – to prepare soldiers for combat and help keep them alive in battle. Why would the average civilian ever, in their right mind endure such a thing on an ongoing basis? The very idea that this short term experience in pain and discipline would result in any permanent change in behavior is ridiculous. Quite the contrary, we quickly learn to associate something as simple and natural as exercise with pain and suffering. Still, as with any activity, no matter how seemingly unappealing, for a few people this type of harsh medicine works. Unfortunately, it will not work for the majority of us.
A friend of mine recently tried one of the more popular boot camp programs offered up by a nationally known fitness celebrity. He was excited and motivated by the commercials showing the instructor and his students; muscles glistening, training in military fatigues with serious looks on their faces, all with perfect bodies. He bought the program, promptly tried it and promptly quit soon thereafter. Now, 20 years before I had personally met the instructor long before he had become famous, lets’ call him “Billy”. I asked my friend how he thought this guy had achieved such physical perfection. He shrugged and answered “boot camp training?” Nope, actually this guy had been practicing and competing in karate since he had been a little kid.
He was a national karate champion and had received worldwide accolades and awards for his incredible skill. When I met him it was at an international karate tournament. He was telling an admiring child that the secret to his skill was simple – practice. He obviously loved his sport and all of the rewards and benefits it brought him. Watching this guy fight was like watching a classical ballet dancer. He would fly through the air performing impossibly beautiful but deadly moves. People praised and admired his unique physical and artistic perfection. “Billy” had found his way to this physical perfection a long time ago. For him, following this path was as effortless and perfect as the karate with which he expressed his passion. It was not “boot camp”. Nonetheless, his “boot camp” videos were making him a boatload of money.
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