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How important is fitness to you?
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My question is how highly do you prioritise fitness/gym I'm your life? Super high. I am at the gym 6x per week and on the 6th day I do 2 fitness classes, a cardio and an extended strength training.
When you really think about it, is it something you genuinely love and would put before relationships if it came to the point you had to choose? Absolutely genuinely love. I love the feeling of breaking a sweat, and I love it when my legs get sweaty! That is my benchmark of an excellent workout - sweaty calves
A word about putting your fitness above relationships. I am on my 2nd marriage, and during my 1st, made the critical mistake of not focusing on the most important thing in my life (family). There are another 3 dozen reasons why it didn't work out, but not giving those relationships the time and care that they deserved is way up high on the list.
So now, I am almost 50 (!!!!) and have learned that you *have to* cherish the ones that you love. I never, ever put my workouts above time with my husband and kids. This is one major reason why I am at the gym at 5:30am every morning - working out then when those precious individuals are sleeping leaves me free to 100% focus on them in the evenings.4 -
The further you get into your journey, undoubtedly you invest more time, money, effort...
I found this particularly true when I first got into the groove of taking fitness seriously, once you get your training, diet and sleep in check. You see your goals can become reality.
It's kind of addictive motoring towards your dream physique and naturally something that takes so much commitment, can also leave you guilty of sacrificing relationships, I know I did, I'd turn down dates or meetings with friends to go and throw some weights around. This was mainly due to knowing that with friends or girls I often went way off track with my diet. Or wouldn't train due to hangovers...
My question is how highly do you prioritise fitness/gym I'm your life?
When you really think about it, is it something you genuinely love and would put before relationships if it came to the point you had to choose?
I'm probably reading too much into it, but this seems to inherently cast fitness as something that competes with one's life and relationships, and that's not how it is for me, at all.
My priority in life is more like well-roundedness, these days. That includes doing things I find fun that are active (leading to/involving fitness), and others that are creative, that challenge my brain, that develop and reinforce relationships with other people, and more. Ideally, all these things overlap and reinforce each other. For example, analogous to what lots of other people have said, people from my gym and my rowing club/team are a big part of my social life.
I'm single, childless, an only child, and my parents are deceased. But, if any other relative really needed me, I'd certainly skip workout(s) to address that need. Same for my friends. But more routine upkeep of relationships - the "doing things together, just hanging out" kind of stuff, with relatives/friends who aren't active - fits in just fine around the active parts of my life. Balance, as someone else said.
I'm not trying to be a world class athlete, but I'm quite fit for my age & circumstances. It works out. (NB: I've known some folks who were elite athletes, and they somehow managed to maintain relationships with family & friends, too!)2 -
Shana 67 - sweaty calves?!?1
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That's brilliant!!0
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I wouldn't say it consumes me but it's close. I have no other obligations to occupy my time, I'm not married and have no children. If it wasn't for fitness and nutrition I'd probably be in prison or worse off...dead!5
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It isn't everything, but it sure is up there.
I schedule my life around it and prioritize it.
I like the structure it gives me that I'm otherwise lacking.
And being honest, I'm not that great with people so having my social life fall to the wayside doesn't really bother me.1 -
Don't know what fitness means really. I place a high value on being strong and fast. Fitness is a buzzword.1
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OP, I actually like your post and your question. I am not single, but I am married (15 years) and we got lost in our fitness routines at one point. We would pass each other in the hall and say good morning and go about the very first thing of the morning/day which was exercise.
Were were always talking about fitness, food, calories, why I am not loosing weight, what and where we cannot go or do to not get off our diets.. This lasted for quite a while. Finally we sat down and said this was wrong.
We started talking about how unhealthy it was to make this primary focus of our conversations and what we did or did not do during the day/week/month.
Now we have learned to prioritize, and we learned how to actually enjoy events, eating out, making new fitness goals, supporting each other better. We do not work out together, but our goals are the same and we now meet each other in the middle instead of making excuses to not enjoy life!.
Btw We went to see a movie yesterday, I got buttered popcorn and a box of candy and even came home and cooked hamburgers on the grill. I have seen more movies in a theater in the past 6 months than I have in years.
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I take it very seriously. I recently decided to give up alcohol to be able to reach my fitness goals faster, and I know for me my social life will suffer a lot. But to me, feeling good in my own skin and being able to run without feeling so heavy is more important than a good night out on the town that I won't even remember.2
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I make sure I exercise every day even if it's just 30 min a day. I feel guilty if I don't work out I walk every day and I go to gym my fave machines are the elliptical and bike.1
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It's an extremely high priority for me and takes up a lot of my free time during just normal, non holiday weeks. I attend scheduled classes, and have indeed turned down some invites that could be better for meeting new people, for example, due to conflicts. For instance, let's go do a pancake breakfast during BodyCombat on Saturday morning with a newish, fairly interesting group of people, eh no. Burning calories, not consuming excessive ones - which is what I'd do at an event like that. On the other hand I'd happily do some volunteering afterwards that involves breaking a sweat and would be happy to meet and interact with people that way. It just aligns more with my fitness, lifestyle, and who I've become.
I do make spending time with those in my life a priority, but sometimes people are known flakes. Between a Saturday 9:30 AM fitness class and a random hangout with friends or family without a locked down start time, I'll usually pick the class because I can always catch up with them later (they usually haven't started anything by the time I'm done). And frankly, I've also had a couple dead end relationships and takers who wondered why I prioritized fitness over them. Keep wondering. You'll figure it out eventually
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It's important to find balance in all things. Sure, it's awesome to have a great physique, but it's important to balance that with all of the other aspects of your life.0
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It's been important to me for a large part of my adult life; when I've let it slide, my wellness has suffered. I don't have an awesome physique, but my weight is good although I find it tough to gain muscle. My priority is to keep fit, healthy & active as I'm 60 now (yikes!!!) & want to keep enjoying an active lifestyle. I see women my husband knows who are my age or younger with loads of weight problems, using canes & walking frames, smoking, all sorts of health problems & I definitely don't want to join that club.1
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Family first, fitness second... I make time for fitness because I enjoy it and there are so many benefits.
Thankfully hubby also enjoys being into fitness so its not an issue.1 -
This article was posted here a long time ago and stirred up some interesting conversation. I suppose I would be happy with about 15% body fat (male).
Fitness is important, but friends, family and work all come first. Also, Fallout 4.
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It is more important than the food I eat.0
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This article was posted here a long time ago and stirred up some interesting conversation. I suppose I would be happy with about 15% body fat (male).
Fitness is important, but friends, family and work all come first. Also, Fallout 4.
Great article, absolutely hits the nail on the head.0 -
The further you get into your journey, undoubtedly you invest more time, money, effort...
I found this particularly true when I first got into the groove of taking fitness seriously, once you get your training, diet and sleep in check. You see your goals can become reality.
When you really think about it, is it something you genuinely love and would put before relationships if it came to the point you had to choose?
I compromise around the other events in my life all the time, setting the workouts as a lower priority than holidays and other thighs that life decides to throw in the path.
If I'm routinely put in a position where "it's me or the workout" I guess I'll miss her.1 -
My kids make fun of me, but they deal with my calorie counting and exercise. Otherwise, my "friends" are out at the bar and eating fast food while I'm working out. I've found that I'd rather live an active lifestyle than worry about socializing.2
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janejellyroll wrote: »I can't imagine a situation where I would have to choose between my relationships and my fitness. Do you have an example of this type of choice?
Maybe I'm lucky, but my husband is super-supportive of my fitness goals. He sometimes comes to cheer me on at races, he always asks about my goals, he is genuinely pleased when I accomplish a new PR. I try to do the same for his interests -- that's part of what marriage is to me, we don't just bond over our shared interests, we try to cheer each other on in our various individual interests, hobbies, and goals.
If I was out there dating again and a person tried to make me choose between fitness and him/her? Yeah, I'd choose fitness real quick and keep up the search for the person who didn't try to make me give up the things that I love.
This is awesome.1 -
My question is how highly do you prioritise fitness/gym I'm your life?
When you really think about it, is it something you genuinely love and would put before relationships if it came to the point you had to choose?
Firstly Kev6686, cracking post! Nice to see something refreshing on here.
Gym and training is 1 priority for me, I too like yourself have sacrificed training from relationships. Having gone off track in the past etc with not caring about what i ate or partying too hard at the weekend that my training didn't really have the right effect it should have done.
If I was in a relationship and they didn't understand how important it is for me, I don't see that being something I could take easily and would have to go our separate ways.
I would rather be happy with myself, on my own than being unhappy with who I was and being with someone... if that makes sense?2 -
I've been in a relationship for 23 years with a man who has never done a crunch or lifted a weight...I've worked out the WHOLE time..There have been years where I went to the gym to get my workouts in, he did his own thing or I went while he was at work. In the last few years, my honey has slowly put together a home gym for me, with everything I could possibly need....I can't imagine someone in a relationship making someone choose them over working out, I'd say if an ultimatum like that is given the choice would be pretty clear...lol...bye bye Bubba!3
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This article was posted here a long time ago and stirred up some interesting conversation. I suppose I would be happy with about 15% body fat (male).
Fitness is important, but friends, family and work all come first. Also, Fallout 4.
Great article, absolutely hits the nail on the head.
That is a really good read!0 -
becoming fitter is becoming more and more important for me. but never at the cost of my relationships. But the same goes for the reverse - a relationship (friendship/romance) should never take control of your health either.
I have taken up running and am frustrated as it's a slow process to get fitter and stronger. But I try and look back on what I can achieve now compared to what I could achieve in the past. The fact that people are commenting on my weightloss (I can't SEE a big difference but my clothes and the scale say otherwise) and how great I look is spurring me on.
But I don't want to be someone who refuses to socialise so they can go out and get fit. I run before work, and at weekends when I can. That leaves my evenings free for dancing (another nudge towards fitness), cycling, cinema or just enjoying a couple of beers and a burger by the river with friends. And getting fitter ALSO means I can HAVE that burger and those beers without guilt.
I can't find any reason not to include getting fitter in my life. But it comes with balance.1 -
Exercise has become pretty necessary for me. I don't exactly have much of a social life though... so it's never really been an issue to fit it in (and I just plan my rest days around Holidays and social events). And I mostly care about being active, so as long as I get some steps, I'm ok with it. I'll just offer to have a walk if we're visiting people or something.0
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Fitness is indeed a priority in my life. I treat my workout schedule with the same respect and commitment as my work schedule. I do see less of some friends, I don't stay out late drinking anymore, I refuse to miss my 5:30am run the next day. I am in bed by 10pm every night. If they want to see me, it must be during daylight hours.1
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I've been able to find a nice balance with fitness and my relationships. My boyfriend is very fitness orientated, so I don't have to worry about him tempting me or getting me off track. We both eat right, don't keep junk in the house, and love working out.
Friends are a little harder as they are not fitness orientated at all. But I do things to combat it. For example, I'm terrible at being tempted at restaurants, so I will actually look up a menu before hand and decide what I will have. That way it is easier for me to have a healthy/low calorie meal without getting overwhelmed by what everyone else is having and being hungry. I also won't drink, as that just becomes a rabbit hole of empty calories, one drink after another. I also save calories for the days I'm going to spend with my friends. I know I may end up gaining a little weight (half a pound or so), and I accept that. It's all about balance.1 -
it's a pretty high priority for me. I only go to the gym 3 times a week because i'm doing Stronglifts, but I make sure I get those 3 workouts in every week. if I have to schedule appointments on my usual gym days then I shuffle my gym schedule around to make sure I don't miss a day. and I plan high protein meals for days I go to the gym.
I honestly can't think of a situation where I would have to sacrifice a relationship in order to be able to pop over to the gym for an hour 3 times a week. I have tons of time left over for my relationships and I rarely ever make plans with friends or my boyfriend early in the morning which is when I go to the gym so I've never had to turn down plans to fit in a workout and I can't see it ever happening.
I agree with what everyone else has said about reflecting on your behaviours and choices.1 -
darrensurrey wrote: »Do you mean looking fit or being fit?
Usually go pretty much and in hand for most people.0
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