Staying in Neutral

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kevinellis
kevinellis Posts: 18
in Health and Weight Loss
“I just want to stay at this level of conditioning. I like it right here.”
“Do I always have to be rethinking my goals and creating new ones?”
“Why can’t I just stay right here for a while and enjoy myself?”
“Why can’t I have a cheat day every once in a while.”
“It is the holiday’s I deserve a break from all the workouts I have done.”
“I like where I am so I just maintain now.”
“Staying right where I am is better than going backwards, right?”

I have heard these time and time again and I think it is about time someone addresses this. In so many ways this is considered settling for second best and not constantly striving for better and better. America was not built that way but in recent years I have seen a complacency that really troubles me. Look at the music industry. I have heard nothing original in a long time. I hear a lot of remakes of old tunes, but nothing original. Is it that we have exhausted our musical talent and all we have left is well… remakes or are we just settling for a mock up of the original works. I consider myself a musician and I find that troublesome and it scares me with all the talent we have that they can’t come up with new original stuff. I believe the reason is that they just don’t want to try that hard. It’s hard to number one make an original tune and then it is twice as difficult to make it successful. How many tunes did Michael Jackson write before he had one go big (God rest his sole)? It is easier to take an original that has already made it and piggy back off of it then create your own way. Ok don’t get me started with this topic… please.

Have you heard of the law of diminishing return? Well in a nut shell what it states is that nothing in a constant state stays the same. Over time it will diminish. Our health is like that if we try and stay in one place we will ultimately fall. I believe my music teacher said it best when she told me that when I am singing a long note I must always rethink the note. If I don’t I will go flat. But by rethinking the note I will constantly stay on pitch. Our bodies are the same. If we try and stay in the same shape we are in right now, over time we will actually lose our conditioning. We must constantly rethink and take each day as a new day and accomplish something more on that day.

I have heard that in some arenas some athletes like to have cheat days. Let me see if I can add light to that. Having a cheat day is not going “hog-wild” and doing things that you haven’t done for a long time. But it is giving your body a rest to rejuvenate itself, to repair itself, to reenergize itself before or after a major challenge of some sort. Yes, every one’s body needs a day of rest to recuperate however, only for a period of time and then back on the horse again to go after bigger and better things.

Now over time, as you age, you are going to get slower and weaker. Over time you are not going to be able to do the things you once could do at the level you could do it at. I remember when I was in college and I ran to 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. If I could run those times now I would hold every record in my age category NEVER to be broken again. But that is just not possible. However you can slow down the aging process by constantly trying to push yourself to get a little better. It doesn’t stop the process of aging but it does slow it down a lot. Ever looked at someone and thought they were one age and then found out that you weren’t even close? There is it.

So if I were to give you a conclusion it would be that I you think you can’t stay right where you are and just maintain the level of fitness you are at currently, it just won’t happen. Constantly strive for better and constantly make each day a new day and go for bigger and higher goals. You can do it! Now go do it!

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