The Power of Exercising Today

I just wanted to share a great post from one of my own personal favorite "exercise inspiration" websites, http://bodyrock.tv (most of the site is awesome circuit training videos, but the non-video posts are also thought-provoking)

This particular blog is at http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/03/22/the-power-of-exercising-today, and I've copied it below:


The Power of Exercising Today

Once more, let’s start things off with a comment from a previous article:

“Since it’s the habit that matters, I can work out tomorrow; today’s not a big deal by itself.” I finally got it right in my head that EVERY day, including today, matters. If I don’t find time today to push myself, then I won’t tomorrow or the next day either.”

Why Every Day Matters

Some of this stuff might seem obvious, but often times it’s the most obvious stuff that needs to be repeated — and drilled into our heads over and over — for us to finally adopt it.

Many of us construct an image of what we want to look like when we start working out and pursuing a healthy lifestyle.

This is really useful, as it becomes something we can continually refer to, while on the long road towards getting in shape. But at the same time that this image helps us, it can hinder us, too.

Especially when there’s a lot of weight to lose, the image we construct for ourselves can be so distant from what we are, right now, that it can come to have almost no bearing on our day-to-day lives.

Making a Connection Between Today and That Distant, Future “Me”

In other words, the exercise routine that we need to do, right now, today — can come to seem less important, because we simply can’t see how doing 20 minutes of strength training will possibly do anything towards reaching that body.

But of course, we know this isn’t true — every workout is as important as the previous one or the next one. Not every workout will feel as good, or come at that exact moment when we really notice a physical change in our appearance, but they all contribute, and since we can’t measure exactly what each workout does to our bodies, we might as well assume that they are all equally essential to what we want to become.

As soon as you accept this idea, then the only workout that matters, and the only workout that ever matters — is today’s.

Looking Forward and Looking Back

Sure, it’s crucial to look back at all the great exercise you did previously. We’re not suggesting living entirely in “the now” — there’s nothing wrong with getting inspired by how far you’ve come or how far you want to go.

But the key to achieving those goals is to live in the now when it’s time to actually do your workout. Too many of us project forward to the future, making plans and fantasizing about future bodies, or look back into the past, either with happiness or regret, and use these moments as ways to put off doing a workout today.

We’ve got no doubt that even our website — and we always want you to visit our website — can become a kind of “motivating distraction” that, if used improperly, can prevent you from working out.

It’s like all the productivity advice that really took off on the internet recently (often called productivity porn) — people become so fixated at looking at photographs of minimalistic desks, beautiful workspaces, and workflow secrets of the ultra-productive, that they forget to do any actual work themselves.

So go. Finish this article, and if you’re on here, searching around for motivation to get going — you’ve found it. Exercise. We’ll be here tomorrow, too

Make Today Matter

It’s a cliche, sure, but sometimes we need cliches when we’re procrastinating on something essential. So remember:

There is only ever right now.