Purpose of Fitness

What is your "Why"? This is a big question that people inevitably have to answer when they first embark on a fitness journey. I decided to do this topic after watching this video where Tony Horton explains his purpose of fitness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9NjFnDNXP0 (shout out to Coach Todd from NCFitClub)  Developing a purpose is good, but I will explain how developing a bad purpose is going to result in lack of motivation and eventually quitting.

1. Aesthetics= BAD

"Man, all I want is to get RIPPED!" Aesthetics is the most popular and most used purpose for people to begin a healthy lifestyle. There a lot of problems with this type of view. First, if you have any type of mediocre genetics then this is going to be a tough one for you. It take a WHILE to get to a physique that you desire. It takes hard work and diligence. To get to the so-called "ripped" you have to get down to at LEAST get to single digits in percentage of body fat.

Everyone wants to get ripped fast with little to no work. This mindset is set to failure. People will quickly learn that getting into shape is not an easy task to do. You have to make a major lifestyle change and only then you can see minor changes.

Also, the media construes our view of the reality of attractiveness. These modeling companies get the best of the best to be on the cover for their magazines. So, first these people tend to have better genetics (not saying that you can get a good physique if you have normal genetics). Then on top of that they add PhotoShop to make these people look better than perfect. So, in getting these result like a fitness model is a little extreme.

Sports Performance

This one is a little tricky in my opinion. I would say that it's a better "why" than aesthetics, but it still can be  disappointing if you're not progressing as quick as you thought. I suffered from this a while back. I wanted to be the strongest, fastest, most agile, have the most endurance, and etc. I wanted get there really bad, and I wanted to get there FAST. Any quick "fixes" to fitness is just a gimmick. There are so many factors into creating fitness results (genetics, work ethic, diet, nutrition, if the exercise works for you, and etc.), and with this heavy emphasis on sports performance it took me away from the REAL reason I workout... for health.

Health 

Choosing Health as your "Why" is the best way to step into fitness in my opinion because you don't have to wait to do 90 days of P90X or 60 days of Insanity to achieve your "why". If you exercise today you will be healthier than if you didn't. If you exercise today you will be less vulnerable to illness and injury. If you exercise today your last few years won't be a living HELL lol. Also, when you exercise you feel better IMMEDIATELY!

During intense exercise you're body releases these feel good hormones/neurotransmitters into your brain called serotonin, nor-epinephrine, and dopamine to give you this euphoric feeling (your body's way of telling you that exercise is good). There is also a mixture of chemicals and proteins inside your brain called Brain-derived Neurotropic Factor (aka BDNF) that shake and vibrate during intense exercise to create neurogenesis (creation of new neurons) and aid/repair old deteriorating nuerons.

Yes, I know this all sounds scientific, but I will go into bigger detail later on what these chemicals/neurotransmitters are. For now I hope you enjoy my blog and stay tuned!  :)  






If you want to get fit, healthy, and FEEL better with any Beachbody Program (P90X, Insanity, and ect.) then visit my site www.beachbodycoach.com/SENSEIMITRI