No More Excuses – Time To Take Care of Your Body

I recently read a great post by Craig Harper titled “Stop Ignoring Your Body!!!”

http://www.craigharper.com.au/health-nutrition/stop-ignoring-your-body/  

In my reply I began to get so frustrated that even despite clear evidence of the benefits of exercise, people come up with the lamest of excuses for not taking care of their bodies!

Being a personal trainer and strength coach I’ve heard just about every excuse under the sun.

“I don’t have time” – Come on man!  Get off the couch and do jumping jacks during the TV commercials.

“I don’t have any money” – Ever hear of running?  How about calisthenics?  Ridiculous!  

“I’m not my body” (this is usually quoted by the overly spiritual crowd) – This maybe true…but your body is carrying You around and if it fails, there you go!

“Beauty isn’t everything” – I’m not talking about beauty, I’m talking about being healthy and living a full, zestful and adventurous life!

Jimmy Connors once said:

“People say I am still around because I have a lot of heat, but I know all the heart in the world couldn’t have helped me if I wasn’t physically fit.”

I hope it’s safe to say that we all know the benefits of physical conditioning including:

• Shorter hospital stays
• Fighting disease
• Increased endurance
• Increased strength
• Increased flexibility
• Looking good naked

But this blog is about mental strength, so how does physical conditioning help a person psychologically?

To start:

• Clearer mental functioning, especially under stress (mental strength)
• Stable emotions
• Positive mood
• Reduce feelings of depression (which are probably caused because the person feeling guilty about not working out)
• Increases endorphins – if “addicts” got a hold of this one…wow!  We’d have way more fit people out there.  Endorphins are the body’s “high” hormone…kind like opium, but naturally occurring, especially during exercise.
• Increase resistance to pain

 Here are three great sites that give more detailed information on the psychological benefits of exercise.

• A report by Paul Schaefer, M.D., Ph.D:

http://www.ohioafp.org/pdfs/news_publications/TOFPSpring09.pdf#page=30

• LiveScience: Nice post by Dan Peterson

http://www.livescience.com/health/090305-sports-exercise-benefits.html

• MedScape – references several case studies

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/424757

So now it’s time to explain yourself!

Do you have excuses or reasons for not taking care of your body? 

Let’s take a look…

For many of excuses and reasons are the same and you may be asking yourself, “Is there really a difference?” For the “untrained” mind the distinction between the two can be difficult to recognize.

Explanations come in two forms – excuses and reasons.

You make excuses OR you give reasons.

Excuses:

Excuses have the ability to be disguised as reasons deceiving you into thinking, “That sounds like a valid reason.” In fact, when you dissect the “reason” this facade will quickly give way to expose the limiting belief, falsehood and the excuse.

An excuse is an attempt to free oneself from blame by deflecting attention and responsibility onto someone or something else. Excuses diminish your power and say “I am not willing to take responsibility. Instead, I will settle for whatever my results due to my lack of action.” Making excuses will destroy your self-respect. If you can’t respect yourself…how can?

The refusal to be personally accountable is rooted in the fear of failure – to be known as someone who did not follow through. This defense mechanism results in an appeal to convince others to overlook you coming up short.

To say you have a “good excuse” is an oxymoron which implies there is a difference between good and bad excuses. All excuses are bad and unacceptable.

Reasons:

A reason is defined as a legitimate, truthful account of a situation which includes an honest explanation of your part. Rooted in good judgment, there exists a willingness to be responsible, own your actions and deal with the consequences.

Reasons seek to clarify what happened, who was responsible, and how to deal with the situation and seek immediate solutions so that one can do better now and in the future. A reason is not motivated by fear, but driven by respect and integrity. Here are some examples:

Action steps

When you are in the moment of truth, remember the choice is yours – you can make excuses or you can give valid reasons.

It is very easy to turn to an excuse into a reason.  Just take the excuse turn it around and begin the reason with “because”, .i.e. Excuse – I don’t have enough time: Reason – Because I want to spend more time and full life with my family I’ll commit myself to exercising regularly.  

Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you give an explanation to determine if you are about to make excuses or provide a reason:

1. What is your intent – is it to release yourself from blame and guilt, or to provide a straightforward, honest account of the situation and your actions?

2. Are you willing to accept the consequences of your lack of actions and take steps to improve the situation?

3. Are you willing to honestly acknowledge the degree of your responsibility, and is there anything you could have done differently?

The next time you are faced with the decision to exercise and thoughts start running through your head, use your mental strength ask yourself “Is this an excuse or a valid reason?” Always find the courage to behave with integrity and honor your body and self-respect.

When faced with a choice, the question is what will you do when no one is looking?

The answer to this will greatly impact your personal performance and your success in life!

How are you going to turn your excuses into reasons?  Let me know below in your comments.

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