You've no doubt heard of the expression, "Turning muscle into fat."
In this article, I'd like to explore the idea of exercising the negative can't into the positive must.
Just how easy is it to make excuses for why we can't exercise? Of course, it's too easy.
Falling back on excuses -- the "I can't because" meme is as easy as flopping on the sofa, remote in one hand, with the other hand free to dig into the bag of junk food of the day, or text our friends, tweet or whatever else people do with their phones these days.
Being a couch potato (or sofa yam as I like to say), takes little to no effort. Coming up with excuses for not physically moving your body are almost as easy as being a lazy boy.
Of this topic, making the "I can't" excuses, I am an expert. With the snap of my fingers, I can come up with myriad reasons why I can't do something I should do -- that I must do -- especially when it comes to exercise.
The thing is, I really enjoy exercising. I do. Once I get going, I totally love it. But before that happens, I have to overcome so many "can't" and "because" hurdles, I'm almost exhausted by the time I give in to my fat muscle "can't."
"I'm too tired" wins out every time, even though I know full well that after I exercise I actually feel better. I may be exhausted physically, but I feel better than I did when I was just tired.
Let's see, there's "it's too hot," "it's too cold," "it's too windy," "it's raining;" "I'm too busy," "I'll do it tomorrow for sure," "I don't feel well," "I don't have time."
Here's a good one that I used to use all the time when I was a full-time massage therapist: "I need to save my energy because I have a really busy week. My clients need me to be strong for them."
Does any of that sound familiar?
It's actually rather embarrassing to actually see those excuses on my computer screen. I actually had to stop myself from sharing even more of my excuses so I wouldn't start to cry. Okay, I'm exaggerating, though if I think about how good I've gotten at this "I can't because" excuse thing, I just might cry.
The point is, I have exercised my excuses -- my can'ts -- into a muscle-bound monster, while I allowed my commonsense and willpower to get weak and puny.
Can't is a limiting word, giving power to the weaker part of oneself. And yet, I have made an art of I can't when it comes to my own physical well-being.
How did this happen?
Prior to my training to become a massage therapist I was in fantastic shape. I worked out several times a week at a local health club, I danced at least twice a week and I worked out on my rebounder every day. My weight was good, and I was strong.
When I started massage school, after a whole day in school and working my business, I was exhausted. Little by little I stopped going to the gym because I was too tired or didn't have time. Then when I started massaging full-time, I thought the work would be physical enough that I could give up the health club. And then... I wanted to save my strength for my clients so I couldn't work out on work days.
Slowly but surely my can't muscles got stronger and my must muscles just withered away.
You might wonder why I choose the word must instead of want to or can, need to, ought to, or should.
Simply because those other words will never be strong enough to compete with can't. Even unexercised, can't is a powerhouse word. Want to, need to, ought to or should combined are not strong enough to overcome the might of can't. Must, however, when exercised to its full strength can absolutely crush can't.
It's a well-known fact that exercise keeps us young, healthy and trim. When I think of how important exercise is to my health and longevity, it's so much more important than want to, can, need to, ought to or should. I must exercise! Those words just don't cut it when we're talking about vitality and longevity.
If you're under thirty and you haven't even begun to think about your longevity yet, believe me when I tell you, the next twenty-five years come along a whole lot faster than the first twenty-five. Before you know it, you'll be wondering what your next twenty-five might be like. My mom is about to turn eighty next month. If you ask her, she'll tell you it seems like yesterday that she turned sixty.
I'm talking from experience here: don't wait until you're in the last third or half of your life to start considering your longevity. Everything's much more difficult. Losing weight, lifting weights, running, walking, riding (getting in and out of chairs, cars...) are all much more grueling and take more energy than when you're young, especially if you've ignored your physical well-being until middle-age.
Regular exercise promotes healthy weight via boosting your metabolism, increases your circulation, enhances your mood, strengthens and tones your muscles which in turn strengthen your bones, strengthens your heart and improves sleep, just to name a few of the most important benefits of exercise.
For me, it also boosts my creativity. It's actually quite amazing. My mind is always working, which can be annoyingly confusing sometimes, but when I'm working out in some way, whether it's hiking or walking, riding my bike, swimming, or rowing, I experience an incredible clarity of thought. Seemingly difficult problems are easily solved, sometimes in the course of a twenty minute workout.
When I think of the idea of exercising can't into must, I think of can't as fat and must as muscle. I know, I know, I just said can't is a muscle bound beast and must as is a weakling. Well, can't is both things.
Have you ever tried to lose ten pounds? Twenty? Thirty? Fifty? A hundred? If you have, you know that fat is a beast of its own. It's powerful, willful, stubborn and determined to exist against all odds. Fat is a determined survivor; and, coincidentally, so is can't. Can't is a bad ass muscle and a hundred extra pounds of useless and unhealthy excess weight at the same time.
So how do you exercise can't into must?
This is what I think:
- When I want to say, I can't work out today because... I have too much work to do; I need to say instead, I must workout so I can get more work done. My mind will be clearer and I'll probably figure out how to solve some problems that have me stuck.
- When I want to say, I can't hike today because... it's too hot; I need to say, I must move my body for my health so since it's too hot outside, I will row on my Water Rower instead.
- When I want to say, I can't ride my bike today because... I'm too tired and the hills are too steep; I need to say, then I must at least walk the dog, so we can both move our bodies today.
I think the more you do it, the stronger must becomes and the weaker can't becomes. Just like exercise.
This came to me as I was walking, and I realized it only takes a little bit of work to rephrase my excuses into must dos. What a simple, but powerful idea!
As I explained before, I think it's so important for bodyworkers to pay attention to their own health and well-being, at least as much as they do their clients'.
I read something the other day that really resonated with me. It went something like this: In a year from now, don't wish you'd started working out today. It's not an exact quote, but that was what I took away from it.
Are you a good excuse maker? Is your can't a muscle bound beast? See if you can exercise can't into must in areas that of weakness that may be plaguing you.
