Debbie at I LOVE TO CHEAT diet blog and Jeff gave awesome comments to this blog regarding lack of spiritual qualities in the fitness industry.

It’s a question all passionate educators, trainers, managers and owners deal with daily - How do we manage to maintain a balanced level of spiritual idealism with media realism?

Jeff:

As a personal trainer for the last 5 years I have battled the superficial “bug” that has infected so many people looking to fitness as a run around answer to their life’s troubles. (I have been very discouraged by it at times) But this shallow motivation can be quickly qiuckly pushed to the back burner as truer motivations are flushed to the surface by a heart rate reaching 160. I believe most good fitness professionals are not so shallow and like their clients learn that no true success really comes from the outside in but the inside out. I know the marketing is shallow but the reason why so many struggle to achieve results is the lack of handling the deeper issues we all face in our lives. Ninety percent of my clients don’t need a better exercise or supplement. They need better life skills and a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationships with others. I can easily share with someone how to move and eat properly but it is the true fitness person who can help someone move out of the comfort zone and change. For the better! We have a huge responsibility and a lot to learn as guides of this transition from focusing outside to inside. My biggest wins have been from those who made personal and spiritual growth a part of their journey into physical health. It is hard for most to see it but we are the true fitness industry not the marketers.

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I’m right there with you Jeff. I write about life and fitness often.

10 THINGS Fitness teaches you about LIFE

by: Maria Kang

#1 Develop Good Habits
In order to achieve success, you must develop good habits. We are creatures of habit. Fitness isn’t just something you do in order to look great and lose weight. Fitness becomes part of your lifestyle: it becomes habitual for you to work out every week and challenge your body weekly. If we develop good habits, success becomes natural.

#2 Moderation
Everything in life is good in moderation. You can’t diet 365 days of the year, and its good for your body to get a week off from exercise once in a while. It is only when things become excessive: eating too many carbs, drinking too much alcohol, working too much: is when things go bad.

#3 Consistency Is Key
Consistency is key. Some weeks you work out five times a week, sometimes only one. The key is to remain consistent in your workouts in the long run. In life you should never let go of things that are important for you, remain consistent regardless of the situation or challenge.

#4 Prioritize Your Life
Prioritize your life. Take a step back and re-assess what’s important to you. Fitness is part of our life because we understand that our health and our body improve the quality of our life. Everyone gets busy. We are faced with deadlines, overtime and stress.

However, regardless of how demanding our professional and personal lives are, we should always prioritize what truly matters.

#5 Quality Not Quantity
It’s all about quality not quantity. It’s not how long you work out, it’s how hard, focused and intense you are when you do. Similar to Fitness, in life, having an abundance of material wealth won’t necessarily provide happiness, however; the quality of the people and experiences that make up your life will provide happiness.

#6 Care For Yourself First
Take care of yourself first. By focusing on your health and prioritizing your nutrition, you are taking care of yourself first. In doing so, you are now more capable to contribute to your friends and family because you did something small that was positive for yourself.

If you are physically, mentally and spiritually stable, you can give more to those you love.

#7 For Every Action, There Is A Consequence
For every action, there is a consequence. Training takes dedication, commitment and sacrifice. Constantly re-strategizing your fitness goals takes long term visualization. Every choice in our life has a consequence, by understanding long term results we can make better, rational choices today.

#8 If You Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail
If you fail to plan, plan to fail. If we want to achieve something great in fitness, we must understand nutrition and exercise. After understanding how each component is important, we can better execute. Like any life situation, you must first understand what it takes to get somewhere and then go!

#9 Be Open-Minded
Be open-minded. New studies in nutrition, exercises and health related diseases are always coming out. Understanding the body and the way it functions takes years and years of comprehension. Our knowledge in anything is always limited, once we feel that we know it all, we limit the opportunity to continue learning.

#10 Focus On the Travel, Not The Destination
Focus on the travel and not the destination. There is always a challenge ahead … there is always a weight we want to lift or a muscle we want to define or ten more pounds we want to lose. As we continue to grow with age, new challenges in our health will arise.

But in order to enjoy life, we must enjoy the process of it and not focus so much on the destination…because once we get to our destination, there is always somewhere farther we want to reach…this desire to resist complacency is what creates success.

Read 10 MORE THINGS fitness teaches you about Life! 

Get REAL y’all - this is a life journey, not just a fitness one.