Exercise... What's Your Big Idea?

​The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine/client of mine who was asking about ways to exercise more.  His goal is to lose a little weight and he’s a busy guy.  He doesn’t have a lot of extra time to exercise yet he thought more exercise might help him get closer to his goal of weight loss.  I agreed, asked him if it was okay for me to share some of my experiences, and proceeded to outline what I’m about to outline for you.  I then suggested, since his employer has invested in an onsite exercise space, that one idea would be to use it before work and maybe even a few times during his work day.

This is a conversation I’ve had a number of times with a number of different people so I thought I would share part of it with you here.  When my life is in rhythm, I don’t think of exercise in terms of hours or number of sessions.

For those athletes in this community this way of thinking isn’t anything new.  We exercise because it is a big part of our lives.  I would argue we exercise because it helps keep some of us sane or clean.  Our energy can go to exercise or it can go to other, less constructive, places.  There’s a way of seeing exercise that goes beyond something we should do because it’s good for us.  There’s a way of seeing exercise that goes beyond something to do with our friends or a way to challenge ourselves.

​For some of us exercise is a way of life.  Let me explain…  We don’t exercise in small blocks of time, we exercise in life.  Our entire being is one big exercise session with “other things” mixed in.  I can’t speak for anyone else but for me the reason is because it makes me better in every other area of my life.  I’m a better husband, a better father, a better business owner and a better friend.  Exercise helps to optimize my performance in life.

When I live in exercise I think more clearly, I eat more cleanly and I tend to cultivate healthier relationships.  I could probably find a scientific reason why all of this is the case and it likely wouldn’t even be that difficult.  That’s not what this is about though. 

We’re going off the script with this one and I challenge you to make exercise the biggest part of your life.  Notice how it affects every element of your being.  Do you sleep better?  Do you carry yourself with more confidence?  What about stress?  Do you find that, because you’ve prioritized exercise, you make healthier food choices? 

Those are just a few questions to consider as you make exercise the biggest part of your life.  Let me know how it’s going at [email protected].  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this idea.