5 days a week I workout, I spend hours a day preparing meals, I eat like clockwork. And I just don’t think people really understand why people like I do it. Why do we lift weights and run? Why don’t we eat crap like everyone else? I can’t speak for everyone but I can say that for me it comes down to three things in no particular order: 1. Health, 2. Challenge and 3. The inability to be content.
The health reasons are obvious so I won’t waste any time on that but the others are significant. Challenge was my original reason to get started, after growing up playing sports competitively you kind of get addicted to it. I started lifting because of sports and then one day I stopped playing sports because of lifting. I still remember when I told my mom that I didn’t want to play sports anymore because I could challenge myself everyday in the gym. This inevitably led to my mom using hilarious terms like “ripped” and “shredded”. Anyway, the point is that I found a personal challenge that I can enjoy everyday whether it is running faster, lifting more or just looking better. And that leads into my inability to be content.
I always feel like I could be better. So I read up on nutrition a lot, I am constantly looking for ways to improve. But, this also means I am rarely happy, which could be a problem. I lose 15 pounds and I want to lose 10 more, I hit one goal and then create a new one. It’s a full blown obsession in something that you can never really be perfect at. Because there is no end date, no time when you can just stop, it’s a constant battle with yourself. And that is hard for a lot of people, a never ending struggle, so I guess I am fortunate that I have the will power to do it. To make my meals for the next day every night before I go to bed, to pack my gym bag, to schedule the time in the gym and to work hard once I get there. Most people don’t have the determination to do that, they want to look good, but they don’t have the mental toughness to make it a reality. Ronnie Coleman said that “everyone wants to be huge, but nobody wants to lift heavy ass weight” and while that probably isn’t true for everyone you can apply it to a lot of other areas. In this society an importance has been placed on appearance, so people generally want to look pleasing to others, yet so few want to do the work. They want magic cures as if we were all students at Hogwarts. There are no magic cures, there is no quick fix, it takes a lot of hard work, and a wealth of knowledge.
I was prompted to write this after reading about the US has the highest percentage of people considered obese by BMI. Now, I do not agree with the BMI fully but even if they used other standards this country would still fail health standards atrociously. And what really gets me in this whole thing is that all these overweight and unhealthy people think I am the one missing out. But, I think they are the ones that are crazy, eating 1000 calorie burritos everyday and lying to themselves about how they are eating healthy when they have skim milk with their bacon and sausage breakfast. Don’t feel sorry for me, I like being sore, I like eating healthy, and I like the way I look a lot more than I like the taste of fast food.
