What's Your "Why"?

Bobby Hill Bobby Hill

Welcome

Welcome to the physical component of the challenge, and congratulations on making it through the nutrition component. Over the last 2 1/2 weeks, we’ve covered all the core concepts you need to build and maintain a sustainable nutrition plan for life. Don’t worry if you still have questions. You weren’t successful the first time you tried to walk, ride a bike, or do a pull-up. The important thing is that if you fall six times, you get up 7.

Once the challenge is over, you can go back through these emails and reread them, learning new things that you may have missed the first time. Or maybe I’ll turn this all into a book… ¯\(ツ)/¯

Why…

Why do you work out? It’s easy to say “to get in shape,” but what does that really mean? Who cares? Why does it matter? What is the fundamental, uncompromising goal that drives your physical fitness plan? Most of us don’t have one. That’s why we struggle with fitness. We do it when it’s easy, but because there isn’t a core life-defining reason behind it, it’s easy to quit too.

Spend a few minutes to dig into “why.” What does it mean to be in shape, and why does it matter? For me, it’s meditative, spiritual; it’s the foundation of my purpose in life.

Meditative

Pursuing physical fitness can have meditative qualities. When performing a heavy lift, you have to focus. Think about performing one clean and jerk: before approaching the bar, you visualize what a perfect lift looks and feels like. You step up to the bar. Set your feet hip-width apart. Take a deep breath and hold it. Bend down to the bar, and wrap your hands tightly around the bar at shoulder width. Raise your hips to engage your hamstrings. Bring your chest up. Relax your arms. Pull. Straighten your back and pull your elbows high when the bar passes your knees. Feel the bar accelerate; when it reaches its peak, drop underneath and catch it in a front rack position. Engage your butt and legs to drive the bar up again. Use your arms to drive your body back underneath the bar. Catch it with your arms locked out. Stand up straight. Lower the bar to the front rack position. Drop the bar to waist level and lower it back to the ground while keeping your chest up and a neutral spine.

One rep.

Notice what is not a part of the movement: what time of day it is, who is talking, what you’re going to have for lunch, that meeting you have at work. Focusing on every rep in your workout provides the opportunity to free your mind from the daily grind. That’s one of the goals of meditation. To intentionally direct the thought and power of your mind to a specific task, whether lifting a weight or focusing on your breathing. Doing so in the context of physical fitness can leave you physically exhausted but mentally refreshed. Many times this allows your brain the time it needs to think of creative solutions to problems that have been plaguing you (similar to those great ideas you get while in the shower).

##Spiritual Another aspect of fitness that can be motivating is exploring what I call the spiritual side of it. How much can you do? What is your actual limit? When your brain says you’re done, you’re only at about 40% of your physical capability. You only have one life, one body, and as far as I know, there is no credit at the end for unused portions.

No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. –Socrates

Death itself does not scare me; we all go through it. What scares me is after death, seeing what I was truly capable of and not even being close.

Purpose in life

What is your legacy? What is your purpose in life? It may be to serve as an inspiration to your children, family, or community. It could be to lead by example. Oddly, no matter the purpose, it will be filled with obstacles and challenges. Physical training provides the discipline as well as strength to navigate those challenges.

Winter is coming Winter is coming

We may not have the good fortune to live in prosperous times like we do right now. You may be shocked at that statement. “Right now?” Yes. Right now. I get it. There’s a global pandemic. We’re being constantly manipulated by organizations for profit. The list of bad things goes on, but it’s still pretty good. Review history; it doesn’t take long to realize how much worse things can get. When they do, the strong will survive, and it will be too late for those who want to get strong. I owe it to my family, friends, and community to be ready for hard times every day. If hard times don’t come today, my training is still helpful in fulfilling my purpose in other areas of life.

Reflect on why your training is vital to you. Not just the “look sexy” aspect but what it means as a core component of your life. It will change the way you work out. It will change the quality of your workout. It will change your mental approach to working out.

Today’s Tasks

Don’t forget to complete today’s tasks for the challenge.

  • Drink 1 gallon of water
  • Workout for 45 minutes
  • Read ten pages from your book
  • Stick to your meal plan Once completed, head to the tracking site and mark them as completed to track your progress for the challenge. Tomorrow we look at failure. Is it good? Is it bad? Should you avoid it?