Maybe next year I will be ready to start off National Physical Fitness and Sports month at the beginning and not the end of the month. I wasn’t ready. With every blog that I write, I am realizing more and more how I need to apply some of my organizational skills to my own life. I am a giver, so it seems that those around me are benefiting from my contributions, but I am being neglected. So maybe starting today, I will intentionally kick start my physical fitness journey and make it a point to make everyday count!

Sometime in the summer of 2011, I made up my mind to sign up for my second gym membership in my life. I was so determined and excited that I decided that the 5 a.m. schedule would work best. With my Nano shuffle at my side loaded with the best marathon mix playlist a “real runner” friend of mine had download for me, my gear and cute water bottle, I was ready to go.

I got to the gym and was about to get on the treadmill when a trainer walked over and asked if he could assist, seeing that it was my first day. Most definitely! I was looking forward to telling my friends the full story, so why not throw in a body builder? He then asked why I joined the gym and what was my struggle. I told him, “Nothing serious, just some baby fat”. This guy looks at me from head to toe and asked how old was the baby. I paused and then reluctantly said,”Oh, he’s 5!” The trainer started laughing hard and told me, in not-so-kind words, to get my anatomy on the machine and don’t stop running until he said so. That was some four years ago and I’m still laughing and struggling with the same baby fat.

In my head, physical fitness seems so easy, that it should be an overnight fix. But every article, commercial, infomerical and gym slogan re-emphasizes that “Without struggle, there is no progress”, “ No pain, no gain” and my recent favorite, “The body achieves what the mind believes”.

I sat and pondered this last quote because our minds operate at top speed when we’re working on a project  for work, creating a new invention, planning for our future or the children’s college fund. So why does this area of our lives get placed on the back burner?

This doesn’t apply to all of us. Some of you took a hold of your physical well-being and made a turn toward optimal health. However, there are some of us who just can’t seem to align our bodies and minds as it relates to fitness. Maybe it has to be intentional, with support and the removal of the stigma that you need to eat this, drink that and workout extremely hard everyday to reach your goal. Just maybe we can try to get as close as possible to the natural order of things, where we eat meals filled with fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean meats, along with lots of water, sunlight, regular exercise, laughter and worship. If we make it a point daily to commit to taking care of our temples, then I believe at some point we will reach the goals we have set for ourselves and throw away the ones others have placed on us, whether directly or indirectly.

Is physical fitness a spiritual activity?

I know this question isn’t a common one, but I wonder if it should be. Imagine the approach taken toward spiritual worship and see how this can also be implemented in your fitness plan. A person makes a decision to set aside a few days of the week and for at least one hour, he or she works out. Whatever they decide, it calls for focus, will power, determination, energy and interest. Those who commit to a regular regiment become skillful experts and their outlook on life seems to change. They share the message of health and fitness because they have become a living testimony of this transforming activity.

Someone said, “It’s like bushing your teeth and taking a shower. Don’t think about doing it, just do it”. It isn’t just a lifestyle. It’s your life and you have fallen in love with making your body and mind healthy.

It’s my plan to continue striving for physical fitness no matter how many times I fall short of my goal. I encourage all of you who have set the mark to continue promoting fitness so that the rest of us can know that it’s not impossible to be all that we can be.

How will you turn a new page in your physical fitness program? Share your tips on staying on the path to optimal health in the comments section below.