What does it actually mean to be fit? The answer depends on who you ask, and the best person to ask is yourself. Let’s consider fit Rob for a moment. If you were to ask him what fitness means to him you would get a very detailed response. He would first talk about his desire to keep his body fat low. He would tell you how big he wants his muscles to be (pecs, biceps, shoulders, etc.) Finally, he will explain that general health is important to him. He care’s that he gets enough vitamins, water, and sleep. In a nutshell, he wants to have the body of a fitness model, and he wants a good report card from his doctor.
Now let’s look at Larry, who doesn’t feel as accomplished as Rob. He has often used the terms fit and healthy, but he’s never given a lot of thought to what that means to him. He knows he’s got some fat that he’d like to lose. Also, his doctor is always complaining about his blood pressure. Larry has done the diet thing but none of what he tried really worked.
Karen is in a similar boat as Larry. After her pregnancy she found herself with unwanted body fat and could not seem to get rid of it. She sticks to eating what she believes are healthy foods and she hits the cardio equipment hard every time she goes to the gym. With that said, she hasn’t seen any change in her appearance and has become quite frustrated.
The good news for Larry and Karen is that they will get the results they want. After month’s of seeing Rob at the gym, but never interacting with him, they decide to approach him for advice.
“So here’s where you start,” Rob says, “Close your eyes for a few moments. Feel yourself in a safe place. In this place the only thing that matters is you and what you want. In terms of fitness, what do you want? What do you want to look like? Whose body do you wish you had? What do you want your general health to be like? Picture you as the fit person you want to be. Picture the fit version of you, and most importantly, feel what it feels like to be that version of you. You’re looking in the mirror in the morning. You feel great and you look great. You go out into the world and all day long you notice that people are looking at you. They’re admiring you. They want to be you. Notice the details of this version of you. Notice your confident walk, notice your positive outlook, notice your appreciation of who you are and your desire to maintain this version of you. Notice that maintaining this version of you is easy. It’s actually fun. Maintaining this best version of you is what brings you joy. This fit life is the life that is familiar to you. Before you open your eyes bask in this good feeling. This feeling of confidence, this feeling of value, this feeling of being exactly who you want to be. This feeling is what fitness is. Hold on to this feeling and all the rest will follow.”
Rob paused just for a few seconds and then told them to open their eyes. He explained that because they participated in this exercise, a change in mindset occurred. They would need to do this exercise daily and it would be easy. “Get your phones out,” Rob said, “Set this reminder on your phone. It needs to occur daily. Set the reminder to go off about twenty minutes before you wake up. The reminder is simple. ‘ImFit’ Every time you see ‘ImFit’ feel that feeling of confidence, of success, of being adored… Have this reminder repeat throughout the day. Before you wake up, when you get to work, lunch time, leaving work, getting home, and just before bed.”
What Rob did was guide Larry and Karen into a positive belief cycle. Belief is really just a series of repeated thoughts, hence “ImFit.” Say it enough and you will believe it. ImFit is the positive belief which will drive an appropriate action. Positive results will follow, which lead lead to positive emotion/satisfaction, and that will lead to more positive belief.
Rob would eventually provide Larry and Karen with diet and exercise advice, however it was important that they learned this basic concept first. To be fit you must feel fit now.
-Mike Humphreys