We all know the facts and the stats, and everything “they” tell us about why we need to exercise. But what I’ve come to learn in my interactions and experiences with women, is that fitness is personal, and while many of us are working out for the reasons we are told we should, there are innumerable other reasons to move your body, and that the “why” doesn’t really matter. What matters is just that you DO IT!
I remember finishing up on the 30 Minute Hit circuit, years ago, and one of the members who was stretching after her own Hit session and had been observing me in mine, asked me, “you already look so great – why do you work so hard?” To be honest, I was left a little speechless for a moment. While I was momentarily flattered by the strange compliment, I was also a little dumbfounded. I guess I’d never considered that question before. After a moment I respectfully replied, “I work this hard because it feels good. Why do it if I’m not going to do it to the best of my capabilities?”
For me, working out has nothing to do with the way I look or want to look. My fitness is a way to stay healthy and to challenge my limits. My health and the belief in my limitless potential are my, “why”. My health allows me access to the infinite activities and possibilities that exist in this world and in my life. I’ll likely never reach a point where I stop striving to be a healthier me.
That day, for that person, fitness and exercise was all about the way she looked. That was her “why” for working out. For the next person it’s all about stress relief, and for yet another it’s about mental health. The list goes on and on. The point is that it doesn’t matter why you workout, only that you do indeed make exercise a priority.
Maybe the more important question to consider here is, “Why don’t you workout?”
The reasons I hear for not working out:
– I don’t have time
– I can’t afford it
– I don’t have a car
– I eat well
– None of my friends workout
– My kids’ schedules are too busy
– I have good genes
– I already love my body
– I don’t like to sweat
I share these reasons without judgement, and when we look at this list, we realize that people are not just saying “No” to our studio, but saying “No” to fitness wholly. And while I truly believe that 30 Minute Hit is a great workout for a vast majority of women and I always hope they find wellness here, my bigger hope is simply that they embrace fitness and choose to, for whatever reason, workout somewhere!
These beliefs that lead to a continued avoidance of fitness all seem to be rooted in one or more of three categories: Education, Motivation, & Imagination.
These are actual things I have been told repeatedly by women who choose not to join our studio. Again, the important point here is not why you workout, but it’s also not how or where you workout. The vital point is only that you do.
“I don’t like to sweat”, for instance, is an example of someone deciding the fate their fitness based on the imagined truth that sweat is gross, unladylike, and unattractive. And while already loving your body is amazing, and I adore that kind of self love and confidence, we need to continuously and relentlessly educate women that health and fitness is not about how you look – you need to take care of the inside of your body too. Motivation is a big one, and when I hear someone say, “I don’t have time” what I hear is, “I won’t make time”.
Again, I write all of this with zero judgement. Figuring out why and how and where to fit fitness into your life can be a challenge. My hope is simply for people to do less scrolling and more reading; less sitting and more moving; to make less excuses not to, and find more reasons to get started!
I challenge you to change your thinking. To not only consider why you should workout, but take a good hard look at where you are now, and ask instead, “why not?”
– Kristi