Getting Fit Without Trying

April 19th, 2010

After starting to exercise daily earlier this year I got results pretty quickly. My focus was getting the maximum I could out of the minimum time. I exercised for 15 minutes each morning doing Tabata Intervals which included a 5 minute warm up and warm down. You can imagine how frantic it was. I got really bored doing the workout and dreaded it as I went to bed each night. I’m not one to settle for a 7 out of 10 and so started thinking what would be a 10 out of 10 in fitness?

I thought long and hard. I didn’t want to become a bodybuilder and get “huge” as I knew that comparing looks with others would frustrate me. I just wanted an acceptable level of fitness and most of all … I wanted to enjoy it.

A technique I’ve learned is to ask your mind the right questions. If you ask “Why can’t I find a way to get fit?” it will give you an answer to suit the question like “Because you’re an idiot” or “You will find a way”. Both pretty useless answers. I asked “What would allow me to achieve my goal of fitness and enjoy the process?”.



Non-Action

Have you ever had an experience where you are totally immersed in this moment? Hours fly by in what seems like minutes and you have no worries or stress because you are so focused? You feel like you don’t so much “do” an action, it all just flows through you and it’s a beautiful thing to experience. You are taken over by something larger and there is no thought.

People get this when being creative, doing something they love or even when they’re in a fight. I wanted to experience this through exercise and was willing to accept nothing less.

Can you imagine how it would feel to jump out of bed passionate about the exercise you are about to do because you genuinely enjoy doing it? It’s not even work to you, it’s just you being naturally fun and doing what you love – all the rest falls into place. I think that’s something we’d all enjoy.

The idea comes out of the principle of “non-doing” from the spiritual classic the Tao Te Ching. Going running for 2 hours becomes experiencing nature. We regularly go to play football for 3 or 4 hours straight. We have an amazing time … every time. It’s not exercise, it’s socializing.

This idea was inspired by the principle of Love from Steve Pavlinas excellent book – Personal Development for Smart People. It says you should connect with what you love and disconnect with what you don’t love. Obviously I love getting fit, who doesn’t? But I hated the mechanical unalive objects that I had to interact with on a daily basis to get fit.



Taking Up A Sport

Ask yourself the question “What could I do that is really fun that I can also get great exercise from?”. The first answer that pop up is usually the right one. I have always had a passion for freestyle football (soccer) which is a mixture of dance and football. It allows me to be creative and totally present in this moment. At no time during this am I thinking about getting exercise. I’m too immersed in the fun.



Do It With Friends

This takes your attention away from the idea of “exercise” and towards “fun”. Be with others having fun and you share a great experience together. People don’t want to get fit. There’s nothing amazing about having huge muscles and running far. They want the personal growth that will come as a result of it. Fitness is a vehicle for something bigger. Enjoying time with your friends is a great way to experience this.



Frame It

A frame, in this way is a way of looking at a set of events. Exercise can be framed as “gruelling”, “challenging”, “a growth experience” etc and it’s totally up to you which frame you use. At the start I wanted to get super fit for my own benefit so I could do more for me. Now I’ve re-framed it as being a huge never ending personal growth challenge and allowing me to serve others better. Imagine what that kind of mind shift could do for your exercise.

I used to listen to self development tapes whilst exercising too. I framed the exercise and the workout as 2 sides of the same coin. I was challenging my mind and body at the same time and this was a really motivating frame. These are two great mindsets to adopt.



For You And Me

Some of you might say that you need to go gym to get precise workouts but I’m targetting this at the average non-athlete who just wants to get and stay fit. People just like me. People who want to enjoy physical movement as much as they can and get fit as a side effect, not a main focus.

Make it as fun as possible. 10 years from now you won’t care about how big your muscles were or what number plate you lifted on the weights machine. You will remember the fun you had and how the experience felt, good or bad.



Running Is Beautiful

I run too and love it. This is hard for a lot of people to understand as they see running as a gruelling experience of plodding alone one foot in front of the other until you give up. You see, it’s all about your focus. If you are focused on the difficulty of it then you will experience the difficulty. I run at dawn as the sun is rising and the birds are singing in beautiful chorus. I’m totally in the moment and it’s beautiful and this is my focus.



Being Present

When you see people starting out aiming to get fit they usually start getting anal about it. They’re not in the moment feeling the way, they’re too much in their mind where there are constant questions like

“How many kilograms have I lifted compared to last week?”

“What circumference are my biceps?

I laugh now but it’s only because I’ve been there myself.

I actually have things around my house like a football placed in a certain room, a detatchable pullup bar in another, a set of weights rested on the side, a football outside my front door etc. When you decide to do something you don’t want to do, it is boring. When you are being natural then the action of “doing” something just happens. The actions happen through you but you are not there to consciously direct them. It’s a great experience.



Kaizen

This is the principle of “Continuous incremental improvement of an activity to eliminate waste”. There wont be a point that you will get too where you will think “This is too hard” because it progresses slowly and naturally at a pace to suit you. If you’ve got energy – burn it, if you haven’t just have a normal day – but move forwards over time.

Making tiny improvements each day won’t seem that noticeable at first. Just improving 1% in each workout by running a little further, lifting a little heavier will get you into the habit of softly pushing the boundaries of your limits. Your limits will gradually start to stretch. If you look back in a year you won’t see a certain point where you “got fit” but you’ll be able to see noticeable changes in your health. It’s progress without the hassle.

In the end of the day, your physical body is all about self expression. Be present, be yourself and what naturally follows is a beautiful outflow of creativeness. You are a natural creator, you just learned to become otherwise. Unlearn and be.