Did you make a resolution? Did you eat a ton of cookies over the holidays like me and are seeing them in the mirror? Did you make it one day to the gym and that's it for 2021?
I do the same thing every year. This is the year. Lose weight, start lifting. Yeah, yeah. Same empty promises. Well, I feel like this year is different. Here's why.
Baseball players, especially pitchers, aren't typically swelling with muscles. They can't be jacked. Kinesiology and physics don't really allow for it. You need strong but flexible muscles to be able to throw 90+ miles per hour. Not Schwarzenegger strong, more like fruit roll-up strong. The ability to stretch to your max before breaking.
I wanted to be a baseball pitcher. So I couldn't lift heavily. I did throw some weights around in my heyday, but I was never interested in being "beefy". But, thanks to my genetics, that's the way my muscles were designed. I inherited my dad's 20" calves (there's a funny story in there but I think I've told it to just about everyone at this point) along with a big chest and just an overall wide body.
Everyone has a different body, and everyone has a different idea of what their body should look like, shaped by a combination of thousands of years of evolution and what media tells us a body should look like. I'm less concerned with the latter, though I can't say that's always been the case.
I have worn 36x30 jeans my entire life because of my "love handles". I don't know what the technical term for them is, they're just blobs of fat that collect at the sides of my hips. The interwebs says it could be higher levels of cortisol (apparently I'm hormonal) or something with my thyroid that causes my metabolism to be slow. Honestly, I've thought I have a slow metabolism for years. Whatever the case, them sunsabitches don't go away.
So my shape is wide. Just overall. Wide.
I've done pretty well to maintain my shape over the years. I started to say I did my best, but that's not entirely true. Best would mean I exercise every day and only ingest the healthiest of foods and, well, I like cookies. And beer. Like many, I'll recognize when I'm being too lazy and putting on weight, so I'll start exercising and drop some pounds. When I was in my mid and late twenties I played a ton of basketball which is a great full-body workout. I could eat a Triple Baconator an hour before going to play a basketball game and then pick up a meat-lover's calzone on the way home (yea, that was pre-veggie me).
But, as I'm getting older I'm starting to realize how my body wants to become more sedentary and how easy it is to put pounds on.
So, this year, I made a calendar with months for the columns and days for the rows and the goal is to initial each day that I work out. I just grabbed a big piece of paper, taped it to the wall outside of our workout room and wrote down all the days and months with a message:
HEY! THIS IS A WORKOUT ROOM! YEA, IT HURTS AND SUCKS BUT GETTING OLD AND OUT OF SHAPE IS WORSE! KEEP YOURSELF YOUNG! 30 MINUTES!
It's a pretty simple message, but what it means to me is a bit deeper.
One of my biggest fears is becoming physically unable to do anything because of my own inaction. If it happens due to unforeseen forces, I can't help that. But if I become bedridden or worse, recliner-ridden, because of my own laziness - now that I can't abide, dude.
Now, don't get me wrong about recliners. I think they're great. Sit down, pull a lever, and you're basically in a perfect position. But only for a little while. I just don't want to be someone who comes home after work and plops down into a recliner, kicks his feet up, nukes a TV dinner, and stays there until the TV timer turns off after he's gone to sleep. I would not be able to live with myself.
I'm lucky to have had a lot of motivational people in my life. My grandfather used to run a ton of miles and I'd go with him on occasion, he also taught me to pitch and how to use my noggin in baseball; I hope I can coach like him one day. My mom made me get up at 5am to go running with her in high school and made sure that I had a great relationship with nature, camping, kayaking, swimming, etc. Even my dad, Twinkletoes, brought me to play softball with him from a young age, got me a weight bench and boxing bag, and supported me playing soccer and baseball throughout my life.
Those things didn't seem like much growing up, but I'm beginning to realize that they're the things that keep me moving as an adult. The habits that were instilled in me as a young boy start to itch when I've been too lazy or I'm spending too much time inside. They say, "Hey, hey, let's go do something."
My partner has gotten to see this on full display during quarantine. When I'd get antsy I'd get up and pick up my basketball and start moving around the house - feigning dribbles and shots - and she'd ask if I need to go "bounce it out". And I did! I needed to go bounce it out! I'd drive down to the park and shoot around for 30 minutes and come back and the itch was gone.
Sometimes it's hard to recognize that itch. I never really realized what it was when it was happening. I just would know that I was antsy, so I'd be up and moving around - but now that I recognize what it is, I'm able to say, "Well, must be time to go bounce it out."
But it's cold right now so I'm gonna bounce upstairs to my workout room and put my initials on the calendar.
My fear of becoming someone that my partner doesn't recognize - not just physically, but someone who lost motivation or ambition - is what keeps me putting my initials on that paper.
I want her to know that I'm doing everything I can to make sure I'm the same man she met almost 5 years ago.
All of us have that intrinsic motivation. It's hardwired into us. That thing that tells us to keep moving, to keep surviving even when it's difficult. For some, it's their kids. For others, a loved one. Some have a goal or a dream of achieving something: an athletic accomplishment, a pair of pants to fit into, looking like their high school self, or just the goal of being healthier. When you look back, do you remember all of the little things you did to get where you are? Probably not. It will be the same at the end of this year, or the one after that.
It may hurt a little to make minor accomplishments now, but it's going to hurt a lot worse later if you don't.
What motivates you to be the person you want be? What keeps you moving when all you want to do is nothing?
Write it down so you can use it.
Don't use someone else's motivation.
Find yours.
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