Definitive Difficulty
Muscular definition is often one of the most common aesthetic reasons for exercising on a regular basis...we want to look strong, healthy and see some results from our efforts. It's like getting paid by our bodies for working; in all labor there should be some profit. We want that paycheck that proves to us that moving muscle is valuable. Very often, though, it can feel illusive, even when we've had elements of success, as though there should be more.
This comparison of value between work and results can feel like a conundrum, like the equation can't be solved. You exercise, don't eat a lot of junk, but aren't where you feel like you should be. Typically, this inequality leads us to ask the question "why?". Why can't the equation be solved, equal, simple, make sense? In reality, this is the place that we all need to be in order to see lasting and effective physical change. Why are we doing what we do to our bodies? Why do we want to see definition? Why do we want to look a different way? Why aren't we content with a well functioning system that looks unique? Why are we chasing a difference?
“Physical activity clears the fog from your logical processing and makes you focus on the task at hand...and the harder the task, the clearer you think. ”
The answer to your why is where you will find your equation solved. It's not that unlike your ultimate purpose...why do you do what you do in life? Are you exercising to compensate for a bad diet, to fit into a size, to be a number, to please someone else, to find self esteem or control? We all want to answer no to these reasons. We want to be altruistic and do things for the right reasons, but that just not true. And it's not until we find that truth that we will be able to make inroads into the equation.
Here's the good news: answering your why will be discovered as you travel on your exercise road...you don't need the answer to start. But, you have to start to find it, to define it, to answer it. Physical activity clears the fog from your logical processing and makes you focus on the task at hand...and the harder the task, the clearer you think. The ironic reality about hard work is that we need the difficulty to define our why. Doing a little bit of work will not reveal your true reason, but it is where we all begin. If you keep moving, you will keep increasing in ability, endurance, strength and confidence. Eventually, your work will be hard, almost all the time, because you are capable of doing it, and it's there that you will define your why. And, it's not the aesthetic reason that you start with...that's not enough to keep you in the game when it's hard. Your why is deep and meaningful and specific and unique. Your answer will keep you going when others aren't, can't or won't. It's a powerful place to exist, full of experience, full of intensity and full of appreciation for where you started.
Once you have your definition of why you are moving, there will be no stopping you. Moving will be part of your personality, inseparable from your character. You move because it's who you have become...you're a mover with a definite purpose. And, the best part of your why, is that it's magnetic for people still looking for their definition. You will model the true answer for why you're willing to do hard work and what is still illusive for others. And that, my friends, is why we move...we move because we can and to help others move well, too.
