Getting In Shape

Trying to find a title for today's blog was tough. Yes, it's about getting in shape. But "Getting in Shape" sounds like something you choose to do this afternoon, or plan on doing next week. It sounds like an entry on your To-Do list, a task that gets checked off when it's completed.

The bad news for those trying to get in shape: you're never finished.

The good news? Well, if you're going to bother at all, you've got to make it a lot of fun. That's good news because many of us never even considered the possibility that diet and exercise could be remotely classed as "desirable" let alone "fun"!

Mrs. Schulenburg and I have just finished teaching and participating in two month long Fitness BootCamp classes. We're also still involved with our ongoing Fitness Kickboxing program.

We both lost weight. We both gained inches where we wanted to... and lost them where we wanted to as well.

Now... are we both "in shape"? Are we finished? Is it pie and ice cream time?

No. We have plenty of miles to travel to reach our long term goals. But our short term goals? Yes, we've reached them - and even surpassed them!

The short term goals may come as a surprise as they didn't necessarily involve scales and tape measures. Our short term goals were to change our lifestyle - a little - so that exercise and proper nutrition were the base line that we return to. In other words, when a particular program or class is finished, it's not bon-bons and the remote control. It's having fun with kickboxing, taking walks as the weather gets nicer and planning our next healthy meal.

Getting in shape IS a lifestyle change. It's a choice that we're making to live as healthy as we can. It doesn't mean that either of us are aiming to become rail thin models (ha!) but rather that we're more comfortable with the genes that we were dealt and happy with the choices we make about activities and food.

Our next Fitness BootCamp starts the first week of April. Come join us as we learn about nutrition, what to look for on food labels - what to look out for! - and enjoy three exercise classes per week that we go out of our way to make fun.

Yes. We have fun. You'll have fun. That's the only way we're going to make it something that you'll stick with for the rest of your life.

Focus on Fun, Family and Fitness

It's important - particularly in hard times like the present - to not get too caught up in the Gloomy News of the Day. Yes, we've created a horrible money situation in this country. Yes, we're going to be paying for it for years.

No, we don't have to think about it every second of every day.

And we certainly can't base our lives on doom and gloom.

There are always hundreds of choices to be made by each one of us, every day. From huge decisions like re-financing the mortgage to mundane ones like which toothpaste to use. Each one of these decisions contributes to our character - some more, some less. But "who we are" is ultimately determined by the sum of all of these choices.

Are you the Best You that you can be? You've made the choices that brought you to where you are today. Is this where you want to be?

No matter what your beliefs concerning the After Life, we all know that we have the current one for an average of 70 or so years. Far less for an unfortunate few, a little longer for some of us as well. I've always liked the mantra "Live Each Day Like It's Your Last - One day, it will be!" (The cynic in me always asks, "Why would I want to spend today in a hospital bed dying?" Stupid cynic misses the point!)

Are you focusing on having fun with your days? Are you finding the joy of living - or are you trudging through to the weekend, the summer, that next vacation? How much of your life do you truly enjoy - and how much do you simply waste?

Why?

My last post on commitment bemoaned the fact that true commitment is lacking in so much of today's society. It's not something that's talked about very much, almost as if we're afraid to wear such a label in public. I think one of the things that we really have to commit to is having as happy a life as we can, to enjoy the ups and learn from the downs, to share as much of our fortune, knowledge and outlook with others as we can.

For me, as I grow older, staying in shape is what provides the energy for that commitment. That's why our school says Focus on Fun and Fitness. It's about creating or re-creating your self, making the best decisions possible in your life, sharing who we are, having immense energy and a powerful, optimistic viewpoint - becoming the best we can be.

Yes, we have problems. Does anybody believe that these problems will be solved with a negative outlook? By dragging one's self through each horrible day? Will our heroes sit at home, whining and moaning? Will we focus on the Bad News, the terrible tidings of the whole world? Or will we work to make our own Family, our own community, a little better with a positive outlook and a Focus on Fun and Fitness?