Most people don't like working out hard. Hard as in sweating, grunting, eyes squeezed shut, feeling sore the next day. That is okay. It is not for everybody. But it is agreed that working out is necessary, right? Even if you don't like it, it is good for you.
Other than helping you maintain or lose weight, how is it good for you? Well, I guess it depends on what you believe is good for you. For me, working out is good for me because: 1) it makes me stronger; and 2) it makes me faster. Those reasons alone have made training more enjoyable, with results I have been able to see and be happy with.
I have to carry groceries and a 3 1/2-year-old up and down two steep and treacherous flights of stairs daily. Before I worked out for functionality, I did it for aesthetics. I looked pretty good; I was thin. I was curling 15# dumbbells. I was doing isolation exercises that made me look a lot stronger than I was. There is no way I could have carried my kiddo and all her things around the way I do now. I would have been out of breath walking up the stairs. It isn't easy going up and down the stairs with 50 pounds of stuff on you, but at least it is doable and I don't have to be hospitalized afterward. I love that I can go buy stuff and not have to leave it in the car when I get home.
When I lift heavier and heavier, I feel like a badass at that moment. I swear to God. Even though I know I am not lifting as much as many others in the world, I feel like I am Awesome when I put more weight on!! Lifting or pulling something you have never been able to before is Empowering. I help friends move furniture into their homes. I can carry heavy boxes of things to and fro. It doesn't matter where they go; it matters that I can carry them.
Speed is paramount in my life, too. I need to be faster to catch my crazy kid who is forever running off. She is fast. I mean, really fast. And when she bolts, it is up to me to catch her. If I didn't have any speed, she would be in even more peril than she is normally. Being fast and agile is important for reflexes. You can catch stuff before it falls and shatters on the ground. You can stop your friend from tumbling in a drunken stupor off the bar stool at the honky tonk club. Agility may keep me from falling down randomly, but since I am so clumsy, I will need the speed to help me tuck and roll or catch my fall.
Besides, strength and speed will help with the aliens. You can fight them, pick them up and throw them in to each other, or tackle them and do a ground-and-pound. When and if your ammo runs out and they overwhelm you with their numbers, you will need that speed to outrun them and dodge their hissing balls of acid flame. Remember that, if nothing else. Plus, you will look good doing it.
My friend doing a 70# Turkish Get-Up. She is the one I will be behind when the aliens attack. In order to help her with them, I aspire to do what she does.
No comments:
Post a Comment