StaYoung Editorial by Marc Zalmonoff

Best Shape of Your Life

          I want you to think for a minute about a time in your life when you felt you were at your physical best.  A time when a run up a flight of stairs did not take your breath away.  When chasing your child around a playground was not cause for an hour long nap.  When you could mow the lawn, edge the weeds, and rake the excess without having back pain for days.  Better yet, when you could sit down for 2 hours and not let out a guttural moan when you got up (I know some of you will do that after reading this!).   At this point, if any of those circumstances occur with your current lifestyle, you can probably stop reading now and go back to your healthy lifestyle.  (Or just keep reading anyway because you can always learn something).

Let’s face it, life happens to all of us.  A few kids here, a few holiday eating seasons there.  Next thing you know you’re shopping for new clothes (for all the wrong reasons), and your daily jog around the park has been replaced by your morning drive to Starbucks (you know who I’m talking to!).  It is really easy to let yourself go, as the daily rigors of life seem to catch up to the best of us.  Our slogan at StaYoung Fitness has always been, “No Excuses, Just Results.”  And I have always said that there are very few excuses that I would ever justify for someone being unhealthy.  For the single mother of 3 children working 2 jobs and going to school to get ahead, you have my fullest sympathy.  To everyone else, what’s your story?  

We all have jobs, kids, spouses, pets etc.  We all have our daily duties that life requires of us, a constant juggling act to try and find the balance in our lives.  But too often we invest so much time in everything else BUT ourselves.  We work extra hours to earn that bigger paycheck.  In the meantime we unintentionally neglect our loved ones.  Or we spin our wheels taking our children to this practice, and that game, stopping off at the nearest fast food restaurant to scarf down whatever is on the value menu, and compromising our health over time.  The list of priorities vary greatly from one person to the next, but I see people everyday neglecting themselves in the interest of everything and everyone else.  So what good is the extra money, the bigger house, the nicer car, the better education fund for your children etc. if you’re too tired/sick/not there to enjoy it.

So what IS holding you back?!  I have children, I have a business to help run, and even though I work in a gym (nice and convenient for me), I still have to MAKE TIME to workout.  There was a time when I, too, neglected my health and well-being for the betterment of my employer.  I had to change my whole mindset and realize that not only do I physically feel better when I exercise consistently, but all those stressors that I deal with everyday are much easier to handle when my body is healthy.  There is nothing more rewarding than seeing one of our clients embrace a new lifestyle, and see what they have been missing out on for so long.  I recently had a client turn 50 years old, and break the 200lb mark for the first time in roughly 20 years (hitting a total weight loss of 167lbs!!).  He is the epitome of a healthy lifestyle, and is always telling me stories of things he can do now, that he couldn’t imagine doing 4 years ago when I started training him.  He has made healthy living part of his daily routine, instead of viewing it as a chore, like many do.  But HE had to embrace that lifestyle, as it is nothing that I could ever force someone to do.  The best training in the world will be rendered ineffective if your life is not consistent with your training goals. 

In closing, I would like to encourage all of you to really think about what is holding you back.  Is it time, is it money, is it simply that you can’t seem to mentally prepare yourself for the physical challenges that lie ahead?  I believe there is always a way to make things happen.   I see people buy material things all the time, saving for months to make that purchase.  But what could be a better investment than your own personal health.  The people around you will definitely appreciate it, but ultimately YOU will reap the rewards.  And I will end with our other motto here at StaYoung, that I could never say enough, “If you don’t take care of your body, where else are you going to live?”