Introduction to Fitness and Lifestyle Change
If you boil it all down, fitness and lifestyle change is, simply, inertia.
Simplifying Fitness Concepts
Now, this isn’t going to be one of those hifalutin talks about how lifting weights is force and mass and all that. Often, I think coaches and serious lifters have a great talent at overcomplicating everything. Unless you’re competing at the very top of your sport or are coaching the very elite, all of that is unimportant.
The Role of Exercise Science
Don’t get me wrong, I love exercise science just as much as the next coach (maybe), but for the general population of people looking to be healthy, knowing the exact science of physics behind their back squat is stupid. There. I said it. Stop overcomplicating things.
Embracing Change Through Inertia
No, this inertia is about changing your life. The very first law of motion is an amazing metaphor for getting in shape:
An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force.
Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion
This is you. If you’re deciding to change your lifestyle and begin again in the gym, you have to expect some resistance. You have to understand that in order to change the path of everything, it will take time and unbalanced force. You can’t do this overnight. Honestly, you can’t do most things overnight. You’ll have to change the direction slowly, over time.
Overcoming Initial Challenges
This seems daunting, and it is. The upside is, after awhile, once you’ve changed direction, then it becomes very easy to stay in shape because the object is already in motion. Imagine your lifestyle as a snowball tumbling down a hill. Overtime, it picks up pace. It gains mass. It becomes a barrelling ball of unstoppable power.
Achieving Momentum in Fitness
But you decide you want it to go in a different direction. So you begin to push, you begin to fight back – and it seems like the worst experience. It fights you and you’re not strong enough to stop it. But you don’t give up. You continue to push. Then, one day, you realize the snowball is going in a completely different direction and all you have to do is gently push a little bit everyday – something you’ve gotten good at with practice and you find enjoyable.
Conclusion: The Power of Consistent Effort
This is the easiest metaphor for what it’s like to change your lifestyle. It seems silly, but it makes sense. We don’t change the direction of an object that’s been moving fast and in one direction for so long overnight. It takes time. Keep pushing, just a little bit, every day, and eventually you’ll get there.