Kim's Fitness and Nutrition

If the exercise routine that you have been using is beginning to bore you, then I can promise you your body reached a plateau long ago. Our bodies are miraculous in every way and can adapt to a set routine in a matter of 2-3 weeks. The downside is as it adapts, it no longer makes great progress, and the upside is that we benefit from changing our mode of exercise often. After all, variety is the spice of life. I?m not kidding ... your body kicks into maintenance and chugs along, happily staying at the same level of fitness, if when you go the gym you warm up on the same piece of cardio equipment, and then start your weight training on the same machine each time, going from station to station exactly the same way without varying it. For one thing, it?s mindless, and frankly you can get a whole lot more out of a workout if you are really present as you do it. Secondly, your body has it down pat, and you are reaping very little in the form of increased fitness.

There is never any other reason for any of us to want something, to want someone, to want to be somewhere, or to have the desire for absolutely ANYTHING, except that in the having of it, we believe that we will THEN be happy. We humans arrived with very few desires, but even the basics necessary for survival are driven by the desire to feel happy. As infants, when we perceived ourselves as being safe, we were happy ... warm, dry, satiated ? we were happy. The older we grew, the loftier our goals became. We decided that in order to be happy, we had to have material possessions, friends, and with it, status. We had to be SOMEBODY. We began to need. This is not our true essence, but rather our Egos which have been driving us for most of our lives. The eternal pursuit of happiness, which seems to stay just out of reach. Why is that? Have you noticed that even when you finally obtained that ?perfect job,? ideal mate or brand new sports car, the joy and elation are brief at best. Money, power, prestige ? none of this seem to bring happiness that is lasting. So what?s up with that?

It is the constant search for approval, validation, and justification from sources outside of OURSELVES that keep us separated from knowing that we need not earn them. Most of us have been raised, socialized, and programmed to believe that we are terribly flawed. This was taught to us by well-meaning people who were also taught this. No one can teach what they do not know, and therefore, we all do the best that we can with the knowledge that we have. As full grown adults, we are free to re-evaluate, to question our beliefs and to decide which ones are the truth for us. This personal work, as well as my personal training career, has brought me to the realization that many of us still live today in these false shadows that are not our truth.

Staying on a healthy food program is important, but when we mess up, it is way more important to immediately get right back on track. As human beings go, we are fairly easily tempted, and that is just the nature of the beast; take Adam, Eve and the apple for example. This is part of accepting who we are, and acceptance is the first step. It is a major step. Please do your level best to eat what is healthy for your body but don?t beat yourself up for those moments of weakness. Don?t use them as excuses to say, ?The heck with this, I?ve blown it already so I might as well just keep right on going,? either. NO, NO, NO!!! This is where you do have the power to decide to take control back OR to throw in the towel, and we both know what the latter will lead to.