Effort…we have heard that word before.
Have you ever noticed that the more effort something takes the more satisfaction you get from completing the task at hand?
Sixty years ago—even as little as thirty years ago—the average person did much more physical activity (physical labor, even). Life was much harder back then.
People actually had to go to different places to get their foods. They got their meats at the butcher, their vegetables and fruits at the farmers’ market, their canned groceries and personal care items at a general store. Most people had to catch their own fish if they wanted a good fish dinner.
Laundry was tedious. One had to manually wring out the clothes on the “squeezer” before putting them out on the line. Clothes dryers were for the supremely wealthy.
The average person had a manual labor job. Very few executive or professional positions existed back then. The average person didn’t own a car, so they walked to work or caught the bus. Either way, physical effort was involved.
We have many modern “conveniences” today–conveniences that make our lives easier. These conveniences remove most of our daily physical effort. But those conveniences come with a high cost: our health.
Today’s society has removed physical effort from daily life as much as possible. The average American watches over FOUR HOURS of television a day. That’s 28 hours a week, and if you add in sports, it’s probably closer to 40 hours a week.
And people tell us they don’t have time to exercise!
The human body, and pretty much any mammal, was designed to produce physical effort. It wasn’t designed to sit at a computer all day, or in front of the television. It was designed to move, and our physiology enables us to move around as often as needed.
Walking is better than doing nothing. But, if you can walk and do walk often, it’s still not intense enough of an effort to get the results you want.
Many people have become so disassociated with physical effort, they are unaware how it actually feels. To them, physical effort feels like pain. Physical effort is not pain.
If you are not used to it, physical effort can feel painful. If you try to go full throttle right away, you could hurt yourself. You have to ease into full effort. Bit-by-bit, you’ll find that you can push yourself much more each time.
Some days, you’ll be able to push harder, some days you’ll have to hold back a bit. Your body will let you know. A personal trainer can help you learn the skills necessary to produce a safe full effort.
In fact, as far as fitness goes, intensity of effort is the key to results! To get results in exercise, or in any endeavor in life, you must put your full effort into the moment. This is a learned skill, however, not something you “can’t do.” Giving maximum effort takes concentration and lots of practice.
To get the physical results you want, remember the following:
– INCREASE YOUR INTENSITY SLOWLY!
– Build up to your FULL EFFORT step by step!
Get to this point, and you will start feeling GREAT! A lot of clients know exactly what I am talking about because they are already there.