Recently, I got a chance to speak with an old friend who quickly inquired how my training was going. He seemed to be anticipating a quicker decline than I had described, but was very curious about my recent injuries. After I explained how and under what conditions the injuries had come to be, he shook his head and asked why?
Why?
Why train at least twice per week when I could be enjoying myself doing something else?
Why place myself in harm's way so regularly that it is shocking (to him) that I am still able to walk?
Why push my body to its limits as if I still had something to prove?
He reminded me of a Sunday a long time ago when he had caught me in the gym just a few weeks prior to an international meet. When he interrupted me to ask what I was doing there instead of church, I coldly replied that this was my church. I was being facetious, but I really didn't want to talk at that time. Fortunately, he got the hint and left me to my self-torment ;-)
In the end, I explained it to him as simply as I could. In the end, it boiled down to so many different things.
The fact that exercise has been proven to increase brain function and keep both the hippocampus and frontal lobes more efficient for a longer time might be part of it.
The fact that I live in a country whose populous is two thirds overweight and over a third obese might force me (out of fear if nothing else) to find foolproof ways to beat the odds.
The fact that both heart disease and diabetes run in my family definitely pushes me.
The fact that I've learned to control unacceptable/antisocial behaviors like my horrible temper with properly prescribed exercise is another really good one.
But all of these are just benefits or motivators.
Why do I really step under a quarter ton or try to pull if off the ground regularly?
Why not?
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment