Romanticize Don’t Agonize Your Exercise!

Ouch! I feel queasy, shaky, faint and dizzy. This was my 21st week of P90X this year and possibly the hardest one yet. Last week I was crushing the workouts and then I hit the wall. Bad rest, hectic schedule, poor diet and a weak attitude will eat your lunch. I haven’t been working out at my regular time and for me it’s quite a bit more difficult when I just throw my workout in at some random time each day. P90X is intense and so after doing the regular and then adding in P90X Plus and mixing in some of the One on One routines the novelty wears off after 20 weeks and it becomes more like work than fun. I’m already in shape so it’s harder to push for goals and it seems to takes more effort to produce less increase. The honey moon is over and it’s time to settle into the lifestyle and make it a habit. The main difficulty is not caused by the bad died and hectic schedule as much as the weak attitude. It's the same problem new couples often come to; if you’re not careful you will lose the romance. The way you think about it will either make it work or play. The activity can be the same but the attitude determines if it’s enjoyable or exhausting. Someone said, “men are like microwaves and women are like crock pots.” Women tend to romanticize ideas before they enjoy them while men seem to be ready at a moments notice. I’ve found a similar situation in fitness except it seems that with exercise both men and women need romance. In other words when I look forward to my exercise with anticipation then I tend to love and enjoy it. But if I allow myself to dread it and begin to think like a little whiney baby and “waaa, I feel like crying, and I don’t want to, and you can’t make me!” The activity may be the same but what’s often more important than the activity is the ambience preceding the activity. If you are a man and you haven’t figured this out yet this then this might help more than your physique. You have to discipline your mind and make yourself think about how much you love to exercise. LOVE EXERCISE! Are you crazy? Sure because it’s the people who romanticize about each other who are crazy about each other for a long time. Likewise I will not be able to maintain a high level of fitness and make it my lifestyle unless I make myself love it. If I romanticize I imagine a good future with love and adventure. But if I agonize I dread the pain and struggle and will try to avoid the suffering. I have determined that I must exercise but I still want to enjoy it. It’s like being married, once you’re in it it’s your choice what you make of it. But if you want to make it you will have to learn to romanticize and not agonize your exercise.