You already know I start these the same way every time! Black Man, I love and appreciate you! And with that let's get this one going!
Your Ego Is Stopping You From Getting Back Into Shape! Yep, I said it! Why...
Because I strongly believe that 2nd-day soreness is the reason you haven’t gotten back into shape. What is 2nd-day soreness? It’s the body aches and soreness that you feel the day after you’ve finally hit the gym or dusted off the equipment in the house and done that long overdue workout. We’ve all been there, we worked out and we are feeling good about ourselves and we feel accomplished and if you are like me, you even spend some time in the mirror admiring yourself afterward. Your lady and the kids are all giving you that positive encouragement and mentally we are back on the road to looking as good as we did in high school when everything on us was ripped and toned.
Then the next morning comes... We get up and no sooner than we get out of bed, our body reminds us that we aren’t in high school anymore... Everything is sore, reaching for the toothbrush hurts, we walk a little slower, you name it and you are feeling it. They say no pain no gain, but forget all that, this pain sucks! Immediately we begin to think, if working out means that I am going to feel like this, excuse me while I find my comfort zone. And that’s what we do, we curl up in our comfort zone and revert back to the habits that have us where we are today, knowing that we could and need to do better but instead, we find a way to become cool with this current version of ourselves. All the while knowing deep down, that we can't keep carrying this weight, it's simply not healthy.
Alright Black Man, what if I told you that you don’t have to be sore after your first workout? What if I told you that your ego and approach to working out are the reason you are sore? Think about that for a moment... Soon after that workout started your ego took control and started hyping you up and got you pushing yourself when your body was saying enough. Your ego was reminding you of all the glory years and telling you just how much more you had in you and even giving you visions of the future of how you are going to look when this weight falls off. He even had you thinking that if you keep working hard during this work out you are going to reach your weight loss or physique goal faster. Since you allowed your ego to push your body, then that is who you must blame the next morning when your entire body aches and you are telling yourself "If losing weight requires me to feel like this then it's not worth it."
Ok let’s break this down, input does equal output. The more you work out the more weight you will lose, but (yep there is a but) you can't allow your ego to try to get it all back in one workout. It doesn’t work like that. The extra weight you have put on didn’t find you overnight, so you won’t lose it overnight either. So what am I saying? in the words of the late great Nipsey Hussle, it’s a ‘Marathon.’
I know you may not have wanted to hear that but it is the truth. You have to realize that the only thing between you and the version of yourself you desire is consistency. In order to be consistent, truly consistent, you have to be honest with yourself and accept your fitness level today isn’t what it was back in the day.
When I worked myself back into shape and the physical body I desired, I took it slow. Why? Because I didn’t want 2nd-day soreness and I understood that a thousand small workouts were better than a hundred hardcore training sessions. Yep, quantity over quality. I know that is contrary to how you’ve been taught losing weight and getting in shape should work but the act of getting back into shape is a gradual process to start.
When my journey began, I had to accept that I couldn’t work out no more than three to four minutes and that was enough. But more importantly, that was okay! Why, because I was 265 lbs at my heaviest and my waist was a size 42. For those of you who have never seen me, I am only 5’9’’. Today, I am comfortable between 195 - 200 lbs and my waist is a size 34.
Yes, my losing 65 to 70 lbs did require me to change my eating habits, however in order to drop the weight and keep the weight off, I had to push through the years of complacency and comfort as I created an exercise routine and schedule that enabled me to admire the me I see in the mirror! And I am telling you that my journey like yours is not one that I can be done by going all out in my first workout.
Here is the best advice I can give you. Grind in the dark. Start this journey in silence, don’t tell anyone but yourself, and get to work. I started out with 1 minute of jumping rope, 5 push-ups, 5 sit-ups, and 5 squats. My workout playlist was one song. This lasted for about 2 weeks. Then I graduated to about 7 reps of each exercise and an additional 10 seconds on the jump rope. I took no days off and by the end of the month, I felt like my body could handle more so I pushed it more. But the key was that I listened to my body. When it would tell me early that it had had enough, I shut it down. I didn’t get down on myself, I applauded my progress because oatmeal was better than no meal. Whenever my mind said, I could do more, I would acknowledge that truth but I didn’t give in to it. I was okay with doing the easy workout until I formulated the habit of working out. Then and only then did I feel it was okay to push myself and accept the challenge of my ego, trying to break through and go for it! Being honest with myself and looking at the big picture had me looking and feeling great again.
Alright, Black Man, let's wrap this up, lastly, my motivation was and still is my wife and kids. I am big on quality of life. I want to be around to enjoy my children's best days and I don’t want them to have to put their lives on hold or make plans to care for and look after me until I am well up in age! My wife has done and is still doing an amazing job raising our children, I don’t want her to graduate from being a mom to being my caregiver. She deserves more and I have to make sure that the in-sickness and health portion of our vows isn’t something she has to live up to prematurely. Black Man, you already know too many of us are checking out way too early and if we don’t get back to doing some type of physical activity soon then we are putting ourselves on deck to be the next batter up to take a swing at heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc… You don’t want that and I don’t want that for you. Think about your family as well as your quality of life down the road as you take the first steps to take back your health, so please don’t let your ego get in the way of you getting yourself in shape!
Black Man, you can and will do it! Health is Wealth!
-Artwork By Dion Pollard
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