Workout is Much More than a Habit
“Repeat a statement enough times and it will be believed as Truth”
“Hey, let’s Make Workout A Daily Habit”
The Rising Culture
Workout is essential, and I will not be even the last person to say otherwise. It is one of the best things you can do to your body, one of the best use of your time. It’s the best way to give yourself a longer life, to remain free from problems that arise due to lack of mobility, maintain an active and enthusiastic lifestyle if done consistently even in small amounts. No wonder, we are working our asses off, struggling to somehow stick it as a constant in our daily routine.
It has become so common, this trend of making workouts a habit. It is part of everyone’s new year resolutions, it is at the top of everyone’s life-transforming keystone habits, it is the central topic of discussions among growing teenagers and it has given everyone the opportunity to become a trainer on the internet regardless of practical experience. Search Workout on Google and you will be fed with a plethora of articles on the best possible tips by the best fitness experts. Having a workout routine is part of everyone’s Ideal Routine.
Well, there is definitely no harm in that. The only downside is, it had narrowed down the perception surrounding workout. Workout, as I witness it now, is no longer an activity to make you feel good and confident about yourself. Workout is like more of an image you have created about yourself. Feeding yourself with content that strengthened this culture and created a perception. That it is absolutely essential to have a routine, like a god’s truth and without it, you are not good enough, you are not confident enough and you are not conscious enough and certainly, you will not live long enough.
You are made to feel like not having a disciplined schedule around will leave you behind. It’s like repeating something enough times until people start believing it as the ONLY TRUTH.
The Monochromatic Perception
This repetition of one apparent truth created a common lens for everyone. With time as people view from this lens, it became the only available Lens. This monochromatic viewing of Workout is according to me, an underlying concern. The reasons for that are:
- It is giving rise to a generation that is brought up believing that Workout is some sort of habit that our body (And the Mind) naturally resists and we must work hard to overcome that resistance. It absolutely dissolves the possibility that we as humans were by evolution made to move our body, to act against physical resistance. In other words, we all by default have a need to work out.
- It is diluting the range of benefits a workout routine can offer. Considering Workout as a habit for life is by itself making you believe that like any habit it can be altered from time to time. You can stick to it, and then leave it & can return back. But what if I tell you that we are already habitual of working our physical self out each day. That way, a workout doesn’t need to become a part of our lifestyle, IT ALREADY IS.
The Consequences are not allowing us
The Resistance we know is harming… but we still want it
We accept it or not, but if the wrong cause gives us some short term rewarding consequences, we are willing to make the trade. One consequence of such manipulated mindset is the innovation in Fitness Industry. We are part of the generation that is onboard an exponential curve of rising Startup culture. A good fraction of them is related to fitness and well being and more than 10% are solely dependent on them. They are a 96 billion-dollar industry. This changed the way people used to look at fitness.
For a person going to a gym a decade ago. fitness may be about heavy exercise that pumps the heart and veins and a subsequent diet to complement it. For us nowadays, fitness is about the right gym, the right equipment and machines, the right outfit, the right Spotify playlist, the right coach, the right environment, the right gadgets, the right brand subscription, the right people surrounding us, the right social media following, the right photoshoot. Among many drawbacks of this culture, one is the habit of always looking for the most right and forgetting that there is no one definition of Perfect that you can apply to fitness. It's a relative subject.
The Default Setting
If we all love to work out, then why the resistance
We all are already in love with workouts. With time we are just searching for new ways to firm this belief. This in turn in backfiring us by reverse questioning. Why do we need to reaffirm this? We look for something only when we believe we lack it in the first place. Strengthening our self-belief is a reflection that our belief in self wasn’t strong enough. Looking for self-help motivation is a reflection that we aren’t already motivated. Using a video to remember the invaluable lesson of gratitude is a reflection that you aren’t exactly practising it. The belief that Working Out needs to be stick as part of our routine is implying that it isn’t already, which is not true.
For a moment, let’s forget that Workout has anything to do with weights, any particular exercise, any outfit. Vanish all images and thoughts that come to your mind when you hear the term ‘Workout’. Now that you have done that, Answer this. What does Workout mean to you?
If a workout is just the act of working our physical body to a certain level for a long period of time in order to increase its capability and overall fitness, then Aren’t you working out already. You go out for a walk with your friend. You could have called him/her at your place. But you are going out. The reason is not that you are intentionally fighting the resistance, but you are doing it naturally, by instinct. Just like we are a species who are meant to work on their body constantly. God had given us legs, they never knew we will discover motors and wheels and put them to NO USE Basket. It is because by default we are meant to be a species that wants to be in constant motion, and that applies to both physical and mental dimensions.
The Inability to Move On
It is a similar consequence of our mental game. We, by default, are made to focus on the next thing forward, to live in the present and look forward to what lies in front. But as technology evolved, we became pretty good at preserving memories. This led to a mindset shift. The mind which had the natural tendency to move on is now encountered with something that makes the emotional part feels pleasing. As we became more and more capable of preserving the past, our minds became used to visiting the grave of dead memories. We know they are dead, but we want to be reminded time and again.
“Even a fucking virus knows how to mutate and move forward, what the hell is stoping you”
Transforming the Definition of Workout
Becoming conscious about the Ultimate Goal
Now since I have mentioned We all love to work out and we do it every day, doesn’t mean there is no need to focus on it. Like any other discipline, for those who want to excel in it, to push themselves and reach a goal in it, they must invest in creating a habit structure to fulfil their goal. For the majority like me, the ultimate goal is to maintain a good work-life balance. You may want either of the goals, but at the end of the day, workout in both cases is much more than just a habit.
Workout is your lifestyle. You can’t live without it, doesn’t matter if you consciously acknowledge it or not. As long as your body is capable to move, your mind is capable to move, you will be fit. It’s true we are marching forward toward a lazy generation as pointed out by our parents for years. But it’s also true that we still have the genetic material of our ancestors that makes us curious, a seeker and for that, even the biggest laziness factor can not stop us. This is applicable only if we are 100% true to ourselves. The Hindrance lies in believing otherwise, that we are meant to stick, in looking for things we already knew, in getting entrapped in the vicious cycle of strengthening beliefs.
