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Healthy Fitness is Not Fast or Extreme | Happyliving.com“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway.”
(Earl Nightingale)

The ability for me to find my way around while on the road used to be quite a challenge. It was not unusual for me to make frequent stops to ensure that I was going in the right direction.

Fast forward 10 years, and that problem has been taken care of with the advent of GPS navigation. It’s so easy now – I not only get directions for viewing but a voice even tells me where to go, and helps me find an alternative route if I do take a wrong turn.

In recent years, technology has created tremendous advancements and enhanced how we connect and communicate with one another. It almost feels as if our devices are evolving us into an enhanced version of the human race. Human 2.0, better, faster, more capable than ever!

But is that really the case?

My primary area of interest and expertise is fitness for humans.

My company teaches coaches and fitness goers how to live a larger life. This larger life happens through our investigation into each person’s fitness and what it means to his or her whole experience of life and wellbeing.

I have participated in, seen and coached people through fitness programs for over 20 years now, which has given me plenty of opportunity to make observations. Within this noticing of humans and their interaction with fitness thus far, this is my current opinion:

Technology is moving much faster than humans are able to physically improve.

Thanks to the digital revolution, humans have become conditioned to expect nearly instant results when they set out to communicate ideas or instructions, to do business, to buy or sell services and products and even to meet a life partner. We have also come to expect instant results in fitness.

The media doesn’t help, either – it is not uncommon to see late night shows promoting fitness quick fixes, or infomercials touting life-changing regimes which can be accomplished with just a few minutes of effort a day. Big results, super-fast. Human 2.0.

Two main elements have contributed to this:

  1. The speed of change in technology has created unrealistic expectations regarding the speed of change in fitness.
  1. Academia and business have responded by promoting ultra, intense, extreme and fast fitness. Just take a look to see what Extreme Fitness looks like.

However, just because humans want their bodies to get fit faster, does that mean their bodies can? Let’s think about this for a minute by considering a few simple questions:

– Has the gestation time for pregnant women shortened in the last few hundred years?

– Can we heal cuts to our bodies faster today compared to sixty years ago?

– Are we advancing from toddler to adolescent to adult more rapidly than before?

The answer in each case is, of course, no. The point is that human beings have their own biological timing, and that’s not going to change just because of the increasing speed of technology in our modern world.

In fact, it could be argued that the modern world is actually working against fitness. Poorer soil, industrialized farming, a more sedentary lifestyle, and fewer careers requiring physical labor mean that people in the wealthy West are starting out on their journey to fitness from a far less advantageous starting point than those who have gone before them.

So, if we can’t get super-fit super-fast, what can we do? Well, we can get on board with, and commit to, taking the long, steady journey to healthy fitness.

Here are a few thoughts and tips to help you on your way:

– Accept where you are right now with your fitness.

– Embrace the fact that fitness is a slow process.

– Celebrate steady progress and consistency.

– When you make progress, hold on to it. Do not give back fitness you have achieved.

– Don’t bow to social pressures and extreme expectations – it is your body and your journey.

We all have an optimal fitness level for our bodies and lifestyles. We also have limits to what we can or should try to achieve physically. Let that be okay.

Instead of looking for a quick fix, slow down. Long-term, steady, manageable and sustainable is the way to healthy fitness. It’s also how you enjoy the journey.

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