The CJ Fit Philosophy Part 1: Start With Why

I love doing pullups.

And when I say I love doing pullups, I don’t mean I love the effect they have on my body.

I mean, I love each and every rep.  Making sure every joint is moving in the way I want it, that I feel precisely which muscles are firing to complete the rep, that I’m moving precisely at the tempo I prescribed at the beginning of the workout.

And I love bodyweight squats.

I do sets of 50 to 100.  It burns.  Really bad.  But I love the challenge of keeping my core braced, my eyes up, going down as deep as I can, making each rep as perfect as I can no matter how much it hurts.

I don’t say this to boast.  I say this to say that I had a harsh reality check when I first became a personal trainer.  

When I entered the business, I thought everybody in the gym was also obsessed with moving their body.  And sure, some people are… Some people want to join the 1000 pound club, or do freestanding handstand pushups, or be able to sit in a full lotus pose.

But the truth I came to understand is there’s an entirely separate group of people, for whom movement is not art, it’s medicine.  Their doctor told them they have high blood pressure and they need to lose weight.  They’re finding it hard to keep up with their children.  They’re noticing they haven’t been sleeping well and have had low energy for several months, and figured exercise might help.

And so we have to ask ourselves… Why are we training?  What are we trying to accomplish?  

More importantly, who are we trying to become?  Who are we training for?

Ultimately, whether we’re a stay-at-home mom or an elite powerlifter, fitness is an endeavor that we must continue for our entire lives.  Not only does our own quality of life depend on it, but our ability to be an active part of the lives of others does too.

You want to be able to wrestle around on the ground with your kids and not be tight and sore the next morning.

You want to have the energy to handle your career and your family with ease.

You want to be muscular enough to intimidate any boy your daughter brings home when she’s a teenager (just me?).

The reality is, most people allow responsibilities to push their health and fitness to the back burner.  And I completely understand why.  It can feel like taking 30 minutes to work out is a selfish use of time when meals need cooking, the kids’ toys need picked up, laundry needs to be done, and you have a Zoom meeting this afternoon.  But if we look at the longer time scale, taking care of our bodies is one of the most selfless things we can do.  

When we get stronger and lose weight, every day activities like carrying laundry baskets, picking up the kids, and walking up and down stairs become immensely easier.  When every day life becomes physically easier and we’re walking around with confidence, we have more energy, which allows us to do more, and also leads to better focus.  Better focus helps us better manage stress, which can decrease anxiety.  When we’re less anxious and in our heads we’re able to be more present and loving to the people around us.

You can see how good physical health can snowball.  But from the very beginning, we have to look beyond the superficial, selfish aspects of fitness.

We have to start with why.