Fitness is a habit that requires a mindset that is cultiv8d to fight the mind control of the physical body. Submitting to the control of the physical body leads to sedentary habit thoughts, such as, "I don't feel like it.". Upon each submission to thoughts of sedentary, the habit to be sedentary magnifies until an immobile, 'Couch-stuck" , and inactive lifestyle lacking exercise is created, regardless of nutritional or non-nutritional food consumption.   Not only do habitual sendtary thoughts lead to an inactive lifestyle, they also lead the charge towards obesity, dysfunction, and/or pathology causing poor health, or worse, death. 

 

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF?

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C-SELF HABITS

C-Self habits are cultiv8d by a willful and determined mindset to obtain and maintain optimal health. The opposite of self-destructing sedentary habits, C-self habits are the key to to the constructing and cultiv8ting a FIT body for life.

 

They are fitness habits of longevity that:

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• You can see yourself doing throughout your life...

• Help you stick to the weight loss in stead of the weight sticking to you...

• Help you maintain control of your weight. 

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They are:

1. Comfortable

Being uncomfortable in any situation produces anxiety and resistance to participate or engage in the activity that causes the discomfort. As a result, any possibility of further participation is diminished.  Create a comfort checklist:

Comfortable shoes

Comfortable clothes

Comfortable environment

Comfortable with using selected equipment

Comfortable with others around or also engaged in same activity

Comfortable with instructor or trainer

Comfortable with self and current fitness level

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2. Safe

Being free of bodily harm from objects and/or others is the crucial characteristic of a safe exercise.  If using weights, do not use ones that are too heavy for the activity in which you are engaging.  The money you would give your dentist after hitting yourself in the chin with a dumbbell and chipping a tooth, could instead be used to reward yourself with a new workout after losing a set goal amount of inches, sizes or lbs.   For some walking or running three miles a day is a safe activity, but for those with swollen ankles, foot injuries, or knee injuries such as a torn ACL, walking or running may not be deemed safe for the body.  For those living in "walk" neighborhoods, going for a three mile walk or jog in your neighborhood may be safe, but maybe not for those living in "high-crime" rated neighborhoods.  Those who live in "high-crime" rated areas, yet enjoy walking or running as a safe and enjoyable form of exercise for their body may have to visit a safe "walkable" location to run their 3 miles.  Being safe means being smart when selecting exercise activities.  

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3. Enjoy 

An enjoyable activity is:

delightful

• pleasurable

• beneficial

• entertaining

• agreeable (to body)

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An activity that you take delight or pleasure in is more likely to keep your interest over the long term.  An activity you enjoy can also be something that possesses a form of benefit.  Zumba is quite a pleasurable activity for some who enjoy the freedom and joyful feeling of dance.  It can be beneficial to the physical, mental, emotional, sexual, and spiritual body.  However, the impact on joints may not be agreeable to those with arthritis, ankle injuries, or foot injuries such as plantar fascitiis.  Therefore, this person may have to eliminate Zumba from the C-SELF fitness plan or "get your sexy on" in sprinkles not in spoonfuls.   

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4. Lifestyle Suitability

Leaving your house at 4 a.m. to workout at your local gym when you are a single parent of two under 10 may not be suitable to your lifestyle, despite it being a pleasurable place for you to exercise. Therefore, you may have to only go to the gym: 

• When kids are at school (if you are a work-at-home mother)

• When you are at work (if employment location has a gym in or near the building)

• After work (If your work hours end in time to go to the gym before picking up the kids from daycare or "grandmas") 

• After work (If you have members of a "village" to support you and pick up the kids and care for them while you care for yourself at the gym)

• After picking up the kids after work (If your gym has a safe daycare service)

• Or when the time suits the structure you have set for your lifestyle

Each individual's lifestyle differs from the next, therefore an exercise program must be deliberately tailored to suit the adapting lifestyles of evolving individuals.   What is good for the goose may not be good for the gander.

 

5. Follow throughout life

Since Fitness is a habit of longevity, it's activities must be ones that are engaging and capable of being done as you age.  For over thirty years my grandmother has gone on a morning walk at the track or on her block to the corner and back multiple times to the equivalence of one or two miles. At 93, she continues to incorporate a daily morning walk to the corner and back once instead of the eight times she used to years before.  Fitness is not a weekend activity.  It is a daily deliberate activity to be engage in for the rest of your physical life, therefore your activities of fitness should be varied and long term.  Choose wisely.  Expose and Explore a variety of activities that are comfortable, safe, and enjoyable.  Select activities that suit your lifestyle and physical abilities.  Create a varied workout schedule incorporating selected activities and correlates to your lifestyle.  As you age, so to will you cultiv8 fitness that adapts to who you are becoming as you go throughout life.  

If lifting weights does not serve the herniated disk in your lower back, then maybe yoga, pilates, or piyo is a better way to build muscle strength while simultaneously gaining benefit for the mental, emotional, sexual, and spiritual body. Do what works for you. 

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CULTIV8

Frequency (Daily)

Intervals (Interval Training /  Interval Workouts)

Time (Duration)

Nutritious Food

Environment Set for Success

Safe, strenght

Suitable to body and Lifestyle

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