Fit for Life: Reboot Your Fitness This Fall
By Doug Sersun
Why do some people always seem to have time to fit in a workout, while you find yourself struggling just to get out of bed in the morning? Do they have more time available to them? Do they have a discipline gene that you don’t? The answer is no. They are simply more deliberate about caring for their health and fitness because they know it helps them be more productive in other areas of their life.
It’s easy to fall into a slump, with routine and the daily grind, and our fitness is often the first to go. Excuses build up; we are too busy, too tired, and don’t seem to have enough time.
Back-to-school season is here – a time of transition and anticipation for many of us since our first days in kindergarten. The start of each school year was a fresh start, an opportunity to make new friends, try new things, and build new skills. And now, perhaps you find that the sense of fresh starts that you had as a kid is gone. Let’s make this Fall different. Let’s leave behind our regrets and mistakes, our routines and to-do lists, and bring back that feeling of jumping out of bed in the morning with excitement for the day ahead.
Here’s my big ask: Take time this month to add deliberate focus on your health and fitness by identifying an important goal and removing one time- or energy-robbing behavior from your daily life.
Take 5 minutes right now to write down something you’ve been burning with desire to have in your life. Stretch yourself – make it aspirational but achievable. Would it be fun and exciting for you to complete a 5K, fit into your skinny jeans by losing 10 pounds, or have noticeably more energy to be more productive at work? How about starting a regular meditation or yoga practice to have more mental peace and calm? What is that one thing for you?
Now spend 5 more minutes thinking of one habit that is robbing you of time and energy today. Are you spending hours on social media? Are you bingeing on Netflix shows? Perhaps you’re drowning in e-mail.
Did you think of that one habit?
Now, make the commitment to reduce it or remove it from your life and free up your time to really go after your goal (for real this time). Need some accountability to make sure you stick to your plan? Reach out to a friend or loved one and ask them to be an accountability partner with you – you can both commit to having the health and fitness you desire.
Until next month, be well.
Doug Sersun is the owner of the El Segundo Athletic Club, a full-service local gym dedicated to making our community stronger by helping you reach your fitness goals. Look for Doug’s Fit for Life column monthly.
This story appears in the September 2019 issue of The El Segundo Scene.