Now is the time to rethink your fitness identity: a message from Spears Strong's founder
Jonathan Spears, owner of Spears Strong, does a FAR- Form Awareness Run- on the Washougal River Greenway trail. The FAR is slow and intentional, slower than your walk. It’s designed to activate the correct running muscles. It’s also a form of total mindfulness, getting in tune with how your body feels and works.
Well here we are, in the unknown, all in it together. It’s disrupted all of us. Schools are closed. Concern for loved ones’ safety is always hanging in the background. Where are we working from today and what does work look like going forward? When do I get to root for my favorite sporting event again? Do I need to update my home supply and pantry lists/essentials?
It’s affected us at Spears Strong, disrupting our regular schedules and routines and how we are able (or unable) to meet with clients.
Even with all the negativity and challenges this pandemic has created, I really believe it also has the power to bring us together and make us stronger as humans, and as the human race. It’s shared (common) experiences with others that makes us feel alive and human, otherwise we would just be dreaming.
I wish we were just dreaming right now.
Since we’re not dreaming and all of our lives are disrupted, this pandemic has left us with an opportunity to reflect, reevaluate our priorities/life goals, and to reestablish daily routines and habits to support a healthy and fulfilling life. It’s giving us as a business, and you the individual, the opportunity to pivot and live with more purpose.
Seems like a lot of work.
“Since we’re not dreaming and all of our lives are disrupted, this pandemic has left us with an opportunity to reflect, re-evaluate our priorities/life goals, and to reestablish daily routines and habits to support a healthy and fulfilling life. It’s giving us as a business, and you the individual, the opportunity to pivot and live with more purpose.”
To succeed we are going to have to venture into unknown territory. And creating new habits and routines is hard and takes time, especially if you don’t know where to start, what to do, or if there is even an end point you're striving for. So it’s going to be a lot of unknown difficult work that is going to have to be done for a long, unknown amount of time.
If you’ve kept reading to this point (especially after this last paragraph), it’s not because you’re crazy. It might be because you’re bored or you’re interested to see if I’m crazy. It’s probably because you have already had some of these thoughts. Maybe not the same way I have stated them, but in your own way. That’s what makes us human, common experiences. But the real reason you are still reading this is because this is coming from a fitness company and you, and the rest of the world, are in a “motivation bubble” and you are most likely reassessing your options for working out.
What is a “motivation bubble” you ask? It is a small (relatively) period of time either during or right after a life event in which you are highly motivated to set new goals and create new plans, routines, or habits to get you to those goals. It’s the reason all types of fitness companies are vying for your attention online right now.
Unfortunately for us all, our motivation bubble generally doesn’t last long and almost everyone who pursues health in a motivation bubble fails, research shows.
And the reason for your motivational bubble doesn’t matter. Whether you’re motivated because you want to weigh a certain amount, look a certain way, or a doctor said you needed to make changes, or you’re living through a pandemic, they all lead to failure. So if you’ve suddenly invested in a new stationary bike or signed up for one of the many now suddenly free streaming workouts, send it back and save your money or time because you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.
We’ve known this for a long time at Spears Strong. We’ve known that anyone who is starting a fitness routine for any reason other than to feel good is eventually (usually within 4-6 weeks) going to fall off your routine, give up, and most likely call yourself a loser. But you’re not a loser, you’ve just been tricked and manipulated by marketing for a really long time.
And that’s not the only reason your motivational bubble bursts or routines fall off. The other is human nature, or our commonalities as a species that have kept us alive when resources are scarce or told us to put our energy somewhere else when goals seem futile (like stressing over a pandemic instead of exercising). You know that stuff above that I said about common experiences that let us know we’re not dreaming?
Why start now then? And how?
So why should you keep reading now? Why not just go back to regularly scheduled pandemic activities of isolation and ponder the futility and struggle of the rest of your life? Because it’s not futile and right now is actually the perfect time to get started for the right reason. Spears Strong can help you get started at your level of readiness, commitment, and willingness.
The trick to success is to start a routine for one reason and one reason alone (I hinted to it earlier): To feel good!
That’s easy for me to say. I’m sure some of you are saying, “but exercise has never felt good before. I mean ever!” Sure. But why were you doing it at that time? To lose weight, look a certain way, get better at a sport or activity, your PE teacher told you to, your spouse told you to?
Those are all horrible reasons to start working out.
And on top of it, all of those reasons are going to mean you have to get at it. “Push yourself hard; No pain, no gain; Push harder than yesterday; Strong is the new skinny …” What a bullshit culture to have to step into, but the only one that our media and social media has shared with us. How many yo-yo diets are there? And really, what is a diet but a bunch of rules and restrictions that make you feel like a failure every time you mess up, put you in a situation where you don't plan ahead because you don’t know how to plan ahead, or you accidentally eat something you weren’t “supposed to eat.”
But what if you changed your personal fitness identity, reshaped how you think about what fitness is? What if it wasn’t punishment because you ate too much processed food? What if you didn’t have to blow out of the gates pushing yourself as hard as you can to maximize the amount of calories you are burning and make sure you’re maximizing your effort?
What if you could just set 15 minutes aside for yourself each day to focus on some guided, easy mellow movements that are solely designed to make you feel good? What if you did that for a couple weeks, started feeling a little better and then decided to add on an extra 5 minutes once or twice throughout the day to do a few things that boost your energy and make you feel better? I don’t mean feel better when you can finally fit into your old jeans, but I mean feel better right now. In the moment … better mood, better energy, better focus - couldn’t you use that about now?
At Spears Strong, we recommend you take some of this found time to rethink why you workout or why you’ve thought about working out. Is it to look a certain way or is it to function and feel better?
The incredible Mahammad Ali said it well when he uttered the famous quote: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” He’s referencing his ability to be nimble and loose on his feet during the majory of his boxing match, not tight or tense or all jacked up. It’s that nimble nature- floating like a butterfly- that allowed him to, when he needed, sting like a bee with a fierce and solid knock out.
Think about fitness this way. You want to always be floating like a butterfly, nimble (flexible), mobile and able to move well in all directions. So then, when you need to sting like a bee- think pushing in a harder workout 1-2 times a week or walking further than normal or running a certain distance- you’re ready and able.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog post, coming out on Saturday. Spears Strong is releasing an online program with daily videos that guide you on how to relieve stress and move your body in a way that shows you how you can build a foundation to float like a butterfly.
If you’re working out now, think about what you are getting out of it, why are you doing it?
Because, real success is not about one big step to be who you think you should be but taking small steps to find out who you really are.