25 Things You Can Do To Create A Lifestyle of Fitness

I know a guy named Joe. Joe lives a busy life and not necessarily a lifestyle of fitness, but more of a lifestyle of chaos. He is the founder of a small tech start-up. He wakes up around 9a after getting little to no sleep the previous night, because he was working on an important project. Right, when he gets to the office, he is bombarded with emails to answer, meetings, employees to deal with, IT issues, and endless projects to complete. By the time you know it, it is already 7 pm and Joe has drunk a ton of coffee and found a chance to grab a meal from a nearby fast food joint. He is a go-getter and after work, you have to find time to network and socialize. It's now 2 am, and Joe has to be up by 9a again, just to repeat this cycle. Luckily there is a weekend where Joe has to himself and to do more work, because as an Entrepreneur you are called to work well over 40-60 hrs a week or more.

The lifestyle of Fitness or Lifestyle of Chaos???

Does this sound familiar? Or maybe, is it you?… Let's continue the story.

As Joe is falling asleep, he decides to watch some TV. Now, of course, at this time of the night, there is nothing but infomercials on. Joe watches an infomercial on the latest 30 Day Fat Burning Workout, just to feel guilty and down on his own failure at health. So in desperation, he orders the workout (20% off if you order in 20mins). To top it off he even adds a new juicer, because that will force him to eat healthy right? (The answer is NO)

Fast forward 30 days later and the juicer has not even been taken out of the box yet. Joe did 4 days of the workout and just didn’t find any time to continue. Work has gotten pretty darn demanding and there are plans for expansion and other business ideas. Besides, he can pick it up the workout where he last left off when life gets much more manageable.

The sad truth is that that day will never come and it never did for Joe and he lives life with “I’ll put it off till life becomes more manageable”. That is a myth or lie we tell ourselves to make us feel better about today, the present.

“We only have one place to live in, our body, so take care of it” - Jim Rohn

To be honest, we all do this to some degree in some area of our life. One area of our life we can’t afford to do this is our health and fitness. I’ve set out to answer this question and to help you (The Awesome person reading this) create a lifestyle of fitness and not just another 30-day plan. This is about making fitness a journey rather than just a diet or quick fitness craze. It is about making a lifestyle change. And to do that it is going to take work, but we will focus on it one day at a time, brick by brick till we build it.

In the 2 years that I have been personal training, I have noticed a shocking trend. individuals motivated by guilt from infomercials or a motivating Rocky-esque movie will set high goals to commit to a workout 30-Days or so. But only to be disappointed when they can’t even commit to 1-Day. You do not go from sick to fit, or obese to thin in one day, week, or even a couple of weeks, that is at least sustainable. I am a firm believer that the key is found in the mundane everyday activities. The answer is not a quick fix, nor a new fitness craze, but rather in the details of one's life.

I have created this post or manifesto of sorts to help you achieve the fitness goals you want in life. Not only am I here to show you how, but I am also here to help you create your own sustainable lifestyle of fitness. You will learn to eat good healthy food, live with passion and purpose and lift some freakn’ weight.

Like anything else in life that you want to accomplish, you must be intentional first. In order to help you do this, I have created the Nedufitness Goal Setting Worksheet to help you get started.

After you write out your goals clearly, check out my EPIC TOP 25 list of things to do in order to make fitness a lifestyle.

EPIC TOP 25 LIST

• Resistance Train at least 2-3 times per week. This can be iron weights or ROCKS (Caveman style) “It’s so easy even a Caveman can do it!” The point is to overload the body with some kind of external weight or even body weight

• Do some kind of cardiovascular exercise and don’t limit it to one thing, like JUST running outside. Mix it up and make a gathering of it. Do something active with your significant other, family or friends. (Date night idea: Paddle Boarding, Hiking, etc.)

• Cook more food. Besides saving money, at least you know what you are putting in your body.

• Eat more whole foods that come from the ground. You are what you eat. Therefore if you always eat processed foods and fatty foods, what do you think you will eventually look like?? “Someone who is processed”(At least I thought that was funny)

• Drink mostly water. Try and stay away from juices, sodas, and sugary drinks. That even means limiting coffee.

• Make it a point every month to learn something new. Take an art class, write a book, start a blog, write some music, learn to paint. Our brains stay youthful as we continue to challenge it with learning a new skill.

• Work on some EPIC stuff! If what you are doing does not make you feel alive at some point, then you may want to rethink it. Do what you are passionate about and serve others with that.

• Give yourself 30mins to an hour each day to reflect and have some quiet time.

• Write down your goals and dreams for the next 3,5,10,20 years. Create a vision board. Ask yourself what it is exactly what you want to leave a legacy for. In other words, write what it is that you want to be read at your funeral. What is your life’s mission statement?

• Every day when you wake up, speak life to yourself. Here is what I say when I wake up every morning. (I am the best personal trainer in the world, I am a champion, I am royalty, I am more than a conqueror!

• Invest in yourself. Spend time and money investing in personal development

• Read at least 10 pages of a good book.

• Make a life list of things that you want to do. This will help you to get a perspective on things. Here are a few from my list (Remember the list will change with time, so have fun with it and be flexible): (Write a book, Travel to Spain, Scuba dive with Sharks, Climb to the top of a really high Mountain, Learn Spanish, Start a new blog) My Life List goes on to include many other things, but that was just a few.

• Help serve another human being. I believe that in living a life of servitude to others or the less fortunate, you will find greater satisfaction than in going after things that benefit just you.

• Give to others, as you would have them give to you. Go out of your way to do something for the betterment of another human being every single day.

• Do workout dates. In today’s world, a lot of our social interactions revolve around food and beverage. Therefore, change the culture around you by creating social interactions that revolve around physical activities. Run with your significant other, go for a walk in the park, and play a flag football game with friends.

• Travel. Make it a point to travel. This quote by Saint Augustine of Hippo says it all, “The World is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”. How do you expect to ever expand your understanding of the world, people and culture, if you do not see them? Make a travel piggy bank and make travel, both leisure, and business. There is way more gratification in traveling than in buying too many things. There is much joy in life through experiences and building relationships. Make new ones every day.

• Take a Sabbath, or time to rest. Do something relaxing, and that means putting your phone away, not checking your emails or updating your social media status every second of every minute. Unplug from technology and interact genuinely with your full attention on the people you care about.

• Try and learn a new healthy recipe every week, so that you can expand your meal planning. This will take time, but it makes cooking fun and you will always be learning something new.

• Try something that challenges you physically and/or mentally. Face a fear each week. Do something that gets you out of your comfort zone. Funny thing is that when you get out of your comfort zone, your comfort zone grows!!

• Set fitness goals for yourself. I don’t believe in just going to the gym just to do something isn’t sustainable. It is more beneficial to go to the gym with a purpose. For example, if it is fat loss, then you need to have a body fat or weight goal in mind. If you want to do a certain amount of pushups, then your exercises should focus on that exercise. Something that I find that helps, is by doing a fun run or adventure race and setting a goal to run a certain time.

• Stay in touch with the people you care about the most. I have always been taught that the most important thing you can give someone is time because it is something that you cannot take back. I make it a point to have a date night at least once a week with my wife. I also make it a point to meet up with my close buds to talk about life and grow. One thing that is certain is that relationships take work. So put in the work and watch them grow. The budget your money, singleness, marriage, finances, talents and time. Make a deposit in each.

• Workout at least 2-3x’s a week, stretch and challenge your body in many different ways (Speed, Quickness, Agility, Balance, Endurance, Power, Strength). Build a workout that you will stick to. If you do not know how, then ask me, or get with a certified fitness professional near you. And work different body parts.

• Again, Remember to REST! This is one of the most important things you can do for your body. I admit that I find myself more often than not passing up sleep in order to get work done. The research on how much sleep you should get tends to vary or conflict. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. If you need more rest, then take a power nap. This is something that I am still learning to incorporate more in my life.

• Live with Passion and Purpose: Do what you are passionate about. Why waist time working a job you do not enjoy. Life is too short. Make every day count. Find gratitude in your everyday. And as for purpose, I do not know what your purpose is, but here is what I do know. Take action. What are you waiting for? It is in the comings and goings of our everyday life that we find meaning and purpose. Be the best you that you can be, and know that where you are and the people you are around and influence is your mission field in life. Do as much as you can, with what you have, where you are right now. With this, I truly believe you will find new meaning in the mundane.

“Your purpose is when your innermost desires meet the world's hunger”

Your goal is to take each day or maybe even just choose one 1 item on the list to focus on. The point is to focus on ONE thing at a time. Pick just ONE, CONQUER IT, then ON TO THE NEXT ONE.

Action Steps:

• Be Intentional: Fill out the “Goal Worksheet” in order to set your goals
• Be Selective: Pick one item on the Epic Top 25 List to focus on each week
• Be Reflective: At the end of each week, take some time to reflect on the week. What would you have done differently? How do I feel about the week? What would I like to do better in the future?
• Be Active: Whatever you choose to do, BE ACTIVE each day

Fitness is a journey, rather than a destination. The ups and downs of the flow of life will be experiences of the past. Focusing on the future of where you want to a goal can seem daunting. Therefore, focus on the present, moment by moment, brick by brick, moment by moment, one day at a time. And just before you know it, the goal will be here…. in no time.

Now I’d like to know what are some of the goals that you have in mind of going after?