[aageneral] Fit for What?

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Title: Fit for What?
Word Count: 718
Author: Tanja Gardner
Email: tanja@optimumlife.co.nz
Article URL: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=1367

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Fit for What?
Copyright 2005 Tanja Gardner

Unless we’re talking about our bodies, and the amount of
exercise they can do, we usually talk about being fit in
relation to something. An object is ‘fit for use’, clothing
is ‘fit to be worn at work’, and food is ‘fit to be
eaten’. My parents used to have a running joke that they
were fit – fit to drop! Everything else is fit 'for
something'. So why do we insist on describing ourselves as
‘fit’ or ‘unfit’ without relating the concepts to anything
else?

GENERAL PRINCIPLES
It’s a basic truth that the human body wasn’t made to sit
still for any length of time. We spent tens of thousands of
years evolving in an environment that required us to move –
to find shelter, to catch food, and to keep ourselves safe
from predators. We’ve only been living lifestyles that
allow us to be sedentary for the lesser part of a hundred
years – not nearly enough time for evolution to adapt our
bodies to this new environment. We see this constantly
reflected in modern rates of heart disease,
atherosclerosis, chronic aches and pains, and muscular and
bone deterioration in people who have become inactive as
they age.

On top of this, activity has a very real effect on both
stress and energy levels. Our bodies have a
‘use-it-or-lose-it’ way with energy – if we don't
constantly use and then replace energy (with activity,
followed by rest and good nutrition), we start noticing
our energy levels gradually draining away. We feel tired,
lethargic, and as though any amount of effort is just too
much to be worth it. And if we’re also under stress – for
example, at work, or in a difficult relationship – we feel
the energy loss and the stress even more intensely.

These are general principles that seem to be true whoever
we are. But different lifestyles require different amounts
of energy, and exact different prices in terms of stress.
We enjoy doing, and our bodies are suited for, different
kinds of activity. It makes sense then, that the amount and
type of activity that will help us reach our optimum
fitness, will be different.

DIFFERENT STROKES
If that’s the case, then getting ‘fit’ without a frame of
reference seems like a meaningless concept. Unless we know
what we want to be ‘fit for’ – what fitness means to us –
there’s no reason for us to get or stay that way. If my
life is basically calm, quiet and easy-flowing, and I’m
quite happy to keep it that way, my ‘optimum fitness’ is
going to be very different to someone who’s discovered a
deep fulfillment in setting themselves a goal and achieving
it. Someone who’d just like to go for a walk with friends
without getting puffed is going to have a different optimum
fitness level to someone who wants to discover how it feels
to finish a marathon.

On top of this, what people want often changes over time.
Perhaps at one point in your life, you enjoyed spending a
couple of hours a day exercising, but now you’re finding
there are things you’d like to do far more with that time.
Alternatively, when you first started creating your optimum
life for yourself, it might have been enough for you to
just keep your body healthy. As you tried new activities
though, you might have discovered you were actually
enjoying some of them for their own sake, and wanting to
get fitter so you could do more of them. So at different
times in your life, you’d have a different optimum fitness
level.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE “FIT FOR”?
Which brings us back to our original question – can we talk
about being fit, without knowing what exactly we’re ‘fit
for’? The way we see it, your optimum fitness level
depends completely on what you want to be able to do in
your daily life, how you want to be feeling, how much
energy you’d like to have and how exercise fits in with
the rest of your life. So your first step in moving closer
to optimum fitness needs to be to make that all-important
decision “What do I want to be fit for?”

About the Author:

Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Stress Management Coach
and Personal Trainer whose articles on holistic health,
relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media
since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness
and stress management services to help clients all over the
world achieve their optimum lives. For more information
please visit check out http://optimumlife.co.nz, or contact
Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

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