Win with your attitude

Scott Schwab:

I was asked an interesting question at the gym the other day that made me think. "Why do you work so hard when you're not training for anything"?

This is a fair question and it was in a conversation that this came up. At the time my answer was, "because I want to stay in shape". As I have thought about the question more I have a better answer and one that I think applies to all of us. My answer today is "because I want to live, I want to feel, and I want to be ready at any minute to do battle".

Now that may be a little intense and seem more fitting if I had a axe or was wielding a sword. However, battle to me, means that I am ready for anything. Many things in our lives are increasingly mental. What we deal with, to the functions that we have on a daily basis are largely thought based. I would submit to everyone, that our physical health will make for a stronger mental health.

We know about endorphins and how exercise makes us happier. However, do we know that it helps with our confidence, our body composition, and many functions even down to the elasticity and health of our skin. It is our life blood to reality and to feeling.

If we have no exercise or we do not workout, I believe that we are missing on a huge area of life. Now physical can mean many things and surely everyone gets some amount of physical, right? Wrong, our daily walk from our car to the office or our home to the mailbox should not count as physical.

We would also do well to push ourselves, which introduces another important concept. The concept comes from the heart. I'm am not talking about the heart with ventricles and a beat that would make anyone want to dance. No, I am talking about will power, and effort. I'm talking about the will to live and give it your best, even when things are tough or you "don't feel like it".

We all go through our highs and lows, but let us make sure that our highs are breath taking and our lows require us to dig deep and push even harder. Never, never, never give up or give in. Develop the mental toughness that will come through our physical toughness.

I am not referring to the way you look and your proportion of fat to muscle. I am talking about the simple equation that exercise and fitness will bring results that cannot be quantified just in the body.

I know a guy who is probably about 300 pounds. He is in the pool everyday swimming and he is the nicest most genuine man I have ever met him. His weight does not hold him back and he always has a kind word and a smile. I know that he is happy not because his life is perfect, but because he refuses to quit. He knows that if he can get in an hour at the gym he has a great day no matter what.

It comes down to attitude and attitude is determined by what we do and what we don't do. It comes down to how we think and what we feel about things. Attitude determines the outcome and helps us to truly turn the impossible to possible. More than anything attitude is effected positively by pursuing a healthy lifestyle no matter your size or your weight....