We Have It All…

I asked my cycling class to think about something awful this morning. We were in the middle of a seven minute hill-climb, and they were too busy watching the clock and not busy enough focusing on their workout.

“Imagine that you leave this club, get into a horrible wreck, and wake up in a wheelchair…” All of them snapped out of their sweaty reveries and looked at me with shock. I kept talking as they worked through the last arduous minutes. “You would never forget this workout. You would wish you had added more load. You would wish you had pushed harder, because it would be the last time you got to use your body like this. You would miss this!” And then the song was over and their sweaty faces were smiling at me.

I have spent my entire fitness career in locker rooms full of naked people. I have never seen a perfect body or met anyone who is totally happy with the body they have. We all complain about something on some part. If I asked them, men and women alike could instantly list at least five things they want to change about themselves.

They would have a harder time listing the amazing things their body does every day, every workout. If you can walk, that means your legs work. If you can carry something, your arms work. If you can type, you fingers work. And if your body works even half as good as it should, then breathe a prayer of gratitude right now and go do something to keep it working!

I was passed by a one-legged man on crutches while I jogged up Mt. Tabor in Portland, Ore. I was gasping for air and praying for the top when he blew by me like I was standing still. I stood there with my mouth open, watching as someone with one less appendage than me beat me to the top of the hill. His defined arm muscles were bulging out of his shirt as he worked those crutches in a way that told me this was a regular workout for him.

If you can move any part of your body YOU ARE BLESSED!!! Even if you are in a wheelchair, do what you can do. Form follows function. If you want to be able to move tomorrow, then keep moving today. Enjoy every exercise like it’s a privelege not a duty, and treat every moment of movement like it might be your last.