Finding Fitness Through New Endeavors
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Post-grad life is often a brutal wake-up call. After years of merely surviving each school week as a means of making it to your next White Claw hangout sesh, you suddenly find yourself catapulted into a completely different lifestyle, wholly unrecognizable to the protective realm of a college campus. Everything is thrown out of whack. Your schedule becomes more rigid, your circle of friends begins to dwindle, and your landlord magically morphs into Dog the Bounty Hunter upon every first of the month.
With all of this chaos, it’s no wonder why so many new grads find themselves skipping the gym more and more. They prioritize spending their ever-fleeting free time on more social activities in lieu of boisterously building bodacious biceps. After all, strenuous exercise just doesn’t seem to hold the same extrinsic value as it did when you were training for your sports season, or when you had a Frat-sponsored pool party to attend every weekend. So what’s the point?
We all know that consistent exercise has been shown to increase cognition, decrease stress, and improve energy levels, along with a bevy of other bodily enhancements. However, without a clearly defined set of goals for which to strive, it can be tremendously difficult to drum up enough motivation to pull you away from the comfy oasis that is your bedroom for the cold, dark abyss commonly referred to as the squat rack. Goals, especially those written in ink, are always there to hold you accountable. Ready to start finding fitness through new endeavors? Below, I have compiled a list of common fitness goals for 20-somethings that are not only achievable, but can also serve as the genesis for a lifetime of self-improvement.
Always take at least one willing friend along for the ride, and update each other as often as possible.
~ Pro Tip!
I had a Snapchat group of 20 buddies who were all training for our first Spartan Race this past summer. Any time I felt like taking an unscheduled rest day or cutting my run short, I could ALWAYS count on a video of one of these guys gasping for air and covered in sweat after crushing their workout. It was a fun way to pick at each other, but it also kept us in check.
It doesn’t have to be something you’ve always had a burning passion to accomplish, but it should be something that at the very least stimulates your interest. Write this goal in big bold letters and tape it to your bathroom mirror. Once a week, objectively and soberly measure your progress, adjusting your training schedule accordingly.
No matter how you’re finding fitness and creating goals, placing yourself in a setting surrounded by other fitness enthusiasts will unconsciously tighten the proverbial leash so as to keep you on track. So join a gym! No matter how driven you think you are, having a few dozen potential witnesses within visual purview will undoubtedly make you second guess the burning urgency of that latest Instagram notification. You can join Planet Fitness for $10 a month, or about as much as that Starbucks Frappuccino you sucked down after lunch today.
Gymshark just released a new fitness app with a multitude of different programs ranging from strength and muscle growth to speed and agility improvement, and everywhere in between. Peruse through some of these to see what jumps out to you. Athlean-X by Jeff Cavaliere is another one of my favorite programs, as Jeff is a veteran of the fitness industry, and a life-time natural athlete who has trained some of the biggest names in professional sports.
Finding fitness doesn’t have to be a solo journey. Find a group of people who may be in a similar spot as you, and utilize some good old-fashioned friendly competition as motivation. Having a collection of like-minded folk striving towards the same finish line can be the difference maker on those dreary afternoons when every fiber of your being is commanding you to swap out the day’s run for a Haagen-Dazs-laced Game of Thrones marathon.
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. In almost any fitness endeavor, the journey is infinitely more satisfying that the final destination. It is in those cold, desolate states of exhaustion that we learn our true identities. Your ability to push past expectations and preconceived limitations will carry over into every other aspect of your life.
Read some longer versions of this topic, reviewed by our professionals to be the best. Check out these articles to gain a more detailed knowledge of the subject: How to Push Yourself at the Gym, Health and Fitness Goals Everyone Should Set, The 10 Most Important Fitness Goals, Long-Term Fitness Goals, Half Marathon Training for Beginners.
RN, BSN, CCRN
After a brief stint in the Men’s Physique competition realm, and even winning first place in his final show, John decided to use his expertise to help normal, everyday people create the body they’ve always desired. His book, “The Busy Body: Principles for Building a Great Physique without Missing out on Life” is the culmination of over a decade of honing his craft. John is currently an RN in the Cardio-Thoracic Surgery ICU at Duke Hospital.
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