Few people will talk about failure in the gym. Eighty percent of fitness-goers fall into the pit of despair, swinging from full steam ahead to complete relapse and bingeing the whole way down. If only twenty percent succeed and live happily ever after, why won’t trainers tell you about the failures?
We need to look to car mechanics for an answer. A good mechanic doesn’t teach you how to care for your car after it’s broken- they fix it. Inviting you to the shop, putting your hands on a wrench, and showing you how to change the oil will not solve your problem of a broken transmission and lack of transportation. Often, the only way back to the road is to replace a part that a lack of maintenance caused to fail.
Humans are not cars. Our body doesn’t come with replacement parts; it adapts to the stress it senses through food, exercise, medications, and experiences ranging from fulfilling and restorative to anxious and stressful.
If you stop driving on a broken axle, the axle remains broken. It needs repair.
If you reduce 50% of the sugar in your diet, your metabolism will begin to repair itself. It needs maintenance.
The body is not a car. Fanciful diets and extreme calorie-burning workouts are the advertised repairs your local body shop now shows you. I’ve been a trainer who cares and car-guy for 20 years. I have yet to see any repair mirror the impact of a routine of sunlight, water, play, weight training, rest, and mental stimulation. Your body has little in-house mechanics working 24/7 to fix you, but only if you give them the tools to do it.
Life goes on when our car is in the shop.
Life goes on hold when we are in the shop, and none of us deserve a life on hold.
Make space for these six routine maintenance pieces: sunlight, water, play, weight training, rest, and mental stimulation. Do them regularly, and you may experience what I have- that the good life doesn’t come because of maintenance. The good life is the maintenance.
