When I first started personal training, I was trained by a trainer at Gold’s Gym named Mahogany and I will forever remember the words of hard love he delivered to his clients: “No one ever has the right to be too busy for their own body.” His message is pertinent in this holiday season, as the average person gains between 7-10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, simply from poor fuel choices and from being “too busy” to take care of themselves.
We all act like we are too busy for our own bodies, pushing our priorities aside by thinking that general physical maintenance is a recommendation for a healthy lifestyle, or even a luxury for the uber-motivated. Taking care of ourselves isn’t just a recommendation, it’s a necessity. There is simply no excuse not to take time every day for the body that carries you around. The body is the ultimate machine of life, without it, we have no life, and in our lives, we only are given one of the magnificent machines that is the body.
I am preaching to myself here as well. There is no excuse to not take care of your body in a well-balanced sense, meaning that yoga, stretching, sleep, and recovery training are equally important to long runs, weight lifting, and functional training. Fuel your body like it is a machine. Put in high quality products and put in exactly how much your body needs, no more, no less. Eat to fuel yourself so that you function efficiently, and workout to improve your physical and mental health.
As you prepare for Christmas and the coming of the New Year, now is the perfect time to start treating your body with respect for being the magnificent machine that it is.