Are Your Really Doing Your Best?

     "The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

- Vince Lombardi

When it comes to fitness, how many of us can say that we always do our best? Perhaps a few, but not many. Doing our best implies regularly going beyond the norm. It means doing more than just going through the motions. That is something only a health nut would have the audacity to do.

Most of us are more into being casual. That enables us to continue being thought of as normal. Being too much into anything is a sure way to get labeled as strange--something none of us want. We would rather be like everyone else even if that meant staying overweight, unfit and on the way to being the recipient of a a dread disease. Fitting in is what we care about most.

Granted, there are more of us attempting to get in shape nowadays. But just how hard are we working at it? Are we doing it hard enough to make up a workout if we happen to miss? Or, would we go a day without food if we could not keep from over-doing it the day before? Would we sacrifice some hard-earned money to see if a new supplement just might provide the sought after edge? Just how dedicated are we? Will we give up something to make fitness happen, or will we just go through the motions, eventually giving up because it just does not seem to pan out?

Few of us would admit to our friends that we made up a missed workout. That would be a sure to get us labeled as strange (or health nut, as we hear so often.) Most of our friends would say that we probably needed the rest or we would not have missed in the first place. That is because they are part of the wisdom of the body cult, thinking that how we feel should determine whether or not we work out. According to them,our feelings should be our coaches.

Then there are those of us with an aversion to diet. For us who are like this, life is made enjoyable primarily by eating. We live to eat instead of eating to live. We even make up slogans such as don't die it, live it. Not unexpectedly, we oftentimes overdo it, thinking this is only part of being human. Some of us may even see that as good. It shows how much we are able to enjoy--something that life is supposed to be all about. Anyone open to a little austerity( like one seeking ultimate fitness) is thought to be in need of help.

Seemingly everyone nowadays in traditional Western medicine advocates cutting back on calories in the interests of health and longevity. Even the health practitioners from the East say that three days without food is not as bad as one without green tea. But we Americans think we will die without treats and three square meals a day. And that says nothing of getting our fill, as if an occasional growling stomach would shorten our years.

Supplements are also an issue. Because MDs know nothing about these from experience, they strongly discourage their usage. This is unfortunate, as two months of being on them in conjunction with proper diet and exercise will show how absurdly biased they are. But, we do not think we should take it upon ourselves to prove the MDs wrong. Knowing more than the doctors is the presumed height of arrogance. That is something only for health nuts.

Vince Lombardi made a point of applying the best of ourselves to the task at hand. What does that really mean? Doing more than we are able? That is a sure way to invite injury. Rather, it means always prioritizing what we do for fitness, while pushing the envelope just a touch. That translates to always doing today's workout just a little bit better than yesterday's in spite of what stands in our way.

The same is true for diet. Hunger feelings should be secondary to staying with a healthy eating plan. But how many of us can really say that we stop when we have eaten our day's allotment of food? Do we not find excuses for a nightly second helping or that thousand calorie Big Mac and shake which we supposedly have coming on a Friday after such a hard week? Or, what about that pizza and pepperoni? Who would not be better off without all of these?

And, finally, there is supplementation. How many times do we have to hear that the food value in grocery store items is just not there? How many times do we have to be told that preservatives are bad for us, that nitrates cause problems, that red meat is problematic and that dairy is not what it was once thought to be? Giving up all of these now is what we should be doing, substituting them with something better. This is where we should be at by now if we say we are doing our best.

Lomabardi coached the Green Bay Packers in the early sixties. Not all of us know him, but some do. He was effective as a football coach and as a national inspirational figure. He was called Papa Vince for a reason. He was a good parent figure. And, like a good parent, he wanted the best for his kids. To him this meant all of us being champions. That is why he encouraged everyone to go beyond the norm, running for daylight (not just going through the motions) as he said. He also thought of on time as being fifteen minutes early. This was Lombardi time. Things like that we could all do, if only we would.

How many of us today will do anything close to what Lombardi would think of as best for his team? How many of us will just regularly go a little beyond our comfort zone to eventually become champions. That is what we have to do to win.

For further thought on putting all of yourself into what you do order my e-book Think and Grow Fit.

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