What Does ‘Fit’ Mean to You?
The process of learning to love the process and how my view on fitness and lifestyle has changed over the years
Tall, skinny, and hardly in a habit of eating a lot. One fine day I make up my mind to get a gym membership and try getting a better-looking body. As an athlete growing up, I was not new to putting my body into physical challenges. I thought how hard could it be, probably will have to lift a few dumbells here and there and I’ll start putting on good amounts of muscle. But I never realized the hardest part was to eat. There I started my journey in 'fitness' with the only goal of putting on as much weight as possible. It was hard at first, but not impossible.
Fast forward a year and a half and I had gained almost 20 kgs. Not too bad. But then I was tired of randomly pumping iron at the gym. It felt too shallow. How am I different from that tall skinny boy who weighed 65kgs a year ago? This made me get more into the numbers that I put on the plate. I wanted to get stronger. I started working on increasing my numbers in the bench press, squat, and deadlift. I set myself numbers for each lift, that I would break one day. The numbers weren’t far fetched but still, I was happy that I got to them before that year could end.
Year in and year out, I saw myself setting new goals. From putting on some weight and getting some muscle, to getting stronger and being able to lift more in especially the three main lifts (squat, bench press, and deadlift), to doing my first muscle-up. My goals were getting a bit more elaborate and broader. I started understanding the reason why I’m doing what I do. I started training with a purpose.
My journey as an athlete and in fitness has taught me a few different things. One of the most important of it all is this
process > result
The more we are focused on the result, the less likely we’re to get through the goal and complete it. Any goal or task that is to be done, try masking it with something that you really like doing. The whole process of completing the task feels effortless and you’ll be done with it before you know it. The tall skinny boy who looked to get a better-looking body that wasn’t skinny anymore wouldn’t have gone a long way if he had not gotten himself into much broader goals that he truly enjoyed doing, that inturn kept him hooked to the process.
Listening to the body
Be it maintaining a healthy lifestyle or any other aspect of life, consistency has to be the single most important thing in approaching any goal. And like I said previously, when we truly enjoy doing something, we tend to do it more consistently. But there’s something else that’s even more important — intent. Whatever it may be, doing it blindly for the sake of doing it or because you see others do it will not be in any way fulfilling your needs, your goal.
It can be anything from just wanting to look good for the gram or actually wanting to lead a healthy lifestyle. Your goal is your goal. Do it with intent.
There came a point in my life I was tired of doing squats, bench and deadlifts week in and week out. I mean I love the idea of it, I knew I would definitely still do it again. But at that moment, I felt the need to change my approach. My body wanted something different and that’s when I really started exploring bodyweight training and movement training with the help of my friend and coach Aaqib Mizyan. The point being, listening to your body and not forcing yourself against it will again in a way help stick to the plan and by doing it with intent, you just reach a freeing feeling of doing what needs to be done but in your own way.
The ultimate goal for me is to be fit, it does not matter if I pumped iron at the gym or had my own empty room where I could move, roll and explore anything that I feel (with intent). It does not matter if I pushed myself to the gym 6 days a week when I really didn’t feel like or just used my free time to get my training in at home. It doesn’t matter how I looked in the mirror but felt in myself. The way I looked at fitness and the lifestyle behind it completely changed.
Don’t try too hard or push yourself to do anything that doesn’t move you, at least at the moment. Just make yourself love the process and do anything and everything with intent while listening to your body. As I said, the ultimate goal is to be fit. But what does ‘fit’ mean to you?
