No pain, no gain
> The only way to stay fit and healthy, yet still able to indulge, is to sweat it, and hard
MY CAREER in fitness over the years has transitioned from one stage to another. I started out as a competitive school athlete, and later became a triathlete.
That piqued my interest in fitness, which brought me directly into a job in fitness as a part-time instructor of a local gym.
It was just part-time and there was no direction yet on how fitness could become a viable career.
Two years later, after a series of job hops, chance brought me back again to a full-time fitness job. I really had no clue then, where I could go in fitness.
Now, 15 years on, I have transitioned from fitness instructor to personal trainer, and from group exercise instructor into fitness management. I’m now a gym manager, fitness writer, fitness consultant and fitness coach.
It has been a great journey. As fitness is ever evolving, the learning never stops and I’m confidant my transition in fitness will evolve too.
I have also recently discovered the one pill for fat loss success. This one pill will forever change the way we see ourselves and determine how successful one wants to be in managing weight loss and general fitness.
One thing’s for sure where personal fitness is concerned: this trend has never stopped. Look at some of the top celebrities who have made a career for themselves using fitness as a springboard for their success.
Arnold Swarzenegger still pumps iron. Jean Claude Van Damme is still high kicking and splitting. The stars of The Expendables are still rocking it hard. The queen of 80s aerobic videos, Jane Fonda, still rocks an awesome figure.
We cannot always be on top of our game physically, but we cannot deny the fact that physical activity is needed to metabolise energy from food intake.
As a person ages, energy levels will diminish. I, too, have experienced a drastic drop in energy levels and motivation for exercise.
My situation is not unique. As most people get older, responsibilities to our families increase, career demands weigh us down as financial commitments increase, and free time becomes limited and precious.
If you are an urban white collar worker, these would apply to you.
For most of us, 70% of the waking day is spent sitting down. By virtue of less movement, we are digressing our bodies and what it can really do.
In time, simple daily movement functions will be a chore, literally. Bending down to pick a pencil from the floor will be hard. Dashing across the road is an issue.
I am also seeing a possible future, where stairs will be a feature in museums a hundred years from now. It will go the way of the Walkman and iPod.
Why? Because, why build something that no one uses?
Do we want to lose our basic bodily functional capabilities? I don’t know anybody that does.
Do we want to go on diet? It’s a dirty word. We love our food and we love eating.
Eating is one of the basic primal pleasures as it connects and stimulate our basic senses of smell and taste. It makes us happy.
Exercise, unfortunately, to many is not associated with pleasure. Well, not to the general population though.
It’s painful, time consuming, energy zapping, makes you sick, makes you feel awful, and maybe even poorer from an investment into equipment or a gym membership.
Everyone wants shortcuts to weight loss and health improvement. Everyone wants the best and fastest way.
Everyone wants to know of the best exercise, best way, best consumable product.
In my years of experience, there has been no such product. Everything to date that has been discovered has been either debunked as a fad, or proven to be a short-term solution.
In fitness, we always say that losing 3kg was an awesome effort, losing 10kg thereafter is great. The real deal comes next.
What happens after that as a long-term mission to maintain that effort is what really counts.
So here I am now moving in transition. I am going to share with you the one pill for a better fitness result that will last forever.
I call this a bitter pill to swallow. I’m sorry if I’ve duped you to read this far, as the pill I meant is exercise.
It may give you back a quality life that you may have missed. It will make you feel happier and you will discover the many joys your body potentially has.
There are many benefits to exercise, many of which you already know. Just try it.
Let’s be fit!
Jonathan Tan is the Club Manager of the Sports Toto Fitness Centre at Berjaya Times Square. He can be contacted at lifestyle.jonathan@
thesundaily.com.