Fitness – Mantras of Motivation

Fitness is a friend

Why do people procrastinate when it comes to exercising? Why is there this kind of an intuitive resistance towards a perfectly innocent activity? Over the years, we’ve met several people who want to lose weight. They are ready to go on a diet. But it stops there. Talk about exercising and they switch off instantly.

We think the seeds of this resistance could lie in the regimented structure laid down in our school days. To start with, it was only for Physical Training classes that we had to change into shorts. Then, the instructor would stand in front of us and snap out orders. And we were supposed to go through the entire regimented course like robots. While we were being physically trained, we were not getting physically educated. Nor was any attempt made to make these sessions interesting. There was no music to liven up the tempo along with our circulation. The teacher was not one-of-the-boys/girls, but more like an army general. No wonder: most of us left our schools with the great feeling of freedom. Out in the wide, new world, there would be no boring exercising drills to go through. We were free to choose what we wanted to do and exercising was certainly not on the list.

In adulthood, with our prejudices firmly in place, the bias is further cemented. Coaches, instructors are seen as ‘experts.’ Books are often written by such ‘perfect specimens’ who impose their regimented orientation on the reader. An athlete has a certain goal in life. He will make time for exercising. He will sacrifice social activities, go for the burn, punish himself to reach higher planes, and at the end of it is that tantalisingly attractive prize. But the majority of people do not want to become athletes. And this is where such books have let them down. For they only enforce that terrible feeling that you’ve-got-to