About Me

I have been a teacher of fitness and health for thirty years. In 1989 I was certified for personal training with the National Acadamy of Sports Medicine. I had a gym in Santa Barbara for eight years. Co-owned and created a spinning bike company which manufactured bikes for five years. Also I have worked with nutrition companies for twenty years. Along with many wonderful non famous people I have trained many celebrities, and members of the Royal Family. My own athletic past consists of long distance running, long distance cycling, cross country skiing, down hill skiing, rollerblading, hiking, sand running, track work, and weight training. I have authored two fitness columns in local papers, and have been writing this blog since January 2010.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Is Your Focus Health or Vanity?


In all of my years of working with people in fitness, unfortunately most of them have been focused on how they look as opposed to how they feel and their health. This is not uncommon in our society, and given the way our society focuses on "perfect beauty" in all that we do, it makes sense that many of us are victims of that belief.


We are bombarded with flawless bodies, beautiful faces, and perfection in the media as the norm. It is this type of hype that gives many of us a feeling that we need to look a certain way to be happy and successful.



We all know that the pictures we see in the media are not the norm, and most of them are not even reality, but super imposed and airbrushed to death, leaving us with an unrealistic, unattainable view of how we should look.


This is the place most people come from when putting a fitness program into action. It is based on how they can change their looks to get to that place of "body perfection". This is a shallow and empty place to approach your fitness and health plan from.


How you look is such a small part of what exercise and healthy eating will do for you. Take a look at some of my past blogs as evidence to what you will gain by exercise and eating right. When you are healthy, you will feel your best too.



Changing your looks for the better is a side effect of exercise and healthy eating....it will happen to you even when it is not your focus, which is a better way of approaching your fitness program.


You will reverse your aging process, ward off disease, have more energy, reduce stress, and be at your very best when you eat right and exercise, and oh yes, you will look great as a bonus!


Focusing strictly on how you look will never be enough of a motivator to keep you disciplined on your fitness regime. I have seen it a thousand times over. It is just not what keeps people exercising and eating right for a life style. Feeling good, and having quality of life is a great motivator and keeps people in the fitness game. It is about how you "feel" that really matters, not how we look.


So change your view point if you are a "vanity" exercise person. Begin to notice how much better you feel when you eat right and exercise. Doing these two things will get you looking your best anyway, no need to focus on that part.


Exercise for health, wellness, quality of life, and feeling the best you can. That is a great reason to keep doing it forever. It is not important how long we live, but how long we can live with quality. Eating healthy and exercising daily will give you quality, and you will look great too!




Till Tomorrow,
Queenie

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