Fitness Motivation|Don’t Tell Me What I Can’t Do

What do people tell you that you can’t do? How do you respond? Do you respond like John Locke from LOST and say, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” Your mental attitude and your fitness can help limit what you put on the list of things you can’t do.

Inspiration from John Locke of LOST

I remember when we first started watching LOST. My son had been watching it and said there was a character on the show that reminded him of me. He wouldn’t reveal who it was, I had to figure it out. It didn’t take long for me to figure out it was John Locke. I share many of his idiosyncrasies including his belief that no one should limit what we can do.

Part of what drew me to John’s character was his persistance and attitude. I just loved this Don’t Tell Me What I Can’t Do compilation:

What’s Stopping You

Too often as we get older the list of things we can’t do (or choose not to do) continues to grow. But do we really need to be limited? Personally, I think those limitations come from either mental or physical limitations. Most of the time those limitations are placed there by ourselves. As they say, we can be our own worst enemies.

So consider what it is that is holding you back.

For me it is headaches. I have struggled with what I consider a mild case of migraine headaches. I’ve talked to medical doctors and chiropractors through the years. I’ve had periods without any as well as weeks where they just won’t go away. The pain can stop me from doing anything; they are not fun.

What Have You Done?

Despite your own reasons. I also think it is important to think through those times you have pushed through your own limitations.

So give yourself some time. Think back and find some decisions where you did something that other might not have considered possible (or smart). Here are some of the things that came to my mind:

• Rode in Minnesota’s Ironman Bicycle Ride – a 100 mile bike ride on pavement
• Rode in Afton Alp’s 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race
• Ran The Incline in less than an hour the first time up.
• Attempted surfing in Costa Rica – I could have spent hours playing in the surf.
• Ran up The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.

What’s on your list? Share the things you’ve pushed yourself to accomplish.

Exercise Is Key

I ran across a post from Trevor Poling from Gold’s Gym Colorado Springs on Why Exercise. Trevor wrote about how injuries had stopped him from being active. He started working out and later had this conversation with his doctor.

I told him that I had been using the weight machine, something I had never done prior. His response (to my surprise and delight) was “if you continue doing that, you can go back to all of the things I previously told you not to do.” AHA! This weight training stuff is good for me.

That was 1974…37 years ago! Since then I have been devoted to fitness and cannot imagine life without it.

What an awesome quote. Exercise can be such an amazing cure. I know with my headaches I continue to find that exercise helps to avoid them and to ease them when they do hit. Injury, lack of fitness, or pain can all often be overcome with a little exercise.

So take after John Locke and start saying, “Don’t Tell Me What I Can’t Do” and push through both mental and physical limits.