Here are a few reasons to reasons to be motivated to exercise:
1. Lifts your mood.
2. Improves learning abilities
3. Builds self-esteem
4. Keeps your brain fit
5. Keeps your body fit and able
The list can go on and on.
What kind of fitness teacher, gospel preacher am I if I recommend you NOT be motivated?
For many of my dear clients and students who continually struggle to be compliant with a consistent pattern of exercise, I absolutely believe in pointing to the obvious…
There surely are 50 (or more) excellent reasons to commit to being fit! Some wellness professionals might refer to these as “motivations” to exercise, but I honestly do not like the word “motivation.” In fact, I no longer call reasons to exercise “motivation” because I don’t believe in it. Quite frankly, motivation has nothing lasting to offer.
I can recall numerous times in my life when I was “motivated” to change…
– On New Year’s Day
– On Monday mornings
– Before the big wedding day
– Before the 25-year reunion
– Before summer
How about you?
Are you building on the wrong foundation?
As a wellness professional of nearly 25 years, I have had countless clients ask me to address all of the above scenarios. Requests have come in the form of everything from “I want tank top arms by summer!” to “Help me to lose 30 pounds before I see my ex-boyfriend at the reunion!”
In my early days of fitness, when I was trying to define who I was as a professional AND earn a living, I accepted these opportunities, only to discover that such “motivation” did not align me with people who were interested in lasting change.
I can assure you that in my current season of ministry, when I can be more discerning about the clients with whom I partner, I have received some mighty backlash from the client profile noted above. They vehemently insist that their “motivations” will serve as the long awaited “jumpstarts” that they need to adopt a permanent program of fitness, especially once their “big events” have come and gone…
But, friends, I have never seen this happen in all my years in this industry because their “Why” is wrong..
– Their “Why” has no endurance to get them out of bed for early morning workouts once the wedding is over..
– Their “Why” has no stamina to endure the winter days that cover up the flesh once summer shorts have been put away..
– Their “Why” has no reverence for health and wholeness beyond a bikini body..
With the wrong foundation, the more typical outcome is:
– The wedding and reunion come and go with 20 pounds regained..
– Monday morning with oatmeal becomes Friday night with 2 pizzas and a bottle of wine..
– New Year’s Day turns into February 28th with a gym membership that has lapsed..
– Summer becomes winter with those “fat clothes” taking over the closet..
With NO condemnation, does this sound or look familiar to you?
Fitness on a solid foundation: 6 better reasons to exercise
Hopefully, these questions and scenarios help us recognize that motivation is not going to make us regular exercisers. Motivation is not what is going to get us healthy, whole, and well. Motivation is certainly not what is going to set us free from the temptations of instant gratification. We need a meaningful reason that will endure beyond New Year’s Day and the wedding and the reunion and every Monday morning.
So what will finally do it?
Here are 6 BETTER reasons to care for your health and wholeness:
1. To celebrate your freedom in Christ
2. To worship God in joyful movement
3. To nurture your body with healthy habits
4. To build strength to love others
5. As an act of gratitude for your well-being
6. To train your patience, love, and peace
1000 reasons to exercise are great, but He is greater!
Our students and loved ones are greater! And all of us are greater because Christ lives in us. He paid the ultimate price, not only for our salvation, but also for our obedience to walk the good walk of faith with joy, abundance, and fullness.
Friends, we are not designed to limp through this life. Rather, we are to live and breathe 1 Thessalonians 5:23:
“May God Himself, the God Who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together – spirit, soul, and body – and keep you fit for the coming of our Master Jesus Christ.”
Who needs “motivation” when we have Christ? Let’s not be motivated any longer…
In the comments below, share why you care for your health and wholeness!
Jennifer Wilshaw is a Revelation Wellness Instructor from Platoon 22 and an ACE certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor in New Jersey. When not devoting time to her health and fitness ministry, “Higher Fitness and Wellness,” she loves spending time with her beloved husband and regal kitty, Cosmo.
10 Responses
My revelation came from the first two listed. Enough was enough! and I did cry out to God for help. I am also in health ministry as a health educator in a diabetes prevention program at the Florida Dept of Health.
That’s an incredible job and ministry! You’re work is so valuable for those patients!
Jennifer,
I love this! This was me…. and I have to admit, I still find myself fall into the trap sometimes. I’m striving more for numbers 2-6 every.single.day Number 1 should be a given and that is the key. Once that DECISION is made, 2-6 will come easier for all of us!
I’ve worked out and run all my life since my teenage years. I’ve followed plans and schemes and new programs. Honestly, when I went to a Rev Well class in Chang Mai, Thailand, I never expected it to change my fitness life. And another honestly… I’ve never smiled so freely and cried so joyfully in an exercise class in my entire life!! I.Loved.it!!!
It changed EVERYTHING about the whys I exercise. I knew/know all of those things in 1-6, but never once applied them to my fitness life. never. But now, when I take my run/walk time around our lake in the mornings… Wow! What a difference in how i see and who i see. i’ve made so many new friends that i never really saw. i’ve only been back in the us to live for about 8 months. i’ve lived overseas for 25 years. God in my heart and god in my face was easy over there. but here, i find i’m always forgetting about him. that is so sad. i see him again every.single,day in every.thing.i.do.
thanks for your sotry above. thanks for what you do and for sharing him with so many.
thanks for the reminders
with so much love
Mama Bossi
Thank you for sharing your story, Mama Bossi!!
i was diagnose with epilepsy since I was 4 or 5 years old even though i experienced my first seizures when I was a baby. I have done a lot of research over the years ever since I learned how god made me so different than everyone else. the three most important steps i could do to help control my seizures are:
1. get proper sleep every night
2. take my medications the same time every day
3. most of all exercise!
I have followed the first two most of my life but the third I have struggled with most of my life until two years ago when I heard about rev fit.
We are so glad that RevFit has helped you take control of your seizures! Praise God!
Thank you for this inspirational message. It was exactly what I needed to start my day.
We’re so glad this blessed you, Karen! Thanks for reading along on the Revelation Wellness blog!
Thank you for all the wonderful feedback. I am blessed by your unique stories of freedom!
Thank you so much, what a great perspective. I think I will eliminate motivation from my vocabulary. I will inspire my classes, family, neighbours with- .
Zephaniah 3:17 For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
Gratitude for our well-being, because God really cares, loves us