Not even muscular Christianity

I’m pretty sure that St. Paul was not a personal trainer or even a fitness enthusiast, but he sums up the problem of all of us who want to be more fit and struggle in his letter to the Romans (chapter 7, verse 19, for those who want to look it up):  “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

 

I do not at all even a little bit endorse the idea of working out as virtue and not working out as sin.  Food is not a vice, but rather a necessity for life.  But we all know that there are times when we really should work out, not just to be healthier, but to feel better.  And we know we should choose foods that are better for us.  And somehow we don’t.

 

What to do?

 

One thing we can do is make it easy on ourselves.  We just do the minimum.  So, for example, I know that I get grumpy if I don’t do my cardio.  I tell myself that the goal is 30 minutes on the spin bike.  I don’t have to pedal fast.  I don’t have to pedal hard.  I just have to put my butt on the bike and move.  Almost always I do end up pedaling fast and hard.  I get to the end of my half hour and I’m sweaty and breathless and I feel so much happier.   But if I tell myself I need to go fast and hard, I won’t do it.  It sounds too difficult, when I’m tired and comfy and I’d really rather read some more or look at dog videos on Facebook.  I have to make it easy.

 

Minimums work for all kinds of things.  We can say that we have to eat at least one vegetable at some point during the day.  We can promise ourselves one set of squats, or one stretch.  We can commit to balancing on one foot while we brush our teeth to work on our core and balance.  We can even say that we have to go outside once a day.

 

If we just do our minimum, great!  Gold stars for us!  And if our problem was just getting started, we might find that we do more than the minimum, which is extra bonus points.  Beware, however, the fake minimum.  We have to mean it when we say that our minimum is enough.  We can’t say we’re cool with one stretch and then beat ourselves up for not doing a whole yoga session.

 

Count the small victories.  They add up.