Beach Body?

I have many different things that interest me and they all have a common thread: If I enjoy it, I buy magazines devoted to it. I’m not really a fan of fitness magazines but I still buy them anyway. I may find more wrong with them than right with them but I don’t want to completely disregard them. You can learn something from just about anything. I've gotten in trouble more times that I'd like to admit from dismissing a "dubious" source. There’s usually one or two good pieces in fitness magazines that deliver some good information.

Then there are the articles that help get your “Beach Body.” Next to the new year, this time of the year seems to be the only time that anyone seriously cares about being in shape. The obvious implication is that you’ve slacked off through the winter and now that the summer is coming, you need to melt off the fat and tone up the muscles. After all, you can’t hide your body under a sweater anymore, there’s people to impress, and egos that need to remain intact.

What fries me about this beach body phenomenon are two things: the idea that a fit body is as seasonal as swimwear and the desire to be in shape for purely vain reasons. These are lousy attitudes that don’t do anything towards getting and keeping yourself in great shape. It’s not that they’re terrible reasons to exercise. However, by themselves, they’re woefully bad reasons. Do you ever think about living pain free? Or about how inactivity interferes with your mental function? Do you like being winded after swimming barely 300’? Do these reasons like this ever enter your mind? If they don’t, then you have a problem.

If you’re out of shape, then by all means, get yourself back into shape as fast as you can. Don’t just do it for the visceral reasons. You have every reason to get healthy and strong. Keep these in mind at all times and don’t let your body slip just because nobody else can see your body.