Fitness Is About How You Feel, Not Just What You Do
Fitness is a feeling. It might be a shock for many of you that an exercise scientist believes you need to kick your fitness into an organic state rather than a ritualistic schedule of charts and numbers. The math and science on body composition is clear.
However, underneath the hard science is the softer science of psychology. Creating fitness is more than formulas and calculations. More than gas exchange and cellular metabolization. Fitness is a feeling.
True fitness doesn’t start with the body. It ends with it. You must feel full, balanced, connected, playful, accepting, focused, and strong to gain the benefits of a fit life.
- You must feel full. If you don’t feel full, you will always be hungry. You will seek comforts in many different places, but nothing will be able to fill you up. This is no way to live a fit life.
- True fitness happens when our lives are balanced. Life flows as expansion and openness. It is flexible. Rigidity and constriction are always a less than approach. When you can balance yourself between work and fun, need and want, yes and no you will feel open and expansive. This will lead you to a joyful healthy place.
- You need to feel connection. You will not be able to stick to your goals if you cannot connect to the reasons behind the goals. Connection takes many forms. I must be able to connect to my body to know when I am 80% full. I must connect with my environment so I am not overstimulated and thus over eat out of under awareness. If I cannot connect to people who are helpful and supportive of me, stay connected to myself and the environment I am in, I will not be able to maintain a focus on my fitness goals.
- Playfulness is a very important and often overlooked action plan. Many do not value play and want to call if frivolous, however play is a very important part of our health and wellness. It keeps us coming back for more, builds our dopamine, and offers us a sense of strength in our bodies. When we feel playful we embody our existence. We fill up from the inside out and we know what it feels like to be alive.
- You must be accepting of every rung on your ladder. Holding an accepting feeling about yourself and your journey allows you to truly be present to what is in the moment and take the next needed step. You can’t do that if you refuse to accept the place you are currently in.
- Focus on feeling focused. Feeling focused isn’t a schedule, it’s not about structure, and it is not just a plan. You must feel yourself find that laser point of focus as you address how you want your life to unfold. Without feeling focused you’ll be pulled in many directions at once rather than efficiently up leveling. Small, focused steps done consistently are much more successful.
- All about feeling strong. Strength isn’t just about how much you can lift. Strength comes from how you feel. When you feel strong in your mind, your focus is sharp. When you feel strong in your body lifting 100lbs is not that hard. Tough maybe, but you know you will blow past last week’s PR goal. Because when we feel strong, we feel confident. Confidence is just about feeling that we can figure things out. When we feel strong, we know we can do anything we put our mind to.
As you cultivate these 7 feelings you bring out your inner superpower, your emotional experience. Emotions are a source of intelligence and our quickest way to know what we need and where we need to go.
To truly discover fitness in your life you have to look beyond your body. Building your fitness is about pulling absolute and complete joy into your existence by creating the emotional experience that keeps you aligned with your health path.
Stacy Reuille-Dupont, PhD, LAC, CPFT, CNC, licensed psychologist, addiction counselor, personal trainer, and nutrition coach. She’s passionate about helping people create a vibrant life using psychology and physiology. With over 25 years coaching people to be their best, she understands how to find adventure and bliss with balance. Learn more at www.studiob.life and www.stacyreuille.com.
