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By Brad Bloom, Publisher AND our readers
What is fitness to you?
For too long the simple answer to that question for many people has been to get another gym membership and go on a diet at the beginning of the year. But, things seem to be improving.
Increasingly you’ll hear that people are seriously taking more time to be active, strengthening muscles and improving their stamina – at home, outdoors, alone and with small groups. They’re doing it more consistently and actually having fun. Moreover, healthy eating is improving some. You’ll see smarter food choices, more home preparation, greater attention to nutrition and better effort at thoughtful portion sizes. There is even a greater commitment to simply getting more rest.
While this is all really good, Fitness is more.
It is mental wellness, stronger relationships with others, spiritual wholeness and all those other intangible strengths that have little to do with muscles, food or physical recovery. When you realize that fitness is all this AND you have a passion for others and for God, then fitness is a very easy and effective way to live out your faith daily.
To learn how a fit lifestyle can be a natural and practical expression of your faith read 4 Ways To Share Your Faith!
Let’s explore more of what fitness is. Take time to consider how fitness can be interpreted and lived out in your life more deeply.
Look below for what some readers of Faith & Fitness Magazine have contributed. Their insights into what fitness is can inspire all of us to pursue God more passionately for a bigger vision for our fitness lifestyle. We’d like for you to contribute too. Use the CONTACT US link to send us a brief note of what fitness is to you.
Faith & Fitness Magazine reader Katie Mitchel says:
FITNESS IS FAMILY
A healthy life isn’t healthy at all if it’s all about you. Want to really get fit? Quit doing it as an island with your little earbuds piping distraction and diverting your attention away from others. If you really want to be challenged to get stronger (certainly relationally but also physically) do some intergenerational fitness. You’ll find a kind of fitness that is truly age resistant. Watch for it and then OBSERVE others. It might be a grandparent and a grandchild together at the playground. Perhaps it’s evident between a coach or mentor and a youth. Look for dad and his son spotting each other in the weightroom.
Relationships are what fitness is.
Faith & Fitness Magazine reader Noah Rayne says:
FITNESS IS ATTITUDE
Show us those abs! Yeah! You worked hard to get those and you work even harder to keep ‘em. Hey, you know what? It’s crunch time! Life is tough and busy and confusing and … full of a lot of bad attitude that like stubborn belly fat seems next to impossible to lose. No matter how much you exercise positivity and discipline the real strength and tone can never be seen without consistently good NUTRITION. God wants to fill you up and in fact overflow you with good attitude – the kind that is joyous, truly righteous, humble, patient, disciplined and thankful. That’s a 6-pack that will speak for itself.
Presence is what fitness is.
Faith & Fitness Magazine reader Amia Freeman says:
FITNESS IS UNDERSTANDING
We can protest every injustice. We can talk about what I don’t understand about you and what you don’t understand about me. We can disagree and perhaps even agree. It’s all just talk – the ultimate “vacation” that never happens. You can only hope for something so long. At some point you’ve got to come to terms with the reality that you’re not really fit if you have vision only. You’ve got to get out there, away from your familiar and DO it – BE it – even if that means roughing it! The working out of our relationships, practical needs, daily journey and faith means “figuring it out” but it also means literally exercising all these areas of life. It’s the side-by-side teamwork and the COMPASSION in collaboration.
Learning is what fitness is.
Faith & Fitness Magazine reader Frankie Dellapolla says:
FITNESS IS UPSIDE DOWN
The view from here can be really good if you can even get in this position. What we’ve come to know as right side up is way too comfortable. Where’s the challenge in that? Just because you lack the strength and balance to kick your feet up high all alone doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t. Taking it one simple move at a time over time is called progression. Getting help along the way requires the submission of your self-will. Falling down is the necessary destruction of your pride. Ultimately the inversion draws on new strengths and a re-alignment with what grounds you. This kind of spiritual fitness helps you OBSERVE your world differently giving your faith stronger bones and improved blood flow.
Discover the difference of what fitness is.
Faith & Fitness Magazine reader Michelle McGregor says:
In the following video Michelle shares a few training moves and more about what fitness is to her:
FITNESS IS STRETCHING
Reach higher, move better, and smile more. You can INTERVENE in the lives of others. Stretching extends hope and help to others and gets you comfortable with the full range of spiritual motion that you are capable of doing. But, it’s more than swinging your legs and arms or twisting your torso. Doing a good work without a focus on God can be a flailing of your desires that lacks good form.
Moving with real freedom is what fitness is.
Faith & Fitness Magazine reader Blake Bramer says:
FITNESS IS FAITH
Bringing life into the world is something you choose to do. Each choice we make is a step taken in our journey of faith. The higher the altitude the more we must breath deeply. Be confident in God, you’re already destined for an increase in elevation. Take one step at a time with PRAYER and trust that God will deliver the summit – a glorious view of an even greater calling.
Celebrate the full purpose of what fitness is.
