Have you ever joined a gym, while temporarily suffering from a period of insanity, only to stop going within a few months? I know I have - twice in fact!
On both occasions I started off well, three times a week and fully firing. After a while my enthusiasm waived and I went less and less. On the last occasion I had been discussing with my wife how are finances were a bit tight, and I made the generous offer to forgo my gym membership in the interests of our family!
Having considered why I, and most other people, are a gym failure I have managed to develop a theory. The theory is this - we fail because the reasons why we go are not strong enough.
My evidence for this this is simple. Remember back to when you were a kid and you played sport. Did you play sport to get fit, or did you do it because you loved it? I'm tipping that nearly all of us participated because we loved it. Getting fit was just a happy by-product of playing and was given no thought.
Now consider this. I am firmly of the belief that we only need to be as fit as we need to be to do the things we want to do. I like playing golf, gardening, riding bikes with the kids and going on walks. As such, I don't need to be an athlete and trying to become one would fail because I don't really want it. If I can comfortably complete these activities then I'm happy and surely this is OK?
(I will add one condition to this. This is no excuse for doing nothing if you don't want to. You obviously have to maintain a level of fitness that is compatible with a healthy life)
So when my athletic friend who regularly participates in 12 hour triathlons talks to me about his training regime I feel no guilt. He is simply trying to be as fit as he needs to be because he loves competing in triathlons.
Both of our goals are exactly the same - to be as fit as we need to be to do the things we want to do!
Therefore I don't feel guilty when I see athletic people doing athletic stuff. I just remind myself that I'm fit enough to do what I want to do!
What do you think?