Transforming Your Body

“Your body is your walking commercial—a sign of who you
are and how much you value your health. And before you
even say a word, you’ve made an impression with your body.
That IS your first impression. Think about this next time you
meet someone—what message are you sending? Is it one
of confidence, strength, and commitment, or is it something
else? We should all think about this the next time we’re ‘too
tired’ or ‘too busy’ to exercise.”

The body is an incredibly complex system—206 bones, 639
muscles, 5 vital organs (brain, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs),
and is comprised of about 50% water. Every minute of every
day these systems are at work and most of the time we’re not
even aware of it. But the body is capable of doing amazing things—feats of superhuman strength, adaptation, and recovery. We see it every day. Athletic records are broken by fitter athletes. Someone you haven’t seen in a while looks ten years younger because they started exercising and eating better. And a sick people get well. But sadly, it can also go the other way, where a seemingly healthy person can be stricken by disease and can die within months. How can this happen?

Well, somewhere in the middle of this is our lifestyle and what we’re doing to our BODY. In its simplest form, our body is made up of cells. But the cells we have now will be replaced by future cells. And other cells will replace those cells. Round and round we go. And we’ll never know exactly how much of our ultimate fate is determined by nature or nuture (or heredity vs. environment). Part of our body is determined by genetics—that aspect cannot be overlooked. We can be predisposed to disease and joint problems based on our parents and ancestors. Much of our shape can also be determined by heredity. But we’re not destined for disease and arthritis simply because our parents had it, and last time I checked our bodies are all the same shape—the human shape. Nuture (i.e., your lifestyle, or what you do) will always play a much greater role in your eventual outcome.

It all starts with taking ownership of your body. Stop blaming your body for not looking the way you want it to look and working the way you want it to work. Try this analogy—don’t clean your car for ten years, never change the oil, never rotate the tires, never replace the transmission or the engine. Don’t do anything to bolster the longevity of your car. And drive it every day (sometimes fast, sometimes slow), for about 150,000 total miles. Now blame your car when it looks like #@*& and doesn’t perform.

Why is your BODY any different? You determine how your body feels, looks and functions. You have back pain? I’m very sorry to hear that. What actions can YOU take to get rid of it?

You’ve gained ten pounds? I’m very sorry to hear that as well. What can YOU do to turn this around?

Your body feels tight and stressed all the time? That is too bad. How are YOU going to rectify that?

(HINT—the 2B Core Video, Nutrition Video, and Relaxation Video (coming soon) would all be good ways to address the above three points)

I often hear that metabolism slows with age. Yes, this is an undeniable fact. Your metabolic rate slows because of decreasing muscle mass, but how much of flabby arms and an expanding waistline is really attributable to an increase in age, and how much is attributable to a decrease in activity? It’s an almost universal fact that as people get older they don’t move as much. They don’t work out as much. They don’t stretch as much. And because of this, their bodies functions much worse. Plain and simple.

You’re in control of your own body and to truly understand this, you have to grasp the simple fundamental SAID principle—which stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. Your body responds (adapts) to whatever it is that you do, or don’t do. If you want your body to get stronger, do resistance training. If you want your body to become more flexible, do stretching or yoga. If you want your body to get fat and atrophy and slowly die, eat a lot and do nothing. The SAID principle states that you become what you repeatedly do…for better or for worse. Our body is incredible at adapting to whatever we do.

So, before you DECIDE to go any deeper with the strength, flexibility, or cardiovascular aspects of this site, you have 2B honest with yourself. You have 2B willing to accept responsibility for where you are and not use age, body type, work schedule, etc…, as a crutch and an excuse. Making your body work for you starts and ends with YOU. It is only when you adopt the 2B Attitude that you can truly have lasting and meaningful change.

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