John Y. Brown, III: Fitness and Humility

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Congratulations to RP writer Josh Bowen for being named on of the world’s top 10 fitness trainers by Life Fitness magazine.

And as if that weren’t enough, congratulations to Josh again for the recent publication of his new fitness book 12 Steps to Fitness Freedom.

I haven’t read it yet, obviously. But need to. And will. Very soon.

Initially, I was going to try to write a humorous cop out for my good friend Jonathan Miller crushing me in our friendly fitness competition we begin this time last year.  But I’m taking a different tack.

Since our fitness challenge, Jonathan has stayed the course, worked closely with Josh, worked out regularly and dieted reasonably and the results? He has patiently progressed physically and seen his overall health improve.  Nothing that would boggle the mind or make the TV nightly news broadcast— but something significant; something noteworthy and something worth doing.

The tale of the tape? A loss of 4 pounds in weight and of about two inches in the waist and hips; and a gain of about two inches in the chest and shoulders and an increase of an inch in both upper arms. And Jonathan looks, feels and, most important, “is” healthier.

It took time, commitment, sacrifice and work. Not a tremendous amount but regularly. Monthly. Weekly. Even daily.  But he did it. And Jonathan believes it was worth it. And I, in retrospect, have to agree.

Kudos, my friend. You won by default against me. But you won fair and square competing head-on with yourself. Which is, I have decided, the only real competition in every diet/fitness challenge.

That part of ourselves that can somehow keep our eye on the small-sounding prize of a loss of 4 pounds, 2 inches of fat reduced in areas we don’t want fat and 2 inches of new muscle in places where we want muscle has to “beat” the greedier part of ourselves that wants the apple fritter now; the soda pop we think we are thirsty for now; the part of ourselves that wants to stay seated instead of standing and wants to lie down instead of sitting. In short, the “Harder ‘NO’” has to repeatedly beat out the “Easier ‘YES’” –and not for a sure-fire immediate gratification. No, siree. But for sticking with the longer term plan that will show small but real improvements—in the future.

Jonathan and Josh — before and after

My experience is that the immediate gratification course is more fun but doesn’t work out as well in the long run. So for this new approach I’m adopting, I am going to have to give up a lot of little immediate gratifications. I’m just going to say it. This part sucks. It does. Big time. Wow! Ouch!!!! Hate it.

But the downside of going from immediate gratification to immediate gratification is you feel like a pinball between flippers. It’s an empty uncertain feeling until the next “hit” when you “score” some more points. I’m going to turn off the pinball machine for a while, I suppose, and plug in a device that keeps a real and boring score, like a health/fitness measuring device. There’s not the same loud bells and fun whistles but there’s also not the empty feeling between being flung from bumper to bumper. Less noise; less careening in the dark. And I will have to move beyond the pinball machine. Move a muscle, change a thought. But maybe the air is cleaner and smells better outside the arcade. And I will also have time to read Josh Bowen’s new book, 12 Steps to Fitness Freedom.

It doesn’t sound sexy or very fun, I know. But despite how counter-intuitive it all is, I am curious to find out if a year from now I report back that I like it a little better than the old way. Something tells me I will.  Even if there’s no one for me to beat –except myself.